War - from the mere mention of this word, the soul becomes anxious. Even if a person has never found himself in the center of any military events, but simply watched a movie about the war on TV, he already understands how creepy and scary it is.
As civilization developed, the methods of warfare also developed, and if at the beginning it was possible to kill 10 people with a bow, and then carry off the legs yourself, now progress has reached the destruction of huge cities with a single bomb.
It is worth considering, what will be the consequences of such developments in technology? But the world cannot live without wars and never could, tools are becoming more and more improved, and people are becoming more and more vulnerable.
5th place: Napoleonic wars from 1799 to 1815
Napoleon Bonaparte is the great French commander who came to power in 1799 to conquer the whole world and raise France from its knees. However, even before he came to power, he drew up a plan to conquer the world and began to implement it. As a result, the wars of the Third (1803-1805), Fourth (1806-1807), Fifth Coalitions (1808-1809) and the Patriotic War in 1812 led to colossal losses of human lives, about 3.5 million, but even despite this Napoleon failed to put his plan into action and his army was destroyed at the Battle of Waterloo. I had to return home with nothing.
4th place: Civil war in Russia in the period from 1917 to 1923
The overthrow of the tsar for Russia was a very difficult and truly troubled time. It’s one thing when an enemy attacks your country and you need to defend your homeland, but it’s another thing when you are attacked by people who yesterday were your neighbors in the yard, and today they changed their political opinion and became your enemies, this is exactly what happened in Russia. The country was divided into reds (for the new order - democracy) and whites (for the old order - monarchy). With the most conservative estimates, 5.5 million people died in the civil war, but these are such average figures that it is difficult to judge their reliability.
3rd place: World War I from 1914 to 1918
This war received its name after the end of the Second World War, and at that time it was called the Great War or the Great Patriotic War. The prerequisite for the outbreak of hostilities was the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand by a certain terrorist student from Bosnia. After that, it was not possible to establish peace for another 4 years. During this war, about 11 million people died and such great empires as Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, German collapsed.
2nd place: Wars of the Mongol Empire 13-15 centuries
The Mongol-Tatar yoke is an expression that terrified the people who lived at that time. It was truly a state with a territory that is even hard to imagine - 24 million square meters, and that's it, plus or minus. For such a considerable period of time, about 17% of the population died on earth. These are amazing numbers, but the Mongolian state ceased to exist, and with it the war in 1480, when, under the Grand Duke Ivan 3, the Muscovite state was completely freed from the Mongol-Tatar oppression.
1st place: World War II from 1939 to 1945
The most terrible war on Earth, the bloodiest, most cruel and unprincipled. Almost all states on the planet took part in this war (62 out of 73 existing at that time). The war unleashed by Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, was a disaster for the entire planet.
Battles were fought in the air, at sea, on land. Wherever it was possible to fight, the Nazis visited, built concentration camps, work camps, prisons, killed millions of people, as unworthy to live on earth. Fascist and Nazi theories were based on clearing the world of subhumans. And, if we take into account the total human losses during this war, then it’s hard to even imagine the numbers - it’s 65 million people, the lion’s share of this amount was made up of citizens of the Soviet Union.
This war was the most destructive in material and domestic terms. It took more than one decade and overwork of people to restore countries after it. Also, this is the first war in which atomic weapons were used as weapons of mass destruction.
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There was not a long period in the history of the existence of mankind for people to do without wars. Unfortunately, there have always been wars. Some of them were so cruel that tens of millions of people became victims. Online magazine Factinteres collected the most brutal wars in the history of mankind.
Conquest of the Americas
- Dead: about 10-130 million people
The beginning of this war is attributed to the beginning of the 10th century, when Europeans were just beginning to colonize South and North America. The very beginning of colonization was laid not far from the shores of present-day Canada. The most bloody battles fall on the period from 1492 to 1691. For almost two hundred years, several tens of millions of people have died. Unfortunately, historians cannot calculate the exact number of losses, because. even to this day, the number of the indigenous population of South and North America is not known.
Lushan uprising
- Dead: about 13-36 million people
This bloody war almost led to the collapse of the great empire of China. This war claimed lives from 755 to 763. During this time, several tens of millions of people died. Historians still cannot give exact data, but most researchers agree that the figure is close to exactly 36 million dead. At the time, that number was almost 60 percent of China's population.
