The most famous wars in the world. The longest war in the history of mankind: history, interesting facts Theories of the origin of wars

Wars are as old as humanity itself. The earliest documented evidence of war comes from a Mesolithic battle in Egypt (cemetery 117) about 14,000 years ago. Wars have been fought across most of the globe, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of millions of people. In our review of the most bloody wars in the history of mankind, which should not be forgotten in any case, so as not to repeat this.

1. Biafran War of Independence

1 million dead dead
The conflict, also known as the Nigerian Civil War (July 1967 - January 1970), was caused by an attempted secession of the self-proclaimed state of Biafra (Nigeria's eastern provinces). The conflict resulted from the political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions that preceded the formal decolonization of Nigeria in 1960-1963. Most of the people during the war died of starvation and various diseases.

2. Japanese invasions of Korea

1 million dead
The Japanese invasions of Korea (or the Imdin War) took place between 1592 and 1598, with the initial invasion taking place in 1592 and a second invasion in 1597, after a brief truce. The conflict ended in 1598 with the withdrawal of Japanese troops. Approximately 1 million Koreans were killed, and Japanese casualties are unknown.

3. Iran-Iraq War

1 million dead
The Iran-Iraq War is an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from 1980 to 1988, making it the longest war of the 20th century. The war began when Iraq invaded Iran on September 22, 1980 and ended in a stalemate on August 20, 1988. In terms of tactics, the conflict was comparable to World War I as it featured large-scale trench warfare, machine gun emplacements, bayonet charges, psychological pressure, and extensive use of chemical weapons.

4. Siege of Jerusalem

1.1 million dead
The oldest conflict on this list (it occurred in 73 AD) was the decisive event of the First Jewish War. The Roman army besieged and captured the city of Jerusalem, which was defended by the Jews. The siege ended with the sack of the city and the destruction of its famous Second Temple. According to historian Josephus, 1.1 million civilians died during the blockade, mostly as a result of violence and starvation.

5. Korean War

1.2 million dead
Lasting from June 1950 to July 1953, the Korean War was an armed conflict that began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations, led by the US, came to the aid of South Korea while China and the Soviet Union supported North Korea. The war ended after a truce was signed, a demilitarized zone was established, and an exchange of prisoners of war took place. However, no peace treaty has been signed and the two Koreas are technically still at war.

6. Mexican Revolution

2 million dead
The Mexican Revolution, which lasted from 1910 to 1920, radically changed the entire Mexican culture. Considering that the country's population was then only 15 million, the losses were appallingly high, but numerical estimates vary widely. Most historians agree that 1.5 million people died and nearly 200,000 refugees fled abroad. The Mexican Revolution is often categorized as one of the most important socio-political events in Mexico and one of the biggest social upheavals of the 20th century.

7 Chuck's Conquests

2 million dead
The Chaka Conquests is a term used for a series of massive and brutal conquests in South Africa led by Chaka, the famous monarch of the Zulu Kingdom. In the first half of the 19th century Chaka at the head of a large army invaded and plundered a number of regions in South Africa. It is estimated that up to 2 million indigenous people died in the process.

8. Goguryeo-Suu Wars

2 million dead
Another violent conflict in Korea was the Goguryeo-Sui Wars, a series of military campaigns waged by the Sui dynasty of China against Goguryeo, one of the three kingdoms of Korea in 598-614. These wars (which were ultimately won by the Koreans) caused 2 million deaths, and the total death toll is likely much higher because Korean civilian casualties were not taken into account.

9. Wars of Religion in France

4 million dead
Also known as the Huguenot Wars, the French Wars of Religion, fought between 1562 and 1598, are a period of civil strife and military confrontation between French Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots). The exact number of wars and their respective dates are still debated by historians, but up to 4 million people are estimated to have died.

10. Second Congo War

5.4 million dead
Also known by several other names such as the Great African War or the African World War, the Second Congo War was the deadliest in modern African history. Nine African countries directly participated in it, as well as about 20 separate armed groups.

The war was fought for five years (from 1998 to 2003) and resulted in 5.4 million deaths, mainly due to disease and starvation. This makes the Congo War the world's deadliest conflict since World War II.

11. Napoleonic Wars

6 million dead
The Napoleonic Wars, which lasted between 1803 and 1815, were a series of major conflicts waged by the French empire, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, against a multitude of European powers formed into various coalitions. During his military career, Napoleon fought about 60 battles and lost only seven, mostly towards the end of his reign. Approximately 5 million people died in Europe, including due to diseases.

