Secondary Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century
AWM: Australian War Memorial Fact Sheet [http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/war_casualties.asp]
"B&J": Jacob Bercovitch and Richard Jackson, International Conflict : A Chronological Encyclopedia of Conflicts and Their Management 1945-1995 (1997)
Bodart, Gaston, Losses of Life in Modern Wars (1916)
Britannica, 15th edition, 1992 printing
Brzezinski, Zbigniew, Out of Control: Global Turmoil on the Eve of the Twenty-first Century (1993).
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Africa (1981)
The Cambridge History of Africa (1986), ed. J. D. Fage and R. Oliver
CDI: The Center for Defense Information, The Defense Monitor, "The World At War: January 1, 1998".
Chirot, Daniel: Modern Tyrants : the power and prevalence of evil in our age (1994)
Chomsky, Noam, The Chomsky Reader (1987); Deterring Democracy (1991)
Clodfelter, Michael, Warfare and Armed Conflict: A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1618-1991
Compton's Encyclopedia Online v.2.0 (1997)
COWP: Correlates of War Project at the University of Michigan [http://www.correlatesofwar.org/]
Courtois, Stephane, The Black Book of Communism, 1997
Davies, Norman, Europe A History (1998)
Dictionary of Twentieth Century World History, by Jan Palmowski (Oxford, 1997)
Dictionary of Wars, by George Childs Kohn (Facts on File, 1999)
DoD: United States Department of Defense [http://web1.whs.osd.mil/mmid/m01/SMS223R.HTM]
Dumas, Samuel, and K.O. Vedel-Petersen, Losses of Life Caused By War (1923)
Dunnigan, A Quick and Dirty Guide to War (1991)
Eckhardt, William, in World Military and Social Expenditures 1987-88 (12th ed., 1987) by Ruth Leger Sivard.
Edgerton, Robert B, Africa's armies: from honor to infamy: a history from 1791 to the present (2002)
Encarta, Microsoft Encarta '95.
FAS 2000: Federation of American Scientists, The World at War (2000)
Gibbon, Edward, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Gilbert, Martin, A History of the Twentieth Century (1997)
Global Security: The World At War [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/index.html]
Grenville, J. A. S., A History of the World in the Twentieth Century (1994)
Hammond Atlas of the 20th Century (1996)
Harff, Barbara & Gurr, Ted Robert: "Toward an Empirical Theory of Genocides and Politicides", 32 International Studies Quarterly
20th Century death tolls larger than 300,000 but fewer than 1 million people.
Indian Genocide
- Gerald Colby, Thy Will Be Done: the Conquest of the Amazon (1995)
- 800,000 Indians "disappeared into extinction" since 1900.
- 40,000 to 100,000 died, 1957-68.
- Robin Hanbury-Tenison, A Question of Survival (1973): The Indian population of Brazil declined from a half million in 1900 to 80 thousand in 1957 to 50 thousand in 1973. Whether the 450,000 missing Indians were assimilated or exterminated is not certain, but a significant number were probably victims of genocide.
- Robert Hitchcock & Tara Twedt: Indian population of Brazil declined from 1.0M to 0.2M between 1900 and 1957, a net loss of 800,000 (in Century of Genocide, Samuel Totten, ed., (1997))
- Porter estimates that 100,000 Brazilian Indians were victims of genocide during the 1960s.
- Darcy Ribeiro, "Indigenous Cultures and Languages in Brazil", in Indians of Brazil in the Twentieth Century, Janice Hopper, ed. (1967): 87 Indian tribes in Brazil went extinct between 1900 and 1957 (Out of an original 230) This, by the way, is the authoritative study of Brazilian Indian population, which is why every other author discussing the decline of Indian population uses 1957 as a milestone.
- Rummel estimates the following Indian deaths:
- Under republic (1900-30): 50,000 democides
- Under Vargas (1930-45): 60,000
- Under Dutra/Vargas (1945-64): 50,000
- Under military (1964-85): 75,000
- TOTAL: 235,000
Democidal deaths among forced laborers in the Portuguese colonies (Rummel):
- Monarchy (1900-10): 200,000
- Republic (1910-25): 125,000
- TOTAL: 325,000
- Rummel:
- Battle Deaths: 178,000
- Democides:
- By Warlords: 450,000
- By Guomindang: 139,000
- By Communists: 43,000
- SUBTOTAL (Military + Civilian): 810,000
- Famine (non-democidal): 6,000,000
- Gilbert
- Revolt in Kansu (1928): 200,000 Muslims k.
