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 of which the wars of the Third (1803-1805), Fourth (1806-1807), Fifth Coalitions (1808-1809) and Patriotic War in 1812, led to colossal losses of human lives, about 3.5 million, but even despite this, Napoleon failed to realize his plan 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 became very difficult and in truth troubled times. 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 difficult to imagine - 24 million square meters, and it's still, plus 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 Grand Duke Ivan 3, Moscow state 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). War unleashed 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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Modern films about the war are full of colorful battles and single fights, in which, of course, the victory is won by main character. At the same time, we still sincerely rejoice at his victory. But how else, he is good, he killed the bad ones - everything converges and is quite logical.

But the war is real life- this is the most terrible phenomenon of society and a manifestation of the true essence of man, in full glory revealing his predatory, ferocious nature. And for centuries, people deliberately commit murder, exterminating enemies and pursuing their “false” goals - political, religious, racial, etc. And the worst thing is that, contrary to the popular belief that “history teaches us not to repeat mistakes,” we history of their existence have not learned to live peacefully.

Swiss Jean-Jacques Babel calculated that in the entire history from 3500 BC. and to this day, humanity has lived peacefully for only 292 years.

But wars were different. It is often difficult to estimate the number of those who died in a war, but if we take the minimum numbers of loss estimates, the picture is as follows.

10. Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815)
The wars that Napoleon Bonaparte waged with various states of Europe from 1799 to 1815 are usually called the Napoleonic Wars. To redistribution political map Europe, a gifted commander began even before he made a coup on 18 Brumaire and became First Consul. Hanover campaign, the War of the Third Coalition or the Russian-Austrian-French War of 1805, the War of the Fourth Coalition, or the Russian-Prussian-French War of 1806-1807, which ended with the famous Peace of Tilsit, the War of the Fifth Coalition, or the Austro-French War of 1809, Patriotic the war of 1812 and the war of the Sixth Coalition of European Powers against Napoleon and, finally, the campaign of the Hundred Days era, which ended with the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, claimed the lives of at least 3.5 million people. Many historians double this figure.

9. Civil War in Russia (1917-1923)

More people died in the civil war that followed the 1917 revolution in Russia than in all Napoleonic Wars: at least 5.5 million people, and according to bolder estimates, all 9 million. And although these losses amounted to less than half a percent of the world's population, for our country the war between the Reds and the Whites had the most severe consequences. No wonder Anton Ivanovich Denikin canceled all awards in his army - what awards in a fratricidal war? And, by the way, it is in vain to think that the Civil War ended in 1920 with the Crimean evacuation and the fall of the White Crimea. In fact, the Bolsheviks managed to suppress the last pockets of resistance in Primorye only in June 1923, and the fight against the Basmachi in Central Asia dragged on until the early forties.

8. Dungan uprising (1862)

In 1862, the so-called Dungan uprising against the Qing Empire began in northwestern China. Chinese and non-Chinese Muslim national minorities - Dungans, Uyghurs, Salars - revolted, according to Bolshaya Soviet Encyclopedia, against the national oppression of the Chinese-Manchu feudal lords and the Qing dynasty. English-speaking historians do not fully agree with this and see the origins of the uprising in racial and class antagonism and in the economy, but not in religious strife and rebellion against the ruling dynasty. Be that as it may, but which began in May 1862 in Weinan County, Shaanxi Province, the uprising spread to the provinces of Gansu and Xinjiang. There was no single headquarters of the uprising, and according to various estimates, from 8 to 12 million people suffered in the war of all against all. As a result, the uprising was brutally suppressed, and the surviving rebels were sheltered Russian empire. Their descendants still live in Kyrgyzstan, South Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

