This list of wars by death toll includes all deaths that are either directly or indirectly caused by war. These numbers include the deaths of military personnel which are the direct results of a battle or other military wartime actions, as well as wartime/war-related deaths of civilians which are often results of war-induced epidemics, famines, genocide, etc. Due to incomplete records, the destruction of evidence, differing methods of counting, and various other reasons, death tolls of wars have often been quite uncertain, and heavily debated.
While the definition of war isn't entirely clear-cut, there is a general understanding of what it is. Merriam-Webster defines war as "a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations",[1]Oxford English Dictionary defines war as "hostile contention by means of armed forces, carried on between nations, states, or rulers, or between parties in the same nation or state; the employment of armed forces against a foreign power, or against an opposing party in the state",[2] and Encyclopædia Britannica defines war as "a conflict between political groups involving hostilities of considerable duration and magnitude".[3]
^Patranobis, Sutirtho (29 August 2015). "WWII began in 1937 with Japanese invasion: China". Hindustan Times.
^White, Matthew (2012). The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History's 100 Worst Atrocities. W. W. Norton. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-393-08192-3.
^"Selected Death Tolls for Wars, Massacres and Atrocities Before the 20th Century". Necrometrics.
^The Native population of the Americas in 1492, de William M. Denevan, Univ. de Wisconsin Press, 1992, pp. 28
^Andrés Lira and Luis Muro: "El siglo de la Integración ", p. 10
^"De re Militari: muertos en Guerras, Dictaduras y Genocidios". remilitari.com.
^ a b"Death Tolls for the Major Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century". Necrometrics.
^Kabha, Mustafa (2023). "The Fall of Al-Andalus and the Evolution of its Memory in Modern Arab-Muslim Historiography". The Maghreb Review. 48 (3): 289–303. doi:10.1353/tmr.2023.a901468. ISSN 2754-6772.
^Esdaile, Charles (2007). Napoleon's Wars: An International History 1803–1815. Viking. ISBN 9780670020300.
^Bavier, Joe (22 January 2008). "Congo war-driven crisis kills 45,000 a month-study". Reuters.
^Moszynski, Peter (2 February 2008). "5.4 million people have died in Democratic Republic of Congo since 1998 because of conflict, report says". BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.). 336 (7638): 235. doi:10.1136/bmj.39475.524282.DB. PMC 2223004. PMID 18244974.
^Jaime Jaramillo Uribe. "Ensayos de historia social: La sociedad neogranadina" (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 August 2024.