User:Dwindrim/Testaroonies!!!
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Philosophers and social scientists have frequently noted the propensity of humans to commit violent acts not only as individuals but as groups. The twentieth century is a legacy of the ability of humanity to engage willingly in acts of warfare and atrocity.
Matthew White has conducted a study, based on figures quoted from a number of divergent and reliable sources to arrive at a conservative estimate of nearly 170 million lives lost to war and major atrocity in the last millenium. Because fatality statistics are subject to a great deal of uncertainty in turbulent times, White has opted to conservatism in his reporting of statistics. He also employs a commonly-used strategem which forces extreme values at the upper and lower ends of the data field to cancel each other out, resulting in a "best fit" value.
Using existing data, White categorizes these twentieth century events according to most reliable fatality data. While "minor" atrocities and civil conflicts will add to the number, this table compiles those conflicts whose death tolls are close to or exceed half a million souls.
| Rank | Deaths | Event | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 000 000 | World War II | 1937-1945 |
| 2 | 40 000 000 | China: Mao Zedong's regime | 1949-1976 |
| 3 | 20 000 000 | USSR: Stalin's regime | 1924-1953 |
| 4 | 15 000 000 | World War I | 1914-1918 |
| 5 | 8 800 000 | Russian Civil War | 1918-1921 |
| 6 | 4 000 000 | China: Warlord & Nationalist Era | 1917-1937 |
| 7 | 3 000 000 | Congo Free State | 1900-1908 |
| 8 | 2 800 000 | Korean War I | 1950-1953 |
| 9 | 2 700 000 | 2nd Indochina War (incl. Laos & Cambodia) | 1960-1975 |
| 10 | 2 500 000 | Chinese Civil War | 1945-1949 |
| 11 | 2 100 000 | German Expulsions after WW2 | 1945-1947 |
| 12 | 1 900 000 | Second Sudanese Civil War | 1983-continuing |
| 13 | 1 700 000 | Congolese Civil War | 1998-continuing |
| 14 | 1 000 000 | Cambodia: Khmer Rouge regime | 1975-1979 |
| 15 | 1 400 000 | Afghanistan Civil War | 1980-continuing |
| 15 | 1 400 000 | Ethiopian Civil Wars | 1962-1992 |
| 17 | 1 250 000 | Mexican Revolution | 1910-1920 |
| 18 | 1 250 000 | East Pakistan massacres | 1971 |
| 19 | 1 000 000 | Iran-Iraq War | 1980-1988 |
| 19 | 1 000 000 | Nigeria: Biafra | 1967-1970 |
| 21 | 800 000 | Mozambique Civil War | 1976-1992 |
| 21 | 800 000 | Rwanda | 1994 |
| 23 | 675 000 | French-Algerian War | 1954-1962 |
| 24 | 600 000 | First Indochina War | 1945-1954 |
| 24 | 600 000 | Angolan Civil War | 1975-1994 |
| 26 | 500 000 | Indonesia: Massacre of Communistst | 1965-1967 |
| 26 | 500 000 | India-Pakistan Partition | 1947 |
| 26 | 500 000 | First Sudanese Civil War | 1955-1972 |
| 26 | 500 000 | Amazonian Indian decline | 1900-1999 |
| 30 | 365 000 | Spanish Civil War | 1936-1939 |
| ?? | >350 000 | Somalia | 1991-ongoing |
| ?? | >400 000 | North Korea Communist regime | 1948-ongoing |
These values are subject to the usual margins of error. They also include all varieties of atrocity: battle deaths, civilian casualties of war, democide, famine caused by the economic disruption, etc.
