The Top 20 Bloodiest Atrocities in History

[@WhatifAltHist]

Start your FREE scan for data brokers that are hoarding your personal info:www.optery.com/protect-your-privacy-2/?

[@herosdiaz8757]

I'm thinking of making a statement of purpose for an Anthropology PhD Dissertation. But I don't know how to approach this in the context of Masculinity, martial arts, culture, and Purpose of life. Are there any books or bits of advice I can look into? I also don't want the feminists to socially execute me, so I could use the advice.

[@IslandersFan100]

Add CC pls

[@levongevorgyan6789]

Were the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Genocides counted in this book as part of World War 1? Or were they separate?

[@thomasgalla1670]

to answer your thing about why Nazism is un acceptable but communism despite more people dying of communism I'd say is because i Nazism took control of about 80 million people for 12 years. While the Soviet Union alone controlled double that for 70 years not even considering other communist countries Like China and Cambodia

[@jaquaveuskennedy8506]

What about the Khmer Rouge that more bloody then nazi Germany somehow

[@tianming4964]

My grandpa was born in China during WW2. His family fled Nanjing just before the Japanese showed up to commit their massacre, relocating to Sichuan where they held out for the rest of the war. After it was finished, they were forced to flee south to Guangdong as the Communists advanced during the Civil War and drove out the nationalists. Then, during Mao's Great Leap Forward, he lost several of his relatives including an uncle and cousins, and his sister was also killed during the Cultural Revolution. He and his family fled to Hong Kong to escape Mao before relocating to Canada. It's crazy to think that my grandpa has first hand experience of three of the events on this list, and yet he somehow survived despite it all. His great-grandpa was originally from Hangzhou and lived through the Taiping Rebellion. Originally he was a high ranking beaurocrat, but lost his status after the war and relocated to Nanjing. Despite this, his family remained in the upper class for a couple of generations, until World War Two when they fled as refugees to the interior with just the clothes on their back, and after the Communist takeover when they were stripped of their property inheritence. By the time of the Great Leap Forward my grandpa and his family were living in poverty and were even forced to eat grass at times. It's fascinating to see how these wars have had a very real effect on my own family history and shaping where they ended up today.

[@robertbretschneider765]

Really fascinating, ur story. Greetings from germany! I dont think my ancestors were "high class", but at least one part that came from east germany (now poland) owned some land there. We lost it when the russians raped eastern germany, they had to flee. Now its poland. The other side from todays saxony were bakers, train conductors or academics without much wealth. My great grandfather survived stalingrad, was evacuated ill by one of the last planes leaving the encircled city. My great-grandmother (pregnant with my grandfather) together with my granduncle survived the dresden firebombing event 1945 that destroyed the wooden city filled to the brim with refugees.

[@llamaboss1434]

LOL, and now I bet half his descendants simp for the CCP and bemoan the evil of "the west". I know many of my family do and our story is about as fraught.

[@tonymontana8139]

@@robertbretschneider765me when I spreed misinformation on the internet 🤓👆

[@damianketcham]

We’re glad you had the opportunity to be born! Good for your Grandfather.

[@robertbretschneider765]

@@tonymontana8139 How do u supposedly know her story is misinformation? Or are u talking about me?

[@ObiJohnKenobi67]

Leopold II’s main “humanitarian” accomplishment, fighting the Arab slave trade, wasn’t even done on purpose. He originally worked with slavers like Tippu Tip, and they only became hostile after a disagreement over ivory rights. He still sold it like a crusade against slavery instead of a business deal gone wrong.

[@b2crazyeye]

Kinda reminds me of how Abraham Lincoln really just wanted black people out of America as he didn't see them as equals.

[@DoseofTruth]

​@b2crazyeye please, provide proof

[@thefederalrepublicoferusea3900]

​@@b2crazyeyecap

[@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286]

@@DoseofTruth Go do a fing google search buddy. It was the dominant view of the era, Old Abe wasn't a time traveler. He also started the civil war on purpose but that's another whole can of worms.

[@DoseofTruth]

@@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286 burden of proof is on you.

