10. Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-factional conflict fought primarily between 1917 and 1922 to determine the fate of the defunct Russian Empire. Nonetheless, the Bolsheviks theorized violence far more extensively as “mass terror,” a central concept in Lenin’s works. The Russian Civil War of 1917-22 was the world’s most expensive civil war in terms of the number of lives lost during combat and in war-related events. It is estimated that the former Soviet Union lost 1.5 million combatants, and that approximately 8 million civilians died as a result of armed attacks, famine, and disease.
9. Mughal–Maratha Wars
The Mughal-Maratha Wars lasted nearly 50 years and claimed the lives of over 5,000,000 people on the Indian subcontinent. From 1658 to 1707, the Mughal-Maratha Wars, also known as the Maratha War of Independence, were a series of wars fought between the Mughal Empire and the Maratha Empire. The battle began when Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb personally marched 10,000 Mughal soldiers towards Satara. His goal was to finally take Satara, the heart of the Maratha kingdom.
8. Spanish conquests
The Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empire, which lasted from the year 1532 to 1572, was a pivotal campaign in Spanish colonisation of the Americas. In retaliation, the disunited Inca were unable to provide an adequate military response to the conquistadors despite a protracted rebellion against the Spanish. Taking forty years, the conflict is estimated to have killed half of the indigenous population, due in part to an internal Spanish civil war between Pizarro and Diego de Almagro, both of whom were killed in this. While not all were killed in battle, many died as a result of smallpox and other diseases brought to the continent by colonists, the Inca civilization was devastated by the defeat and was formally replaced by the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1572.
7. Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War began in August 1927, when the government-backed Kuomintang clashed with the Communist Party of China. By 1950, more than 8 million people had died as a result of both parties’ massacres and mass atrocities. There is some debate about whether the Chinese Civil War between the Republic of China and the Communist Party of China ever legally ended because nationalist forces fled to Taiwan and established a competing government in the absence of a signed peace treaty. The conflict lasted more than 20 years and resulted in the formation of the Republic of China (in Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China (in mainland China), both claiming to be the sole legitimate government of China.
6. Dungan Revolt
The Dungan Revolt was a war fought in 19th-century China during the Qing Dynasty between the Hans (a Chinese ethnic group native to East Asia) and the Huis (Chinese Muslims). The rebellion was ultimately unsuccessful, and the Dungan people were forced to flee to Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Around 20 million people died as a result of the war, the majority of whom died as a result of famine and migration.
5. Transition from Ming to Qing
The Qing dynasty’s conquest of the Ming dynasty occurred during a period of extreme political turmoil in China. The conquest began with a rebellion against Chinese imperial authority in Manchuria, which is located in far northeastern China. The transition from the Qing to the Ming dynasties was far from peaceful. From the year 1618 to 1683, the rebellion lasted more than 60 years and claimed the lives of 25 million people. What began as a minor rebellion in northeastern China turned into one of the country’s deadliest conflicts, as well as one of the deadliest wars in history.
4. World War I
It is also known as the Great War because it was the first of only two global wars in history. It resulted in the deaths of over 8 million military personnel and 6.6 civilians. Almost 60% of those who fought died. Many more people went missing or were injured. World War I changed the face of modern warfare in just four years, between 1914 and 1918, becoming one of the deadliest conflicts in world history. As a result, Britain, France, and Russia defeated Germany, Italy, Austria, and Hungary. Following World War I, the League of Nations was formed, but it failed to ensure global peace, and World War II was fought.
3. Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War which lasted from 1937 to 1945 was fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Imperial Japanese Empire. The war was fought in the Chinese theatre of the larger Pacific Theater of World War II. The Second Sino-Japanese War was the twentieth century’s largest Asian war. It was responsible for the vast majority of civilian and military casualties during the Pacific War, with between 10 and 25 million Chinese civilians and over 4 million Chinese and Japanese military personnel missing or killed as a result of war-related violence, famine, and other causes. “The war was dubbed “the Asian holocaust.”
2. Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion was yet another large-scale rebellion in China. The Taiping Rebellion, which lasted from 1851 to 1864 in China, resulted in the majority of civilian deaths. The war was fought between the Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s Christian millenarian movement. Although there is no exact figure, most estimates attribute 20-30 million deaths to the Taiping Rebellion.
1. World War II
World War II was a worldwide conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945. World War II was the bloodiest conflict in history, involving more than 30 countries. The war lasted six bloody years, beginning with the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 and ending with the Allies defeating Nazi Germany and Japan in 1945. The war pitted the Allies against the Axis powers in the deadliest war in history, killing over 70 million people. The war was notorious for its genocidal campaign against the Jewish people, but it was also responsible for the deaths of over 50 million civilians.