Matthew White a federal courthouse librarian from Richmond, Virginia is an amateur atrocitologist. He begins with the Second Persian War (480–479 BCE) and closes with the Second Congo War, which took place between 1998 and 2002. He has a simple technique; he takes the highest and lowest estimates available in the research and averages them. Some academics are sceptical of this, while for others it’s a reasonable way to go about what is an inherently complex task. What nobody can deny is that Mr. White has invested staggering amounts of his time in producing his list of the 100 worst atrocities in world history. And his selection is most definitely not Eurocentric. What do we learn from this list? One point White makes is that Dictatorships are harmful to the health of their subjects, but chaos is also a great killer. Another one is that anyone with the Great after the name may well be a psycho. The other interesting thing is the surprises in the list. I had no idea that the Gladiatorial Games (264 BCE–435 CE) were so bloody – they cost 3.5 million lives. Chinggis Khan’s (1206–27) feat of forty million is pretty impressive, especially considering the time in which he did it. We hear a lot about the Atlantic Slave Trade but the Mideast Slave Trade (7th–19th centuries) responsible for 18.5 million lives is never mentioned. How many of you were aware of An Lushan Rebellion (755–63) which saw 13 million deaths. The shameful famines in British India (18th–20th centuries) killed a staggering 27 million. Here is White’s list:
1 Second World War (1939–45) 66,000,000
2=Chinggis Khan (1206–27) 40,000,000
2=Mao Zedong (1949–76) 40,000,000
4 Famines in British India(18th–20th centuries) 27,000,000
5 Fall of the Ming Dynasty (1635–62) 25,000,000
6=Taiping Rebellion (1850–64) 20,000,000
6=Joseph Stalin (1928–53) 20,000,000
8 Mideast Slave Trade (7th–19th centuries) 18,500,000
9 Timur (1370–1405) 17,000,000
10 Atlantic Slave Trade (1452–1807) 16,000,000
11= Conquest of the Americas (after 1492) 15,000,000
11=First World War (1914–18) 15,000,000
13 An Lushan Rebellion (755–63) 13,000,000
14=Xin Dynasty (9–24) 10,000,000
14=Congo Free State(1885–1908) 10,000,000
16 Russian Civil War (1918–20) 9,000,000
17= Thirty Years War (1618–48) 7,500,000
17= Fall of the Yuan Dynasty (ca 1340–70) 7,500,000
19= Fall of the Western Roman Empire(395–455) 7,000,000
19=Chinese Civil War (1927–37, 1945–49) 7,000,000
21 Mahdi Revolt (1881–98) 5,500,000
22 The Time of Troubles (1598–1613) 5,000,000
23 Aurangzeb (1658–1707) 4,600,000
24 Vietnam War (1959–75) 4,200,000
25 The Three Kingdoms of China(189–280) 4,100,000
26 Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815) 4,000,000
27 Second Congo War (1998–2002) 3,800,000
28 Gladiatorial Games (264 BCE–435 CE) 3,500,000
28= Hundred Years War (1337–1453)3,500,000
30 Crusades (1095–1291) 3,000,000
30= French Wars of Religion (1562–98) 3,000,000
30= Peter the Great (1682–1725) 3,000,000
30= Korean War (1950–53) 3,000,000
30=North Korea(after 1948) 3,000,000
35 War in the Sudan(1955–2003) 2,600,000
36 Expulsion of Germans from Eastern Europe(1945–47) 2,100,000
37 Fang La Rebellion (1120–22) 2,000,000
37=Mengistu Haile (1974–91) 2,000,000
39 Democratic Kampuchea(1975–79) 1,670,000
40 Age of Warring States (ca 475–221 BCE) 1,500,000
40= Seven Years War (1756–63) 1,500,000
40= Shaka (1818–28) 1,500,000
40= Bengali Genocide (1971) 1,500,000
40= Soviet-Afghan War (1979–92) 1,500,000
45 Aztec Human Sacrifice (1440–1521) 1,200,000
46 Qin Shi Huang Di (221–210 BCE) 1,000,000
46= Roman Slave Wars (134–71 BCE) 1,000,000
46= Mayan Collapse (790–909) 1,000,000
46= Albigensian Crusade (1208–29) 1,000,000
46= Panthay Rebellion (1855–73) 1,000,000
46= Mexican Revolution (1910–20) 1,000,000
46= Biafran War (1966–70) 1,000,000
53 Rwandan Genocide (1994) 937,000
54 Burma-Siam Wars (1550–1605) 900,000
55= Hulagu’s Invasion (1255–60) 800,000
55= Mozambican Civil War (1975–92) 800,000
57 French Conquest of Algeria(1830–47) 775,000
58 Second Punic War (218–202 BCE) 770,000
59 Justinian (527–65) 750,000
59= Italo-Ethiopian War (1935–41) 750,000
61 Gallic War (58–51 BCE) 700,000
61= Chinese Conquest of Vietnam(1407–28) 700,000
61= War of the Spanish Succession (1701–13) 700,000
61= Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) 700,000
65 American Civil War (1861–65) 695,00066
66 Hui Rebellion (1862–73) 640,000
67 Goguryeo-Sui Wars (598 and 612) 600,000
67= Sino-Dzungar War (1755–57) 600,000
69 Algerian War of Independence(1954–62) 525,000
70 Alexander the Great (336–325 BCE) 500,000
70= Bahmani-Vijayanagara War (1366) 500,000
70=Russo-Tatar War (1570–72) 500,000
70=War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48) 500,000
70=Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) 500,000
70=Partition ofIndia(1947) 500,000
70=Angolan Civil War (1975–94) 500,000
70=Ugandan Bush War (1979–86) 500,000
70=Somalian Chaos (since 1991) 500,000
79 War of the Triple Alliance(1864–70) 480,000
80 Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) 435,000
81 First Punic War (264–241 BCE) 400,000
81= Third Mithridatic War (73–63 BCE) 400,000
81= Cromwell’s Invasion of Ireland (1649–52) 400,000
81= Mexican War of Independence(1810–21) 400,000
81= Haitian Slave Revolt (1791–1803) 400,000
81= Greco-Turkish War (1919–22) 400,000
81= Indonesian Purge (1965–66) 400,000
88 French Indochina War (1945–54) 393,000
89 Great Turkish War (1682–99) 384,000
90 Great Northern War (1700–21) 370,000
91 Spanish Civil War (1936–39) 365,000
91= Postwar Vietnam(1975–92) 365,000
93 Cuban Revolution (1895–98) 360,000
94 Sanctions against Iraq(1990–2003) 350,000
94= Roman-Jewish Wars (66–74, 132–135) 350,000
96 Second Persian War (480–479 BCE) 300,000
96= War of the Allies (91–88 BCE) 300,000
96= Crimean War (1854–56) 300,000
96= Idi Amin (1971–79) 300,000
96= Saddam Hussein (1979–2003) 300,000