7. Ai Lushan Rebellion (8th century AD)

The era of the Tang Dynasty is traditionally considered in China to be the period of the highest power of the country, when China was far ahead of the contemporary countries of the world. And the civil war at that time was to match the country - grandiose. In world historiography, it is called the Ai Lushan uprising. Thanks to the location of Emperor Xuanzong and his beloved concubine Yang Guifei, the Turk (or Sogdian) in the Chinese service, Ai Lushan concentrated enormous power in the army in his hands - under his command were 3 of the 10 border provinces of the Tang Empire. In 755, Ai Lushan rebelled and the following year proclaimed himself emperor of the new Yan Dynasty. And although already in 757 the sleeping leader of the uprising was stabbed to death by his trusted eunuch, it was possible to pacify the rebellion only by February 763. The number of victims is amazing: according to the smallest account, 13 million people died. And if you believe the pessimists and assume that the population of China decreased at that time by 36 million people, then you have to admit that the rebellion of Ai Lushan reduced the population of the world at that time by more than 15 percent. In this case, if you count by the number of victims, it was the largest armed conflict in the history of mankind until World War II.

6. World War I (1914-1918)

The hero of Francis Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby called it "a belated migration of the Teutonic tribes." It was called the war against war, the Great War, the European War. The name with which she lived in history was coined by the military columnist for The Times, Colonel Charles Repington: The First World War.

The starting shot of the world meat grinder was the shot in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. From that day until the truce of November 11, 1918, 15 million died by the most modest measure. If you come across the number 65 million, don’t be alarmed: it also included all those who died from the Spanish flu, the most massive flu pandemic in the history of mankind. In addition to the mass of victims, the result of World War I was the liquidation of four empires: Russian, Ottoman, German and Austria-Hungary.

5. Wars of Tamerlane (14th century)

Remember Vasily Vereshchagin's painting "The Apotheosis of War"? So, originally it was called "The Triumph of Tamerlane", and all because the great eastern commander and conqueror loved to build pyramids from human skulls. I must say that there was no shortage of material: for 45 years aggressive campaigns lame Timur - in Persian Timur-e-Lyang, and in our opinion Tamerlane - put, no less, more than 3.5 percent of the population the globe second half of the 14th century. At least - 15 million, or even all 20. Wherever he just went: Iran, Transcaucasia, India, Golden Horde, Ottoman Empire– interests iron chrome extended wide. Why "iron"? But because the name Timur, or rather Temur, is translated from the Turkic languages ​​as "iron". By the end of Tamerlane's reign, his empire stretched from Transcaucasia to Punjab. Emir Timur did not manage to conquer China, although he tried - death interrupted his campaign.

4. Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864)

In fourth place is again China, which is not surprising: the country is inhabited. And again, the times of the Qing Empire, that is, turbulent: the opium wars, the Dungan uprising, the Yihetuan movement, the Xinhai revolution ... And the most bloody uprising of the Taipings, which claimed the lives of 20 million people, according to conservative estimates. The indiscreet increase this figure to 100 million, that is, up to 8% of the world's population. The uprising that began in 1850 was essentially peasant war- disenfranchised Chinese peasants rose up against the Manchu Qing dynasty. The goals were the most benevolent: to overthrow the Manchus, drive out foreign colonialists and create a kingdom of freedom and equality - the Taiping heavenly kingdom, where the very word Taiping means "Great Tranquility". The uprising was led by Hong Xiuquan, who decided that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ. But in a Christian way, that is, mercifully, it did not work out, although the Taiping Kingdom was created in South China, and its population reached 30 million. The "hairy bandits", so called because they rejected the braids imposed on the Chinese by the Manchus, occupied big cities, foreign states got involved in the war, uprisings began in other parts of the empire ... The uprising was suppressed only in 1864, and then only with the support of the British and French.

3. The capture of China by the Manchu dynasty

You will laugh, but ... Again the Qing dynasty, this time the era of the conquest of power in China, 1616-1662. 25 million victims, or almost five percent of the world's inhabitants, is the price of creating an empire founded in 1616 by the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan in Manchuria, that is, present-day northeastern China. Less than three decades later, all of China, part of Mongolia and a large piece of Central Asia were under its rule. The Chinese Ming Empire weakened and fell under the blows of the Great Pure State - Da Qing-guo. What was won with blood held out for a long time: the Qing Empire was destroyed by the Xinhai Revolution of 1911-1912, the six-year-old Emperor Pu Yi abdicated the throne. However, he will still be destined to lead the country - puppet state Manchukuo, created by the Japanese invaders in Manchuria and existed until 1945.

