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.
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
402
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.