World War I
- Dead: Approximately 18 million people
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Almost everyone in school studied the history of the First World War. All of Europe was engulfed in the fire of war, in which more than 18 million people died, including 7 million ordinary civilians.
Taiping rebellion
- Dead: about 20-30 million people
The Taiping Rebellion began in 1850 and continued until 1864. Most of the deaths were surprisingly not from guns. The fact is that at that time a famine of the population began in China, which in turn led to an epidemic of plague.
Second Sino-Japanese War
- Dead: Approximately 25-30 million people
The hostilities between 1937 and 1945 were the bloodiest military operations in Asia. Then more than 25 million people became victims, and most of them were civilians. The number of military dead is estimated at 4 million people.
Mongol invasion
- Dead: 40-70 million people
The Mongol Empire at one time was a huge and powerful state. The constant hostilities that the Mongol Empire carried out led to the fact that the bubonic plague appeared in the state, which destroyed several tens of millions of people.
The Second World War
- Dead: about 60-65 million people
It is the Second World War that is considered the bloodiest war in the entire period of human existence. 62 countries of the world took part in this war (at the time of hostilities there were only 73 states on the planet). Hundreds of millions of people became unwitting participants in this war. The losses from the war amounted to more than 60 million people.
Throughout its history, mankind has been in a state of continuous war. Every year, conflicts arise that are resolved not with the help of words and negotiations, but with the help of weapons and the deaths of thousands of innocent people. The struggle is for territory, natural and human resources. In chronological order, starting from the most ancient and ending with the last major war, we list and briefly describe the terrible pages of the history of the globe.
Rebellion of Ai Lushan (755-763)
For a long time, the most bloody war in the history of mankind was the civil war in China. Known as the Ai Lushan Mutiny. During this time, China was ruled by the Tang Dynasty. In the service of the emperor was Ai Lushan, who achieved influence in several border provinces.
In 755, he raised a rebellion against the current ruler and proclaimed himself the new emperor. Despite the fact that in 757 the leader of the rebels was killed in a dream, his comrades-in-arms in the struggle for power. They were able to completely suppress the uprising in the country 8 years after the outbreak of unrest in February 763. During the conflict, according to various sources, from 13 to 36 million people died, which is equal to the population of modern Canada 34 million people, and in those days it was 15% of the total population of the planet.
Formation and wars of the Mongol Empire of the 13th-15th centuries
The Mongol Empire is the largest state that has ever existed on Earth. The maximum size reached 24 million square kilometers, a huge empire, on the territory of which many different peoples lived. The formation of the Empire was started by the great warrior Genghis Khan, who united the warring tribes under his leadership.
After the formation of the Mongolian state at the beginning of the 13th century, they conducted continuous military campaigns. For all the time of the wars waged by the Mongol Empire until its collapse in 1480, an order of 60 million people(the population of modern Italy), at that time it was from 10 to 17% of the population of the entire globe.
The coming to power of the Manchu dynasty (1616-1662)
Another struggle for power in China led to death 25 million people it was precisely so many lives that the coming to power of the Manchu dynasty of the last ruling imperial dynasty of China cost. Under the leadership of Nurkhatsi, who united dozens of tribes under his leadership and moved to conquer all of China.
The ruling Ming dynasty at that time had an overwhelming numerical advantage, but due to the stupid command, it suffered a crushing defeat. Despite the death of Nurhatsi in 1626, it was no longer possible to stop the bloodshed. During the struggle for power, about 5% of the world's population, in numerical terms, the population of modern North Korea, died.
Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815)
The wars waged by France under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte in Europe and Africa. Napoleon, who came to power on November 9, 1799, had huge plans to seize power not only in France, but also to establish dominance throughout Europe. These wars took place not only on the battlefield, but also at the diplomatic table, the rulers of states were looking for benefits from diplomatic alliances.
Depending on military successes, new and interrupted existing treaties between countries were concluded. Therefore, the Napoleonic Wars consist of various kinds of military conflicts in which there were many different alliances and allies, including: the Third Coalition of 1805, the Fourth Coalition of 1806-1807, the Fifth Coalition of 1808-1809, the Patriotic War of 1812, and so on. . During the wars in which most of the countries of Europe were drawn, according to historians, about 3-4 million people, which is the population of present-day Croatia.
