Origin of the term The Oxford English Dictionary cited the first known usage in the English language to a Scottish newspaper, The People's Journal, in 1848: "A war among the great powers is now necessarily a world-war." The term "world war" is used by Karl Marx and his associate, Friedrich Engels, in a series of articles published around 1850 called The Class Struggles in France. Rasmus B. Anderson in 1889 described an episode in Teutonic mythology as a "world war" (Swedish: världskrig), justifying this description by a line in an Old Norse epic poem, "Völuspá: folcvig fyrst I heimi" ("The first great war in the world".)Rasmus Björn Anderson (translator: Viktor Rydberg), Teutonic Mythology, vol. 1, p. 139, London: S. Sonnenschein & Co., 1889 . German writer August Wilhelm Otto Niemann had used the term "world war" in the title of his anti-British novel, Der Weltkrieg: Deutsche Träume (The World War: German Dreams) in 1904, published in English as The Coming Conquest of England. The First World War The Second World War The Third World War Wars with higher death tolls than the First World War The two world wars of the 20th century had caused unprecedented casualties and destruction across the theaters of conflict. There have been several wars that occurred with as many or more deaths than in the First World War (16,563,868–40,000,000), including:%DIFDELCMD < %DIFDELCMD < %%% + Estimated death tolls Event Lowestestimate Highestestimate Location From To Duration (years)Three Kingdoms36,000,00040,000,000China18428096An Lushan Rebellion13,000,00036,000,000China7557639Mongol conquests30,000,00040,000,000Eurasia12061324118Conquests of Timur15,000,00020,000,000Asia1369140537Qing dynasty conquest of the Ming dynasty25,000,00025,000,000China1616166247Taiping Rebellion20,000,000100,000,000Livre noir du Communisme: crimes, terreur, répression, page 468By Train to Shanghai: A Journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway By William J. Gingles page 259China1851186414World War II40,000,00085,000,000Fink, George: Stress of War, Conflict and DisasterGlobal193919456Cold War22,345,162 +94,000,000Global1947199144 Wars spanning multiple continents + Estimated death tolls Event Lowestestimate Highestestimate Location From To Duration (years)Late Bronze Age collapseEgypt, Anatolia, Syria, Canaan, Cyprus, Greece, Mesopotamia1200s BCE1150s BCE40–50Greco-Persian WarsGreece, Thrace, Aegean Islands, Asia Minor, Cyprus, Egypt499 BCE449 BCE50Peloponnesian WarGreece, Asia Minor, Sicily431 BCE404 BCE27Wars of Alexander the GreatThrace, Illyria, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Babylonia, Persia, Afghanistan, Sogdiana, India335 BCE323 BCE12Wars of the DiadochiMacedon, Greece, Thrace, Anatolia, Levant, Egypt, Babylonia, Persia322 BCE275 BCE47First Punic War285,000400,000Mediterranean Sea, Sicily, Sardinia, North Africa264 BCE241 BCE23Second Punic War616,000770,000Italy, Sicily, Hispania, Cisalpine Gaul, Transalpine Gaul, North Africa, Greece218 BCE201 BCE17Roman–Seleucid WarGreece, Asia Minor192 BCE188 BCE4Roman–Persian WarsMesopotamia, Syria, Levant, Egypt, Transcaucasus, Atropatene, Asia Minor, Balkans92 BCE628 CE721First Mithridatic WarAsia Minor, Achaea, Aegean Sea89 BCE85 BCE4Great Roman Civil WarHispania, Italy, Greece, Illyria, Egypt, Africa49 BCE45 BCE4Byzantine–Sassanid warsCaucasus, Asia Minor, Egypt, Levant, Mesopotamia502 CE628 CE126Muslim conquestsMesopotamia, Caucasus, Persia, Levant, The Maghreb, Anatolia, Iberia, Gaul, Khorasan, Sindh, Transoxania6221258636 Arab–Byzantine wars Levant, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Anatolia, Crete, Sicily, Italy 629 1050 421 Crusades 1,000,000John Shertzer Hittell, "A Brief History of Culture" (1874) p.137: "In the two centuries of this warfare one million persons had been slain..." cited by White 3,000,000Robertson, John M., "A Short History of Christianity" (1902) p.278. Cited by White Iberian peninsula, Near East, Anatolia, the Levant, Egypt. 1095 1291 197 Mongol conquests 30,000,000The Cambridge History of China: Alien regimes and border states, 907–1368, 1994, p.622, cited by White 40,000,000 Eurasia 1206 1324 118 Byzantine–Ottoman Wars Asia Minor, Balkans 1265 1479 214 European colonization of the Americas 2,000,000Rummel, R.J. Death by Government, Chapter 3: Pre-Twentieth Century Democide 100,000,000 Americas 1492 1900 408 Ottoman–Habsburg wars Hungary, Mediterranean, Balkans, North Africa, Malta 1526 1791 265 First Anglo-Spanish War Atlantic Ocean, English Channel, Low Countries, Spain, Spanish Main, Portugal, Cornwall, Ireland, Americas, Azores, Canary islands 1585 1604 19 Dutch–Portuguese War Atlantic Ocean, Brazil, West Africa, Southern Africa, Indian Ocean, India, East Indies, Indochina, China 1602 