The Lesser Multicides of the Twentieth Century

Alphabetical Index

Site Index

These wars and mass killings cost fewer lives than the American loss in Vietnam (58,135), but more that the number of murders in America in 1995 (21,597):

1. China, Revolutionary Era (1911-17)
   • S&S:
     • Republicans v Govt. (1911): 1,000
     • Republicans v Govt. (1913): 5,000
     • Pai-Lings v Govt. (1914): 5,000
     • TOTAL: 11,000
   • Eckhardt:
     • Republicans v Govt. (1911): 1,000 civ. + 1,000 mil. = 2,000
     • Republicans v Govt. (1913): 5,000 civ. + 5,000 mil. = 10,000
     • Bandits v Govt. (1913-14): 5,000 civ. + 5,000 mil. = 10,000
     • Pai-Lings v Govt. (1914): 5,000
     • TOTAL: 27,000
2. Finnish Civil War (1918): 30 000
   • Stanley G. Payne, A History of Spain and Portugal Vol. 2 ch.26, citing Paavolainen:
     • Red victims of the White Terror: 8,400 k. outright + 11,800 d. in camps
     • Total: 31,000 k, from all causes
   • Library of Congress [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/fitoc.html]
     • Red Terror: 1,649 k. (mostly middle class)
     • White Terror: 8,380 Reds killed + 12,000 d. in camps.
     • Total: 30,000, <¼ in battle
3. India, uprisings against UK (1919-38)
   • Amritsar Massacre (1919): Officially, 379 (Johnson, Gilbert) killed, but unofficially, it gets rounded upwards: 500 (Our Times) or 1,000 (Eckhardt)
   • Eckhardt:
     • Amritsar (1918-19): 1,000 civ.
     • (1921-22): 11,000 civ.
     • (1936-38): 11,000 civ.
     • TOTAL: 23,000
4. Mongolia (1926-1991): 35 000
   • Communist Regime
     • The excavation of a mass grave containing the bodies of 5,000 Buddhist monks launched a rash of articles discussing Mongolia's Stalinist years (peak: 1937-39)
       • 22 Oct. 1991 AP, cites
         • BBC: 35,000 death toll
         • Head of the Presidential Commission for Victims of Repression: 100,000, maybe more
       • 23 Oct. 1991 NY Times: 100,000 people killed overall.
       • 23 Oct. 1991 San Diego Union-Tribune: 17,000 monks killed under Communists.
     • Rummel: 100,000
     • Kaplonski, Asian Studies (Nov 2000), review of Sandag and Kendall's Poisoned Arrows: The Stalin-Choibalsan Mongolian Massacres, 1921-1941: ca. 30,000-35,000 people killed, 1921-41, most in late 1930s
5. Oubangi-Chari, Kongo-Wara War (1927-31)
   • Mbaye Revolt under Karnou: 10,000 to 100,000 (John Middleton, Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara, 1997)
6. El Salvador (1931-32): 30 000
   • Peasant Revolt:
     • Britannica: 10,000 summary executions
     • John Gunther, Inside Latin America (1941): 8,000 to 11,000
     • Skidmore: 10-20,000
     • Washington Post (4 Apr. 1982): 30,000 killed
     • U.P.I. (24 June 1993): 30,000
     • Eckhardt: 24,000 civ. + 8,000 mil. = 32,000
     • Marley: 32,000
     • [MEDIAN: 30,000]
7. Turkey (1937-38)
   • Dersim Revolt, Govt. vs. Kurds
     • David McDowall, A Modern History of the Kurds (1996): 40,000
8. Mongolia (1939)
   • Nomonhan War (S&S):
     • USSR: 5,000
     • Mongolia: 3,000
     • Japan: 20,000
     • TOTAL: 28,000
   • Eckhardt: 28,000
9. South Korea (1948-49) 40 000
   • [Arranged in roughly ascending order.]
