The following is a list of the casualties count in battles or offensives in world history. The list includes both sieges (not technically battles but usually yielding similar combat-related or civilian deaths) and civilian casualties during the battles. Large battle casualty counts are usually impossible to calculate precisely, but few in this list may include somewhat precise numbers. Many of these figures, though, are estimates, and, where possible, a range of estimates is presented. Figures display numbers of all types of casualties when available (killed, wounded, missing, and sick) but may only include number killed due to a lack of total data on the event. Where possible, the list specifies whether or not prisoners are included in the count. This list does not include bombing campaigns/runs (such as the attack on Pearl Harbor and the bombing of Tokyo) or massacres such as the Rape of Nanjing, which, despite potentially massive casualties, are not typically classified as "battles", since they are usually one-sided engagements or the nation attacked is not officially at war with the attackers. Tactical or strategic strikes, however, may form part of larger engagements which are themselves battles, small campaigns or offensives.
This list includes sieges, as well as modern battles fought primarily in urban areas. Major military operations that included city fighting are listed below. It is sorted by year.
This list includes major operations and prolonged battles or operations fought over a large area or for a long time. The durations of some operations, like the Battle of Moscow, are disputed; so numbers found in various sources may differ for that reason alone.
These refer to battles in which armies met on a single field of battle and fought each other for anywhere from one to several days. This type of battle died out in favor of grander military operations.
↑ China's Bitter Victory: The War with Japan, 1937–1945. p.161.
↑ Tuchman, Barbara. Stilwell and the American Experience in China.
↑ Glantz, David (2001), The Siege of Leningrad 1941–44: 900 Days of Terror, Zenith Press, Osceola, WI, ISBN0-7603-0941-8. p. 178–180
↑ Сведения городской комиссии по установлению и расследованию злодеяний немецко-фашистских захватчиков и их сообщников о числе погибшего в Ленинграде населения ЦГА СПб, Ф.8357. Оп.6. Д. 1108 Л. 46–47
↑ Human Rights Watch/SITU/Truth Hounds, “Our City Was Gone” Russia’s Devastation of Mariupol, Ukraine, p. 147: "Based on an assessment of satellite imagery and photo and video analysis, we estimate that at least 10,284 people were buried in four of the city’s cemeteries and in Manhush cemetery between March 2022 and February 2023. We also estimate that around 2,250 people would have died of causes unrelated to war in Mariupol during that period, meaning the city saw at least an estimated 8,034 deaths above a peacetime rate. We are not able to determine how many of those buried in the city were civilians or military personnel, or how many were killed as a result of unlawful attacks."
1 2 Allen W. E. D., Muratoff P. Caucasian Battlefields: A History of the Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border 1828–1921. Cambridge University Press. 2011. P. 284
↑ MacKinnon, Stephen R. (2008). Wuhan, 1938: War, Refugees, and the Making of Modern China. University of California Press. p.42. ISBN978-0-520-25445-9.
↑ Clodfelter, Micheal (2008). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015 (3ed.). McFarland. p.470. ISBN978-0786474707.
↑ Liedtke, Gregory (2016). Enduring the Whirlwind: The German Army and the Russo-German War 1941-1943. Helion and Company. ISBN978-1910777756, pp.127-128.
↑ Frieser, Karl-Heinz; Schmider, Klaus; Schönherr, Klaus; Schreiber, Gerhard; Ungváry, Kristián; Wegner, Bernd (2007). Die Ostfront 1943/44 – Der Krieg im Osten und an den Nebenfronten (in German). München: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt. pp.197, 200. ISBN978-3-421-06235-2.
↑ Toeppel, Roman (2018). Kursk 1943: The Greatest Battle of the Second World War. Warwick: Helion and Company. p.207. ISBN9781912866793.
↑ Mart Laar (2006). Sinimäed 1944: II maailmasõja lahingud Kirde-Eestis (Sinimäed Hills 1944: Battles of World War II in Northeast Estonia) (in Estonian). Tallinn: Varrak.
↑ Sima Qian claimed over 450,000 Zhao soldiers were killed during and after the battle; all survivors were killed (buried alive) with the exceptions of 240 of the youngest soldiers who were released.
↑ Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 147; Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p. 181; Appian, The Civil Wars, 1.92-93.
↑ Sherwin-White, Adrian N. (1994). "Lucullus, Pompey, and the East". In J. A. Crook; Andrew Lintott; Elizabeth Rawson (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 9: The Last Age of the Roman Republic, 146–43 BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.241.
↑ Kirtley, Bacil F.; McNally, Raymond T.; Florescu, Radu (October 1973). "In Search of Dracula: A True History of Dracula and Vampire Legends". The Journal of American Folklore. 86 (342): 400. doi:10.2307/539370. ISSN0021-8715. JSTOR539370.
↑ A History of India Under the Two First Sovereigns of the House of Taimur, Báber and Humáyun By William Erskine Published by Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1854
↑ A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East, Vol.II, ed. Spencer C. Tucker, (ABC-CLIO, 2010), 531.
↑ Turnbull, Stephen (1987). Battles of the Samurai. London: Arms and Armour Press. pp.79–94. ISBN9780853688266.
↑ 류성룡 (Ryu Seong-ryong) <징비록 (Jingbirok: Book of Corrections)>, 선조수정실록 26권, 25(1592 임진 / 명 만력 20년)4월 14일(계묘) 6번째 기사, 연려실기술 인용 <조야기문>
↑ Konovaltjuk & Lyth, Pavel & Einar (2009). Vägen till Poltava. Slaget vid Lesnaja 1708 (in Swedish). Svenskt Militärhistorisk Biblioteks Förlag. p. 233
↑ Gordon A. The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia: To which is Prefixed a Short General History of the Country from the Rise of that Monarchy: and an Account of the Author's Life, Volume 1. Aberdeen. 1755. pp. 277–278
↑ Lunde, Henrik O. (2014). A Warrior Dynasty: The Rise and Decline of Sweden as a Military Superpower. Havertown: Casemate. p. 270
↑ Svenska slagfält, Lars Ericson, Martin Hårdstedt, Per Iko, Ingvar Sjöblom och Gunnar Åselius, Wahlström & Widstrand 2003, ISBN91-46-21087-3. p. 306
↑ Dupuy, Trevor N.; Dupuy, R. Ernest (1977). The Encyclopedia of Military History. New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row. p. 691.
↑ Tucker, Spencer C. (2009). A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East [6 volumes]: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East. ABC-CLIO.
↑ Σαγγάριος 1921, Η επική μάχη που σφράγησε την τύχη του Μικρασιατικού Ελληνισμού (in Greek). Εκδόσεις Περισκόπιο. July 2008. p.32. ISBN978-960-6740-45-9.
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