World War I (Great War), (1914-1918)
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the political situation in Europe was tense to the chapel, Germany and Great Britain fought for influence both in Europe and Africa. The assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo was the last straw, and the world plunged into war. A month later, on July 28, 1914, full-scale clashes began.
This military conflict ended on November 11, 1918. After the end of the war, four great empires disappeared from the geographical map: Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and German. As a result, 34 states from all over the globe took part in World War I. Died during the war about 65 million people(20 million directly in the fighting and about 45 million people from the mass epidemic of the Spanish influenza). Losses in battles in this war are equal to the population of modern Romania.
Participation in World War I, the weakening of the power of the tsar, led to the revolution of 1917 and the collapse of imperial power in Russia. A civil war broke out on the ashes of the tsarist empire. A struggle for power began between the Bolsheviks and the "white movement". Each opposing side pursued its own goals and ideals.
Some wanted a return to the old system, others were building a new country where power should belong to the people, others robbed and killed taking advantage of the chaos that had arisen in the country. In this fratricidal struggle died according to various estimates 5.5 to 9 million people. This is the number of people currently living in Belarus.
World War II (1939-1945)
After the defeat in World War I, the German people needed a new leader who would lead the country to new heights. Such a leader was Adolf Hitler, who came to power in Germany. It is with the name of this person that the most terrible and bloody times that the population of our planet has ever experienced have been associated. The Second World War lasted for a long 6 years, from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945, 62 countries out of 73 that existed on Earth at that time took part in it. 80% of the world's population was involved in this conflict.
The battle took place on the ground (on three continents), in the air and even under water (rivers, seas and oceans). In this war, for the first time and the only time so far, a terrible weapon was used - nuclear. According to historians, the war claimed the lives of 40 to 72 million people. In our time, the population of only 18 countries exceeds the number of those who died in this terrible battle for peace on Earth.
War is not only scary, but also stupid. Here are the stories of five conflicts that brought nothing but death and decline.
Since history began to be documented, there have been over 15,000 wars on Earth. Centuries later, many of them seem absurd, most of them useless.
3600 years
BC e.
1. The first catastrophic
Several hundred skeletons with broken bones and piles of shells for slings among the fragments of three-meter clay walls. This is all that remains of Hamukar - one of the first, if not the very first, city on Earth. Before the assault by the southerners from Uruk, he occupied more than 100 hectares in the north of modern Syria.
The Uruks controlled the irrigation system and the wheat trade in Mesopotamia. Hamukar's economy grew from the export of obsidian and copper tools. In the last hours of the battle, the inhabitants of a wealthy and poorly defended city tried to convert clay seals, which denoted the ownership of their property, into sling bullets.
The reasons for the conflict are unknown. There were no winners. The desert swallowed up the artisan quarters for thousands of years. In the process, the Uruks destroyed a colony of their fellow merchants in Hamukar. The copper production technology in this area was lost for a long time.
Great civilization of antiquity. It existed in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Sling shells from the ruins of Hamukara. Photo: University of Chicago Plan of the ruins of Hamukara. Photo: University of Chicago The remains of a resident of Hamukar. Photo: University of Chicago
1st century
2. Tax Holocaust
In AD 66, the Roman Empire was at the height of its military power and had no rivals in the Mediterranean. Recruits for the best army of that time were prepared by the first drill system. The first engineering troops on Earth did not know what an "impregnable fortress" was. And the province of Judea still rebelled.
The high priests seethed with the need to make daily sacrifices for the health of the emperor. The inhabitants resented the rudeness of the Roman soldiers and the greed of the officials. Jerusalem rebelled when the procurator confiscated a large amount of silver from the Temple, allegedly on account of unpaid taxes by the inhabitants of the city. The Roman garrison was destroyed.
In the early years, the uprising was a success. Jerusalem was ruled by priests, the XII Legion was defeated, the rebel pirate fleet disrupted the supply of grain from Egypt to Rome. However, in 70 AD, a 60,000-strong army invaded Judea under the command of Titus, the son of Emperor Vespasian. Radicals burned food supplies so that people fought to the last, moderate citizens were cut with daggers in the streets.
Jerusalem fell when the Romans broke through the walls with cars, set fire to and stormed the Temple. As a result of hostilities, famine and epidemics, more than a million people died - half of the inhabitants of Judea. Jews for centuries lost the chance to build their own state. From their main shrine, only a fragment of the supporting wall remained - the Wailing Wall.