- Battle of Hsuchow, Guomindang v. Northern Army (1927): 50,000 k.
- Eckhardt:
- Yunan Revolt (1917-18): 1,000
- Szechuanese Wars (1917-18, 1920): 6,000
- Civil War (1926-28): 10,000
- Muslim Revolt (1928): 200,000
- TOTAL: 217,000
- Urlanis:
- Greek KIA: 26,000, citing Bujac:
- Killed and (?) died of wounds: 19,362
- Died of wounds (?) and disease: 4,878
- Missing: 17,995
- TOTAL: 19T killed - 3T mortally wounded (i.e. 6% of k.) + 10T (i.e. ½ of missing) = 26T
- Turks: about the same
- TOTAL: 52,000 battle deaths
- Greek KIA: 26,000, citing Bujac:
- Singer (KIA)
- Turkey: 20,000
- Greece: 30,000
- Winston Churchill, The World Crisis, v.5 p.409: "It is perhaps no exaggeration to remark that a quarter of a million persons died of this monkey's bite."
- Rummel (civilian democide)
- Greeks killed by Turks: 264,000
- Turks killed by Greeks: 15,000
- Housepian, Marjorie, The Smyrna Affair (1966)The 1922 Burning of Smyrna by the Turks: According to Adm. Bristol's report, 2,000 Greeks killed by fire, execution, etc. According to George Horton, over 100,000 were killed. Housepian assesses Bristol's number as "the historical verdict to date", but says that Horton's "makes more sense" in light of the 190,000 residents and refugees unaccounted for.
- AIHGS: 353,000 Pontian Greeks k. by Turks [http://www.aihgs.com/Aftermath.htm]
- Eckhardt: 20,000 civ. + 50,000 mil. = 70,000
and Franco Regime (1939-75): 100,000
- Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War (1977) (cited at length by both Paul Johnson and JAS Grenville):
- Republicans killed in combat: 110,000
- Nationalists killed in combat: 90,000
- Executed by Nationalists: 75,000
- Executed by Republicans: 55,000
- Bombs: 10,000
- Malnutrition: 25,000
- TOTAL: 365,000
- Gabriel Jackson, The Spanish Republic and the Civil War 1931-39 (1965, 1972):
- Battle deaths: 100,000
- Air raids: 10,000
- Dis./Malnutrition: 50,000
- Executed by Republicans: 20,000
- Executed by Nationalists: 200,000
- TOTAL: 380,000
- Salas Larraza, Ramon, Perdidas de la guerra (1977), cited at length in Stanley Payne, The Franco Regime 1936-1975 (1987)
- Battle deaths:
- Republicans KIA: 60,500
- Nationalists KIA: 59,500
- Foreign soldiers, both sides: 25,500
- Civilians: 15,000
- Executions:
- By Republicans: 72,344
- By Nationalists: 35,021
- Disease: 165,000
- TOTAL: 268,500 deaths by violence (adding disease: 433,500)
- Battle deaths:
- Singer (1982)
- Spain, all sides: 650,000
- Ousiders:
- Germany: 300
- Italy: 6,000
- Portugal: 2,000
- Eckhardt: 600,000 civ. + 600,000 mil. = 1,200,000
- Bombing of Guernica, 1937 Gilbert: 1,645 k.
- Foreigners Clodfelter:
- French: 1,000-3,000
- German-Austrian: 2,000
- American: 900-1,500
- Yugoslav: 700
- Italian: 600
- Britons: 543
- Swiss: 76
- Abraham Lincoln Brigade
- 13 February 2001, Associated Press: 750 American volunteers k.
- Encyclopedia Americana: 750
- 23 February 2002, Oakland Tribune: 800
- 31 May 1997, Washington Post: 900 (citing Hugh Thomas)
- 28 May 2000, New York Times: 900
- 19 October 1986, Associated Press: 1,200
- 31 March 1988, St. Petersburg Times: 1,600
- After Francisco Franco came to power:
- Ramon Salas Larraza:
- 22,641 executions
- 4,000 deaths by guerrilla activity (to 1961)
- 159,000 excess deaths by disease (1940-43)
- Hugh Thomas: 100,000 executions
- Freedland, "Spain and the lingering legacy of Franco", Guardian, 28 March 2011, "113,000 people executed by Franco's forces during and after the war"
- 22 October 2002 AP: new research shows perhaps 150,000 political prisoners executed during war and Franco dictatorship,.
