Deadliest Civil War Was the Taiping Rebellion

Superfact 93 : Around 20 to 30 million people died in the Taiping Rebellion, 1850 to 1864. It is the deadliest civil war in known history, the deadliest war in the 19^th century, and the second deadliest war in all of known history. World War II was the deadliest.

The Taiping rebellion is estimated to have caused the deaths of 20-30 million people. However, some estimates estimate that as many as 70 million people might have died in the Taiping rebellion. The Mongol invasions and conquests cost 30-60 million lives, but they comprised many wars and took place during a time period of 162 years (1206 – 1368). Therefore, you typically don’t count that as one war. Also note that the estimate for deaths caused by World War I does not include the Spanish flu.

I consider this a super fact because it is true, an important history fact and despite the enormous losses in the Taiping rebellion, a lot of people have never heard of it.

Deadliest Wars

• Taiping rebellion, China, 1850 to 1864 – estimated deaths 20 to 30 million people.
• Second World War 1939 to 1945 – estimated deaths 70 to 85 million.
• The Mongol invasions and conquests, multiple wars – estimated 30 to 60 million dead.
• The Three Kingdoms War 184–280 AD in China – estimated to have resulted in 36 to 40 million deaths. Note this war consisted of multiple wars.
• Manchu Conquest of China (1618-1683) – estimated deaths 25 million.
• First World War 1914 to 1918 – estimated deaths 15 to 22 million.
• Conquests of Timur (1369-1405) – estimated deaths 15 to 22 million.
• An Lushan rebellion (754-763) – estimated deaths 13 million.
• Spanish conquest of Mexico (1519–1530) – estimated deaths 10.5 million.
• Russian civil war 1917 to 1922 – estimated 10 million deaths.
• Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire (1533–1572) – estimated deaths 7.7 million.
• The Chinese Civil War (1927-1950) – estimated deaths 7 million.
• Reconquista (718–1492), multiple wars – estimated deaths 7 million.
• Crusades (1095–1291), multiple wars – estimated deaths 1 to 9 million.
• The 30 years’ war – estimated 4.5 to 8 million deaths.
• Napoleonic wars – estimated 5 million deaths (or 3,250,000 to 6,500,000).
• The Second Congo War 1996 to 2007  – estimated 3 to 5.4 million deaths.
• Vietnam War 1954 to 1974 – estimated 1.4 to 3.4 million deaths.
• Korean War 1950 to 1953 – at least 2.5 million deaths.
• Biafra war 1967 to 1970 – an estimated 500,000 to 3 million deaths
• Second Sudanese civil war 1983 to 2005 – an estimated –1 million to 2 million deaths.
• Algerian war of independence 1954 to 1962 – an estimated 500,000 to 1,500,000 deaths.
• First Sudanese civil war 1955 to 1972 – an estimated 500,000 to one million deaths.
• Somalia civil war 1988-1990 – an estimated 350,000–1,000,000.
• American Civil War – an estimated 700,000 deaths.

The links above are from Encyclopedia Britannica and from Wikipedia. Also note that after the Napoleonic wars I stopped listing ancient wars.

The Taiping Rebellion

The Taiping Rebellion was a civil war in China between the Qing dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a theocratic monarchy that tried to overthrow the Qing dynasty. It was led by Hong Xiuquan, a religious leader who believed he was Jesus younger brother. In the end the Qing dynasty prevailed but at a great cost.

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