List of wars by death toll


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This list of wars by death toll includes all deaths that are either directly or indirectly caused by war. These numbers include the deaths of military personnel which are the direct results of a battle or other military wartime actions, as well as wartime/war-related deaths of civilians which are often results of war-induced epidemics, famines, genocide, etc. Due to incomplete records, the destruction of evidence, differing methods of counting, and various other reasons, death tolls of wars have often been quite uncertain, and heavily debated.

While the definition of war isn't entirely clear-cut, there is a general understanding of what it is. Merriam-Webster defines war as "a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations",[1] Oxford English Dictionary defines war as "hostile contention by means of armed forces, carried on between nations, states, or rulers, or between parties in the same nation or state; the employment of armed forces against a foreign power, or against an opposing party in the state",[2] and Encyclopædia Britannica defines war as "a conflict between political groups involving hostilities of considerable duration and magnitude".[3]

War Death
range 		Date Combatants Location
World War II 50–85 million[4][5][6] 1937[a]–1945 Allied Powers vs. Axis Powers Global
Mongol invasions and conquests 20–57 million[9][10][11] 1207–1405 Mongol Empire vs various states in Eurasia Asia and Europe
An Lushan Rebellion 13–36 million[12] 754–763 Tang Dynasty and Uyghur Khaganate vs. Yan Dynasty China
Three Kingdoms War 34 million[13] 220–280 Multiple sides China
Taiping Rebellion 20–30 million[14][15] 1850–1864 Qing Dynasty vs. Taiping Heavenly Kingdom China
World War I 15–30 million[16][17][18] 1914–1918 Allied Powers vs. Central Powers Global
Manchu Conquest of China 25 million[19][20] 1618–1683 Manchu vs. Ming Dynasty China
Russian Civil War 7–12 million[21] 1917–1922 Multiple sides; Bolsheviks, Anti-Bolshevik left, White Movement, Allied and Central Intervention, as well as various separatists Russia
Thirty Years' War 4–12 million[22] 1618–1648 Anti-Imperial Alliance vs. Imperial Alliance Europe
Spanish conquest of Mexico 10.5 million[23][24] 1519–1530 Spanish Empire vs. Aztec Empire Mexico
Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire 10 million[25] 1533–1572 Spanish Empire vs. Inca Empire South America
Chinese Civil War 4–9 million[26] 1927–1949 Multiple sides, but predominantly Communists vs. Kuomintang China
Reconquista 7 million[27] 718–1492 Spanish and Portuguese Christians vs. Spanish and Portuguese Muslims Iberia
Napoleonic Wars 5–7 million[28] 1803–1815 French Republic, later French Empire, vs. Coalition forces Europe
Second Congo War 3–5.4 million[29][30][31] 1998–2003 Multiple sides Democratic Republic of the Congo
Spanish conquest of New Granada 5.25 million[32][33] 1499–1540 Spanish Empire vs. Colombian Civilizations Colombia
Deccan wars 4.6–5 million[34] 1680–1707 Mughal Empire vs. Maratha Confederacy India
Korean War 2.5–3.5 million[35][26] 1950–1953 North Korea vs. South Korea Korea
Vietnam War 1.1–3.4 million[36][37] 1955–1975 North Vietnam vs. South Vietnam Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia
Bangladesh Liberation War 0.3–3 million[38] 1971 India and Provisional Government of Bangladesh vs. Pakistan Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan
Mexican Revolution 1.7–2.7 million[39] 1910–1920 Pro-government vs. Anti-government Mexico
Indian Rebellion of 1857 0.8–2 million[40] 1857–1858 United Kingdom and allies vs. Indian rebels and allies India
American Civil War 0.6–1 million[41][42] 1861–1865 United States vs Confederate States United States of America
Second Kushan-Parthian War 0.9 million[43] 130–140 Kushan Empire vs. Parthian Empire India, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
Bahmani–Vijayanagar War (1362–1367) 0.6 million[44] 1362–1367 Vijayanagara Empire and Musunuri Nayakas vs. Bahmani Sultanate India
Mexican War of Independence 0.6 million[45] 1810–1821 Mexican patriots vs. Spanish Empire Mexico, Central America, and United States of America
Colombian conflict 0.45 million[46] 1964–present Colombia vs. FARC, FARC dissidents, ELN, EPL, and IRAFP Colombia
Colombian War of Independence 0.4 million[b] 1810–1825 Colombian patriots vs. Spanish Empire Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela
Kalinga War 0.25 million[47] 262 BCE–261 BCE Maurya Empire vs. Kalinga India
Nanda–Mauryan War 0.1 million[48] 323 BCE–321 BCE Maurya Empire vs. Nanda Empire India
 
Bubble chart of wars over 1.5M deaths.
 