[@shangri-la-la-la]

"Taiwan not even country": CCP credit score +10 "Taiwan is Dutch Colony": CCP credit score -500

[@BigBrotherMateyka]

I think it's a great point you made, and a chilling one at that, that although the United States imported relatively few slaves (ca 500,000 to 700,000 in the entire Atlantic Slave Trade timeline), that it was a place where their populations were most sustainable. It's horrifying to think that in cases like the Caribbean, the Spanish Main, and Brazil that the slaves simply died off in a few years due to disease and horrendous working conditions, only to have more waves of 'imports' replenish their numbers.

[@MajorJakas]

No good deed goes unpunished.

[@Lacteagalaxia]

🤣🤣🤣 by the way in U.S the 14% of pouplation is black one of most elevated black population in no black countries close to 50 million since slavery trade not for inmigration in most 90% cases inept; this is and the 16 million indigenous deads lol

[@chico9805]

​@@MajorJakasAmerica is suffering for that - Fed and housed their slaves for generations, while the Arabs castrated and worked them to death. Who's dealing with a race war now?

[@theRealUmpZY]

500,000 slaves that reproduced. our slaves would die all the time, but we would keep their children and force them to work

[@jj591]

Yeah, the Spanish and the Portuguese imported more slaves than northern Europeans but you'll never hear them talking about it. Lol

[@SonictheHedgehogBand]

4:50 - 20. The Chinese Civil War 7:11 - 19. The Fall of Rome 9:45 - 18. The Fall of Mongol China 10:48 - 17. The Thirty Years War 12:49 - 16. Russian Civil War 14:03 - 15. Leopold’s Congo 15:46 - 14. Wang Mang 17:06 - 13. An Lushan Rebellion 18:38 - 12. World War One 20:41 - 11. The Colonization of the Americas 22:15 - 10. The Atlantic Slave Trade 23:59 - 9. Tamerlane 24:59 - 8. The Islamic Slave Trade 26:58 - 7. Stalin 27:58 - 6. The Taiping Rebellion 29:00 - 5. The Manchu Conquest of China 30:41 - 4. Famines in British India 31:53 - 3. Mao Zedong 33:07 - 2. Genghis Khan 35:18 - 1. World War 2

[@PatrickSeiter]

What about death counts? Did he mention the death count for The Chinese Civil War?

[@sean7269]

It would be interesting to reorder this list in order of population lost relative to world population at the time and/or relative to the population in the region. Great content as always :)

[@einfachlumir7633]

I think the 30 years war would be in the top 5 fighting it out with the mongol conquest of Northern China , tamerlain and Leopold Kongo

[@marlenalandesman3967]

If it was relative then you would want to add the Genocides in Cambodia,the Armenian Genocide/Holodomor,and the Genocide in East Timor

[@gigachad6885]

Pol Pot goes brrrrr

[@captainfury497]

As the joke goes Chinese history be like : Chao Ling takes power 247 million perish

[@Jose-yt3qz]

Jing Ding rebels. 600 million deaths.

[@KaiHung-wv3ul]

Li Xiaoming fails exam: Bloodiest war in human history

[@MewxPro]

Only the real OGs watched the first upload. 💪😤

[@cd_xigua]

Frfr

[@BigDawgger]

I saw he posted something then it got deleted before I got a chance to watch it:/

[@jeremycebrian6413]

I tried but it was pulled right as i clicked 😂

[@HeortirtheWoodwarden]

​@@BigDawggerSame

[@pimhuisman646]

I was halfway and suddenly it was "private" 😢

[@Milkchocalty]

In college I took a world history class that focused on the 1500s-present. I remember my professor really educated is on the horrors of Leopold’s Congo. Despite all the terrible things he taught us, I was most shocked that I had never even heard of it at all.

[@nayman2801]

I was looking for this comment. I am fairly well-versed in world history and am well travelled, and I had never heard of this. This is why we need to keep learning!

[@bleiglanz]

Call me silly, we had that at school. But I knew nothing about all those tragedies in China, except for the civil war.

[@nayman2801]

@@mnforager no thanks - a person can be well versed and continue to learn, which is what I choose to do. I didn't say I was an expert by any means.