12. Thirty Years' War

11.5 million million dead
The Thirty Years' War, which was fought between 1618 and 1648, was a series of conflicts for hegemony in Central Europe. This war became one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, and it originally began as a conflict between Protestant and Catholic states in the divided Holy Roman Empire. The war gradually developed into a much larger conflict involving most of the great powers of Europe. Estimates of the death toll vary considerably, but the most likely tally is that around 8 million people died, including civilians.

13. Chinese Civil War

8 million dead
The Chinese Civil War was fought between forces loyal to the Kuomintang (a political party of the Republic of China) and forces loyal to the Communist Party of China. The war began in 1927, and ended in essence only in 1950, when the main active battles ceased. The conflict eventually led to the de facto formation of two states: the Republic of China (now known as Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China (mainland China). The war is remembered for its atrocities on both sides: millions of civilians were deliberately killed.

14. Russian Civil War

12 million dead
The civil war in Russia, which lasted from 1917 to 1922, broke out as a result of the October Revolution of 1917, when many factions began to fight for power. The two largest groups were the Bolshevik Red Army and the allied forces known as the White Army. During the 5 years of the war, from 7 to 12 million victims were recorded in the country, which were mostly civilians. The Russian Civil War has even been described as the greatest national catastrophe Europe has ever faced.

15. Tamerlane's conquests

20 million dead
Also known as Timur, Tamerlane was a famous Turkic-Mongolian conqueror and general. In the second half of the 14th century he waged brutal military campaigns in Western, Southern and Central Asia, the Caucasus and southern Russia. Tamerlane became the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world after victories over the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire and the crushing defeat of the Delhi Sultanate. Scholars have calculated that his military campaigns resulted in the deaths of 17 million people, about 5% of the then world population.

16. Dungan uprising

20.8 million dead
The Dungan Rebellion was primarily an ethnic and religious war fought between the Han (a Chinese ethnic group native to East Asia) and the Huizu (Chinese Muslims) in 19th century China. The riot arose because of a price dispute (when the buyer of the Huizu did not pay the required amount for the bamboo sticks to the Hancu merchant). In the end, more than 20 million people died during the uprising, mostly due to natural disasters and war-induced conditions such as drought and famine.

17. Conquest of the Americas

138 million dead
European colonization of the Americas technically began as early as the 10th century, when Norwegian seafarers briefly settled on the coast of what is now Canada. However, it mostly refers to the period between 1492 and 1691. During those 200 years, tens of millions of people were killed in combat between the colonizers and Native Americans, but estimates of the total death toll vary widely due to a lack of consensus on the demographic size of the pre-Columbian indigenous population.

18. An Lushan Rebellion

36 million dead
During the reign of the Tang Dynasty, another devastating war took place in China - the An Lushan rebellion, which lasted from 755 to 763. There is no doubt that the rebellion resulted in a huge number of deaths and significantly reduced the population of the Tang Empire, but the exact number of deaths is difficult to estimate even in approximate terms. Some scholars suggest that up to 36 million people died during the uprising, about two-thirds of the empire's population and about 1/6 of the world's population.

19. World War I

18 million dead
The First World War (July 1914 - November 1918) was a global conflict that arose in Europe and which gradually involved all the economically developed powers of the world, which united in two opposing alliances: the Entente and the Central Powers. The total death toll was about 11 million military personnel and about 7 million civilians. About two-thirds of the deaths during World War I occurred directly in battle, in contrast to the conflicts that took place in the 19th century, when most deaths were due to disease.

20. Taiping Rebellion

30 million dead
This rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War, continued in China from 1850 to 1864. The war was fought between the ruling Manchu Qing Dynasty and the Christian movement "Heavenly Kingdom of Peace". Although no census was kept at the time, the most reliable estimate for the total death toll during the uprising was around 20 to 30 million civilians and soldiers. Most of the deaths were attributed to plague and famine.

21. Qing Dynasty Conquest of the Ming Dynasty

25 million dead
The Manchu conquest of China is a period of conflict between the Qing Dynasty (the Manchu dynasty ruling northeast China) and the Ming Dynasty (Chinese dynasty ruling the south of the country). The war that ultimately led to the fall of the Ming caused about 25 million deaths.

22. Second Sino-Japanese War

30 million dead
The war fought between 1937 and 1945 was an armed conflict between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor (1941), this war actually merged into World War II. It became the largest Asian war in the 20th century, with up to 25 million Chinese dead and over 4 million Chinese and Japanese military personnel.