- Gabriel Jackson: 200,000 prisoner deaths, 1939-43
- Daniel Davis, Spain's Civil War : The Last Great Cause (1974) says that a Spanish official admitted in 1944 that Franco's government had executed 192,684 since coming to power. Thomas doubts this number.
- Ramon Salas Larraza:
- Angelo Del Boca, The Ethiopian War 1935-1941 (1965)
- He cites a 1945 memorandum from Ethiopia to the Conference of Prime Ministers which tallies 760,300 natives dead:
- Battle Deaths: 275,000
- Hunger among refugees: 300,000
- Patriots killed during occupation: 75,000
- Concentration camps: 35,000
- Feb. 1937 massacre: 30,000
- Executions: 24,000
- Civilians killed by air force: 17,800
- Concerning the massacre of 19-21 Feb. 1937 in Addis Ababa, he doubts Ethiopian claims that 30,000 were killed, and suggests it was 3,000 instead.
- Battle deaths on the Italian side:
- Italians: 426 officers + 4785 men = 5211
- Native auxilliaries: 10,000
- He cites a 1945 memorandum from Ethiopia to the Conference of Prime Ministers which tallies 760,300 natives dead:
- Alberto Sbacchi, Ethiopia Under Mussolini (1985)
- Battle deaths:
- Italy: 15,000
- Ethiopia: 275,000
- TOTAL: 290,000
- Sbacchi also cites the claims of 30,000 massacred Feb. 1937, but he too supports a death toll of 3,000. He also claims 5,469 executions by the end of 1937 in retaliation for an attempt on Graziani's life.
- Battle deaths:
- Anthony Mockley, Haile Selasse's WarHe also suggests 3,000 Ethiopians massacred in Addis Ababa during the weekend of 19-21 Feb. 1937. Also, the Italians reported some 1,469 summary executions across the country as of 28 March 1937.
- Clodfelter
- Italy: 4,359, incl...
- Italians: 2,313 soldiers and 453 laborers
- Eritreans: 1086
- Somali, Libyans: 507
- Ethiopians: 275,000
- Italy: 4,359, incl...
- Small & Singer, battle dead, 1935-36:
- Italy: 4,000
- Ethiopia: 16,000
- TOTAL: 20,000
- Eckhardt: 20,000
- Analysis: Three sources accept that 275,000 Ethiopians died in combat, so, incredible as it may seem, we probably should go along. As for the number of civilian deaths, the total is probably less than the 485T claimed in the 1945 memo. For example, note the discrepancies in the number killed in Addis Ababa (3T vs. 30T) and the number of executions (5.5T vs. 24T); however, a quarter to a third of the memo's total is not inconceivable, pushing the total of unnatural civilian deaths during the Abyssinian conquest into the neighborhood of 120-160,000
- Our Times: 1,300,000
- T. Lomperis, From People's War to People's Rule (1996)
- French dead: 92,707
- Viet Minh: >500,000
- Civilians: 250,000
- [TOTAL: 842,707]
- D. Smith: 600,000
- Eckhardt: 300,000 civ. + 300,000 mil. = 600,000
- B&J: 500,000
- S. Karnow, Vietnam : a History (1983): 400,000
- Bernard Fall
- Street Without Joy: 75,867 French Union dead and missing; 18,714 Indochinese allies dead; 94,581 Total.
- The Two Vietnams (1963): 250,000 civilians killed; Vietminh casualties three times the French losses.
- Spencer Tucker, Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War (1998)
- French Union dead: 75,867
- Allied Indochinese states: 18,714
- Viet Minh: 3 times that
- Civilians: 250,000
- [TOTAL: 630,000 (?)]
- Stanley Kutler: Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War (1996)
- French and Indochinese client states: 94,581 killed
- Viet Minh: 300,000
- Clodfelter, Michael, Vietnam in Military Statistics (1995)
- French Union dead: 74,220
- French: 20,685
- Foreign Legion: 11,620
- Africans: 15,229
- Indochinese: 26,686
- Allied Indochinese states: 18,714
- Viet Minh: 175,000
- Civilians: 125,000
- [TOTAL: 392,934]
- French Union dead: 74,220
- WHPSI: 44,165 deaths by political violence in both Vietnams, 1948-54
- 6,000 civilians killed in French shelling of Haiphong, 1946 (Dictionary of 20th Century World History; Grenville)
- The rioting and dislocation associated with partition cost how many lives?