[@grimkahn3775]

No one expected the Belgians.

[@SlippinJimmy09]

It’s all fun and games until some random dudes from a desert feeling a bit lucky.

[@Cornflakes-sr3nq]

"Do you feel lucky, infidel?"

[@mrbigglezworth42]

@@Cornflakes-sr3nq "Begone, kebab" -some Polish Hussars.

[@phantom0456]

“The Roman Empire fell in the decadence of social rot.” That sounds utterly terrifying… and absolutely pertinent to what is happening to the global order today.

[@michaelsurratt1864]

Said every civilization after the fall of Rome. It's basically become the return of Jesus Christ At this point.

[@Deridus]

I'm feeling we're more in the Late Republic than, say, 200CE.

[@darthparallax5207]

Rome did not fall as a culture or civilization or even polity. while the city burned a few times, that would be like saying that "America ended when the British burned down the White House in 1812''. that's sort of not how anything works at all.

[@darthparallax5207]

social problems still exist, so the government actually has something it should probably be doing something about. but the government also still exists to be worrying about those social problems.

[@darthparallax5207]

Rome kind of ''evolved'' into France, Spain, Germany, Russia, Britain, and Italy from the Holy Roman Empire. Some people may even argue Austria-Hungary was part of that. different parts of the Roman Empire have been ''thrown into chaos'', but if the Byzantines count as ''Eastern Rome'', then any time part of the Romans have ''fallen'', ''Rome has continued to exist elsewhere''. there's never quite been a time when Eastern and Western Rome are both gone-gone at the same time. Rome became Europe-as-we-know-it-now. as evidenced, among other things, by America's use of the Eagle. Was World War 1 the really true clear End of Rome? Was the Napoleonic Wars? Arguably no, because it was kept alive in Great Britain. George III was Holy Roman Emperor, so, between George III and George Washington, Rome was in either Britain or America and even after we ask ''what about the death of Queen Elizabeth II?" i'd say that America preserves all of the culture of both the Empire and the Republic. We are in my estimation about as much Roman as the Byzantines. we are the current status quo keeping a lot of the 1648 stuff afloat, so we're the heirs of whatever was Rome in 1648, which was probably Germany.if China actually manages to sink our 17 aircraft carriers with drones, then i suppose we might say "Rome has finally fallen'', but i don't think that will actually happen. if your gut instinct tells you that somehow Rome must have fallen by now, and even if it got a longer extended lease on life, it's still gone now.....Napoleon or WW1 are good bets to try to find where and when it may have happened.

[@jadenbbbruh5227]

The taiping rebellion is the craziest goofiest most terrible war that no one’s ever heard of I’m glad u talked about it

[@szczepan4737]

Some salty dude fails his entry exams so he causes one of the bloodiest war in history. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

[@leshacke1041]

​@szczepan4737 what's crazy is thier is some evidence that suggests the death count of the conflict actually was the bloodiest war

[@BulletRain100]

A main problem the West has is that war has been intentionally removed from public concern for over 50 years so most people have no understanding of military strategy and tactics relevant to a war with modern equipment. What is more concerning is that most politicians are just as ignorant as the population. The result is that war is now a very popular issue to demagogue on because people don't know better so they can easily be lead to believe a lie that insights fear and political action.

[@jackphillips6742]

This is one of my favourite comments ever

[@jordanazevedo5688]

@@jackphillips6742how is it? This just a bunch of random bullshit? The west has constantly been in wars even in the last 50 years. This commenter is just ill informed and ignorant as hell.

[@chico9805]

A good example of this is the Ukraine situation. Anyone with basic geopolitical and strategical knowledge would tell you from the start, that Ukraine had no chance of winning and that negotiation is the best way forward. Instead, we've had to witness two years of death and destruction just to reach that same obvious conclusion.

[@ZombieCSSTutorials]

​@chico9805 You misunderstand, the west is using Ukraine as human shields to weaken Russia, they had no intention of winning in the first place.