2. Wars of the Mongol Empire (13-15 centuries)

Historians call the Mongol Empire a state that emerged in the 13th century as a result of the conquests of Genghis Khan and his successors. Its territory was the largest in world history and stretched from the Danube to the Sea of ​​Japan and from Novgorod to Southeast Asia. The area of ​​the empire is still amazing - about 24 million square kilometers. The number of people who died during the period of its formation, existence and collapse will also not leave indifferent: according to the most optimistic estimates, it is no less than 30 million. Pessimists count all 60 million. True, we are talking about a significant historical period - from the first years of the XIII century, when Temuchin united the warring nomadic tribes into a single Mongolian state and received the title of Genghis Khan and up to standing on the Ugra in 1480, when the Muscovite state under the Grand Duke Ivan III was completely freed from Mongol-Tatar yoke. During this time, from 7.5 to more than 17 percent of the world's population died.

1. World War II (1939-1945)

The most terrible records are held by the Second World War. She is the bloodiest total number its victims are carefully estimated at 40 million, and carelessly at all 72. It is also the most devastating: the total damage to all the warring countries has exceeded the material losses from all previous wars combined and is considered equal to one and a half, or even two trillion dollars. This war, and the most, so to speak, world war - 62 states out of 73 that existed at that moment on the planet, or 80% of the world's population, participated in it in one form or another. The war was on earth, in heaven and at sea - fighting were conducted on three continents and in the waters of four oceans. It was the only conflict so far in which nuclear weapons were used.

This topic is relevant, despite the seemingly peaceful time in our country, because in addition to open, bloody wars, there are also latent ones that take away not fewer lives than during the battles with spears, swords, tanks, machine guns, bombs.

So, let's analyze which wars were the largest in terms of the number of victims and the scale of destruction in the entire history of mankind known to us. More than 1 million people were killed in major wars.

About a million and a little more victims were in wars:

Biafran War of Independence (1967-1970), Japanese Invasions of Korea (1592-1598), Siege of Jerusalem (73 AD, First Jewish War episode), Rwandan Genocide (1994), Korean War (1953), etc.

About 2-3 million victims were in the wars: the Chaka conquests (South Africa, 19th century), the Koguryeo-Suu wars (598-614), the Mexican revolution (1910-1920).

Religious wars in France (1568-1598) - claimed the lives of more than 4 million people.

The Huguenot Wars, the French Wars of Religion that were fought at the end of the 16th century, were essentially a confrontation between Catholics and Protestant Hugents.

The Wars of Religion or Huguenots are a series of protracted civil wars between Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots) that tore apart France under the last kings of the Valois dynasty, from 1562 to 1598. The Huguenots were led by the Bourbons (Prince Condé, Henry of Navarre) and Admiral de Coligny, and the Catholics were led by Queen Mother Catherine de Medici and the powerful Giza.

Its neighbors tried to influence the course of events in France - Elizabeth of England supported the Huguenots, and Philip of Spain supported the Catholics. The wars ended with the accession of Henry of Navarre, who converted to Catholicism, to the French throne and the issuance of the compromise Edict of Nantes (1598).

In the 15-16th century in Europe, religion was not just an outlet for those seeking the eternal, religion was the cause of wars, almost the main one, religion divided society into enemies and friends, into friends and foes, was the essence of the monarchy, the main punitive element of the state, with the blessing those who had dignity were married and executed. As we can see, it got to the point that some cut others down just because they had different views on God.

Napoleonic wars (1799-1815) - more than 3.5 million victims.

“The Napoleonic Wars - this name is mainly known for the wars waged by Napoleon I with various states of Europe when he was First Consul and Emperor (November 1799 - June 1815). In more broad sense this includes both Napoleon's Italian campaign (1796-1797) and his Egyptian expedition (1798-1799), although these (especially the Italian campaign) are usually ranked among the so-called revolutionary wars.