   • Eckhardt: 1,000 mil. ("Govt. vs. Army", 1948)
   • Robert Oliver, History of the Korean People in Modern Times (1993): over 1,000 lives lost in Communist uprisings, 1946-47
   • Gilbert: 19 Oct. 1948, ROK Army unit defects to Communists: 1,000 k. in subseq. fight
   • WHPSI: 609 (1948) + 1300 (1949)
   • "House Divided": 589 k. in election violence (1948) and 5,000 guerillas k. (9/49-4/50) [http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/pd-c-02.htm]
   • Stars & Stripes: "Survivors say as many as 30,000 Koreans were killed" [http://ww2.pstripes.osd.mil/01/sep01/ed090601c.html]
   • Andrew C. Nahm, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea (1993)
     • Cheju Rebellion, 1948-49
       • 15,000 k. by Communists
       • 20-30,000 rebels killed
       • 250 executed
       • [TOTAL: 40,250 ± 5,000]
   • 19 June 2000 Newsweek: as many as 60,000 k. by S. Korean soldiers
   • Some guy on Internet: 30,000-80,000 killed [http://www.iacenter.org/ktc-cumings.htm]
     • American sources: 15-20,000 islanders died
     • ROK's official figure: 27,719
     • North Koreans said: 30,000 "butchered"
     • Governor of Cheju privately told US intelligence: 60,000 d.
   • Chomsky (1991): 100,000 people killed in the late 1940s by security forces.
10. Taiwan (1947)
    • Gilbert: as many as 28,000 civilians killed.
    • Harff & Gurr: 10,000 - 40,000 Taiwanese nationalists killed.
    • Douglas Mendel, The Politics of Formosan Nationalism (1970): 10,000 - 20,000 k.
11. Bulgaria (1948-89): 30 000
    • Communist Regime
      • Britannica, post-war purges, 1945:
        • Officially: 2,730 sentenced to death
        • Unofficially: 30,000 political opponents killed
      • 1 July 1990 Orange County Register: Between 1944 and 1963, 200,000 passed through labor camps and 20,000 died.
      • George Hodos, Show Trials (1987): 100,000 killed during 1st 4 years of Communism.
      • Rummel: 222,000 democides, 1944-87
      • [Median falls between 30,000 and 100,000]
12. Hungary (1948-89)
    • Communist Regime
      • Rummel: 27,000 democides, 1948-87
13. Poland (1948-89)
    • Communist Regime
      • Overall
        • Rummel: 22,000 democides, 1948-87
      • 1946-49
        • Tina Rosenburg, The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts after Communism (1995): 30,000 Poles died as Stalinists crushed opposition.
        • East European Politics and Societies 11:2 (22 March 1997) "Rebellious Poles: political crises and popular protest under state socialism, 1945-89" by Grzegorz Ekiert: 8,668 people were killed as a result of repressive actions against the opposition, 1944-48
      • 1956 Uprising
        • WPA3: 53 killed
        • WHPSI: 31,082 political executions (1953-57) + 536 deaths by pol. viol.
        • Tina Rosenburg: 38 (officially) or 75 (independant sources) k.
        • Grzegorz Ekiert: ca. 100 k. during 1956 revolt.
      • 1981 Martial Law
        • Tina Rosenburg: Acc2 post-Communist Congressional committee, of the115 deaths under martial law, 25 killed during protests, 29 murdered by Interior Ministry, 24 non-political and 37 unknown reasons.
