death.observer

Conflict PREVIEW · PHASE 2

Wars and armed conflicts that ended, with death tolls given as ranges where scholarship disagrees. Ongoing conflicts are not covered in Phase 1.

  1. 1861 – 1865 VERIFIED · War & conflict

    American Civil War

    A war between the United States (the Union) and eleven secessionist Southern states (the Confederacy) over secession and slavery, ending in Union victory and the abolition of slavery.

    Deaths
    618,222–750,000 ESTIMATED
    Counted
    Military deaths from combat and disease, with some civilian deaths in census-based figures. Low end: the traditional count of 618,222; high end: J. David Hacker's census-based estimate of about 750,000 (range 650,000–850,000). A 2024 full-census study (PNAS) estimates 698,000.
    Where
    United States VERIFIED
  2. 28 Jul 1914 – 11 Nov 1918 VERIFIED · War & conflict

    First World War

    A global war fought chiefly between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers, beginning with Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia and ending in the armistice of November 1918.

    Deaths
    16,500,000–21,500,000 ESTIMATED
    Counted
    Military plus civilian deaths, excluding the 1918 influenza pandemic. Low end: LSHTM (about 16.5 million, about 7 million of them civilians); high end: Britannica's about 8.5 million military dead plus about 13 million civilian deaths.
    Where
    Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the world's oceans VERIFIED
  3. 25 Jun 1950 – 27 Jul 1953 VERIFIED · War & conflict

    Korean War

    A war on the Korean Peninsula between North Korea, supported by China and the Soviet Union, and South Korea, supported by UN forces led by the United States; fighting ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

    Deaths
    2,260,000–3,000,000 ESTIMATED
    Counted
    Military plus civilian deaths. Low end: about 2.26 million, the sum of US Army figures (217,000 South Korean and 36,568 US killed or missing, 3,063 other UN, 800,000 North Korean and Chinese killed in action, 1.2 million civilians); high end: about 3 million (IWM; Canadian Encyclopedia). China's official name is the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Official figure: 197,653 Chinese People's Volunteers martyrs (confirmed in 2014; includes CPV officers and men killed or missing and support militia, labourers and staff).
    Where
    Korean Peninsula VERIFIED
  4. 1954 – 1975 ESTIMATED / VERIFIED · War & conflict

    Vietnam War

    A war in Vietnam between communist North Vietnam and the Viet Cong on one side and South Vietnam and the United States on the other, ending with the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975.

    Deaths
    966,000–3,800,000 ESTIMATED
    Counted
    Military plus civilian war deaths in Vietnam; the sources use different time windows. Low end: about 966,000 war deaths for 1965–75 (Hirschman et al., as reported in BMJ 2008); high end: 3.8 million violent war deaths for 1955–2002 (BMJ 2008 survey analysis). Vietnam's 1995 official estimate (Britannica) implies over 3 million: up to 2 million civilians and about 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters.
    Where
    Vietnam, with fighting extending into Laos and Cambodia VERIFIED
  5. 22 Sep 1980 – 20 Aug 1988 VERIFIED · War & conflict

    Iran–Iraq War

    A war between Iran and Iraq that began with Iraq's invasion of Iran and ended in a UN-brokered ceasefire under Security Council resolution 598, with borders essentially unchanged.

    Deaths
    405,000–1,250,000 ESTIMATED
    Counted
    Deaths on both sides, military plus civilian. Low end: about 405,000, combining official figures of about 250,000 Iraqi dead and 155,081 Iranian dead (Kurzman, UNC); high end: 1.25 million (Correlates of War: 500,000 Iraqi and 750,000 Iranian dead, as cited by Kurzman). Britannica puts the number killed at perhaps 500,000.
    Where
    Iran and Iraq, mainly along their shared border, and the Persian Gulf VERIFIED