[Cheiron]

Since people are so enlightened and trying to be friendly neighbors here in 21st century... cough, let's take a view at what we accomplished in last century and pause a moment to contemplate it all, maybe we can look to the future with a different stance after that.

[The extracts below are from an interesting link that gives details and is longer than what I compiled below, here provided for reference: http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm ]

Represented here are the somber statistics of war casualties in 20th century.... the first 60 or so anyway (military + civilian deaths). Take a deep breath and let your eyes scan slowly down the list:

First World War (1914-18 ): 15 000 000
Russian Civil War (1917-22): 9 000 000
Soviet Union, Stalin's regime (1924-53): 20 000 000
Second World War (1937-45): 55 000 000
Post-War Expulsion of Germans from East Europe (1945-47): 2 100 000
Chinese Civil War (1945-49): 2 500 000
People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong's regime (1949-1975): 40 000 000
Tibet (1950 et seq.): 600 000
Congo Free State (1886-1908): 8 000 000
Mexican Revolution (1910-20): 1 000 000
Armenian Massacres (1915-23): 1 500 000
China, Warlord Era (1917-28 ): 800 000
China, Nationalist Era (1928-37): 3 100 000
Korean War (1950-53): 2 800 000
North Korea (1948 et seq.) ---- blurry estimate but around 2 000 000
Rwanda and Burundi (1959-95): 1 350 000
Second Indochina War (1960-75): 3 500 000
Ethiopia (1962-92): 1 400 000
Nigeria (1966-70): 1 000 000
Bangladesh (1971): 1 250 000
Cambodia, Khmer Rouge (1975-1978): 1 650 000
Mozambique (1975-1992): 1 000 000
Afghanistan (1979-2001): 1 800 000
Iran-Iraq War (1980-88 ): 1 000 000
Sudan (1983 et seq.): 1 900 000
Kinshasa Congo (1998 et seq.): 3 800 000
Philippines Insurgency (1899-1902): 220 000
Brazil (1900 et seq.): 500 000
Amazonia (1900-12): 250 000
Portuguese Colonies (1900-25): 325 000
French Colonies (1900-40) >200 000
Russo-Japanese War (1904-05): 130 000
Maji-Maji Revolt, German East Africa (1905-07): 175 000
Libya (1911-31): 125 000
Balkan Wars (1912-13): 140 000
Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922): 250 000
Turkey Kurdish uprising (1925-28 ) estimate 200 000
Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and Franco Regime (1939-75): 365 000 + 100 000
Abyssinian Conquest (1935-41): 400 000
Russo-Finnish War (1939-1940): 150 000
Greek Civil War (1943-49): 158 000
Yugoslavia, Tito's Regime (1944-80): 200 000
First Indochina War (1945-54): 400 000
Colombia (1946-58 ): 200 000
India (1947): 500 000
Romania (1948-89): 150 000
Burma/ Myanmar (1948 et seq.): 130 000
Algeria (1954-62): 537 000
Sudan (1955-72): 500 000
Guatemala (1960-1996): 200 000
Indonesia (1965-66): 400 000
Uganda, Idi Amin's regime (1972-79): 300 000
Vietnam, post-war Communist regime (1975 et seq.): 430 000
Angola (1975-2002): 550 000
East Timor, Conquest by Indonesia (1975-99): 200 000
Libanon (1975-90): 150 000
Cambodian Civil War (1978-91): 225 000
Iraq, Saddam Hussein (1979-2003): 300 000
Kurdistan (1980s, 1990s): 300 000
Liberia (1989-97): 150 000
Iraq (1990-): 350 000
Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-95): 175 000
Somalia (1991 et seq.): 400 000
Zaire (Dem. Rep. Congo), Civil War (1997) 200 000

(list is longer, check link at top for more and details about each)
_________________
Cheiron
______________________________
"Any scientist with respect for himself should start
the day by rejecting his own pet hypotheses".
(Konrad Lorenz)

"Wir müssen wissen
Wir werden wissen"
(David Hilbert)

[George]

The numbers are staggering. A very sad statement of man's existence on this tiny orb we live on...

Yet...we continue to kill one another. Whether it be in a war...or someone murdered in some city. War is a easy way to settle disputes. Rather then try to settle or overcome problems..people seem to want to use the worse tool in the world. And that is to kill another human being.

We devote time and money to do this. Billions of dollars are spent and wasted on one thing and one thing only....the death of others. And we do it more and more proficiently as time goes by. I suppose it must be something within the makeup of man to strike out at someone rather than shake his hand in welcome.

I know I have no answer to this problem. I can make flowery statements of my own . But in the end...I have no answers like most others. Time will tell whether we survive as a species...or if the earth will fly through space as a cinder devoid of any living thing.
_________________
I left reality a long time ago. I just have not told anybody yet

[Jade]

do we deserve to survive might be a more fitting question, so true there are no answers to this one. the vast sums of money wasted on new ways to die would be better served in every country if spent on the health care system or education, countless different ways it could be more deservedly spent.
Peace Jade

[Cheiron]

Hm, watching the news about people running around intent on killing eachother, I remembered an old post here.... and decided to make a total of the 60 or so I posted about:

Here is grand total for military + civilian casualties in 20th century, but you can prolly throw in a couple of millions more doing complete list. Also note that this does not count in epidemics or natural disasters, only war:

193.385.000 persons

also. weblink is outdated, here is new one with all details:

http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm

The numbers are estimates, but the author collecting it all seems to do a fair job at it.
Btw. ... you can check out 21st century so far there too:

http://necrometrics.com/wars21c.htm

Sure is a nice place we live in...
_________________
Cheiron
______________________________
"Any scientist with respect for himself should start
the day by rejecting his own pet hypotheses".
(Konrad Lorenz)

"Wir müssen wissen
Wir werden wissen"
(David Hilbert)

[Hank]

Cheiron, did I miss the Vietnam War in your list ?

[Cheiron]

It's covered under the "Second Indochina War", here's a quote from that subentry:

[Hank]

Ah ok ty Cheiron I had missed that category. Saw indochina and never looked at the dates thinking it was when Vietnam was fighting to free themselves from the French.

[Cheiron]

French rule was "First Indochine war" (1945-54)

French finally lost after the catastrophe at Dien Bien Phu (also known as Operation Castor)... the Viet Minh hauled their heavy artillery up on hills surrounding the french, they didn't think it was possible, they could only get in supplies by air, too little and too late... what a disaster. From a military perspective Dien Bien Phu is interesting, I sure wouldn't like to have been there.... eeek

I'm sure you know about it Hank, but for others, that battle is interesting maybe, and you can find loads of links to it, for example this:

http://www.dienbienphu.org/english/

.. it has fairly detailed descriptions of the loooooong battle, also known as ....
The 57 Days in Hell
_________________
Cheiron
______________________________
"Any scientist with respect for himself should start
the day by rejecting his own pet hypotheses".
(Konrad Lorenz)

"Wir müssen wissen
Wir werden wissen"
(David Hilbert)