14. Indonesia, 1950s
    • Clodfelter
      • Revolt by conservative Muslims in Sumatra (1958-61): 3,735 govt. + 29,708 rebels [= 33,443]
    • S&S, Eckhardt:
      • Govt. vs. Moluccans (1950): 5,000
      • Govt. vs. Darul Islam (1953): 1,000
      • Govt. vs. Leftists (1956-60): 30,000
      • TOTAL: 36,000
    • WHPSI:
      • 1950: 1,300
      • 1951: 2,200
      • 1952: 1,500
      • 1953: 493
      • 1954: 419
      • 1955: 4,500
      • 1956-60: 27,980
      • TOTAL 38,392 deaths from domestic violence, 1950-60
15. North Vietnam (1954-75): 50 000
    • Michael Clodfelter, Vietnam in Military Statistics (1995): 15,000 executions, 1954-56; 1,000 killed and wounded in peasant uprising, 1956-57
    • Bernard Fall, The Two Vietnams (1963): 50,000 executed in connection with land reform
    • Gilbert: 100,000 peasants executed
    • Harff & Gurr: 15,000 Catholic landlords, rich and middle peasants killed in North Vietnam, 1953-54
    • Guenter Lewy, America in Vietnam (1978): 50,000 executed, 1955-56, under land reform law of 1953
    • Rummel:
      • 415,000 democides in NVN, 1945-56
        • Antinationalist Terror: 15,000
        • Land Reform: 250,000
        • Political Struggles: 100,000
        • Uprisings: 13,000
        • Prison/Labor Dead: 24,000
        • Other: 13,000
      • 216,000 democides during the Vietnam War, 1957-75:
        • in NVN: 50,000
        • in SVN: 166,000
    • Hanson, Victor Davis, Carnage and culture (2001): "well over 10,000 ... may have approached 100,000."
    • Spencer Tucker, Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War (1998): up to 100,000 landlords executed or dead of starvation
    • Marilyn Young, The Vietnam Wars: 1945-1990 (1991) cites:
      • Edwin Moise, "the most careful historian of the land reform": 3,000-15,000
      • "Inflated":
        • Bernard Fall: 50,000 executed
        • Richard Nixon: 500,000 dead
    • AVERAGE: Three experts put the total around 15,000. Four experts put it around 50,000 to 100,000. Two put it around a half million. Others just give the range. The safest guess would be 50-100,000.
16. South Vietnam, Diem regime (1955-63)
    • Rummel: 39,000 democides, incl...
      • Relocation deaths: 24,000
      • Prison deaths: 4,000
      • Executed: 10,000
      • Bombing/shelling: 1,500
    • Some guy on Internet: 80,000 executed or murdered, 1955-60. (He gives no source for this number.) [http://www.reformation.org/chapter11.html]
17. Haiti (1957-86)
    • Papa Doc, François Duvalier 1957-71
      • Encarta: 2,000 killed by 1967
      • LC [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/httoc.html]: 30,000 k for political reasons 1957-71
    • Duvalier Dynasty (1957-86):
      • 3,000 democides (Rummel)
      • 15,000 disappeared (Grenville)
      • 50,000 k (27 April 1986 Toronto Star)
      • 60,000 k (9 Dec. 1998 [London] Guardian)
      • 60,000 k (16 July 1986 L.A. Times)
      • Between 1981-87, 9,000 Haitian refugees were repatriated by US Coast Guard. US Embassy estimated that for every 1 returned, 1 drowned. (10 May 1987 St. Petersburg Times)
18. New Guinea Irian Jaya (1962 et seq.)
    • Ploughshares 2000 cites ...
      • Osborne, Indonesia's Secret War
        • Hastings: 2,000-3,000
        • Bonay: 30,000
        • Reinhardt: 900
      • InterPress Service: 43,000
    • B&J
      • Indonesian conquest of Irian from Netherlands (1962): 30,000
      • Indonesia vs. Iria Jaya insurgency (1965- ): 10,000
19. Chad (1965 et seq.):
    • Civil War
      • Eckhardt: 2,000 civ. + 5,000 mil. = 7,000 (1980-87)
      • 10 Nov. 1985 Chicago Tribune: 20,000
      • SIPRI 1990: 28,000 (1965-89)
      • B&J:
        • 1st Chadian Civil War (1965-72): 3,500 incl. 50 French
        • 2nd Chadian Civil War (1978-82): 9,000
        • 3rd Chadian Civil War (1982- ): 25,000 incl. 2,000 Libyans + 9 Fr.