23. Wars of the Three Kingdoms

40 million dead
Wars of the Three Kingdoms - a series of armed conflicts in ancient China (220-280). During these wars, three states - Wei, Shu and Wu vied for power in the country, trying to unite the peoples and take them under their control. One of the bloodiest periods in Chinese history was marked by a series of brutal battles that could have resulted in the deaths of up to 40 million people.

24. Mongol conquests

70 million dead
The Mongol conquests progressed throughout the 13th century, resulting in the vast Mongol Empire conquering much of Asia and Eastern Europe. Historians consider the period of Mongol raids and invasions to be one of the deadliest conflicts in human history. In addition, bubonic plague spread throughout most of Asia and Europe at this time. The total number of deaths during the conquests is estimated at 40 - 70 million people.

25. World War II

85 million dead
The Second World War (1939 - 1945) was global: the vast majority of the world's countries, including all the great powers, took part in it. It was the most massive war in history, with more than 100 million people from more than 30 countries of the world directly participating in it.

It was marked by massive civilian deaths, including due to the Holocaust and strategic bombing of industrial and populated areas, which led (according to various estimates) to the deaths of 60 million to 85 million people. As a result, World War II became the deadliest conflict in human history.

However, as history shows, a person harms himself all the time of his existence. What are they worth.

In the history of mankind, various wars occupy a huge place.
They redrawn maps, gave birth to empires, destroyed peoples and nations. The earth remembers wars that lasted more than a century. We recall the most protracted military conflicts in the history of mankind.

1. War without shots (335 years old)

The longest and most curious of the wars is the war between the Netherlands and the Scilly archipelago, which is part of Great Britain.

Due to the lack of a peace treaty, it formally went on for 335 years without firing a shot, which makes it one of the longest and most curious wars in history, and even the war with the least losses.

Peace was officially declared in 1986.

2. Punic War (118 years)

By the middle of the III century BC. the Romans almost completely subjugated Italy, swung at the entire Mediterranean and wanted Sicily first. But the mighty Carthage also claimed this rich island.

Their claims unleashed 3 wars that stretched (intermittently) from 264 to 146. BC. and got the name from the Latin name of the Phoenicians-Carthaginians (puns).

The first (264-241) - 23 years old (began just because of Sicily).
The second (218-201) - 17 years (after the capture of the Spanish city of Sagunta by Hannibal).
The last (149-146) - 3 years.
It was then that the famous phrase "Carthage must be destroyed!" was born. Pure warfare took 43 years. The conflict in total - 118 years.

Results: Besieged Carthage fell. Rome won.

3. Hundred Years War (116 years)

Went in 4 stages. With pauses for truces (the longest - 10 years) and the fight against the plague (1348) from 1337 to 1453.

Opponents: England and France.

Reasons: France wanted to oust England from the southwestern lands of Aquitaine and complete the unification of the country. England - to strengthen influence in the province of Guyenne and return those lost under John the Landless - Normandy, Maine, Anjou. Complication: Flanders - formally was under the auspices of the French crown, in fact it was free, but depended on English wool for cloth making.

Reason: the claims of the English king Edward III from the Plantagenet-Anjou dynasty (the maternal grandson of the French king Philip IV the Handsome of the Capetian family) to the Gallic throne. Allies: England - German feudal lords and Flanders. France - Scotland and the Pope. Army: English - mercenary. under the command of the king. The basis is infantry (archers) and knightly units. French - a knightly militia, led by royal vassals.

Turning point: after the execution of Joan of Arc in 1431 and the Battle of Normandy, the national liberation war of the French people began with the tactics of guerrilla raids.

Results: October 19, 1453 the English army capitulated in Bordeaux. Having lost everything on the continent, except for the port of Calais (it remained English for another 100 years). France switched to a regular army, abandoned knightly cavalry, gave preference to infantry, and the first firearms appeared.

4. Greco-Persian War (50 years)

Altogether, war. Stretched with lulls from 499 to 449. BC. They are divided into two (the first - 492-490, the second - 480-479) or three (the first - 492, the second - 490, the third - 480-479 (449). For the Greek policies-states - the battle for independence. For the Achaeminid Empire - captivating.

Trigger: Ionian rebellion. The battle of the Spartans at Thermopylae is legendary. The battle of Salamis was a turning point. The point was put by "Kalliev Mir".

