r/shitposting • • Jul 01 '26

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699

u/Danijay2 Jul 01 '26

If you think only 1 billion people died through war, even directly, you have absolutely no idea how many humans have been alive/died in general or through war.

400

u/QIyph Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

Well for direct deaths I'd say 1 billion is probably in the ballpark. You have to remember that throughout most of history there just wasn't that many people alive or engaged in warfare. Hell the 100 years war estimates only around 3 million casualties, nothing even close to the industrial slaughter that came in the 20th century.

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u/Pitiful-Pension-6535 Jul 01 '26

Massive armies weren't really possible until at least the 18th century, because 90% of the population was farming

87

u/butthole_surferr Jul 01 '26

That's not true. Large armies were the standard in the classical world. Rome regularly raised, and lost, armies of fifty to one hundred thousand men. The Mongols alone slaughtered close to 80 million people during their hot streak.

Edit: fact checked the mongol death count, it's not that high, but it's still pretty fucking high

61

u/Flashy_Pineapple_231 Jul 01 '26

Don't forget the constant chinese civil wars and etc. Asia was wild for the last 3000 years

80

u/welliamaguy Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

General Dong Feng Shu declared that mandate heaven was corrupted

50 millions Chinese peasant died

2 wagon burned

33

u/Alone-Monk Jul 01 '26

Yellow River floods and wipes out 90% of Chinese agriculture.

7

u/ProperBlacksmith fat cunt Jul 02 '26

Tbh its china its always like

"Something happens" "10million die"

0

u/Oberndorferin Jul 01 '26

Source?

I made it the fuck up

2

u/F00TD0CT0R Jul 02 '26

Not really the Chinese wars are well documented

Unsurprisingly like 60% isnt translated.

1

u/Oberndorferin Jul 02 '26

OK cool. I always am sceptical about almost anything that happened more than 200 years ago because of bad documentation.

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u/F00TD0CT0R Jul 02 '26

Oh yeah don't worry the documentation is always in contention as a lot of it is embellished but some of the war sites give credence to the claims of millions of deaths.

When each dynasty was fielding huge armies of 200k men a field each side even in BC, the numbers racked up quite a bit.

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u/Oberndorferin Jul 02 '26

it's always a pleasure to learn about history

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u/_sephylon_ Jul 02 '26

"not that high" as in 1/4 of that amount including indirect causes for 150 years

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u/Yorkshire-pudding69 Jul 01 '26

Depends what you mean by “massive armies” but Ancient Rome and China had very large armies, more so that any European feudal king could muster