        • TOTAL: 37,500
      • 5 March 1991 AP: 10,000 (TD vs LY: 1987-89)
      • Ploughshares 2000: 50,000 total; 6,000 in 1990s
      • CDI: 50,000 to 100,000 (1965-97)
    • The Historical Dictionary of Chad (Samuel Decalo (1997)) estimates that 400,000 Chadians died of drought and civil strife over several decades, but these are two very unrelated categories lumped together.
20. Syria, Hama Massacre (1982)
    • Eckhardt: 10,000 Conserv. Muslims massacred, 1982
    • 11 June 2000 Houston Chronicle: 10,000 massacred in Hama, 1980s
    • Bernard Lewis, The Crisis of Islam (2003): 10,000-25,000, citing Amn.Int.
    • SIPRI 1988: 15,000 k. in Syria (1976-87)
    • 26 Jan. 1992 Washington Post: 25,000 killed by Hafez al-Assad regime (1971-1992)
21. Equatorial Guinea (1969-79): 50 000
    • Francisco Macias Nguema regime:
      • 28 July 1980 AP: 100,000
      • Encarta: 50,000 (under "Equatorial Guinea") or 80,000 (under "Nguema")
      • 24 July 1978 Washington Post: 50,000 (citing the Vatican newspaper)
      • 1984 World Almanac: 50,000
      • 10 Oct. 1993 L.A. Times: >20,000
22. Somalia (1969-90): 50 000
    • Muhammad Siad Barre regime
      • 15 Nov. 1999 US News & World Rpt: 50,000 Issaks killed
      • 10 Sept. 1989 Washington Post: 5,000 Issaks murdered by army, May 1988 - March 1989
      • Robert Hitchcock & Tara Twedt: 50-60,000 Isaaks k. during the 1980s, esp. 1988-90 (in Century of Genocide, Samuel Totten, ed., (1997))
      • 19 Feb. 1990 Washington Post: Africa Watch reports that the Somali govt. was responsible for 50,000 deaths in past 19 months.
    • Hargeisa massacre 1988
      • 20 June 2000 Christian Science Monitor: 5,000-50,000. [http://csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/durableRedirect.pl?/durable/2000/06/20/fp1s3-csm.shtml]
      • US State Dept.: 100,000 k. [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2863.htm]
23. Rhodesia (1972-79)
    • Gov't vs. Patriotic Front
      • Dictionary of 20C World History: 30,000
      • B&J: 30,000
      • 7 March 1984 Washington Post: 20-30,000
        • The article reports a mass grave site with up to 4,000 bodies buried by Smith govt., cause unknown.
      • P. Johnson: 20,000
      • Our Times: 20,000
      • S&S: 12,000
      • Eckhardt: 12,000
      • WPA3: 12,000
24. Laos, Pathet Lao regime (1975- )
    • Rummel:
      • Democide in Laos: 130,000 (33% blamed on Laos; 67% blamed on Vietnam)
      • Laotian war dead: 54,000
      • TOTAL: 184,000 (1975-87)
    • SIPRI 1989, civil war, 1977-90:
      • military: 10,000
      • civilian: 30,000
      • TOTAL: 40,000
    • Polish Press Agency, 3 Dec. 1998: 300,000 killed for political reasons, acc2 dissident Laotian Council for Independence and Democracy.
