41

This paper discusses the statistical analysis of French soldiers’ death during the Great War, on a methodological, empirical and historiographical level. It shows that such a research derives from a specific context in which wartime regional identities have attracted a growing interest among scholars and the general public. It emphasizes the convincing results of this geographical study, namely, the fact that no regions appear to have suffered excessive casualties with regard to their social and economic characteristics. Finally, some further lines of enquiry, among which the possibility of collective research projects focusing on the wealth of numerised sources, are discussed. Classification JEL : N34 ; N44.