Results: Persia lost the Aegean Sea, the coasts of the Hellespont and the Bosphorus. Recognized the freedom of the cities of Asia Minor. The civilization of the ancient Greeks entered the time of the highest prosperity, laying the culture, which, even after millennia, the world was equal to.

4. Punic war. The battles lasted 43 years. They are divided into three stages of wars between Rome and Carthage. They fought for dominance in the Mediterranean. The Romans won the battle. Basetop.ru

5. Guatemalan War (age 36)

Civil. It proceeded in outbreaks from 1960 to 1996. A provocative decision by US President Eisenhower in 1954 triggered a coup.

Reason: the fight against the "communist infection".

Opponents: Bloc "Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity" and the military junta.

Victims: almost 6 thousand murders were committed annually, only in the 80s - 669 massacres, more than 200 thousand dead (of which 83% were Maya Indians), over 150 thousand went missing. Outcomes: Signing of the "Treaty for a Lasting and Lasting Peace", which protected the rights of 23 groups of Native Americans.

Outcomes: Signing of the "Treaty for a Lasting and Lasting Peace", which protected the rights of 23 groups of Native Americans.

6. War of the Scarlet and White Roses (33 years old)

Confrontation of the English nobility - supporters of two tribal branches of the Plantagenet dynasty - Lancaster and York. Stretched from 1455 to 1485.
Prerequisites: "bastard feudalism" - the privilege of the English nobility to pay off military service from the lord, in whose hands large funds were concentrated, with which he paid for the army of mercenaries, which became more powerful than the royal one.

The reason: the defeat of England in the Hundred Years War, the impoverishment of the feudal lords, their rejection of the political course of the wife of the feeble-minded king Henry IV, hatred of her favorites.

Opposition: Duke Richard of York - considered the right to power of the Lancasters illegitimate, became regent under an incapacitated monarch, in 1483 - king, was killed at the Battle of Bosworth.

Results: Violated the balance of political forces in Europe. Led to the collapse of the Plantagenets. She placed the Welsh Tudors on the throne, who ruled England for 117 years. Cost the lives of hundreds of English aristocrats.

7. Thirty Years War (30 years)

The first military conflict of a pan-European scale. Lasted from 1618 to 1648. Opponents: two coalitions. The first is the union of the Holy Roman Empire (in fact, Austrian) with Spain and the Catholic principalities of Germany. The second - the German states, where power was in the hands of Protestant princes. They were supported by the armies of reformist Sweden and Denmark and Catholic France.

Reason: The Catholic League was afraid of the spread of the ideas of the Reformation in Europe, the Protestant Evangelical Union was striving for this.

Trigger: Revolt of Czech Protestants against Austrian domination.

Results: The population of Germany has decreased by a third. The French army lost 80 thousand. Austria and Spain - more than 120. After the Treaty of Münster in 1648, a new independent state, the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (Holland), was finally fixed on the map of Europe.

8. Peloponnesian War (age 27)

There are two of them. The first is the Lesser Peloponnesian (460-445 BC). The second (431-404 BC) is the largest in the history of Ancient Hellas after the first Persian invasion of the territory of Balkan Greece. (492-490 BC).

Opponents: Peloponnesian Union led by Sparta and the First Marine (Delosian) under the auspices of Athens.

Reasons: The desire for hegemony in the Greek world of Athens and the rejection of their claims by Sparta and Corypha.

Contradictions: Athens was ruled by an oligarchy. Sparta is a military aristocracy. Ethnically, the Athenians were Ionians, the Spartans were Dorians. In the second, 2 periods are distinguished.

The first is "Arkhidamov's War". The Spartans made land invasions into the territory of Attica. Athenians - sea raids on the coast of the Peloponnese. It ended in the 421st signing of the Peace of Nikiev. After 6 years, it was violated by the Athenian side, which was defeated in the battle of Syracuse. The final phase went down in history under the name Dekeley or Ionian. With the support of Persia, Sparta built a fleet and destroyed the Athenian at Aegospotami.

Results: After the conclusion in April 404 BC. Athens lost the fleet, torn down the Long Walls, lost all the colonies and joined the Spartan alliance.

9. Great Northern War (age 21)

There was a northern war for 21 years. She was between the northern states and Sweden (1700-1721), the opposition of Peter I to Charles XII. Russia fought mostly on its own.

Reason: Possession of the Baltic lands, control over the Baltic.

