Most Costly War in Human History

[Krypton-Zod]

World War II was the most costliest war, affecting more territory than WWI. On the lighter side, it lead much of the developed world to work together to avoid another one like that happening again.

What a pity that since 1945 China caused the deaths of tens of millions of their own citizens, Cambodia killed off a third of its people, east Pakistan muslims tried to wipe out the hindus (only for the Indian army to end it, and establish Bangladesh), then we had the muslims stirring up sectarian hatred in Yugoslavia, Somalia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan etcetera, Hutu vs Tutsi in central Africa, and lets not forget a 30 year war in Vietnam because the French refused to give it up as a colony.

[Hobbes City and Lanos]

Most people died in WW2, right? That one.


Or the yankie war of independence.

50 million alone died in Europe during World War 2.

it beats them all

[Krypton-Zod]

In terms of shear number of death, WW2. In terms of negative impact on human history as a whole, impossible to say. WW1 might win though, as WW2 and the Cold War were largely its results. In terms of deaths as a percentage of the total population, no idea.

WW I was the culmination of the tensions that were temporarily covered up by the congress of Vienna which itself was a consequence of the Napolenonic wars which were a consequence of absolutist monarchism etc...

[Forsakia]

No because the generals until 1917 where all pricks who made the men walk at a machine gun posistion at the same time everytime they attacked! stupid or what and yes because of how bad trench warfare was.

Not really. 1914 and 1915 were like that, but by late 1915-1916, both sides had realized that massive artillery bombardments and frontal assaults were not the way to go, and tried to come up with different tactics. The problem was that most of these tactics were just as bad, if not worse, than frontal assaults, and an sort of effective means of breaking trench lines came in 1917 with tanks. Of course, WWI was really won by the British blockade, which starved the Germans until they collapsed.

The WWI generals get a worse reputation than they really deserve, they made tactical advances as they became technologically feasible and were hampered by pressure from their political masters.

[Khybero]

World War 1.

It destroyed several Empires and without it WW2 in the form it occurred would have never happened.

Additionally it exacerbated the problem of Spanish Flu.

In terms of actual losses though its WW2.

[Brogavia]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Verdun

The cause of most of the wars in Europe since 843 bc.

Created the dispute over the Lorraine region between France and Germany. Started an 1100 year cycle of revanchism.

[Delator]

The War on Drugs

[Disposablepuppetland]

Has no one mentioned the Crusades yet?

Not only did millions die in the actual conflicts but the repercussions have caused a cycle of endless violence centred around the Middle East.

[The Archregimancy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Verdun

The cause of most of the wars in Europe since 843 bc.

Created the dispute over the Lorraine region between France and Germany. Started an 1100 year cycle of revanchism.

843 AD, not BC.

And just to be pedantic, the treaty arguably doesn't meet the parameters of the OP, which is about the costliest War, and while you can make a strong case for the Treaty of Verdun having important political repercussions for the future, the 40,000 killed in the Battle of Fontenay hardly qualify the brief struggle between the sons of Louis the Pious to decide the destiny of the Carolingian Empire at the forefront of deadly conflicts.

One might also argue that the '1100 year cycle of revanchism' only really became a strong issue again following 1870 and the Franco-Prussian War. For long periods after 843, there was no centralised strong French state, and when that state did start to centralise successfully, its German counterpart was well on its way to falling apart. And for a relatively brief period in the 15th century, the Dukes of Burgundy looked well on their way towards refounding Lotharingia.

There is certainly an argument for seeing Verdun as the root of later conflict between France and Germany, but more because it guaranteed that there would be a separate 'France' and 'Germany' in later centuries; using it as a justification for arguments over the status of Alsace and Lorraine are arguably an anachronistic product of modern conceptions of the ethnically-based European nation state.

And I also raised an eyebrow at your comment "The cause of most of the wars in Europe since 843 bc", which many Europeans east of the Elbe, south of the Pyrenees and Alps, north of Kiel, and across the English Channel might seriously dispute.

[Yootopia]

and lets not forget a 30 year war in Vietnam because the French refused to give it up as a colony.

See also Algeria.

[United Russian State]

second world war

[Bears Armed]

then we had the muslims Serbs stirring up sectarian hatred in Yugoslavia,

Fixed.

Has no one mentioned the Crusades yet?

Not only did millions die in the actual conflicts but the repercussions have caused a cycle of endless violence centred around the Middle East.

