Most brutal wars of the 20th century.

[Mohmar 'Deathstrike']

Make a list of the top 20 (or top 10 or top 39 or whatever) most destructive and violent wars of the last century. Here's my top 22:

1. World War 2

Military dead:
Over 14,000,000

Civilian dead:
Over 36,000,000
Total dead:
Over 50,000,000
Military dead:
Over 8,000,000

Civilian dead:
Over 4,000,000
Total dead
Over 12,000,000


2. Second Sino-Japanese War

Casualties
3,800,000 military,
17,530,000 civilians 1,900,000 military (including 480,000 KIA)


3. World War 1

Military dead:
5,525,000
Military wounded: 12,831,500
Military missing: 4,121,000[1]
Military dead:
4,386,000
Military wounded: 8,388,000
Military missing: 3,629,000[1]

4. Vietnam War

Casualties
South Vietnam
dead: ~250,000
wounded: ~1,169,763
U.S.
dead: 58,209
2,000 missing
wounded: 153,303
South Korea
dead: 4,900
wounded: 11,000
Australia
dead: 520
wounded: 2,400*
New Zealand
dead: 37
wounded: 187
Total dead: 313,658
Total wounded: 1,336,653 North Vietnam
dead: ~600,000
wounded: ~600,000
China
dead: 1,446
wounded: 4,200
Total dead: ~601,100
Total wounded: ~604,200
Vietnamese civilian dead: 2,000,000–5,100,000*
Cambodian civilian dead: ~700,000*
Laotian civilian dead: ~50,000*


* = approximations, see Notes below
For more information on casualties see

5. Korean War

Casualties
South Korea:
58,127 combat deaths
175,743 wounded
80,000 MIA or POW[3]
United States:
36,940 dead (including 3,275 non-combat)
103,000 wounded
8,142 MIA
3,746 POW
United Kingdom:
1,109 dead[4]
2,674 wounded
1,060 MIA or POW[5]
Turkey:
721 dead[5]
2,111 wounded
168 MIA
216 POW
Total: Over 474,000 North Korea:[6]
215,000 dead,
303,000 wounded,
120,000 MIA or POW
China (official):[6]
114,000 killed in combat
34,000 non-combat deaths
380,000 wounded
21,400 POW
China (estimated):[7]
400,000+ dead
486,000 wounded
21,000 POW
Soviet:
315 dead
500+ wounded
Total: 1,190,000-1,577,000+


6. Soviet war in Afghanistan

Casualties
Official Russian figures
14,453 killed or died from wounds and diseases,
417 missing or taken prisoner,
53,753 wounded,
415,932 sick. [1]
Afghan Communist N/A. No data
(estimated well over 1 million Afghan civilians and combatants on both sides killed, as well as 5.5 million displaced.)


7. Iran-Iraq War

Casualties
Est. 500,000+ soldiers/militia/civilians killed or wounded Est. 375,000+ soldiers/militia/civilians killed or wounded


8. Portuguese Colonial War

Casualties
8,290 dead Millions dead and maimed, mostly civilian


9. Nigerian Civil War

Casualties
200,000 soldiers and civilians Estimated 1,000,000 soldiers and civilians

10.Rwandan Civil War

Casualties
Unknown 800,000 to one million Tutsi and moderate Hutus killed.


11. Cambodian Civil War

Casualties

~600,000 dead and 1,000,000+ wounded


12. First Indochina War

Casualties
94,581 dead
78,127 wounded
40,000 captured 300,000+ dead
500,000+ wounded
100,000 captured


13. Mozambican Civil War

Casualties

900,000


14. Ethiopian Civil War

Casualties

250,000 deaths


15. Yugoslav wars

Casualties

200,000+


16. Algerian Civil War

Casualties

~150,000 - 200,000 dead[3]
See: List of Algerian massacres


17. Algerian War

Casualties
141,000+ dead 18,000 dead
65,000 wounded 100 dead (OAS)
2,000 jailed (OAS)


18. Angolan Civil War

Casualties

Civilians killed = hundreds of thousands

19. Indonesian invasion of East Timor

Casualties
Indonesians killed, wounded, or missing 1,000 East Timorese killed 100,000 - 200,000 (mostly civilians)


20. Winter War

Casualties
26,662 dead
39,886 wounded
1,000 captured[5] 126,875 dead or missing
264,908 wounded
5,600 captured[6]


21. Gulf War

Casualties
378 dead,
1,000 wounded

Other independent reports state significantly higher figures. Beth Osborne Daponte’s report for the US Commerce Department’s Census Bureau of Foreign Countries update, estimated 86,000 men, 39,000 women, and 32,000 children killed by Allied Forces. Controversially, she was reprimanded and her report reissued with reduced figures including the omission of women and children deaths. Since the original report she has published more studies that have put the estimate to around 200,000 deaths.[24]

22. Second Liberian Civil War

Casualties

150,000 people killed

[Falco]

???
you just listed up conflicts by casualties...

any war is brutal. i dont think a family being persecuted, raped, killed or whatever will say "hey this time it was less brutal than 20 years ago..." -.-

[Mohmar 'Deathstrike']

???
you just listed up conflicts by casualties...

any war is brutal. i dont think a family being persecuted, raped, killed or whatever will say "hey this time it was less brutal than 20 years ago..." -.-True. But if you consider the number of families being persecuted, raped, killed or whatever you can say hey this time it was less brutal than 20 years ago..." IMO.

