Nine Largest Wars (by Death Toll)
Three of the ten most costly wars, in terms of loss of life, have been waged in the last century. These are of course the two World Wars, then followed by the Second Sino-Japanese War (which is sometimes considered part of World War II, or overlapping with that war). Most of the others involved China or neighboring peoples. The death toll of World War II, being 60 million plus, surpasses all other war-death-tolls by a factor of two. This may be due to significant recent advances in weapons technologies, as well as recent increases in the overall human population.
| Deaths (millions) |
Date | War |
|---|---|---|
| 60–72 | 1939–1945 | World War II (see World War II casualties) |
| 36 | 755–763 | An Shi Rebellion (number exaggerated based on census system,but not considering the territorial shrink and inefficient census system afterwar） |
| 30–60 | 13th century | Mongol Conquests (see Mongol invasions and Tatar invasions) |
| 20 | 1914–1918 | World War I (see World War I casualties) |
| 20 | 1850–1864 | Taiping Rebellion (see Dungan revolt) |
| 20 | 1937–1945 | Second Sino-Japanese War |
| 8–12 | 1862–1877 | Dungan revolt |
| 7–20 | 1370–1405 | Conquests of Tamerlane |
| 5–9 | 1917–1922 | Russian Civil War and Foreign Intervention |
Read more about this topic: War
Other related articles:
... Three of the ten most costly wars, in terms of loss of life, have been waged in the last century ... These are of course the two World Wars, then followed by the Second Sino-Japanese War (which is sometimes considered part of World War II, or overlapping with that war) ...
Famous quotes containing the words death, largest and/or wars:
“My death from the wrists,
two name tags,
blood worn like a corsage
to bloom
one on the left and one on the right....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Figure him there, with his scrofulous diseases, with his great greedy heart, and unspeakable chaos of thoughts; stalking mournful as a stranger in this Earth; eagerly devouring what spiritual thing he could come at: school-languages and other merely grammatical stuff, if there were nothing better! The largest soul that was in all England.”
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881)
“I will not by the noise of bloody wars and the dethroning of kings advance you to glory: but by the gentle ways of peace and love.”
—Thomas Traherne (1636–1674)