Napoleon created the first French empire, which lasted from 1804 to 1815. Having become, as a result of the coup on 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799), the first consul of France, Napoleon launched an attack with the aim of conquering the whole of Europe, Italy, Austria, Germany, Prussia, etc. were in the plans.

According to official data alone, the battles in the warring countries claimed the lives of 2.2-3.6 million soldiers and civilians. Some historians even double these figures. Having failed in the Spanish-Portuguese war, defeated in the war with Russia (1812) - and Napoleon's empire began to crack.

The war of 1812 is depicted in paintings only in Russian art, in world works such as L. Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”, and Napoleon’s wars have become an inspiration, no matter how cynical it may sound, for many creators around the world.

In terms of the number of victims, the Napoleonic Wars are considered one of the largest and bloodiest.

Second Congo war - 5.4 million victims

« The Second Congolese War (French: Deuxième guerre du Congo), also known as the Great African War (1998-2002) is a war on the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which more than twenty armed groups representing nine states participated.

By 2008, the war and subsequent events had killed 5.4 million people, mostly from disease and starvation, making it one of the bloodiest wars in world history and the deadliest conflict since World War II."

Many historians see the genocide in Rwanda as the beginning of the conflict, then the Tutsi refugees moved to Zaire, then, after the Rwandan Patriotic Front came to power in Rwanda, and some of the Hutu refugees rushed to seek refuge in Zaire, in connection with which in the territory of the former Republic of the Congo (now Zaire ) unfinished war in Rwanda unfolded. Hutu radicals began to use Zaire as a rear for attacks on Rwanda.

Chinese Civil War (1927-1950) - 8 million victims

“Civil War in China (Chinese trad.國共内戰, ex.国共内战, pinyin: guógòng neìzhàn, pall.: gogong neizhan, literally: " internal war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party") - a series of armed conflicts in China between the forces of the Republic of China and the Chinese Communists in 1927 - 1950 (with interruptions).

The war began in 1927 after the Northern Expedition, when, by decision of the right wing of the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek, the alliance between the Kuomintang and the CCP was broken.

A war that lasted 23 years and claimed millions of lives ... Periods, such as in 1936, when China united in the fight against the Japanese invaders, the battle weakened, but after the completion of the events for which there was rallying, it began again with renewed vigor.

The war continued until 1950, in 1949 the formation of the People's Republic of China was proclaimed in Beijing, and in May 1951, by signing an agreement on the peaceful end of the conflict, the last captured stronghold, Tibet, was liberated.

Thirty Years' War - 11.5 million dead

“The Thirty Years' War is a military conflict for hegemony in the Holy Roman Empire and Europe, which lasted from 1618 to 1648 and affected almost all European countries to one degree or another.

The war began as a religious clash between the Protestants and Catholics of the empire, but then escalated into a fight against Habsburg dominance in Europe. The conflict was the last major religious war in Europe and gave rise to the Westphalian system of international relations.

This war affected all segments of the population - as the story goes, the most affected country is Germany, more than 5 million people died there, the economic, productive system was destroyed, only a century later the country's population began to recover. Sweden and Germany fought.

Civil war in Russia (1917-1922) - 12 million dead (taking into account the accompanying losses - more than 25 million people)

"The Civil War in Russia (October 25 (November 7), 1917 - October 25, 1922 / July 16, 1923) - a series of armed conflicts between various political, ethnic, social groups and state entities on the territory of the former Russian Empire that followed the Bolsheviks' coming to power as a result of October revolution 1917".

The civil war of the "Reds" and "Whites" was the natural result of the revolution of 1904-1907, also the First World War, ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks.

Perhaps this is one of the most cruel and memorable wars for the Russian people, not only in the 20th century, but in general throughout history, because the war was fought not with external, foreign enemies, but with Russians ... The population of the homeland was divided into two camps and " interrupted" their own.