- 1984 World Almanac: 200,000
- Hammond 500,000
- Eckhardt: 800,000
- D.Smith 1,000,000
- B&J: 1,000,000 (1945-48)
- Hartman: 1,000,000
- Stanley Wolpert, A New History of India (1993): 1,000,000
- Collins and Lapierre, Freedom at Midnight (1975) cite these sources:
- Khosla, Stern Reckoning: 500,000
- Moon, Divide and Quit: 200-250,000
- Hodson: The Great Divide: 200-250,000
- Chanduli Trivedi, governor of Punjab: 225,000
- P. Johnson puts the death toll at 200-600,000. In addition to some of the Collins and Lapierre sources, he cites these authorities:
- Stephens, Pakistan (1963): 500,000
- Edwardes, Last Years of British India (1963): 600,000
- The median of these 14 estimates is 500,000.
- The Algerian government claims that one million were killed in the war. Dan Smith, Encarta, and Our Times seem to agree with this number, but in vague or confusing ways:
- Encarta says "French casualties were about 100,000, Algerian more than 1 million". The textbook definition of "casualties" includes wounded, so if Encarta means it by the book, then it agrees with the French estimates that perhaps 275,000 were killed. The problem is that "casualties" is widely misused as a synonym for "killed", so if Encarta means it that way, then it agrees with the Algerians that around a million were killed.
- Our Times: "killed ... up to a million Muslims." (phrased to allow for the possibility that it might be lower)
- Dan Smith: The War Atlas (1983) does not give a specific number, but Algeria is filled with the color which indicates that more than a million died in all wars fought between 1945 and 1982.
- From Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace (1977)
- Official French statistics:
- Europeans:
- Soldiers: 17,456 killed
- Settlers: 2,788 killed and 500 disappeared
- Muslims:
- Combatants killed by French: 141,000
- FLN, internal purges: 12,000
- Civilians abducted by FLN, presumed dead: 50,000
- [TOTAL: 223,744]
- Europeans:
- To which should be added:
- Killed in France by terrorism: 4,300
- Pro-French Muslims killed in Algeria in post-war reprisals: 30-150,000
- Horne personally believes that the French numbers are too low and the Algerian too high, and that the real number falls somewhere between them.
- Official French statistics:
- Britannica largely agrees with the French numbers:
- French: 10,000
- Muslims: 250,000
- Anthony Clayton, Frontiersmen: Warfare In Africa Since 1950
- French military deaths, all causes, including colonials and Foreign Legion: 35,000
- Civilians: 3,500 French and 30,000 indigenous, plus 150,000 revenge killings
- FLN: 141,000 KIA and 12,000 killed by Amirouche and 4,000 k. in France.
- Deaths in resettlement camps etc: 300,000
- [TOTAL: 675,500]
- Clodfelter
- French military deaths: 17,456, incl...
- Foreign Legion: 1,976
- Muslim regulars: 2,500
- Muslim aux.: 2,500
- Terrorism
- French + Fr. Alg.: 2,788
- Muslim: 16,378 k. + 13,296 missing, believed d.
- In France: 4,300 Muslim Alg. k.
- Arab Algerians: 300,000 civ.+mil, incl... FLN: 141,000 KIA
- Algerians who collab. w/Fr: 30,000 k. post-war
- [TOTAL: ca. 350,000]
- French military deaths: 17,456, incl...
- WPA3; also Hartman
- French soldiers: 17,456
- French settlers: 2,788
- Algerian Moslems: 1,000,000
- Singer: 15,000 French
- Eckhardt: 82,000 civ. + 18,000 mil. = 100,000
- COWP: 18,000 French, 100,000 total
- Harff & Gurr: 30,000 to 150,000 Harkis, OAS supporters were victims of retributive politicide, 1962
- ANALYSIS
- Among the three sources that go into detail (Horne, Clayton, Clodfelter), there's 2/3 agreement on some essentials:
- Europeans: 17,456 mil. + 2,788 civ.
