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What was the worst war in history?

Pastfinder

Platinum Member
Before replying to this thread, please think about your answer. It's easy to say WWII on the basis of the Holocaust, but I feel that there has been worse. Worse is not just death but entire social devastation and change across the board.


I say World War One was the worst war in history...
 
WWII was the most romanticized... so most people would say that because they aren't familiar with WWI. I'm undecided.
 
I'm going to have to go with WWII. You'be got the whole haulocost angle, but the war itself was horrible as well. There was entire social devestation in WWII simply due to the payloads being used. We nuked two Japanese cities, firebombed others in both Germany and Japan, and the aftermath spawned the cold war.
 
I'd have to say it's the one many in the USA are itching to get into right at the moment..
 
Originally posted by: Geekbabe
I'd have to say it's the one many in the USA are itching to get into right at the moment..


Should be interesting. FYI, if the US military goes to FPCON Charlie, the attack IScoming at any time, in any place, in any force...

 
Originally posted by: wfbberzerker
the crusades were pretty bad.

Yeah the Muslims destroyed the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant just to piss off the Jews and Christians...
 
The Korean War. 50 years later and it is still going, and still claiming lives. Over 3 million in NK from starvation in the last decade alone.
 
Originally posted by: Geekbabe
I'd have to say it's the one many in the USA are itching to get into right at the moment..

rolleye.gif
 
Originally posted by: Pastfinder
Before replying to this thread, please think about your answer. It's easy to say WWII on the basis of the Holocaust, but I feel that there has been worse. Worse is not just death but entire social devastation and change across the board.


I say World War One was the worst war in history...

One "war" is the war that people wage upon themselves and others when they go from place to place. I think there's a statistic out there that says over a million people die from car crashes alone every year. Ouch.
 
Originally posted by: Aceshigh
The Korean War. 50 years later and it is still going, and still claiming lives. Over 3 million in NK from starvation in the last decade alone.

i hope you're saying that the tragedy of 3 million NK deaths is because the North Korean regime wasnt prevented from being installed and not insinuating that those deaths were because there was a war 50 years ago....
 
Originally posted by: MacBaine
WWII was the most romanticized... so most people would say that because they aren't familiar with WWI. I'm undecided.

17 million died in WW1. Mostly armed combatants.

50 million died in WW2. Mosly civilians. 20 million in Russia alone. The atrocities that took place in China and in Eastern Europe boggle the mind.

However, on the other hand, WW2 truly was the war to end all wars. While people may be up in arms about wars that are taking place presently, there has never been as enormous or dramatic a struggle since WW2 ended. It made people realize that warfare on such a scale was futile and disastrous. So, in some ways, WW2 was a "good" war... I don't think many people would argue that the forces of "good" triumped over "evil" and that the world was reordered and made much more stable. While communism really screwed Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia over for 50 years, the end of WW2 brough unmitigated peace and prosperity to most of the West.

At the same time, WW1 was a complete waste of time. People thought that WWI was the war to end all wars. Instead, it just sowed the ground, because of the crappy treaty of versailles and the impotent league of nations, for WWII. So, in the end, all that death and destruction and nothing was really resolved.

Thoughts?
 
Originally posted by: Pastfinder
Originally posted by: Tripleshot
The civil war. Large number of casualties, all of them our own.🙁

2% of the US population back in 1860 ended up dieing in the Civil War

How many wounded and horribly mamed or crippled due to poor hygene and lack of adequte medical help? Then, if you got shot in the leg, they gave you some whiskey and a "doctor" would cut off your leg. Then the stump would get infected with gange green. Conditions where deplorable then, and warfare was grotesque. By the time WW1 came around, at least medical help had improved to care for the wounded. And by the time Viet Nam war came around, warfare was becoming scientific and sanitary. By the time Desert Storm was fought, it was calculated to be clean with minimum casualties,.and very technological. Our warfare scheme now it tactical first. By the time the generals get a plan together, the playing field changes. I can't understand how we plot a build up for a war in Iraq by sending our gear and troops over like on a orderly flight schedule. Geeze, its really sanitary. And we watch it on TV like watching a sitcom.

Kinda makes me rethink the wisdom of man. If you have this much time and energy to plan a war, why can't you you plan a peace instead?

😕
 
Originally posted by: Broohaha
Originally posted by: Aceshigh
The Korean War. 50 years later and it is still going, and still claiming lives. Over 3 million in NK from starvation in the last decade alone.

i hope you're saying that the tragedy of 3 million NK deaths is because the North Korean regime wasnt prevented from being installed and not insinuating that those deaths were because there was a war 50 years ago....

There is still a state of war there today. Just because most hostilities ended decades ago doesn't mean it's over. Those deaths can be attributable to the war, because Kim Jong and his father before him are doing anything and everything to stay in power, whether that be to kidnap, torture, and kill anyone they think opposes them, or by starving millions of North Koreans so that the massive military can be fed, or by stealing the aid they receive and turning it into weaponry. Kim Jong's regime is still killing North Koreans (by the millions), South Koreans, and Japanese too. Convenient how the majority of those Japanese kidnap victims died of "natural causes" during their stay in NK.

All it takes is a trip to the DMZ to realize that the Korean war definitely still exists.
 
The Punic Wars were pretty brutal, and each one was worse than the last. The first war was a stalemate. In the second war an 80,000 soldier Roman army was completely wiped out in a single battle (an unheard of battle casualty count for the age). By the time of the third war, Rome decided there wasn't going to be a Fourth Punic War and killed every inhabitant of Carthage (the worst systematic slaughter of non-combatants in history until the Holocaust) and plowed the ground with salt to make the area surrounding the city uninhabitable :Q
 
Originally posted by: NokiaDude
Vietnam, so little time, so many deaths.

i dont know if i would call 10+ years little time, but way too many deaths.

define worst?....

the cause?
outcome?
casualties?
involvment?
political issues?
what the war was fought for?
 
It's difficult to think in terms of wars pre 18th century really... I would have to say it would need to be an unjust war first off. That would bring in WW2 and the holocaust. Also the crusades. And what I do mean by unjust is that the agressors are killing people for the sole purpose of killing them, such as genocide, killing off people who pose no threat at all, innocent people. tough question.
 
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