A History of Slaughter

war, genocide and repression in the 20th and 21st centuries

"What experience and history teach us, however, is this, that peoples and governments have never learned anything from history."
- Georg Wilhelm Hegel (1770-1831) ; German philosopher, from "Lectures on the Philosophy of History", 1837

"We thought it was 'Never again', but it has been again and again - over and over again - ever since... the innocent have been massacred and the perpetrators have walked away scot free."
- Benjamin Ferencz, chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg World War II war crimes trials, speaking in 1997

Throughout history the suffering of the majority of humanity has been ignored by the minority who do not suffer yet hold all the power to prevent or stop the suffering. This page came into being as a result of my personal interest in 20th century international history and politics (of which there is very little information on the net, except for that which pertains to the USA and Europe) and my frustration at the indifference of the "West" (the 'developed' nations of the World) to the plight of others. The central problem appears to me to be one of ignorance rather than callousness, and these pages are intended to educate (in their own small way) those who are curious, especially in light of the dearth of information readily available on the internet.

According to some estimates up to 170 million people died at the hands of their own governments during the course of the 20th century, the biggest killers being Maoist China under Mao Tse-Tung(up to 50 million people) and Russia under Joseph Stalin (over 20 million).

"A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic."
Stalin

Lessons in Hypocrisy

As recently as 1994, 3 times the number of civilians killed in the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001 were being systematically murdered EVERY DAY for a period of over 100 days by Rwanda's extreme nationalist Hutu government. Many, many more were raped and mutilated. Children were specifically targeted. The US-led 'international community' that has reacted so aggressively to 9/11 did less than nothing. The US, which is currently demanding other countries sacrifice their political and economic needs on the altar of its narrow agenda, determinedly looked the other way. By the time the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front eventually overthrew the government almost 1 million people had been killed. This disaster led directly to the horrific civil war in next-door Democratic Republic of Congo, that continues to this day - ignored.

So much for the war on terror.

"Genocide has been committed - and we're still discussing what is to be done.
I've begged them to send troops; I failed. It's a scandal."

Boutros Boutros Ghali, UN Secretary General, 1994

"We should not send our troops to stop ethnic cleansing and genocide outside our strategic interest.
I would not send the United States troops into Rwanda."