- FLN: 141,000 KIA + 12,000 purged
- Muslim civilians: ca. 4,000 k. in France
- [TOTAL of these: 177,244]
- There's no consensus on these categories:
- Algerians generally: Does 300,000 include the FLN (Clodfelter) or not (Clayton)?
- Post-war reprisals: 30,000 or 150,000?
- Algerian civilian victims of FLN: 29,674 (Clodfelter) or 50,000 (Horne)
- [TOTAL of these: 219,000 to 500,000. Splitting the difference yields ca. 360,000]
- Among the three sources that go into detail (Horne, Clayton, Clodfelter), there's 2/3 agreement on some essentials:
- Berkeley, The Graves Are Not Yet Full (2001): "half a million lives.... Hunger was the worst killer."
- Kuper: 500,000 or more. He also mentions Hale's estimate of 500,000-1,000,000.
- B&J: 700,000 (1963-72)
- FAS 2000: 500,000 by the late 1960s
- Dunnigan (1991): nearly 500,000
- Eckhardt: 250,000 civ. + 250,000 mil. = 500,000
- Singer: 250,000 (1963-72)
Army massacre of Communists, sympathizers and anyone else they didn't like:
- Paul Johnson acknowledges the possibility of 1,000,000, but leans toward 200-250,000
- Harff & Gurr: 500,000 to 1,000,000 Communists, Chinese were victims of repressive/xenophobic genocide, 1965-66
- Our Times: 300,000
- Eckhardt: 500,000
- D. Smith: 500,000
- Robert Cribb: 200,000 to 500,000 (in Century of Genocide, Samuel Totten, ed., (1997))
- Dict.Wars: 300,000
- Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1990: 250,000
- Clodfelter
- "estimates vary from 150,000 to 500,000"
- "more widely accepted": 200,000 to 250,000
- Sukarno claimed 78,000
- Rummel: 509,000
- Hartman: 300,000 to 600,000
- John Hughes, Indonesian Uprising (1967) cites these:
- The official report issued by the Indonesian government: 78,000
- Private admission by a member of the commission which wrote the report: 780,000
- Adam Malik, Indonesian foreign minister: 160,000
- New York Times: 150,000 to 400,000
- Washington Post: 500,000
- Life Magazine: 400,000
- WHPSI: 575,000 deaths from pol.viol.,1965-1966.
- Encarta: 300,000 to 1,000,000
- The MEDIAN of these 19 estimates falls at 400,000
- 300,000 is the canonical death toll. Encarta gives it, as do Rummel, Chirot, Gilbert, Grenville, B&J, Eckhardt, Our Times and Time Magazine (13 April 1998)
- As for the dissenters:
- D. Smith: 100,000
- Dictionary of 20C World History: 250,000
- Harff & Gurr: 100,000-500,000 (two numbers which average out to 300,000, BTW)
- Berkeley, The Graves Are Not Yet Full (2001): half a million
- 28 July 1980 AP: 200,000
- Quinn, "Chicken and egg?" International Journal of Peace Studies, Sept. 22, 2009: "No exact figures of the number of people who were killed under Amin exist, although conservative estimates place the figure at between 300,000 (Briggs 1998) and 500,000 (Museveni 1997)"
- International War, 1979
- Singer:
- Tanzania: 1,000
- Uganda: 1,500
- Libya: 500
- TOTAL: 3,000
- Eckhardt: 3,000
- Edgerton
- Tanzanian civilians: 1,500
- Libya: 600
- B&J:
- Tanzania: 1,000
- Libya: 200
- TOTAL: 3,500
- WPA3: 4,000
- Singer:
- Jacqueline Desbarats and Karl Jackson ("Vietnam 1975-1982: The Cruel Peace", in The Washington Quarterly, Fall 1985) estimated that there had been around 65,000 executions. This number is repeated in the Sept. 1985 Dept. of State Bulletin article on Vietnam.
- Orange County Register (29 April 2001): 1 million sent to camps and 165,000 died.
- Northwest Asian Weekly (5 July 1996): 150,000-175,000 camp prisoners unaccounted for.
- Estimates for the number of Boat People who died:
- Elizabeth Becker (When the War Was Over, 1986) cites the UN High Commissioner on Refugees: 250,000 boat people died at sea; 929,600 reached asylum
- The 20 July 1986 San Diego Union-Tribune cites the UN Refugee Commission: 200,000 to 250,000 boat people had died at sea since 1975.
