Which war in history do you guys think was the most atrocious?
Based on what criteria?
Personally, I think the An Lushan rebellion and Chinese Civil war between communists and nationalists is pretty much at the of top the list of casualties that one nation can suffer (during and after the conflict, base on that time total population) and the amount of nasty stuff fellow countrymen can do to one another.
In more recent times the Vietnam War. America didn’t need to be too involved.
More recent history would probably look towards the eastern front and theaters of WWII, where fighting was bogged down in Siberia or atrocities were being committed in the jungles of the Pacific. That is, if you’re look towards raw casualties and scale. If you’re looking more towards a philosophical and abstract form, it would inarguably be WWI, where entire generations around the globe died alongside the romantic and chivalrous warfare humanity was so accustomed to. But you could also easily look towards the Timurids and the Mongols, or even ancient Sumeria ripping across the sands of the Middle East. There’s the Taiping Rebellion and the Thirty Years War, which were atrocious in their own rights considering the sheer scale of damage done to their respective regions. It’s all perspective really.
WWI was a brutal one.
350,000 peopled died in the Great Northern War.
Thats a lot if you consider that Sweden had a population of 2.5 million at the time.
I agree it was the first and involved the lost of many lives .
World War One was one of the deadliest conflicts in the history of the human race, in which over 16 million people died. The total number of both civilian and military casualties is estimated at around 37 million people. The war killed almost 7 million civilians and 10 million military personnel.
The war waged by Islam on all non Muslim nations and all non believers killing 670 million in it’s 1400 year history of barbarity and intolerance
The next one will be the worst war
For Americans or the world?
For Americans I would say its a toss between the Vietnam war and the Civil War
For the world… no doubt both world wars.
I nominate the Hundred Years War
A war in which the French and English fought for 118 years.
What on earth caused them to carry on for that length of time?
The French still hate the English, the English don’t really hate the French … except when we lose at Rugby.
WW2 had more casualties. 55 million military and civilian, IIRC. However I agree that WW1 was probably the worst due to the ineptitude of the people commanding.
WWI was probably the most terrifying from the soldier’s perspective. So much new tech was deployed designed to kill and maim painfully and slowly.
In terms of American lives wasted, it was our own War Between the States.
That’s the one that will be worth a damn, though.
I shall go outside to watch the lights !
My vote is for WW1 and the eastern front of WW2 in second.
As I read Revelations, the worst war has yet to begin.
However, looking backwards:
The American Civil War (seen from the south as the “War of Northern Aggression”) was horrible from the inflicted injuries due to Napoleonic tactics and mid-19th-Century medical practices.
WWI was horrific from the application of new weapons, gas and machine guns, and the failure of Generals to adapt tactics.
They were ALL bad I agree . WW1 being the first World war made it the beginning and hopefully we learned from the first two .
My father spent 3 years in the Burma jungle during WW2. He was with OSS 101 ( CBI ). Burma and the Congo were places known as The White Man’s Grave. 180 pounds when he arrived; and 118 when he made it back home. I was in Vietnam, and it was a piece of cake compared to what my father & his men endured. I will also say, the Middle East is infinitely worse than Vietnam; since, in Vietnam, when you hit the ground, more often than not, you were out of sight. In the Middle East, when you hit the ground, there you are, laying in the sand. I was in the Navy, an engineer - mechanic, and always had a dry place to sleep; and unlimted access to provisions. Anytime I spent in the jungle was elected. I made it a point to beg, borrow, or steal anything that could make a soldier’s - a Marine’s life more tolerable. I certianly ran the risk of being shot through the head by a sniper, like anyone else, but at least my time in the mud was by choice. Two helicopter crashes; both times tail rotors. First time, the rotor was hit by fire; second time, the rotor just few apart. All in two weeks. Low altitude both times; and both times the pilot recovered quickly. I hate flying.