25. Argentina, Military Junta (1976-83) 30 000
    • Skidmore: 10-20,000 disappeared
    • Harff & Gurr: 9,000-30,000 leftists killed (1976-80)
    • Encarta, also Gilbert: 2,300 deaths, 20-30,000 disappearances
    • Grenville: 30,000 disappeared
    • PBS New Hour (16 Oct. 1997): 30,000 disappearances ([http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/july-dec97/argentina_10-16a.html] citing Argentina Human Rights Information [http://www.derechos.org/human-rights/argentina.html])
26. Sri Lanka (1983-2009)
    • Government v. Tamil Eelam (estimates listed chronologically)
      • Our Times (1995): 20,000
      • Encarta (1995): 18,000
      • B&J: 100,000 (1982-95)
      • D. Smith (1997): 30,000
      • SIPRI 1997: 35,000 (1983-96)
      • Dict.Wars: 75,000 to 1998
      • 29 April 1999 AP: 57,000 (1983-99)
      • 23 May 1999 Denver Rocky Mtn News: 40,000
      • 31 May 2000 Financial Times [London]: >60,000 (1983- )
      • Ploughshares 2000: 60-100,000
      • 24 Sept. 2002 The Age (Melbourne): >64,500, incl. 1500 suicide bombers
      • 7 Feb. 2003 AP: nearly 65,000 in 19 years
      • MEDIAN of the 5 latest: 64,500
27. Iran (1979- )
    • Islamic Republic
      • 26 June 2000 The Nation, review of Abrahamian, Tortured Confessions
        • In 1st 28 months, Revolutionary Tribunals executed 757
        • In 6 months after June 1981 Mojahedin uporising, the Revolutionary Tribunals executed 2,665 political prisoners. The executions totaled 7,943 by June 1985
        • Mass executions of 1988. "Former prisoners and opposition groups put the death toll between 5,000 and 6,000. Amnesty International estimates the total to be more than 2,500"
      • 8,000 executed, 1979-80 (Timeframe, P.Johnson)
      • 10,000 to 12,000 executed, 1984-88 (11 Dec. 1988, Toronto Star)
      • SIPRI 1988: 6,000 to 20,000 executed dissidents, 1979-87
      • Harff & Gurr: 10- 20,000 Mujahadeen, Kurds, Baha'is (1981-88)
      • 28 Jan. 1983 Christian Science Monitor: 20,000 k. during "past 18 months"
      • Bulloch & Morris, The Gulf War (1989): Autumn 1988, executions following Mujahedin uprising:
        • Mujah. claim 12,000 k, but this may include battle deaths in July.
        • Amnesty Int.: at least 1,000
        • authors: "true figure" closer to 5,000
      • Ploughshares 2000: >10,000 k. in Mujahadeen conflict since 1979
      • 21 June 1986 Washington Post cites the following
        • Amnesty International estimates 6,108 executions or more.
        • People's Mujaheddin of Iran accused regime of 50,000 executions
      • Rummel estimates 56,000 democides of all kinds, 1979-87
      • NOTE: Most of these numbers do not seem to overlap with the death tolls from the conflicts with the Kurds or Iraq.
28. Sino-Vietnamese War (1979)
    • WPA3: 20,000
    • S&S:
      • China: 13,000
      • Vietnam: 8,000
      • TOTAL: 21,000
    • SIPRI 1988, Eckhardt
      • military, 1979: 21,000
      • civilian, 1979: 9,000
      • additional, 1980-87: 1,000
      • TOTAL: 31,000
    • Michael Clodfelter, Vietnam in Military Statistics (1995)
      • "inflated": China claimed that 30,000 Vietnamese were killed
      • "preposterous": Vietnam claimed that 26,000 Chinese were killed
      • "realistic": 20,000 killed on both sides
    • B&J
      • 1st Sino-VN War (1979-82): >50,000
      • 2nd Sino-VN War (1984-87): 3,000
29. Peru (1980-2000): 50 000
    • Shining Path insurrection:
      • CDI: 35,000 (1980-97)
      • 23 May 1999 Denver Rocky Mtn News: 30,000
      • Ploughshares 2000: 30,000
      • SIPRI 1988: 28,000 (1981-96)
      • War Annual 6: 27,000 (1980-93)
      • Our Times: 25,000
      • Skidmore: 22,000
      • Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission [http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/americas/06/17/peru.truth.ap/index.html]
        • TOTAL: 40,000-60,000 dead or disappeared, incl...
        • 7,000-8,000 disappeared, "the majority at the hands of the forces of order."
        • Shining Path was responsible for killing about half the victims
30. Chad (1982-90): 40 000
    • Habré regime
      • 21 May 1992 Toronto Star, AP: 40,000 died in detention or executed, according to a government commission.