- The 3 Aug. 1979 Washington Post cites the Australian immigration minister's estimate that 200,000 refugees had died at sea since 1975.Also: "Some estimates have said that around half of those who set out do not survive."
- The 1991 Information Please Almanac cites unspecified "US Officials" that 100,000 boat people died fleeing Vietnam.
- Hanson, Victor Davis, Carnage and culture (2001): 50,000-100,000
- Encarta estimates that 0.5M fled, and 10-15% died, for a death toll of 50-75,000.
- Nayan Chanda, Brother Enemy (1986): ¼M Chinese refugees in two years, 30,000 to 40,000 of whom died at sea. (These numbers also repeated by Marilyn Young, The Vietnam Wars: 1945-1990 (1991))
- Rummel Vietnamese democide: 1,040,000 (1975-87)
- Executions: 100,000
- Camp Deaths: 95,000
- Forced Labor: 48,000
- Democides in Cambodia: 460,000
- Democides in Laos: 87,000
- Boat People: 500,000 deaths (50% not blamed on the Vietnamese govt.)
- ANALYSIS: I'd estimate a total of 365,000. That's 165,000 camp deaths (including 65,000 executions) + 200,000 boat people. It's unlikely that VN alone caused 460+87T democides in Cambodia + Laos since estimates of the total deaths in these conflicts only run to a half million or so.
Govt. vs. UNITA
- PARTIALS:
- Singer (through 1980 only):
- Angola: 7,000
- Cuba: 2,000
- Dunnigan (1991): 60,000
- War Annual 6 (1994): 350,000 (to 1991), incl....10,000 Cubans, 1976-88
- Singer (through 1980 only):
- 1994 Britannica Annual: 300,000
- FAS 2000: 300,000 (1965-95)
- BBC: 300,000 to 1991 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1063073.stm]
- B&J (1997): 360,000, incl....
- 2,000 Cubans
- 1,000 South Africans
- David L. Marcus, “Relentless war wears on Angolans,” January 23, 1994, Dallas Morning News: more than 450,000
- Ploughshares 2000
- 300,000 since 1992
- TOTAL: 500,000
- 8 March 2002 Agence France Presse: 500,000+
- Lynne Duke, "Will Peace Take Hold in Angola?" Oct. 14, 1996, Washington Post: 500,000
- [MEDIAN: 500,000]
- Casimiro Sieno, “Angolan Peace Talks Restart as Fighting Continues,” July 29, 1994, Associated Press: 500,000
- Paul Salopek, “Inklings of Peace Intrude In Bereft Angola,” January 14, 2000, Chicago Tribune: 500,000
- SIPRI 1994:
- Military: 36,000 since 1975
- Civilian: 86,000 since 1975
- Citing the UN: 450-500T died between Oct.92-Dec.93, including starvation.
- [TOTAL: ca. 597,000]
- 23 May 1999 Denver Rocky Mtn News: 600,000
- Washington Post (15 Dec 1998)
- 150,000 to 300,000 killed, 1975-91
- 500,000 more during renewed fighting, 1992-94
- [TOTAL: 650,000 to 800,000]
- CDI: 750,000 (1975-95)
- Inge Tvedten, Angola: Struggle for Peace and Reconstruction
- By 1992
- Directly, in battle, incl. non-combatants: 100-350,000
- Secondary effects: 500-600,000
- 1992-94: 300,000
- [TOTAL: 900,000-1,250,000]
- By 1992
- Govt vs RENAMO
- Ottaway, "Slave Trade in Mozambicans cited," Washington Post, Nov. 26, 1990: between 600,000 and 1 million
- Pakenham, “Where a Million Died,” New York Times, April 26, 1992, Book Review of Finnegan, Harrowing of Mozambique: nearly a million
- Lawless, “After The Terror, The Sun May Rise On Bloody Mozambique,” Sydney Morning Herald, October 22, 1994: 500,000
- Jensen, “Peace is as difficult as war in Mozambique,” Rocky Mountain News, October 23, 1994: 600,000
- Christie, “Mozambique celebrates year of democracy,” Reuters News, October 23, 1995: at least 800,000
- Edgerton, Africa's Armies, p.109: at least 1 million
- Dan Smith (1997) estimates an even million.
