Editing War (section)

===Largest wars by death toll===
{{Main|List of wars by death toll|Outline of war#Wars|Casualty recording}}
The deadliest war in history, in terms of the cumulative number of deaths since its start, is [[World War II]], from 1939 to 1945, with 70–85&nbsp;million deaths, followed by the [[Mongol conquests]]<ref>*The Cambridge History of China: Alien regimes and border states, 907–1368, 1994, p. 622, cited by White
<br />*Matthew White (2011). ''The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History's 100 Worst Atrocities''.</ref> at up to 60&nbsp;million. As concerns a belligerent's losses in proportion to its prewar population, the most destructive war in [[modern history]] may have been the [[Paraguayan War]] (see [[Paraguayan War casualties]]). In 2013 war resulted in 31,000 deaths, down from 72,000 deaths in 1990.<ref name=GDB2013>{{cite journal|collaboration= | first1= Christopher JL| last1 = Murray|first2=Theo|last2= Vos|first3=Alan D|last3= Lopez|title=Global, regional, and national age-sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013|journal=Lancet|date=17 December 2014|pmid=25530442|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61682-2|pmc=4340604|volume=385|issue=9963|pages=117–71}}</ref> 

War usually results in significant deterioration of infrastructure and the ecosystem, a decrease in social spending, [[famine]], large-scale emigration from the war zone, and often the mistreatment of [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] or civilians.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tanton|first1=John|title=The Social Contract|date=2002|page=42}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Moore|first1=John|title=The pursuit of happiness|date=1992|page=304}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Baxter|first1=Richard|title=Humanizing the Laws of War|date=2013|page=344}}</ref> For instance, of the nine million people who were on the territory of the [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussian SSR]] in 1941, some 1.6&nbsp;million were killed by the Germans in actions away from battlefields, including about 700,000 prisoners of war, 500,000 Jews, and 320,000 people counted as partisans (the vast majority of whom were unarmed civilians).<ref>Timothy Snyder, ''Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin'', Basic Books, 2010, p. 250.</ref> Another byproduct of some wars is the prevalence of [[propaganda]] by some or all parties in the conflict,<ref>''Dying and Death: Inter-disciplinary Perspectives''.  p. 153, Asa Kasher (2007)</ref> and increased revenues by [[weapons manufacturers]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Chew|first1=Emry|title=Arming the Periphery|date=2012|page=49}}</ref>

Three of the ten most costly wars, in terms of loss of life, have been waged in the last century. These are the two World Wars, followed by the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] (which is sometimes considered part of [[World War II]], or as overlapping). Most of the others involved China or neighboring peoples. The death toll of World War II, being over 60&nbsp;million, surpasses all other war-death-tolls.<ref name="users.erols">McFarlane, Alan: ''The Savage Wars of Peace: England, Japan and the Malthusian Trap'', Blackwell 2003, {{ISBN|978-0-631-18117-0}} – cited by [http://necrometrics.com/pre1700a.htm#Manchu17c White] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220023849/http://necrometrics.com/pre1700a.htm#Manchu17c |date=20 December 2017 }}</ref>
{| class=wikitable
|-
! Deaths<br />(millions)
! Date
! War
|-
| {{right|70–85}} || 1939–1945 || [[World War II]] (see [[World War II casualties]])
|-
| {{right|60}} || 13th century || [[Mongol Empire|Mongol Conquests]] (see [[Mongol invasions and conquests|Mongol invasions]] and [[Tatar invasions]])<ref>Ping-ti Ho, "An Estimate of the Total Population of Sung-Chin China", in ''Études Song'', Series 1, No 1, (1970) pp. 33–53.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://necrometrics.com/pre1700a.htm#Mongol |title=Mongol Conquests |publisher=Users.erols.com |access-date=2011-01-24 |archive-date=20 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220023849/http://necrometrics.com/pre1700a.htm#Mongol |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.globalwebpost.com/genocide1971/articles/general/worst_massacres.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030517105614/http://www.globalwebpost.com/genocide1971/articles/general/worst_massacres.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 May 2003 |title=The world's worst massacres Whole Earth Review |access-date=2011-01-24 |year=1987 }}</ref>
|-
| {{right|40}} || 1850–1864 || [[Taiping Rebellion]] (see [[Dungan Revolt (1862–1877)|Dungan Revolt]])<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9380148/Taiping |title=Taiping Rebellion – Britannica Concise |encyclopedia=Britannica |access-date=2011-01-24 |archive-date=15 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215124111/http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9380148/Taiping |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|-
| {{right|36}} || 755–763 || [[An Lushan Rebellion]] (death toll uncertain)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://necrometrics.com/pre1700a.htm#AnLushan |title=Selected Death Tolls for Wars, Massacres and Atrocities Before the 20th Century |publisher=Users.erols.com |access-date=2011-01-24 |archive-date=20 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220023849/http://necrometrics.com/pre1700a.htm#AnLushan |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
| {{right|25}} || 1616–1662 || [[Qing dynasty]] conquest of [[Ming dynasty]]<ref name="users.erols" />
|-
| {{right|15–22}} || 1914–1918 ||[[World War I]] (see [[World War I casualties]])<ref name = Britannica>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I/Killed-wounded-and-missing|title=World War I - Killed, wounded, and missing &#124; Britannica|website=Britannica.com|access-date=5 December 2021}}</ref> 
|-
| {{right|20}} || 1937–1945 || [[Second Sino-Japanese War]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/nuclear_01.shtml |title=Nuclear Power: The End of the War Against Japan |work=BBC News |access-date=2011-01-24 |archive-date=28 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128194317/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/nuclear_01.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
| {{right|20}} || 1370–1405 || Conquests of [[Tamerlane]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://necrometrics.com/pre1700a.htm#Timur |title=Timur Lenk (1369–1405) |publisher=Users.erols.com |access-date=2011-01-24 |archive-date=20 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220023849/http://necrometrics.com/pre1700a.htm#Timur |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://necrometrics.com/pre1700a.htm#Asian Matthew White's website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220023849/http://necrometrics.com/pre1700a.htm#Asian |date=20 December 2017 }} (a compilation of scholarly death toll estimates)</ref>
|-
| {{right|20.77}} || 1862–1877 || [[Dungan Revolt (1862–1877)|Dungan Revolt]]<ref>{{cite book |title=《中国人口史》 |language=zh |volume=5《清时期》 |page=635 |author=曹树基}} {{Full citation needed|date=February 2016}}</ref><ref name="Lu">{{cite news |title=同治光绪年间陕西人口的损失 |language=zh |author = 路伟东}}{{Full citation needed|date=February 2016}}</ref>
|-
| {{right|5–9}} || 1917–1922 || [[Russian Civil War]] and [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|Foreign Intervention]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spartacus-educational.com/RUScivilwar.htm |title=Russian Civil War |publisher=Spartacus-Educational.com |access-date=2019-02-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205201225/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUScivilwar.htm |archive-date=5 December 2010 }}</ref>
|}