Results: With the end of the war in Europe, a new empire arose - the Russian Empire, which has access to the Baltic Sea and has a powerful army and navy. The capital of the empire was St. Petersburg, located at the confluence of the Neva River into the Baltic Sea.

Sweden lost the war.

10 Vietnam War (age 18)

The Second Indochinese War between Vietnam and the United States and one of the most destructive of the second half of the 20th century. Lasted from 1957 to 1975. 3 periods: guerrilla South Vietnamese (1957-1964), from 1965 to 1973 - full-scale US military operations, 1973-1975. - after the withdrawal of American troops from the territories of the Viet Cong. Opponents: South and North Vietnam. On the side of the South - the United States and the military bloc SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization). North - China and the USSR.

The reason: when the communists came to power in China, and Ho Chi Minh became the leader of South Vietnam, the White House administration was afraid of the communist "domino effect". After Kennedy's assassination, Congress gave President Lyndon Johnson carte blanche to use military force in the Tonkin Resolution. And already in March 65, two battalions of US Army Navy SEALs left for Vietnam. So the States became part of the Vietnamese Civil War. They applied the “search and destroy” strategy, burned the jungle with napalm - the Vietnamese went underground and responded with a guerrilla war.

Who benefits: American arms corporations. US losses: 58 thousand in combat (64% under the age of 21) and about 150 thousand suicides of American veterans of the explosives.

Vietnamese victims: over 1 million who fought and more than 2 civilians, only in South Vietnam - 83 thousand amputees, 30 thousand blind, 10 thousand deaf, after the operation "Ranch Hand" (chemical destruction of the jungle) - congenital genetic mutations.

Results: The Tribunal of May 10, 1967 qualified the US actions in Vietnam as a crime against humanity (Article 6 of the Nuremberg Statute) and banned the use of CBU-type thermite bombs as weapons of mass destruction.

Almost every nation that has lived and lives on our planet has had a war. The very first evidence of the war was in 1472 BC. This very first war took place between the Egyptians and the Palestinians. Humanity began to undertake the largest military actions in the second half of the 19th century. But the very first war in history happened much earlier than this time.

Today it is difficult to determine when the very first war in the world began and ended. But according to the first official evidence of archaeologists and historians, it was proved that the very first war happened between the Palestinians and the Egyptians. This war began in 1472 BC, during the reign of King Kadet. The king of the Hyksos provoked the inhabitants of Palestine to revolt against the Egyptians.

After some time, several other tribes joined the Cadet, who also opposed the inhabitants of Egypt. In 1469 B.C. Pharaoh of Egypt Thutmose III decided to gather an army, which consisted of 20 thousand fighters. Together with the army, he confidently began to advance on the territory of the Palestinians. The largest battle in the very first war in history took place near the fortress of Meggido. Compared to Thutmose III, the Cadet had a small army. The Egyptian military is located in the Meggido Valley, which is located in the center of Palestine. As a result of the battle, the Egyptian troops were able to easily cope with the Palestinians, and thus they broke into the valley. The cadet and his associates fled, and the rest of the military were defeated.

During the very first war in the world, the Egyptians showed themselves as real conquerors, they killed and robbed the military, as well as civilians. Seven months later, the inhabitants of the fortress decided to capitulate, because they could not withstand the pressure of the Egyptian army. The Egyptian army took from Palestine about a thousand chariots and cattle, as well as about two thousand horses. Then the army destroyed the largest fortresses of Palestine and with the help of all the debris, they built their fortress. In Meggido, about 330 princes were captured, but they almost immediately went over to the side of the pharaoh. Thus, they recognized Thutmose III as their ruler. But all the other locals did not give up. In order to completely eradicate the rebellion, the Egyptian army during the very first war in the world made 15 campaigns in Palestine. As a result, Thutmose III achieved what he wanted.

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 claim no less lives than during 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 (AD 73, 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 a broader sense, this includes both Napoleon's Italian campaign (1796-1797) and his Egyptian expedition (1798-1799), although these (especially the Italian campaign) are usually referred to as 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 coming to power of the Bolsheviks as a result of the October Revolution of 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, powerless, 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.

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

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

The number of street 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 the Versailles Treaty on 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 over 138 million people died as a result of the conquest of North and South America (over several centuries).

During the development of the territory of North and South America, that is, from the period of 1491 to 1691, although in fact the 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) is a war of two world military-political coalitions, which has become 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, the role of Western Europe weakened, 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…