      • Samuel Decalo, Historical Dictionary of Chad (1997): 40,000
      • Dictionary of 20C World History: 40,000
31. Kashmir & Jammu, Civil War (1989 et seq.)
    • 23 May 1999 Denver Rocky Mtn News: 25,000
    • Ploughshares 2000: 20-40,000, citing...
      • US State Department, 2000
        • Militants: 10,727
        • Civilians: 8,000 k. by militants, 2,600 k. in crossfire
        • Security personnel: 2,000
        • [TOTAL: 23,327]
      • Times of India, (6 January 2001)
        • Militants: 12,336
        • Civilians: 11,600
        • Security personnel: 2,282
        • TOTAL since 1990: 26,421
      • BBC (2000): >34,000
    • 3 July 2001 AP
      • Acc2 Indian government: 30,000+
      • Acc2 human rights activists and opposition leaders: 60-80,000 k, plus 2,500-3,000 Muslim men missing at hands of security forces.
    • 4 Jan. 2001 Bloomberg: >34,000 milit. + civ.
32. Nigeria (1990- )
    • 4 July 1991 Financial Times (London):
      • 69 executed after failed coup.
      • 800 killed in Bauchi in fighting, Moslem/Chr. ("April", 1991)
    • Dan Smith: 1,000 Ogonis killed in clashes with Andonis, 1993
    • Ploughshares 2000: 3,000 total in religious conflict, incl. 2,000 in 2000.
    • Religious riots in Kaduna, Feb. 2000: 2,000 k. (24 May 2000 AP)
    • Religious riots in Kano, May 2004: 500-600 (mostly Xians) k. (13 May 2004 Reuters)
    • Nigerian communal clashes: A govt. survey says that 53,787 killed 7 Sept. 2001-18 May 2004. (mostly Christian farmers vs. Muslim animal herders in the central Plateau state) (7 Oct. 2004 BBC)
33. Iraq, Shia rebellion in south (1991-92): 40 000
    • War Annual 6: 40,000
    • Ploughshares 2000 cites ...
      • Rebel commanders: 50,000
      • al-Hakim: 300,000
    • 22 Feb. 1994 AP at Radwaniyeh prison camp
      • November 1993: up to 2,000 political executions
      • before September 1993: "hundreds"
      • October 1992: 200 in a single day
34. Tajikstan, Civil War (1992-96)
    • SIPRI 1997: 20,000-50,000
    • War Annual 8 (1997): 40,000
    • 23 May 1999 Denver Rocky Mtn News: 40,000
    • CDI: 50,000
    • Ploughshares 2000: 50,000
35. Russia (1994 et seq.)
    • War in Chechnya, 1994-96
      • 16 May 2001 AP: Russian soldiers: 3,826 kia + 1,906 mia in 21 mos.
      • Amnesty International: 20-30,000 ("Russian Federation: Brief summary of concerns about human rights violations in the Chechen Republic" (April 1996) [http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aipub/1996/EUR/44602096.htm] )
        • cited by Amnesty International: Russian Presidential Commission for Human Rights: 27,000
      • Global Security: "1,500 Russian troops and 25,000 civilians had died by April 1995"
      • SIPRI 1997: 10,000-40,000 (1994-96)
      • War Annual 8 (1997): 40,000
      • CDI: 50,000 (1994-96)
      • Dictionary of 20C World History: 80,000
      • Ploughshares 2000: 80-100,000
      • 6 Dec. 1999 Time: 4,000 Russian soldiers + 100,000 Chechens, 1994-96
    • Renewed fighting, 1999
      • 6 Dec. 1999 Time: 4,000
      • Ploughshares 2000: >5,000
      • 16 May 2001 AP: 3,096 Russian soldiers in 20 mos.
    • Both Wars:
      • 11 Nov. 2002 Time: 38,000 combatants + 200,000 civilians
      • 11 Nov. 2002 Newsweek: 100,000 civilians

List of Recurring Sources

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Last updated October 2010

Copyright © 1999-2010 Matthew White