The horrors of that era are described in many literary works, captured in rare photos, many legendary films based on works and that war were shot, the ruthlessness of their own compatriots, blinded by the idea, is amazing. The bodies of the shot people were taken by trucks from the base of the Chekists to the burial places. One of the works banned at that time - Zazubrin's story "Sliver" vividly tells about the revolution - "a beautiful and cruel mistress, without rights, sparingly, rigidly imposing her order of life on us, clearing her way with corpses ... By the way, the author himself - Vladimir Zazubrin - was shot in 1937 for belonging to a sabotage and terrorist organization of the right. The novel was first published only in 1989.

The "Reds" - the Bolsheviks - won. The confrontation between the "reds" and "whites" grew into a bloody massacre, a characteristic feature of the civil war was that the enemy sides achieved their goal exclusively by violent measures.

Historians explain this situation by saying that

“The social and class confrontation that has reached the stage of civil war divides society into “us” and “them”, into “us” and “them”. Enemies and opponents are generally taken out of the sphere of morality at such moments, they are perceived as “subhumans”, who are not subject to universal norms. This is what creates the opportunity to turn immoral terror into terror that is morally justified…”.

Even during the unfinished war, Russia was defeated.

“The territories of Poland, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Western Ukraine, Belarus, the Kars region (in Armenia) and Bessarabia departed from the former Russian Empire. According to experts, the population in the remaining territories barely reached 135 million people.

Losses in these territories as a result of wars, epidemics, emigration, and a reduction in the birth rate amounted to at least 25 million people since 1914.

The level of production fell, factories were destroyed, the country was swallowed up by chaos, poverty and devastation.

The number of homeless children ranged from 4.5 to 7 million people.

"The First World War (July 28, 1914 - November 11, 1918) is one of the largest armed conflicts in the history of mankind."

The actual beginning of the already brewing conflict was the so-called “Sarajevo Murder” on June 28, 1914, when the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who advocated the creation of national autonomies in Austria-Hungary, was killed by a young Serbian terrorist.

“As a result of the military conflict, four empires ceased to exist: Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and German (although the Weimar Republic that arose instead of Kaiser Germany formally continued to be called the German Empire). The participating countries lost more than 10 million soldiers and about 12 million civilians killed, about 55 million people were injured.

The participants in the war were:

Quadruple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria.

Entente: Russia, France, Great Britain.

Allies of the Entente (supported the Entente in the war): USA, Japan, Serbia, Italy (participated in the war on the side of the Entente since 1915, despite being a member of the Triple Alliance), Montenegro, Belgium, Egypt, Portugal, Romania, Greece, Brazil, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Siam, Haiti, Liberia, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Peru, Uruguay, Ecuador.

In 1919 Germany was forced to sign Treaty of Versailles about the peaceful end of the conflict with the victorious countries.

As a result, Germany lost more, in Russia the First World War led to revolutions, civil war, for all participants - to the liquidation of several empires. For Germany, the defeat in this war led to the collapse of the monarchy, the weakening of economic and territorial positions, the subsequent humiliation led to the Nazis coming to power, who later unleashed the Second World War.

Any war is always not just a conflict, it is the cause of something and the consequence of something, often another war.

Conquests of Tamerlane (Tuesday half of the 14th century) - 20 million dead

Dungan uprising (19th century) - 20.5 million victims

The Qing Dynasty conquered the Ming Dynasty - 25 million dead

Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) - 30 million victims

Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864, China) - 30 million victims

An Lushan Rebellion (755-763, China) - 36 million victims

Mongol conquests (13th century) - 70 million dead

There is evidence that as a result of the conquest of Northern and South America(for several centuries) - more than 138 million people died.

During the development of the territory of North and South America, that is, from the period of 1491 to 1691, although the actual development began in the 10th century, during all this time more than one hundred million people died in battles with the colonialists and indigenous people.

World War II (1939 - 1945) - 85 million dead

"The Second World War (September 1, 1939 [- September 2, 1945) - the war of two world military-political coalitions, which became the largest armed conflict in the history of mankind.