[@BulletRain100]

@@chico9805 The real surprise in Ukraine is that Russia has no real way of winning the war either. Everyone assumed Russia had a competent military that could do complex offensive operations necessary to conquer a country, but they don't. So neither Russia or Ukraine can attack in a way that would actually bring the war to a decisive conclusion, so they are now in an attritional fight that may take years before one side breaks due to a lack of material. A negotiation peace isn't really possible because the Ukrainian people are still very much in favor of war. There is the further problem that any peace deal wouldn't actually solve the problem and just give both sides around a decade to rebuild their military forces before another war.

[@rashadahmadov3929]

Perhaps you could make a video about the bloodiest post-WW2 wars? Most of them are overlooked these days

[@jacobnugent8159]

Yeah, that would be interesting. A video on Cold War proxy wars would also be cool

[@richardh4300]

An lushan rebellion killed 1/4 of global population in 7th century; Taiping rebellion, a fake-Christian and communist rebellion killed 80-100 million Chinese people in 1850-1864; Global cooling of 17th century, 1/3 global population perished.

[@Mahlak_Mriuani_Anatman]

Dang, i didn't think of that

[@kemarisite]

3:00 "The blood's not going to spill itself". This requires the response: "Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull throne!"

[@Deridus]

Lorgar: "Write that down!"

[@Tundraviper41]

It's ironic how even as oppressive Lenin himself was, he ABSOLUTELY did NOT want Stalin to become leader. But Stalin already abused his role in the government to gain power and by the time Lenin died, his fears became reality and the future of the Soviet union was changed forever.

[@arcdecibel9986]

It would have ended up that way anyway as matter of mathematical certainty. Every country that puts that much government power in play winds up with horrible tyrants due to The Iron Calculus of Power. That is, if you create enough power, only those who want it most go after it. Of those, only the most ruthless ever retain it by virtue of using the same power to exterminate any competition. See? It wouldn't matter if Plato had succeeded Lenin, he would have either become a mass-murderer to retain power or he would have been killed off by one. Lenin, and really anyone on the Hobbesian Left, could never acknowledge this fact because their entire political schema would fall apart, which it does anyway once put into practice.

[@MAXIMIR-wf7ez]

Oh, yes, the same letter that no one has seen, but the contents of which everyone knows.

[@sirius6738]

nah, its a myth made to legitimise Trotsky (who was way worse)

[@Maperator]

​@@sirius6738genuine question: would more soviets been murdered under Stalin or under Trotsky?

[@sirius6738]

@@Maperator Trotsky

[@mauratlantean3002]

I can't believe your video doesn't include the biggest atrocity of them all ! The rumbling done by Eren Jaeger, that annihilated 80% of humanity at that time.

[@SolarDragon007]

Muad'dib's Jihad from "Dune" was far more destructive and killed 61 billion people.

[@darrylbonner7208]

Not to mention the Mars and Earth war that killed 8 Billion people on both sides *All Tomorrows*

[@AlphaSections]

@@SolarDragon007Surely you mean the Kwisatz Haderach!

[@szczepan4737]

What about Buu annihilating humanity?

[@PowerSimplified1871]

What about Xeno?

[@Mcfunface]

I was there during the great meme war of 2016. The casualties were many. I saw Pepe fall from grace...

[@isaackellogg3493]

Wang Mang, despite his shortcomings, is remembered today for his policy of buying up surplus grain in bumper crop years and reselling it at below market prices in famine years. This policy got resurrected in the 1930’s when a member of FDR’s administration read about it and suggested it for the US Department of Agriculture. So if you’ve ever had government cheese, you can thank the Chinese Caligula.

[@bac0nfac3]

Why isn't no9 Burger King foot lettuce?

[@MadShenans]

This is the first video I started but didn’t finish… …Because I am currently reading the book this video is based off of, and don’t want to hear any spoilers. It will be a good recap once I’ve finished, because man there’s a lot of names and numbers in this thing.

[@DavisonVoices]

Does WhatIfAlthist script his videos because I do not believe this man is able to spit so much densely packed value into his words while winging it Best channel to ever have been

[@screamskilos3951]

if there's edit then most likely there's a script.