Formerly the Center for Jewish Religious Life. An object of pilgrimage, the only permitted place for sacrifices to God.
"The siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under the command of Titus", painting by David Roberts, 1850 / Wikipedia "Catapult". Painting by Edward Poynter, 1868 / Wikipedia
8th century
3. Vocation of nomads
In 755, An Lushan, a commander from Central Asia in the service of the Chinese, rushed to success. When the first minister died under the weak emperor Xuan Zong, he already controlled 3 out of 10 border provinces. Having recruited an army of nomads, Lushan played on the contempt of the imperial court for the "barbarians from the north" and led them to the capital of the Tang dynasty. Soon the commander declared himself the first emperor of the new Yan dynasty.
Turkic nomads helped An Lushan utterly defeat two armies of the ruling clan with a total of 150,000 people, force the current emperor to abdicate and split the country into two parts. In contrast, the son of the former emperor, Li Heng, summoned detachments of Uighurs, Burmese, Arabs and Tibetans to the state.
The war went on for 17 years and cost 36 million inhabitants. Not all of them died. Most fled or were taken prisoner, but the loss of life in 1/6 of the world's population could not but undermine the country's strength. The cities were depopulated, and for hundreds of years the history of China was not written by the Chinese.
An Lushan and Emperor Xuan Zong's escape from the capital of Chang'an to Sichuan. Image: Imperial Palace Museum / Wikipedia Ceramic figurines from the Tang Dynasty, 618-906. Photo: British Museum
19th century
4. Massacre for the coast
To export timber, minerals, cotton and mate, import technology and weapons, Paraguay badly needed its own port on the Atlantic coast. The country deliberately prepared for the massacre: it fired cannons, converted civilian steamships. 400 guns and 60,000 trained fighters - a formidable army for this time and region.
In 1864, Paraguay began a six-year confrontation with a coalition of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil for access to the ocean. The Triple Alliance at first had only 30,000 regular troops, but significantly outnumbered the enemy in artillery and ships. This determined the end of the conflict. Paraguay invaded Argentina, raided Brazil. But relying on the supply and fire support of numerous river vessels, the allied forces moved along the La Plata basin with a steam roller. Bypassing the enemy's fortresses and cutting off the fortified areas, they defeated the Paraguayan fleet and, in 5 years of the hardest campaign, took the capital Asuncion.
90% of the male population of Paraguay died at the front, and because of the cholera epidemic, women and children were drafted into the troops. In the fight, the president of the state was killed. The country never completed industrialization, and even now its main export is cotton. The bloodbath was in vain.
Uruguayan artillery, July 18, 1866. Photo: Ricardo Salles, “War in Paraguay: memories and pictures”, Rio de Janeiro, National Library / Wikipedia Brazilian soldiers, May 30, 1868 Photo: Ricardo Salles, “War in Paraguay: memories and pictures”. Rio de Janeiro, National Library / Wikipedia A trench of the Uruguayan soldiers. Photo: Ricardo Salles, Paraguayan War: Memories and Pictures. Rio de Janeiro, National Library / Wikipedia Remains of Paraguayan soldiers on the battlefield. Photo: Bia Corrêa do Lago / Wikipedia
20th century
5. Export Revolution
After defeating the dictator Batista, Castro's team devised a strategy to export the revolution. Che Guevara fought in the Congo and Bolivia, members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba were captured in Guinea. There were legends about the fighting qualities of the Cuban contingent in Angola. Cuban cells, rebel groups and missions operated in Chile, the Caribbean, and throughout Latin America.
Up to 70,000 Cuban fighters and instructors were on "foreign missions" at the same time. Impressive numbers, considering that the size of the Cuban army rarely exceeded 45,000. While the men were dying abroad, their families at home received rice, minced meat, surrogate coffee and soy milk on coupons.
Fierce battles on two continents, opposition to the elite units of South Africa, endless losses in guerrilla wars, the death of Che in Bolivia, the suffocating American blockade. There was nothing left - only old sick people in the presidium, thousands of dead and maimed, poverty and the death of hopes.
Che Guevara holding a baby during the Congo Crisis, 1965. Photo: Che Guevara Museum in Cuba / Wikipedia