It was attended by 62 states out of 73 that existed at that time (80% of the world's population). The fighting took place on the territory of three continents and in the waters of four oceans. This is the only conflict in which nuclear weapons have been used."

The Second World War, both in terms of the number of victims and the number of participating countries, the scale of destruction, became one of the largest world battles in the history of mankind. It was attended by 72 states, which is 80% of the world's population, military operations were conducted on the territory of 40 states. Human losses - at least 65 million people. The military losses and expenses incurred were colossal.

After the war weakened the role Western Europe, the USSR and the USA became the main ones in the world. Nazi and fascist ideologies were recognized as criminal and banned at the Nuremberg trials.

And although more than 70 years have passed since the end of the battles, many Russians know what the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War are.

Perhaps, so many creations of art are not dedicated to any military battle - literary works, masterpieces of cinema, etc. There are a lot of photographs of the victims of Nazi camps, battles, fragments of the war, soldiers, the Nazis themselves.

A lot of documentation and testimonies of the horrors of those times have been preserved about the inhuman, cruel experiments of the Nazis on prisoners, about gas chambers and tons of victims, about tens of thousands of healthy babies who were born by Russian women in captivity, drowned in a bucket for slops by German guards, about Jews killed during Holocaust…

AND The history of mankind is the history of wars.
I already wrote about the ten longest wars, now about the most bloody ones.
Swiss Jean-Jacques Babel calculated that in the entire history from 3500 BC. and to this day, humanity has lived peacefully for only 292 years.

But wars were different. It is often difficult to estimate the number of those who died in a war, but if we take the minimum numbers of loss estimates, the picture is as follows (from smaller losses to larger ones).

1. Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815)

The wars that Napoleon Bonaparte waged with various states of Europe from 1799 to 1815 are usually called the Napoleonic Wars. The gifted commander began to redistribute the political map of Europe even before he made the coup of 18 Brumaire and became the First Consul.
Annover campaign, the War of the Third Coalition or the Russian-Austrian-French War of 1805, the War of the Fourth Coalition, or the Russian-Prussian-French War of 1806-1807, which ended with the famous Peace of Tilsit, the War of the Fifth Coalition, or the Austro-French War of 1809, Patriotic the war of 1812 and the war of the Sixth Coalition of European Powers against Napoleon and, finally, the campaign of the Hundred Days era, which ended with the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, claimed the lives of at least 3.5 million people. Many historians double this figure.

2. Russian Civil War (1917-1923)

In the civil war that followed the 1917 revolution in Russia, more people died than in all of the Napoleonic Wars: at least 5.5 million people, and according to bolder estimates, all 9 million. And although these losses amounted to less than half a percent of the world's population, for our country the war between the Reds and the Whites had the most severe consequences. No wonder Anton Ivanovich Denikin canceled all awards in his army - what awards in a fratricidal war? And, by the way, it is in vain to think that the Civil War ended in 1920 with the Crimean evacuation and the fall of the White Crimea.
In fact, the Bolsheviks managed to suppress the last pockets of resistance in Primorye only in June 1923, and the fight against the Basmachi in Central Asia dragged on until the early forties.

3. Dungan uprising (1862)

In 1862, the so-called Dungan uprising against the Qing Empire began in northwestern China. Chinese and non-Chinese Muslim national minorities - Dungans, Uighurs, Salars - rebelled, as the Great Soviet Encyclopedia writes, against the national oppression of the Chinese-Manchu feudal lords and the Qing dynasty.
English-speaking historians do not fully agree with this and see the origins of the uprising in racial and class antagonism and in the economy, but not in religious strife and rebellion against the ruling dynasty. Be that as it may, but which began in May 1862 in Weinan County, Shaanxi Province, the uprising spread to the provinces of Gansu and Xinjiang. There was no single headquarters of the uprising, and according to various estimates, from 8 to 12 million people suffered in the war of all against all. As a result, the uprising was brutally suppressed, and the Russian Empire sheltered the surviving rebels. Their descendants still live in Kyrgyzstan, South Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