[Kashif]

The world war II was the biggest and most brutal.Highest number of people died there for the injuries would be high and rapes destruction and other thins and this was changed the polices of many countries i.e Paksitan and India got liberated like other countires and I really feel sorry for Hitler that his deam didnt come true.And you dont know when dreams break what happens,he killed himself.By the was if Hitler had won then we must have got rid of all the Jews which are making trouble in the the middle east.

[Oriellien]

The world war II was the biggest and most brutal.Highest number of people died there for the injuries would be high and rapes destruction and other thins and this was changed the polices of many countries i.e Paksitan and India got liberated like other countires and I really feel sorry for Hitler that his deam didnt come true.And you dont know when dreams break what happens,he killed himself.By the was if Hitler had won then we must have got rid of all the Jews which are making trouble in the the middle east.

Dont say Hitler had the moral highground, and I wont say the allies had it. For your sake, I really hope you dont think killing 10 million (plus more that would have happened if he had won the war) is what you want.

[Falco]

True. But if you consider the number of families being persecuted, raped, killed or whatever you can say hey this time it was less brutal than 20 years ago..." IMO.
on society/country level of course you can say that war was more brutal than this one.
but on a personal level you dont care if your family died single or if 10 000 others also died...

[THE KINKS- VILLAGE GREEN]

You could also consider the internal pogroms within many countries, ie, the tens of millions who died in China under Mao, in Russia under Stalin, Cambodia under Pot etc etc

[Oriellien]

I think the Russian revolution was pretty brutal.

[mustavaris]

In my opinion the Communists and their present day supporters are left off the hook all too easily. Khmer Rouge, Stalinists and Mao killed many and yet it´s trendy and ok to have that red star on your hat ...while try wearing a swastike (not like I wanted..). Never to mention the fact that one gets weird looks if (s)he states to be a nationalist. D´oh.

[THE KINKS- VILLAGE GREEN]

In my opinion the Communists and their present day supporters are left off the hook all too easily. Khmer Rouge, Stalinists and Mao killed many and yet it´s trendy and ok to have that red star on your hat ...while try wearing a swastike (not like I wanted..). Never to mention the fact that one gets weird looks if (s)he states to be a nationalist. D´oh.



Totally agree, there seems to be some double standards applied in modern assessment/treatment of the far left as opposed to the far right (my own feeling is that, certainly in the UK, many of the educational "elite", come from post 1960s universities/higher education establishments were leftism and extreme leftists are the order of the day).

[mustavaris]

Totally agree, there seems to be some double standards applied in modern assessment/treatment of the far left as opposed to the far right (my own feeling is that, certainly in the UK, many of the educational "elite", come from post 1960s universities/higher education establishments were leftism and extreme leftists are the order of the day).

Its the same if not worse here. Our elite and universities are filled with leftists and old commies. My best achievement at the university´s cafeteria was being called a marxist and nazi during just one conversation:-) It´s very trendy to be a leftist with green flavour up here.. and to romantisize Che & other comrades.

It´s pretty hard to be just green with nationalist flavour.. That´s why I have wandered away from the Green Party although I once was loyal voter and supporter..though I must say that our Green Party is not like continental European green parties which are definately leftist parties, ours includes people from extreme left to centre right, the uniting factor being the environmentalism - a lot better situation than in many European countries if I am asked. But the red rot is spreading, especially in the south where the traditional Leftist Union (moderate socialists) are losing support and the leftist tendencies are gaining strength among the greens.

D´oh. I somehow wandered away from the original topic.. Crap happens;)

[dogukan]

In Turkey generally people we call "elite" are leftist.I haven't seen many good "right wing" person either.
I think the main reason for this is that the leftist had hard times(still like that in Turkey) during 80s
Anyway I believe the best ideology is Kemalism which you have the bests of all :D
Kemalists are(which are definetly the elites and the ones in danger) also considered as leftists but there is also nationalism and traditional things in it at a good dosage.But Europeans view it as completely right wing ideology
IMO leftists are generally better compared to right guys (in Turkey and probably in most parts of the world)
I'm not saying communists left wingers
like this
-----+----0----------- :)

It's also a fact that the communist ideology was misused and it will stay that way

[payam]

Just wait for the most burtal war of 21th century

[Oriellien]

Just wait for the most burtal war of 21th century

:( :( :( :( :(