1663 61 Thirty Years' War 3,000,000 11,500,000 Europe, mainly present-day Germany 1618 1648 30 Second Anglo-Spanish War Caribbean, Spain, Canary Islands, Spanish Netherlands 1654 1660 6 Nine Years' War Europe, Ireland, Scotland, North America, South America, Asia 1688 1697 9 War of the Spanish Succession Europe, North America, South America 1701 1714 13 War of the Quadruple Alliance Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, North America 1718 1720 2 Third Anglo-Spanish War Spain, Panama 1727 1729 2 War of the Austrian Succession Europe, North America, India 1740 1748 8 Seven Years' War 1,500,000 Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia 1754 1763 9 American Revolutionary War North America, Gibraltar, Balearic Islands, India, Africa, Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean 1775 1784 8 French Revolutionary Wars Europe, Egypt, Middle East, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, Indian Ocean 1792 1802 9 Napoleonic Wars 3,500,000 7,000,000Charles Esdaile "Napoleon's Wars: An International History". Europe, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, Río de la Plata, French Guiana, West Indies, Indian Ocean, North America, South Caucasus 1803 1815 13 Crimean War 255,000 1,000,000 Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, Southeastern Europe, Black Sea 1853 1856 3 World War I 15,000,000 65,000,000 Global 1914 1918 4 World War II 40,000,000 85,000, 000 Global 1939 1945 6 Cold War 22, 345,162 (casualties by all wars started in the Cold Warwith Gulf War, Vietnam War, Korean War, Algerian War, Iran–Iraq War, Nigerian Civil War or Soviet–Afghan War included)List of wars by death toll +94,000,000 (22 million people killed by all civil wars started in Asia, South America and Africa + number of people killed in Asia and Europe by the Communist governments, with casualties of Soviet famine of 1946–47, Cambodian genocide, Cultural Revolution, and Great Leap Forward included)The Black Book of Communism Global 1947 1991 44 War on Terror 272,000 1,260,000"Update on Iraqi Casualty Data" by Opinion Research Business. January 2008."Revised Casualty Analysis. New Analysis 'Confirms' 1 Million+ Iraq Casualties" . January 28, 2008. Opinion Research Business. Word Viewer for.doc files. Global 2001 present 20
Etymology The Oxford English Dictionary cited the first known usage in the English language to a Scottish newspaper, The People's Journal, in 1848: "A war among the great powers is now necessarily a world-war." The term "world war" is used by Karl Marx and his associate, Friedrich Engels, in a series of articles published around 1850 called The Class Struggles in France. Rasmus B. Anderson in 1889 described an episode in Teutonic mythology as a "world war" (Swedish: världskrig), justifying this description by a line in an Old Norse epic poem, "Völuspá: folcvig fyrst I heimi" ("The first great war in the world".)Rasmus Björn Anderson (translator: Viktor Rydberg), Teutonic Mythology, vol. 1, p. 139, London: S. Sonnenschein & Co., 1889 . German writer August Wilhelm Otto Niemann had used the term "world war" in the title of his anti-British novel, Der Weltkrieg: Deutsche Träume (The World War: German Dreams) in 1904, published in English as The Coming Conquest of England. First World War Second World War Third World War Wars %DIFDELCMD < %DIFDELCMD < %%% spanning multiple continents + Estimated death tolls Event Lowestestimate Highestestimate Location From To Duration (years)Late Bronze Age collapseEgypt, Anatolia, Syria, Canaan, Cyprus, Greece, Mesopotamia1200s BCE1150s BCE40–50Greco-Persian WarsGreece, Thrace, Aegean Islands, Asia Minor, Cyprus, Egypt499 BCE449 BCE50Peloponnesian WarGreece, Asia Minor, Sicily431 BCE404 BCE27Wars of Alexander the GreatThrace, Illyria, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Babylonia, Persia, Afghanistan, Sogdiana, India335 BCE323 BCE12Wars of the DiadochiMacedon, Greece, Thrace, Anatolia, Levant, Egypt, Babylonia, Persia322 BCE275 BCE47First Punic War285,000400,000Mediterranean Sea, Sicily, Sardinia, North Africa264 BCE241 BCE23Second Punic War616,000770,000Italy, Sicily, Hispania, Cisalpine Gaul, Transalpine Gaul, North Africa, Greece218 BCE201 BCE17Roman–Seleucid WarGreece, Asia Minor192 BCE188 BCE4Roman–Persian WarsMesopotamia, Syria, Levant, Egypt, Transcaucasus, Atropatene, Asia Minor, Balkans92 BCE628 CE721First Mithridatic WarAsia Minor, Achaea, Aegean Sea89 BCE85 BCE4Great Roman Civil WarHispania, Italy, Greece, Illyria, Egypt, Africa49 BCE45 BCE4Byzantine–Sassanid warsCaucasus, Asia Minor, Egypt, Levant, Mesopotamia502 CE628 CE126Muslim conquestsMesopotamia, Caucasus, Persia, Levant, The Maghreb, Anatolia, Iberia, Gaul, Khorasan, Sindh, Transoxania6221258636 Arab–Byzantine wars Levant, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Anatolia, Crete, Sicily, Italy 629 1050 421 Crusades 1,000,000John Shertzer Hittell, "A Brief History of Culture" (1874) p.137: "In the two centuries of this warfare one million persons had been slain..." cited by White 3,000,000Robertson, John M., "A Short History of Christianity" (1902) p.278. Cited by White Iberian peninsula, Near East, Anatolia, the Levant, Egypt. 