4. Ai Lushan Rebellion (8th century AD)

The era of the Tang Dynasty is traditionally considered in China to be the period of the highest power of the country, when China was far ahead of the contemporary countries of the world. And the civil war at that time was to match the country - grandiose. In world historiography, it is called the Ai Lushan uprising. Thanks to the location of Emperor Xuanzong and his beloved concubine Yang Guifei, the Turk (or Sogdian) in the Chinese service, Ai Lushan concentrated enormous power in the army in his hands - he controlled 3 of the 10 border provinces of the Tang Empire.
In 755, Ai Lushan rebelled and the following year proclaimed himself emperor of the new Yan Dynasty. And although already in 757 the sleeping leader of the uprising was stabbed to death by his trusted eunuch, it was possible to pacify the rebellion only by February 763. The number of victims is amazing: according to the smallest account, 13 million people died. And if you believe the pessimists and assume that the population of China decreased at that time by 36 million people, then you have to admit that the rebellion of Ai Lushan reduced the population of the world at that time by more than 15 percent. In this case, if you count by the number of victims, it was the largest armed conflict in the history of mankind until World War II.

5. World War I (1914-1918)

The hero of Francis Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby called it "a belated migration of the Teutonic tribes." It was called the war against war, the Great War, the European War. The name with which she lived in history was coined by the military columnist for The Times, Colonel Charles Repington: The First World War.

The starting shot of the world meat grinder was the shot in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. From that day until the truce of November 11, 1918, 15 million died by the most modest measure. If you come across the number 65 million, don't be alarmed: it also included all those who died from the Spanish flu - the most massive flu pandemic in the history of mankind. In addition to the mass of victims, the result of World War I was the liquidation of four empires: Russian, Ottoman, German and Austria-Hungary.

6. Wars of Tamerlane (14th century)

Remember Vasily Vereshchagin's painting "The Apotheosis of War" (the first picture of the post)? So, originally it was called "The Triumph of Tamerlane", and all because the great eastern commander and conqueror loved to build pyramids from human skulls. It must be said that there was no shortage of material: for 45 years of aggressive campaigns, the lame Timur - in Persian Timur-e-Lyang, and in our opinion Tamerlane - laid down, no less, more than 3.5 percent of the world's population in the second half of the XIV century. At least - 15 million, or even all 20. Wherever he just did not go: Iran, Transcaucasia, India, the Golden Horde, the Ottoman Empire - the interests of the iron lame extended widely. Why "iron"? But because the name Timur, or rather Temur, is translated from the Turkic languages ​​as "iron". By the end of Tamerlane's reign, his empire stretched from Transcaucasia to Punjab. Emir Timur did not have time to conquer China, although he tried - death interrupted his campaign.

7. Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864)

In fourth place is again China, which is not surprising: the country is inhabited. And again, the times of the Qing Empire, that is, turbulent: the opium wars, the Dungan uprising, the Yihetuan movement, the Xinhai revolution ... And the most bloody uprising of the Taipings, which claimed the lives of 20 million people, according to conservative estimates. The indiscreet increase this figure to 100 million, that is, up to 8% of the world's population.
The uprising that began in 1850 was essentially a peasant war - disenfranchised Chinese peasants rose up against the Manchu Qing dynasty. The goals were the most benevolent: to overthrow the Manchus, drive out foreign colonialists and create a kingdom of freedom and equality - the Taiping heavenly kingdom, where the very word Taiping means "Great Tranquility". The uprising was led by Hong Xiuquan, who decided that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ. But in a Christian way, that is, mercifully, it did not work out, although the Taiping Kingdom was created in South China, and its population reached 30 million. The “hairy bandits”, so called because they rejected the braids imposed on the Chinese by the Manchus, occupied large cities, foreign states got involved in the war, uprisings began in other parts of the empire ... The uprising was suppressed only in 1864, and then only with the support of the British and French.