Are you under the impression that the lands in question were originally inahbited by Muslims? WRONG! In fact the Caliphate had taken them by force from the (Christian) Byzantine Empire, and that was the real start of Christian/Muslim hostilities there...

[Mikertaz Kein]

then we had the muslims Serbs stirring up sectarian hatred in Yugoslavia,

Fixed.

Has no one mentioned the Crusades yet?

Not only did millions die in the actual conflicts but the repercussions have caused a cycle of endless violence centred around the Middle East.

Are you under the impression that the lands in question were originally inahbited by Muslims? WRONG! In fact the Caliphate had taken them by force from the (Christian) Byzantine Empire, and that was the real start of Christian/Muslim hostilities there...

'bout fucking time someone got it right...

[LOL ANARCHY NUBZ]

Muzlinmz r ebil, k?

[Disposablepuppetland]

Has no one mentioned the Crusades yet?

Not only did millions die in the actual conflicts but the repercussions have caused a cycle of endless violence centred around the Middle East.

Are you under the impression that the lands in question were originally inahbited by Muslims? WRONG! In fact the Caliphate had taken them by force from the (Christian) Byzantine Empire, and that was the real start of Christian/Muslim hostilities there...

No, I'm well aware that the Muslims took Jerusalem from the Byzantines, and that it was previously invaded by the Persians, Greeks, Jews, Babylonians, etc.

However, the Caliphate had ruled the area, relatively peacefully, for over 400 years when the Crusades started. The previous wars in that area were local battles as one empire grew and another fell. The Crusades pitched the whole of western Christianity against Islam for a purely religious conquest, and that war is still going on.

[Merieu]

The Russo-Jappanese War is the only war in history where more people died from battlefield casualties than disease, starvation, and fatigue combined. It was a major cuase for the Russian Revolution which instituted a Communist Government that slaughtered hundreds of it's own people daily, while also sacrificing 20 million soldiers in World War II and even more other conflicts. The list of reprocussions for the war go on for pages, and it forever changed the balance of power in Asia.

but ww2 is moer well known so its badder amirite?

[Kaesekartoffeln]

Has no one mentioned the Crusades yet?

Not only did millions die in the actual conflicts but the repercussions have caused a cycle of endless violence centred around the Middle East.

Are you under the impression that the lands in question were originally inahbited by Muslims? WRONG! In fact the Caliphate had taken them by force from the (Christian) Byzantine Empire, and that was the real start of Christian/Muslim hostilities there...

No, I'm well aware that the Muslims took Jerusalem from the Byzantines, and that it was previously invaded by the Persians, Greeks, Jews, Babylonians, etc.

However, the Caliphate had ruled the area, relatively peacefully, for over 400 years when the Crusades started. The previous wars in that area were local battles as one empire grew and another fell. The Crusades pitched the whole of western Christianity against Islam for a purely religious conquest, and that war is still going on.

Religion was definitely a major factor in the Crusades, but they weren't "purely religious", as you say. The First Crusade began with the Byzantine emperor's plea for help against the Muslims attacking the empire. One of Pope Urban II's motives for turning the request for some assistance into a massive Crusade was to unite the knights of feudal Europe, severely lacking in central authority, against a common enemy instead of using their fighting skills on one another and Europe's people.

I also have to disagree with the Crusades being the primary cause of today's Christian/Muslim conflicts. Extremists (in almost any religion) are always going to hate infidels, and there are plenty of things in today's world to fight about.

[Birminghamia]

High estimates of war death tolls:
World War I: 25,000,000
World War I: 72,000,000
Vietnam War: 5,020,000
Napoleonic Wars: 6,500,000
Korean War: 3,500,000
Thirty Years' War: 11,500,000
American Civil War: 620,000
Seven Years' War: 1,400,000
American Revolutionary War: 52,294

One asterisk per 1,000,000:
WWI:*************************
WW2:************************************************************************
VNW:*****
NWS:*******
KRW:****
TYW:***********
ACW:*
SYW:*
ARW:

[Spredronia]

World War II has had the most deaths so far, but for recent wars it just seems like the Middle East has turned into an IED vacation site.

[Cameroi]

the war between pseudo-religeous self ritously motivated arrogance, along with short sighted greed, vs the infinitely complex, unimaginably diverse, 100% recycling 'web of life', on which, our own existence as a species, utterly depends.

failing to bring it to a peaceful, mutually tolerating end, will certainly cost humanity ALL of its 'history'.