1095 1291 197 Mongol conquests 30,000,000The Cambridge History of China: Alien regimes and border states, 907–1368, 1994, p.622, cited by White 40,000,000 Eurasia 1206 1324 118 Byzantine–Ottoman Wars Asia Minor, Balkans 1265 1479 214 European colonization of the Americas 2,000,000Rummel, R.J. Death by Government, Chapter 3: Pre-Twentieth Century Democide 100,000,000 Americas 1492 1900 408 Ottoman–Habsburg wars Hungary, Mediterranean, Balkans, North Africa, Malta 1526 1791 265 First Anglo-Spanish War Atlantic Ocean, English Channel, Low Countries, Spain, Spanish Main, Portugal, Cornwall, Ireland, Americas, Azores, Canary islands 1585 1604 19 Dutch–Portuguese War Atlantic Ocean, Brazil, West Africa, Southern Africa, Indian Ocean, India, East Indies, Indochina, China 1602 1663 61 Thirty Years' War 3,000,000 11,500,000 Europe, mainly present-day Germany 1618 1648 30 Second Anglo-Spanish War Caribbean, Spain, Canary Islands, Spanish Netherlands 1654 1660 6 Nine Years' War Europe, Ireland, Scotland, North America, South America, Asia 1688 1697 9 War of the Spanish Succession Europe, North America, South America 1701 1714 13 War of the Quadruple Alliance Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, North America 1718 1720 2 Third Anglo-Spanish War Spain, Panama 1727 1729 2 War of the Austrian Succession Europe, North America, India 1740 1748 8 Seven Years' War 1,500,000 Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia 1754 1763 9 American Revolutionary War North America, Gibraltar, Balearic Islands, India, Africa, Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean 1775 1784 8 French Revolutionary Wars Europe, Egypt, Middle East, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, Indian Ocean 1792 1802 9 Napoleonic Wars 3,500,000 7,000,000Charles Esdaile "Napoleon's Wars: An International History". Europe, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, Río de la Plata, French Guiana, West Indies, Indian Ocean, North America, South Caucasus 1803 1815 13 Crimean War 255,000 1,000,000 Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, Southeastern Europe, Black Sea 1853 1856 3 World War I 15,000,000 65,000,000 Global 1914 1918 4 World War II 40,000,000 85,000, 000Fink, George: Stress of War, Conflict and Disaster Global 1939 1945 6 War on Terror 272,000 1,260,000"Update on Iraqi Casualty Data" by Opinion Research Business. January 2008."Revised Casualty Analysis. New Analysis 'Confirms' 1 Million+ Iraq Casualties" . January 28, 2008. Opinion Research Business. Word Viewer for.doc files. Global 2001 present 20
R
Origin of the term
Etymology
D
The
D
The
D
The
D
with higher death tolls than the First World War
D
The two world wars of the 20th century had caused unprecedented casualties and destruction across the theaters of conflict. There have been several wars that occurred with as many or more deaths than in the First World War (16,563,868–40,000,000), including:
D
+ Estimated death tolls Event Lowestestimate Highestestimate Location From To Duration (years)Three Kingdoms36,000,00040,000,000China18428096An Lushan Rebellion13,000,00036,000,000China7557639Mongol conquests30,000,00040,000,000Eurasia12061324118Conquests of Timur15,000,00020,000,000Asia1369140537Qing dynasty conquest of the Ming dynasty25,000,00025,000,000China1616166247Taiping Rebellion20,000,000100,000,000Livre noir du Communisme: crimes, terreur, répression, page 468By Train to Shanghai: A Journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway By William J. Gingles page 259China1851186414World War II40,000,00085,000,000Fink, George: Stress of War, Conflict and DisasterGlobal193919456Cold War22,345,162 +94,000,000Global1947199144
D
Wars
R
000 Global
000Fink, George: Stress of War, Conflict and Disaster Global
D
Cold War 22, 345,162 (casualties by all wars started in the Cold Warwith Gulf War, Vietnam War, Korean War, Algerian War, Iran–Iraq War, Nigerian Civil War or Soviet–Afghan War included)List of wars by death toll +94,000,000 (22 million people killed by all civil wars started in Asia, South America and Africa + number of people killed in Asia and Europe by the Communist governments, with casualties of Soviet famine of 1946–47, Cambodian genocide, Cultural Revolution, and Great Leap Forward included)The Black Book of Communism Global 1947 1991 44