World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history. A total of about 72 million people died altogether.
Civilians killed totaled around 47 million, including 20 million from war-related disease and famine.
Total military dead: about 25 million including deaths in captivity of about 4 million prisoners of war.
Axis dead: approximately 11 million; Allied dead: about 61 million.
What happened in 1918 was really equally horrifying. Just that, you may not know though.
The 1918 flu pandemic (commonly referred to as the Spanish flu) was an influenza pandemic that spread to nearly every part of the world. It was caused by an unusually virulent and deadly influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin of the virus. Most of its victims were healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or otherwise weakened patients. The flu pandemic has also been implicated in the sudden outbreak of encephalitis lethargica in the 1920s.
The pandemic lasted from March 1918 to June 1920, spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. It is estimated that anywhere from 50 to 100 million people were killed worldwide, or the approximate equivalent of one third of the population of Europe. An estimated 500 million people, one third of the world's population (approximately 1.6 billion at the time), became infected.
There you have it. 72 million people died in the 2nd World War, the deadliest military conflict in history. I think the war lasted 7 years.
In the 2 years of 1918-1920, maybe 100 million people died worldwide. And one third of the world's population became infected. Would my calculations be correct if I say maybe 140,000 people died per day?
Go figure!
This post reminds me of the time when I was really young. Then I used to listen to the Sunday's Kee Huat Radio's Fantastic Facts and Figures over the radio. We didn't have television then.
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