[@DavisonVoices]

@@screamskilos3951 I mean not really he could just be adding it in post That said though after watching more of the fella he’s said many times he writes his videos

[@brunoactis1104]

It's a terrible channel, he only uses outdated fascist white supremacists as sources. And i really do mean it, look at his sources. Once you actually start reading by yourself, you'll realize how utterly insane this channel is.

[@ANordicPainer]

His interviews are quite impressive

[@humanbeing4841]

Rudyard, please do a video specifically on the Anglosphere; its golden past through to its dark present.

[@rizkyadiyanto7922]

ah yes, golden past where they proudly genociding other nations.

[@brendanwiley253]

White boi century

[@mwol5473]

​All of History is "whiteboi century"

[@KaiHung-wv3ul]

Interesting note on the An Lushan Rebellion. Emperor Xuanzong's wife(well, his most famous one), the one An Lushan was supposedly having an affair with, was actually originally his SON's wife. Later, before he died, he passed the throne to his son(not sure if it's the same one, but it's funnier that way), and the stress of having to reconquer half the country turned the guy(who was in his early thrities)'s hair prematurely white.

[@methuselahhoneysuckle4813]

There is no way to be too harsh on communism. Also, I was surprised by your take on Christopher Columbus. I read Samuel Elliott, Elliott, Morrison’s book admiral of the ocean sea, a life of Christopher Columbus, which I realize is just one viewpoint, but it seems like you’re attributing a lot of other peoples actions to Columbus himself.

[@adamnesico]

Its true many others were evil, but Columbus was evil. When he just found the taino and described them as friendly and good, he immediately was planning to enslave them.

[@Woketard]

Communism is for losers. Karl Marx himself was a pathetic loser.

[@bodhionultimateride2660]

@@adamnesico and you also believe the world flat right?

[@adamnesico]

@@bodhionultimateride2660 hace you read his travel diary, oligophrenic?

[@jordanazevedo5688]

@@adamnesicothe people who like this KZbinr don’t read any books, but what do you expect from people who follow someone who stopped reading books after 1960s to get there information from.

[@Vuntermonkey]

I'm a US veteran, parents are veterans, and grandparents were veterans or first-generation immigrants, and so on down the generations. I've already taught my son how our country is controlled by foreign interests who want to spill our people's blood for their own gain. We've already talked about he'll break the unbroken chain of service by choosing to serve his people, not the monied interests, and reject military service.

[@matthewheinicke3107]

America isn't controlled by foreign interests. lmao what?

[@rizkyadiyanto7922]

​@@matthewheinicke3107go serve your jews overlord.

[@buwanbuwaya6927]

@@matthewheinicke3107 Why'd you think they're called the 'World Police' eh?

[@grugnotice7746]

@@matthewheinicke3107 Go out in public and say something bad about the jews and see what happens to you.

[@ThoughtsEqualLife]

@@matthewheinicke3107definitely are. Our politicians are globalists, not Americans

[@joshfloyd7755]

Rudyard, the Mongols achieved such high numbers because they were the most advanced force of their time. The combination of horse and shortbow with near perfect guerilla tactics. Hard to defend against, impossible to chase.

[@hliang4]

they took siege tech from china used for walls as thick as two lane highway and used in eastern europe

[@kotzpenner]

1st place: average Paradox gameplay (mostly Stellaris)

[@WhiteBirdPlays]

I think separating the holocaust and holodomor more (numerically and just more general info) would’ve been nice but they definitely fall under Stalin and WW2. I still appreciate you mentioning both and overall this is just a well done video. Lives should be seen as equal and seeing the numbers really helps us understand the cycles and the devastation that the human race has gone through. Let’s not forget the sacrifices of all the poor souls lost in these tragedies. We owe it to them, ourselves and our future to learn from the mistakes of our past. We also learn how often history repeats itself. It’s helpful to be able to prepare for what we can see in our futures knowing what’s come before.

[@WhiteBirdPlays]

@@markbranham7355 yeah, I’m sure. Typical Russian troll. I had family that died in it, it most certainly was. Stalin wanted to kill Ukrainians, so he did

[@redpillsatori3020]

​@@markbranham7355 ..maybe not a deliberate act of genocide, but the Soviets still are responsible for a lot of the actions and contributing factors that lead to the deaths

[@brunoactis1104]

The Ukrainian famine wouldn't even be on the list if it was separate. The highest serious estimate is 2.5 million people. I mean if we actually take the serious and accepted estimates, Stalin as a whole wouldn't be on this list. That is a big problem with this channel, he just fabricates information for ideological pourposes, and his audience is so ignorant they don't even realize.