- BBC: 1,000,000 (1977-92) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1063120.stm]
- B&J: 1,000,000 (1976-92)
- Atrocities, civilians murdered by RENAMO
- 20 May 1988 Facts on File World News Digest (citing US State Dept.): 100,000 k. in previous 2 years. [1986-mid-1988]
- 1988 Gersony Report (US State Dept.): 100,000
- Young: 100-200,000 [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1991/YLS.htm]
- Dictionary of 20C World History: 1M
- Roth, “War in Iraq: Not a Humanitarian Intervention,” Human Rights Watch, January 2004: "twenty-five years of Ba`th Party rule ... murdered or 'disappeared' some quarter of a million Iraqis" [http://www.hrw.org/wr2k4/3.htm]
- Price, "Survey: Saddam Killed 61,000 in Baghdad", 8/9 Dec. 2003 AP: Total murders
- New survey estimates 61,000 residents of Baghdad executed by Saddam.
- US Government estimates a total of 300,000 killed by Saddam across Iraq
- "Human rights officials" est.: 500,000
- Iraqi politicians: over a million
- [These don't include the half million or so dead in the Iran-Iraq War.]
Govt. (under Obote) vs. National Resistance Army
- Encarta: 100,000
- Julian Marshall, “Obituary: Milton Obote: The first leader of an independent Uganda, he imposed virtual one-man rule, but was twice overthrown,” The Guardian, October 12, 2005: 100,000
- Eckhardt: 100,000 civ. + 2,000 mil. = 102,000
- SIPRI 1988, (1981-87)
- civilian: 100,000
- military: 5,000 to 6,000
- 24 Dec. 1989 Arizona Republic: 100-200,000
- Chirot: 300,000
- MEDIAN: 300,000
- Bill Berkeley
- “An African success story? Uganda,” The Atlantic, Vol. 274 No. 3 Pg. 22, September, 1994: 300,000
- The Graves Are Not Yet Full (2001): "Possibly a million Ugandans died in two decades [1970s and 1980s, under both Idi Amin and Milton Obote] of sheer terror."
- Edgerton Africa's armies p.155: 300,000
- War Annual 2: 300,000
- D. Smith: 300,000
- Quinn, "Chicken and egg?" International Journal of Peace Studies, Sept. 22, 2009: "Conservative estimates again place the number of those killed during this period at approximately 300,000 (Uganda 1998, 53; Ofcansky 1996) to 320,000 (Ofcansky 1996)"
- B&J: >500,000
- Henry Wasswa, “Uganda's first prime minister, and two-time president, dead at 80,” Associated Press, October 10, 2005: 500,000
- Philip Williams, “Uganda marks 25 years of chaotic independence today,” United Press International, October 9, 1987: 500,000
Most newpaper articles agree on the number, but they can't agree on the number of what. They talk of a million "killed", a million "killed and wounded", or a million "casualties". Here are the estimates among the sources which specify the number as killed:
- Dilip Hiro, The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict (1991), p.250:
- Conservative western est: 262,000 Iranians + 105,000 Iraqis = 367,000
- Iran, officially: 123,220 KIA + 60,711 MIA + 11,000 civilians [= 194,931]
- Iran, according to Baghdad: 800,000
- Eckhardt: 377,000 as of 1987
- Potter, Iran, Iraq, and the Legacies of War, p.8 (2006):
- Iranian deaths "more or less consistent": 213,000 (Gen. Safavi); 204,795 incl. civilians (Qalamnevis); 220,000 (Rafiqdust)
- Iraqis: 180,000 (al-Samarrai); 150,000 Baram
- [TOTAL: 354,795 to 400,000]
- Hammond: 400,000
- 5 March 1991 AP
- Iran has acknowledged 135,000 mil. + civ. k.
- Western military analysts: 2 or 3 times higher
- Diplomats in Baghdad: 100,000 Iraqi dead
- [Total: (?) 437,500 ± 67,500]
- Conservative Western estimates: 1M k. or wd.
