STATISTICS OF WAR

War has an unfortunate habit of killing as many civilians as it does soldiers. The numbers that have died throughout history are difficult to grasp. The history of war is long while the history of striving for world peace is a short one so far. We may think that mass killing has only occurred in the 20th century with our sophisticated technology for killing, but the figures tell otherwise:

Second World War 20th century 55 million

Mongol Conquests 13th century 40 million

An Lushan Revolt 8th century 36 million

Manchu Conquest 17th century 25 million

Taiping Rebellion 19th century 20 million

World War 1 20th century 15 million

Russian Civil War 20th century 9 million

Thirty Years War 17th century 7 million

Napoleonic Wars 19th century 4 million