[@brunoactis1104]

The Ukrainian famine wouldn't even be on the list if it was separate. The highest serious estimate is 2.5 million people.

[@WhiteBirdPlays]

@@redpillsatori3020 no, it was 100% a deliberate act of genocide from Stalin. This is obvious

[@rey_nemaattori]

Rudyard, would it per chance be possible to get a list of interesting /valuable books you've read regarding your _many_ videos? I know you sometimes mention them and spotlight them, but it's a bit hard to compile a list based on a bunch of video's 😅 I'm not as avid of a reader as I used to be, but I could really use some guidance in finding my way in the right direction of getting a better understanding of history.

[@ajay4319]

"The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history" - Will Durant

[@Emir_969]

Will Durant is an idiot then.

[@adamnesico]

@@Emir_969i dont know if the bloodiest, but turk warlords crualty seems comparable to the conquistadors. The hindu kush is named after all the hindus that died there enslaved by the turks.

[@lacie5522]

Interesting historical video and then at 40:45 you shove our faces into the fact that WE are living in interesting times as well. Well done.

[@jooanchoi]

38:58 "One conclusion is the Chinese really like killing each other." XD

[@kamikazetsunami9137]

Been on a whatifalthist marathon all day. Perfect.

[@miniaturejayhawk8702]

At the end you actually managed to do something that nobody else could: make me worried about the future for a solid 5 seconds. Congratulations!

[@carlossalasalarcon9490]

Bro, ALL Amerindian Indigenous where Spanish Subjects since 1512 with the Burgos' Laws. The Pope made a Bull (Deo Sublimis) about it and we made Nahuatl's (1534) and Quechua's (1572) Grammar before English, French or German had one.

[@Lacteagalaxia]

Este canal es Anglosajon no se nota 🤣

[@juliosumarriva3034]

@@Lacteagalaxia alguien tiene que debatir a este gil sobre el Imperio Español antes que siga divulgando mentiras.

[@deaththekid3998]

Just because a guy in Europe says “everyone on this area of the map is a Spanish subject”, doesn’t mean that Spain actually has control of the entire area.

[@theuniverse5173]

Shotout to those who watched the video days before it was uploaded today

[@dwightbaldwin5500]

I was halfway through when it was pulled.

[@yamumhasthebiggay2582]

​@huwhitedeath2651 Its name was funnier

[@thatsniceyou1557]

@@yamumhasthebiggay2582 what was the old name?

[@miniaturejayhawk8702]

Tamerlane was based. He, quite litterally, crushed all his enemies. The fact that he gets his own chapter here is more than enough proof of this.

[@JjkJjk-or9kc]

How is it based then?are you a 15 to?

[@thefool1086]

Tamerlane was just a blood tirsty maniac, no based

[@miniaturejayhawk8702]

​@@JjkJjk-or9kc because I am not worried about the past lives of strangers and care more about the great achievements people made. If not whining makes me childish then I will gladly be a baby.

[@miniaturejayhawk8702]

​@@thefool1086 cry harder mate. In the end he achieved more in life than you probably ever will.

[@LanMandragon1720]

​@@thefool1086Crushing your enemies and establishing an empire that shapes history is absolutely based. You just have an extraordinarily naive view of humanity face it we are hyper violent monkies. If that hurts your feelings to bad because that's the simple reality

[@Rudero3]