- Dunnigan (1991): over 500,000
- Dictionary of 20C World History: >500,000
- Bulloch & Morris, The Gulf War (1989): 500,000
- SIPRI 1989: 532,000
- Clodfelter
- Iranians: best est. 450,000 (as high as 730,000)
- Iraqis: 150,000 (as high as 340,000)
- [TOTAL: 600,000 (as high as 1,070,000)
- Chirot
- Iranians: 400,000-600,000
- Iraqis: 200,000
- [TOTAL: 700,000 ± 100,000]
- MEDIAN: 700,000
- Iranians: 400,000
- Iraqis: 200,000
- WPA3: 1,000,000 (600,000 Iranians and 400,000 Iraqis)
- Compton's Encyclopedia: 1,000,000
- Encarta: 1,000,000
- Toronto Star (11 Dec 88): 1,000,000
- San Francisco Chronicle (29 Jan. 1991): 1,000,000
- Our Times: at least 1,000,000
- War Annual 4: 1,000,000 (600,000 Iranians and 400,000 Iraqis)
- B&J: 1,000,000 (400,000 Iranians and 200,000 Iraqis)
- Timeframe: 1,200,000 (900,000 Iranians and 300,000 Iraqis)
- Partials:
- The web site of the President of Iran gives the number as both 1M KIA and 1M K&W on the same page. [http://www.president.ir/cronicnews/1380/8003/800301/800301.htm]
- Laurie Garrett, Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health (2000), p.498: 240,000 Iranians, civilian + military k.
- David Long, etc, Gulf Security in the Twenty-first Century (1997), p.29: 135,000-150,000 Iraqis k.
International Embargo
- Kaplow, Larry, “Consequences Of Kuwait: Sanctions have Iraq withering”, 13 June 1999, Atlanta Journal and Constitution: 110,000
- Project on Defense Alternatives, 20 Oct. 2003: "[T]he sanction regime probably cost the lives of 170,000 children. (Much higher estimates for 1992-1998 sanction deaths ... are based on faulty baseline statistics for prewar childhood mortality in Iraq)." [http://www.comw.org/pda/0310rm8.html#N_93_]
- Chris Suellentrop, “Are 1 Million Children Dying in Iraq?” Slate Magazine, October 9, 2001, acknowledged the possibility of 350,000-500,000 excess deaths among children since 1991, but points out that Saddam blames the UN and the US blames Saddam
- UNICEF: 500,000 excess child deaths (under-five) 1991 to 1998 [http://www.unicef.org.uk/index_s.asp?sct=news&filen=../news/iraq1.htm]
- Philip Shenon, “Washington and Baghdad Agree on One Point: Sanctions Hurt”, 22 Nov. 1998, New York Times: 700,000
- Leon Howell, “Churches Regret Calling for Sanctions”, March 21, 1998, [Albany, NY] Times Union: the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that 1,000,000 Iraqis, incl. 560,000 children, died as a result of malnutrition and disease caused by the international embargo imposed following the invasion of Kuwait. The article mentions the use of these numbers by an official of the United Church of Christ, and also labels the figures "commonly used -- but also disputed".
- 6 Aug. 1999 CNN [http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/meast/9908/06/iraq.sanctions/]
- UN: 1M excess deaths
- Al-Thawra newspaper: 1.5M
- Ramsey Clark: 1,500,000 including 750,000 children [http://www.twf.org/News/Y1997/Ramsey.html]
- Brian Nelson and Jane Arraf, “Ten Years After Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait and U.N. Sanctions Still Stand”, 18:00 August 6, 2000, CNN Worldview: 1.5 million
Civil War (estimates arranged chronologically)
- Encarta: 50,000 killed in fighting and 300,000 dead of starvation (in 23 months following Jan. 1991)
- Washington Post: 350,000 (12 Feb. 1993)
- CDI: 350,000 (1978-97)
- War Annual 8 (1997): 500,000
- 14 Dec. 1998 Vancouver Sun: 400,000 deaths from war, famine and disease since 1991. 300,000 in 1991-92.
- 23 May 1999 Denver Rocky Mtn News: 350,000 by end of 1992; 1M total to 1999
- Ploughshares 2000: 350,000
- IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit: 300,000 killed during 14 years of war [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2004/11/mil-041105-irin03.htm]
- Bradley S. Klapper, “Internally Displaced Somalis Face Widespread Abuses: Campaigners”, November 24, 2004, Associated Press: 500,000
- “Failed state: 15 years of horror in Somalia”, June 5, 2006, Agence France Presse: 500,000
- The Nation, “No Running Away From Somalia”, June 29, 2007, Africa News: 500,000
Last updated Feb. 2012
Copyright © 1999-2012 Matthew White