8. The capture of China by the Manchu dynasty

You will laugh, but ... Again the Qing dynasty, this time the era of the conquest of power in China, 1616-1662. 25 million victims, or almost five percent of the inhabitants of the planet, is the price of creating an empire founded in 1616 by the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan in Manchuria, that is, present-day northeastern China. Less than three decades later, all of China, part of Mongolia and a large piece of Central Asia were under its rule. The Chinese Ming Empire weakened and fell under the blows of the Great Pure State - Da Qing-guo. What was won with blood held out for a long time: the Qing Empire was destroyed by the Xinhai Revolution of 1911-1912, the six-year-old Emperor Pu Yi abdicated the throne. However, he will still be destined to lead the country - the puppet state of Manchukuo, created by the Japanese invaders on the territory of Manchuria and existed until 1945.

9. Wars of the Mongol Empire (13-15 centuries)

Historians call the Mongol Empire a state that emerged in the 13th century as a result of the conquests of Genghis Khan and his successors. Its territory was the largest in world history and stretched from the Danube to the Sea of ​​Japan and from Novgorod to Southeast Asia. The area of ​​the empire is still amazing - about 24 million square kilometers. The number of people who died during the period of its formation, existence and collapse will also not leave indifferent: according to the most optimistic estimates, it is no less than 30 million. Pessimists count all 60 million. True, we are talking about a significant historical period - from the first years of the 13th century, when Temuchin united the warring nomadic tribes into a single Mongolian state and received the title of Genghis Khan and up to standing on the Ugra in 1480, when the Muscovite state under Grand Duke Ivan III was completely freed from Mongol-Tatar yoke. During this time, from 7.5 to more than 17 percent of the world's population died.

10. World War II (1939-1945)

The most terrible records are held by the Second World War. It is also the most bloody - the total number of its victims is carefully estimated at 40 million, and carelessly at all 72. It is also the most destructive: the total damage of all the warring countries exceeded the material losses from all previous wars combined and is considered equal to one and a half, or even two trillion dollars. This war, and the most, so to speak, world war - 62 states out of 73 that existed at that moment on the planet, or 80% of the world's population, participated in it in one form or another. The war was on the ground, in the skies and at sea - the fighting was fought on three continents and in the waters of four oceans.
It was the only conflict so far in which nuclear weapons were used.

(C) different places on the internet

The sad first place in the list of the bloodiest conflicts in Russia is firmly occupied by the Great Patriotic War, which lasted from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945. True, at that time Russia was not a sovereign state, but was part of the USSR as the largest republic in terms of area. The victory over the Hitlerite coalition led by Nazi Germany came at the cost of colossal exertion of all forces, mass heroism and self-sacrifice.

The allies (USA, Great Britain, and to a much lesser extent France) also contributed to the overall victory, but the main burden of the war fell on the USSR.

Exact amount victims, including dead military personnel and civilians, have not yet been determined. According to the latest data, it is about 27 million people - this is the population of a large European state. In the entire Soviet Union, there were almost no families left, wherever they were or were not close person. During this war, the winters were incredible, it was this fact that played into the hands of our country.

Memorable bloody wars of Russia

A very difficult test was also the Civil War, which took place in most of Russia from March 1918 to November 1920 (and in Far East it continued until the autumn of 1922). The war was characterized by extreme bitterness, intransigence of the parties. However, such salient feature all civil wars, when the son goes to the father, and the brother to the brother. According to historians, the approximate number of victims of the Civil War (including those who died from starvation and epidemics) is from 8 to 13 million people.

Such a large difference in the estimates is due to the unsatisfactory accounting for losses in the armies of both sides, as well as the loss of many archival documents in subsequent years.

Huge damage to Russia was also brought by the First World War, in which our country participated from August 1914 to March 1918. The losses of one army amounted to about 2.5 million people. And according to some historians - about 3.2 million. The exact number of civilian casualties in the combat zone is still unknown.

Also very bloody was the Patriotic War of 1812, when the losses of the Russian army killed and died from wounds and diseases amounted to about 210 thousand people.

And in the Russo-Japanese War, which took place from 1904 to 1905, our losses, according to various estimates, ranged from 47,000 to 70,000 people.