This is a great video because it really showcases perspective. Like, straight up, people complain about modern problems and then you lose a couple 100 million people to the Mongols or Baghdad gets erased by Hulagu Khan, or the English starve like 100+ million Indians to death during the entirety of the British Raj, just like, you think life sucks now, imagine it back then lol. However, while you pronounced a lot of the dynastic names right, Zhu Yuanzhang, the great Hongwu Emperor, could have benefited from a quick Google Translate double check because I had no idea who you were talking about. Same with Hong Xiuquan. I swear, Chinese is one of the few languages that gets a free butchering, despite it being so easily looked up. Second, as a Han specialist, Wang Mang was 37 when he became grand general (da sima), and effectively become ruler of China, not 13. Idk where you got that number from. Though I do appreciate you pointing out that Wang Mang was a nut job, he actually thought the Rectification of Names would fix China. That's a Confucian concept, basically how you mentioned him renaming things and doing proper ceremonies, that. Furthermore, An Lushan FAILED to kill Emperor Xuanzong and Suzong, and Daizong, with those last 2 being the emperors who really put down the An-Shi Rebellion. Xuanzong fled to Sichuan, and abdicated. Furthermore! An Lushan was murdered by his own servants, one was a eunuch that he had personally castrated himself with a sword years later. An Lushan was cruel and paranoid, his own actions, his own failure to actually defeat the Tang, and the increasing rise of his own general, Shi Siming, led to his downfall. Though his son also had a hand in his death. The Tang was very cosmopolitan, but to say it was Buddhist is inaccurate. The Tang emperors were official patrons of Daoism, and later straight up turned on the alien religion of Buddhism. Also, to say Confucian scholars came to power afterwards and turned China inward is relatively wrong, since after the fall of the Song dynasty, China HAD to turn outwards as it had too many enemies around it. Also you should probably point out that China's colonies were contiguous, they were not overseas island-states that were ruled from afar, they were large, planned cities that expanded China's frontiers. Also, the Qing dynasty, 1644 to 1912, the Confucian scholars were largely delegated to second tier or even third tiers in the hierarchy, as the Manchu elite, and the Eight Banners outranked them. Also, Turkey was not involved in WW1, since the Turkish Republic didn't exist till October 1923. The Ottomans, a multi-ethnic state, with a Turkic majority but a MASSIVE European minority, like 30-40% of the Ottoman Empire, was the ally of Germany and Austria-Hungary. Jesus, watch the term "Manchu barbarians." Really hard to be barbarians when you're thoroughly Sinicized. Not to mention, if the Manchus are barbarians (which they aren't), why didn't the Hanzu constantly fight against them? By the Kangxi Emperor's reign, the Confucians were won over, they that the Manchus were "Chinese."

[@KaiHung-wv3ul]

European Wars be like: Happens every other decade, 200000 deaths. Chinese Wars be like: Happens every other century, 10 million deaths.

[@Rudero3]

@@KaiHung-wv3ul yeah, Europe's big historical killer was disease, not war, like it was in China.

[@benwhite9359]

glad to see a new video i allways watch when you upload

[@ProjectCOOP]

China: has all the bloodiest events in history Also China: Has the greatest population in history

[@newwaveinfantry8362]

The former is directly because of the latter. They were always the largest civilization in history for as long as they have been a cohesive entity. China has actually declined as a percentage of the world population over time, especially since the one child policy. China being the second most populous country in the world right now is actually a first.

[@therearenoshortcuts9868]

the large population is due to the geographic conditions making the land very suitable for farming

[@absboodoo]

We like to breed our population for 300-400 years then have our warhammer 40k reenactment.

[@PradhanmantriBruhh]

Based✊🏽

[@KaiHung-wv3ul]

Well, if we didn't have the greatest population in history, where did we get all the blood?

[@lliamreusser4534]

Hey man, normally I think your takes are a little wild but I think this video was really good and factual. Please feel free to do more videos like this where you take from modern history books

[@scottytoohotty7617]

Modern history books are more factual to you, huh? I'm sorry for the sarcasm, I was educated in American schools...🤣

[@lliamreusser4534]

@@scottytoohotty7617 Well a lot of modern ones have access to new archaeology and more information😄 Just have to find the good ones. Maybe Whatifalthist could also debunk some bad ones

[@battouwikka1412]

17:00 Little did they know giving Eunuchs so much power would lead to BLOODIER coups/rebellions lol

[@joshuawadsworth6417]

Gotta compensate for having no dongs.