George W. Bush, 23 January 2000

see www.rwandafund.org

World War II	1939 - 1945	25 million combatants and 40 million civilians killed

USSR under Stalin	1924 - 1953	at least 20 million killed (estimates vary hugely)
Europe: Post-WW II Expulsions of Germans	1945 - 1947	Up to 2 million died
Greek Civil War	1945 - 1949	around 100,000 died
French Indo-China	1945 - 1954	500,000 - 1 million killed
Chinese Civil War	1946 - 1949	up to 3 million died
India - Partition	1947	500,000 - 1 million
Colombian Civil War	1948-1962	Up to 300,000 killed
Israel - Palestine	1948 - date	over 110,000 dead (including 100,000 in the wars of 1948, 1967 and 1973, PP)
Korean War	1950 - 1953	2 - 3 million died
Mao's Purges, China	1950 - 1951	about 2 million killed
Algeria Independence War	1954 - 1962	about 15,000 French; at least 250,000 Algerians
Tibet	1956 - date	up to 1 million (estimates vary significantly)
Great Leap Forward, China	1958 - 1961	at least 30 million died
Rwanda	1959	More than 20,000 killed in riots
Guatemala	1960 - 1996	at least 200,000 killed or disappeared
Congo Crisis	1960 - 1965	at least 100,000 killed
Mozambique Independence War	1961 - 1975	up to 50,000 died
Kurdistan (Iraq, Iran, Turkey)	1961 - date	200,000 - 400,000 Kurds killed by various National Governments
Angolan Independence War	1961 - 1975	50 - 100,000 died
North Yemen	1962 - 1970	up to 100,000 died
Ethiopian Civil Wars	1962 - 1992	500,000 killed, > 1 million starved in famine
Indonesia: Communist Purge	1965 - 1966	500,000 to 1 million killed
Vietnam War	1965 - 1973	up to 3 million died (only 50,000 American)
Chad	1965 - date	over 50,000 killed; 6,000 since 1990 (PP)
Cultural Revolution, China	1966 - 1968	500,000 to 1 million killed
Biafra, Nigeria	1967 - 1970	at least 1 million died
Equatorial Guinea: Nguema Regime	1969 - 1979	at least 50,000 killed (WP 1978)
Bangladesh: Independence War	1971	1 - 2 million died
Burundi	1972	up to 150,000 killed
Nicaragua: Sandanista Rebellion	1972 - 1979	up to 50,000 died
Uganda: Idi Amin Regime	1972 - 1979	300,000 killed
Rhodesia	1972 - 1979	up to 30,000 killed (WP 1984)
Mozambique Civil War	1975 - 1993	up to 1 million died
East Timor	1975 - 1999	> 100,000 killed in 1975, at least 200,000 total to Independence
Cambodian Genocide: Khmer Rouge rule	1975 - 1978	1 - 2 million murdered
Lebanese Civil War	1975 - 1990	at least 100,000 killed (USG)
Angola	1975 - date	> 500,000 dead (PP)
Argentina	1976 - 1983	30,000 'disappeared'
Lebanon (Israeli Invasions)	1978 and 1982	12,000 killed
Afghanistan: Soviet War / Civil War	1978 - 2002	over 1.5 million killed
Ugandan Civil War	1979 - 1987	up to 200,000
India: North-Eastern Rebellions (Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam)	1979 - date	over 11,000 dead
El Salvador	1979 - 1992	75,000 died
Iran-Iraq War	1980 - 1988	approximately 1 million dead
Shining Path Rebellion, Peru	1980 - 2000	70,000 dead (TRC, Peru)
Nicaragua: Contra Rebellion	1981 - 1990	up to 50,000 died
Hama, Syria	1982	up to 10,000 murdered
Sri Lanka	1983 - 2002	60 - 100,000 dead (ICRC)
Southern Sudan	1983 - date	2 million dead, 4 million internally displaced (PP)
Burundi	1988 - date	up to 250,000 killed
Somali Civil War / 'Failed State'	1988 - date	Up to 1 million killed (BBC)
Burma: Karen Rebellion	1988 - date	at least 30,000 dead (Guardian 2000)
Liberia	1989 - 1993	up to 200,000 killed (Time 1997)
Jammu and Kashmir, India	1989 - date	> 40,000 dead (BBC 2004)
Gulf War	1990 - 1991	up to 100,000 dead (estimates vary hugely)
Nigeria, civil unrest / state repression	1990 - date	over 10,000 (WOAT 2002)
Iraq: Southern Shia Rebellion	1991 - 1992	about 50,000 killed
Sierra Leone	1991 - 2002	up to 50,000 dead; 30,000 deliberately amputated; 250,000 systematically raped
Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan	1991 - 1994	Up to 35,000 dead, 1 million displaced (BBC)
Liberia	1991 - 1996	up to 200,000 dead
Abkhazia, Georgia	1992 - 1994	10,000 killed (BBC)
Tajikistan Civil War	1992 - 1996	about 50,000 killed (CDI)
Algerian Islamist Insurgency	1992 - date	up to 100,000 dead
Bosnian Independence War	1993 - 1996	up to 250,000 killed (USG)
Burundi	1993 - date	at least 300,000 killed (BBC 2004)
Rwandan Genocide	1994 - date	up to 1 million murdered in 100 days in 1994, several 10s of thousands since.
Chechnya, Russia	1994 - date	40,000 combatants, 200,000 civilians (Time 2002)
Nepalese Civil War	1996 - date	At least 9,000 killed (BBC 2004)
Kosovo, Yugoslavia	1998 - 2000	over 10,000 killed
Ethiopian-Eritrean War	1998 - 2000	up to 100,000 killed (PP)
Democratic Republic of Congo	1998 - 2003	Over 3 million dead (BBC)
Nigeria	1999 - date	> 10,000 killed in religious violence
Iraq War	2003	Estimated 10,000 killed
Darfur Region, Sudan	2003 - date	> 50,000 killed, 1.5 million displaced (UN 2004)

Obviously, estimates of mortality in genocide, war and famine vary: for much more detail on breakdowns and sources for estimate visit this excellent website:
Death Tolls for the Man-made Megadeaths of the Twentieth Century

sources ascribed in table:

BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation

CDI - Center for Defense Information / Defense Monitor

FT - Financial Times UK

ICRC - International Committee of the Red Cross / Red Crescent

PP - Ploughshares Project, Canada www.ploughshares.ca

Time - Time Magazine

TRC, Peru � Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Peru � (estimated deaths 69,280)

UN - United Nations

USG - US Government

WOAT - World Organisation Against Torture

WP - Washington Post

Any comments would be gratefully received. You can e-mail me at ninja@refutation.org.

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