10 Deadliest Wars Since World War II

Many people are trying to say that the current military presence in Iraq is the deadliest time for the United States. The truth is that this military war is no where near as deadly as these 10 plus deadliest wars since WW II. Exact death totals for various wars are difficult to determine, primarily because government estimates can be politically motivated and because many victims are buried without being counted. In addition, some estimates are based only on battle deaths, while others include civilian causalities and still others add deaths caused by war-related diseases and famines.

1. CONGOLESE CIVIL WARS (1998 - present) · · 3,900,000 deathsThe International Rescue Committee estimates that there have been almost 4 million excess deaths, mostly in the eastern Congo, as the result of ongoing fighting among at least 11 armed groups.
   
2. KOREAN CIVIL WAR (1950 - 1953) · · 2,800,000 deathsNorth Korean death estimates range from 1.2 million to 3 million, South Korean totals from 500,000 to 1 million.
   
3. CHINESE CIVIL WAR (1945 - 1949) · · 2,500,000 deathsThe ongoing civil war in China, temporarily interrupted by World War II, resumed in 1945 and continued until Communist forces gained a victory.
   
4. SECOND VIETNAM WAR (1965 - 1976) · · 2,000,000 deathsAfter evicting the French in 1954, Vietnam found itself the battleground for a surrogate war, as the United States and its allies supported South Vietnam and the USSR and China supplied North Vietnam, which emerged victorious in 1975. Meanwhile, the fighting had spread to Cambodia and Laos.
   
5. SUDANESE CIVIL WARS (1983 - present) · · 1,900,000 deathsSudan achieved independence in 1956 and has been in a state of war for all but 10 years since then, as the central government has tried to gain control over non-Islamic regions while fighting black followers of Islam in other regions.
   
6. AFGHANISTAN (1978 - present) · · 1,800,000 deathsSince the invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet forces in 1979, various warlords, religious militia, government forces, and foreign armies have battled for control of the country.
   
7. CAMBODIA (1975 - 1978) · · 1,600,000 deathsWhen the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, took power at the end of the Vietnam War, they massacred more than one and a half million people. They were finally overthrown by an invading Vietnamese army.
   
8. ETHIOPIAN WARS OF SECESSION (1962 - 1992) · · 1,400,000 deathsMost of the deaths were the result of attempts by Eritreans and others to gain independence. The Eritreans did form their own nation; the other ethnic groups did not. The majority of the victims died of famine and disease caused by the wars.
   
9. RWANDA AND BURUNDI (1959 - 1995) · · 1,350,000 deathsIn 1994, Hutus in Rwanda massacred an estimated 937,000 Tutsis. However, this was only the latest and worst of the massacres the two groups have committed against each other in both Rwanda and neighboring Burundi.
   
10. CREATION OF BANGLADESH (1971) · · 1,250,000 deathsWest Pakistan and East Pakistan were physically separated by thousands of miles of India. When the easterners won a national election, the government attempted to crush the Bengalis of East Pakistan through massacres. India stepped in and drove out the Pakistanis, and East Pakistan established independent Bangladesh.

NOTE: Other wars that probably claimed 1 million lives are the Biafran War of Secession in Nigeria (1966-1970), the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), and the Mozambique Civil War (1975-1992).