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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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[lower-alpha 1]–1945 | Allied Powers vs. Axis Powers | Global |
An Lushan Rebellion | 13–36 million[9] | 754–763 | Tang Dynasty and Uyghur Khaganate vs. Yan Dynasty | China |
Three Kingdoms War | 34 million[10] | 220–280 | Multiple sides | China |
Taiping Rebellion | 20–30 million[11][12] | 1850–1864 | Qing Dynasty vs. Taiping Heavenly Kingdom | China |
World War I | 15–30 million[13][14][15] | 1914–1918 | Allied Powers vs. Central Powers | Global |
Manchu Conquest of China | 25 million[16][17] | 1618–1683 | Manchu vs. Ming Dynasty | China |
Russian Civil War | 7–12 million[18] | 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[19] | 1618–1648 | Anti-Imperial Alliance vs. Imperial Alliance | Europe |
Spanish conquest of Mexico | 10.5 million[20][21] | 1519–1530 | Spanish Empire vs. Aztec Empire | Mexico |
Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire | 10 million[22] | 1533–1572 | Spanish Empire vs. Inca Empire | South America |
Dungan Revolt | 8–10 million[citation needed] | 1862–1877 | Qing Dynasty vs. Kashgaria vs. Hui Muslims | China |
Chinese Civil War | 4–9 million[23] | 1927–1949 | Multiple sides, but predominantly Communists vs. Kuomintang | China |
Reconquista | 7 million[24] | 718–1492 | Spanish and Portuguese Christians vs. Spanish and Portuguese Muslims | Iberia |
Napoleonic Wars | 5–7 million[25] | 1803–1815 | French Republic, later French Empire, vs. Coalition forces | Europe |
Second Congo War | 3–5.4 million[26][27][28] | 1998–2003 | Multiple sides | Democratic Republic of the Congo |
Spanish conquest of New Granada | 5.25 million[29][30] | 1499–1540 | Spanish Empire vs. Colombian Civilizations | Colombia |
Korean War | 2.5–3.5 million[31][23] | 1950–1953 | South Korea vs. North Korea | Korea |
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