Seven deadliest wars after 1900. The length of each spiral segment is proportional to the war's duration and its area size to its death toll.
  1. ^ While the war in Europe began in 1939, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident is often considered by many to be the beginning of World War II at large[7][8]
  2. ^ Para el primero, de 1400000 habs. que la futura Colombia tendría en 1809 (entre ellos 78000 negros esclavos), (...) mortaldad que él mismo señala a tal guerra (unos 400 000 muertos para la Gran Colombia, entre ellos, 250 000 venezolanos).
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  2. ^ "war". Oxford English Dictionary.
  3. ^ Frankel, Joseph. "war". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  4. ^ "Research Starters: Worldwide Deaths in World War II". National World War II Museum.
  5. ^ "World War II". National Park Service.
  6. ^ "World War II". highpointnc.gov.
  7. ^ "Liberation in China and the Pacific". National World War II Museum.
  8. ^ Patranobis, Sutirtho (29 August 2015). "WWII began in 1937 with Japanese invasion: China". Hindustan Times.
  9. ^ Ho, Ping-Ti (1970). "An estimate of the total population of Sung-Chin China". Histoire et institutions, 1. pp. 33–54. doi:10.1515/9783111542737-007. ISBN 978-3-11-154273-7. OCLC 8159945824.
  10. ^ McEvedy, Colin; Jones, Richard M. (1978). Atlas of World Population History. New York, NY: Puffin. p. 172. ISBN 9780140510768.
  11. ^ Graziella Caselli, Gillaume Wunsch, Jacques Vallin (2005). "Demography: Analysis and Synthesis, Four Volume Set: A Treatise in Population". Academic Press. p.34. ISBN 0-12-765660-X
  12. ^ White, Matthew (2012). The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History's 100 Worst Atrocities. W. W. Norton. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-393-08192-3.
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  14. ^ "Taiping Rebellion". Encyclopædia Britannica. 21 August 2024.
  15. ^ "The Taiping Rebellion of 1850-64". University at Albany.
  16. ^ "World War I Casualties" (Document). United States Census Bureau.
  17. ^ "First World War Defining Moments, 1914–1918". National Museum of Australia.
  18. ^ "Number of military and civilian fatalities during the First World War, per country or world power, between 1914 and 1918". Statista.
  19. ^ "To history, today's violence is a speck". South China Morning Post. 28 October 2011.
  20. ^ "5 Of The 10 Deadliest Wars Began In China". Business Insider. 6 October 2014.
  21. ^ Mawdsley, Evan (24 February 2009). The Russian Civil War. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-681-77009-3.
  22. ^ Daudin, Pascal (23 May 2017). "The Thirty Years' War: The first modern war?". International Committee of the Red Cross.
  23. ^ The Native population of the Americas in 1492, de William M. Denevan, Univ. de Wisconsin Press, 1992, pp. 28
  24. ^ Andrés Lira and Luis Muro: "El siglo de la Integración ", p. 10
  25. ^ "De re Militari: muertos en Guerras, Dictaduras y Genocidios". remilitari.com.
  26. ^ a b "Death Tolls for the Major Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century". Necrometrics.
  27. ^ Kabha, Mustafa (2023). "The Fall of Al-Andalus and the Evolution of its Memory in Modern Arab-Muslim Historiography". The Maghreb Review. 48 (3): 289–303. doi:10.1353/tmr.2023.a901468. ISSN 2754-6772.
  28. ^ Esdaile, Charles (2007). Napoleon's Wars: An International History 1803–1815. Viking. ISBN 9780670020300.
  29. ^ "Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo". Council on Foreign Relations.
  30. ^ Bavier, Joe (22 January 2008). "Congo war-driven crisis kills 45,000 a month-study". Reuters.
  31. ^ Moszynski, Peter (2 February 2008). "5.4 million people have died in Democratic Republic of Congo since 1998 because of conflict, report says". BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.). 336 (7638): 235. doi:10.1136/bmj.39475.524282.DB. PMC 2223004. PMID 18244974.
  32. ^ Jaime Jaramillo Uribe. "Ensayos de historia social: La sociedad neogranadina" (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  33. ^ https://www.banrep.gov.co/sites/default/files/paginas/lbr_colonial_graficos3.pdf
  34. ^ White, Matthew (2011-10-20). Atrocitology: Humanity's 100 Deadliest Achievements. Canongate Books. ISBN 978-0-85786-125-2.
  35. ^ Millett, Allan (25 August 2024). "Korean War". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  36. ^ Rummel, R.J. "Statistics of Vietnamese Democide". University of Hawaiʻi.
  37. ^ "How many people died in the Vietnam War?". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  38. ^ Bolinger, Kylee. Methods of Memorialization: Holocaust Commemoration in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Thesis). Portland State University Library.
  39. ^ Rummel, Rudolph. "Table 11.1 The Mexican Democide Line 39". Statistics of Mexican Democide.
  40. ^ Peers, Douglas M. (2013), India Under Colonial Rule: [Pg-64] 1700–1885, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-317-88286-2
  41. ^ "CBS News/New York Times Monthly Poll, September 2009". ICPSR Data Holdings. 2011-05-09. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  42. ^ Silber, Nina (2018-11-26), "Slaves of the Depression", This War Ain't Over, University of North Carolina Press, pp. 65–98, ISBN 978-1-4696-4654-1, retrieved 2024-09-25
  43. ^ Zürcher, Erik (1968). "The Yüeh-chih and Kaniṣka in Chinese Sources". In Basham, Arthur Llewellyn (ed.). Papers on the Date of Kaniṣka: Submitted to the Conference on the Date of Kaniṣka, London, 20–22 April 1960. Brill. pp. 346–390. ISBN 978-90-04-00151-0.
  44. ^ White, Matthew (2011-10-20). Atrocitology: Humanity's 100 Deadliest Achievements. Canongate Books. ISBN 978-0-85786-125-2.
  45. ^ "Statistics of Wars, Oppressions and Atrocities of the Nineteenth Century".
  46. ^ "Colombia Truth Commission Gives Scathing Report on Civil War". Voice of America. June 28, 2022. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
  47. ^ Raychaudhuri, H. (2006). Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty. Cosmo Publications. p. 268,305. ISBN 978-81-307-0291-9. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  48. ^ Chatterjee, Suhas (1998). Indian civilization and culture (pg-155) New Delhi: M.D. Publications. p. 155. ISBN 9788175330832.