[@absboodoo]

Quite a number of eunuchs throughout the history were twisted in their mind partly due to the castration that effect them physically and psychologically. When you can't have offspring, the only two thing you can really pursuit was money or political power and influence.

[@enchanted2k797]

The ending was crazy. Predicting a mass casualty event in the next 10 years in crazy

[@Boz196]

With potential food shortages throughout much of Central Europe, Africa and China it is a possibility.

[@odez5412]

And atrocities like this are ongoing. For example Uyghur Genocide or Israel bombing of Gaza city are examples. Uyghur genocide is bigger though. But no one even cares about Uyghurs.

[@carlovignati421]

Hi, i wanted to ask you for a topic for a video that I think many will appreciate: What if Italy had united in the second half of the 1400s? (Possibly also considering in an absolutely uchronistic way a possible independence of the kingdom of Sicily from the Aragonese crown, just to make everything more enjoyable😂). Thanks in advance if you make the video. thank youin advance if you will make the video, I recommend that if you do, make it with the maps you usually use which are fantastic :)

[@KaiHung-wv3ul]

So basically, what if Machiavelli's dream came true?

[@carlovignati421]

@@KaiHung-wv3ul the dream of every italian

[@KaiHung-wv3ul]

@@carlovignati421 Indeed.

[@azimsiddiqui4773]

ive been watching your videos for a while and your map at 16:00 is my favorite (so far)

[@vonpietrek]

I have my doubts about these numbers. I am particularly concerned with the rubric of World War II and Stalin. World War II was planned in Moscow and if there had been a fair trial afterwards, Stalin would have been the main defendant, not the Austrian painter. Moreover, Stalin's actions contributed to some extent to Mao's rise to power (and therefore his crimes), to the outbreak of civil war in China, and to Japanese aggression against China. If one were to think from this angle, Stalin can be credited with 133 million victims....

[@leonarmb]

I believe that the Napoleonic Wars deserved to be on that list. Some experts indicate between 3 - 7 million deaths in total. Maybe you have a more accurate number... Great video

[@odez5412]

I am sure its not that much. Because i have never heard of any genocides and massacres in Napeleonic wars.

[@leonarmb]

​@@odez5412 The Napoleonic Wars were a conflict that lasted more than a decade and involved all European countries. It is true that the total number of deaths during the entire conflict is not known, but if you search on the internet or in any artificial intelligence engine you will probably receive the answer that is estimated at between 3 and 6 million deaths. In Napoleon's campaign in Russia alone, it is estimated that more than 500,000 deaths in the French army alone (caused mainly by disease and later by winter). And the invasion of Russia only occurred in the last 2 years of the conflict. There's an excellent video about Napoleon on the Epic History channel, I recommend you watch it. In this video they indicate an estimate of 2 to 3 million deaths, being: 916,000 French & Allied / 1.1 million coalition military / 650,000 civilians (it's at the end at 3h22min of the video). Once again, I emphasize that these are just estimates... we will never know the real number, but so far these are the estimates that most scholars defend. Video link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHO2eIahfsamiLs . I hope you enjoy the video content.

[@tony16harris]

Whatifalthist: Here's my depressing video about millions of people being slaughtered. Also Whatifalthist: Well that was fun. Sleep tight guys. Never Change bro. lol

[@BIGBroTVent]

It’s 8 am on my day off, suns on the lake while I’m ripping a huge bowl and enjoying this video 😁

[@creeperspartain3935]

Let's not forget Thomas Midgley Jr, the inventor of leaded gasoline and CFCs, who is estimated to have caused 100 million deaths. And school doesn't teach one thing about that. He died by getting stangled by one of his own inventions that was supposed to help him get out of bed

[@sergeymyasnikov736]

School doesn't teach about it because, maybe, it's just a peculiar factoid to learn on your own and adds nothing to your understanding of the world or economical ability? No, it's the school fault, they should just tell anecdotes and not teach fundamental skills, amirite?

[@badclassicalmusic]

that like blaming every death due to fire on ooga booga who invented fire

[@CanadianMacGyver]

Minor nitpick: the photo at 27:32 is not of victims of Stalin's purges. It is of a group of Soviet cosmonauts, taken in Sochi in May 1960 during the administration of Nikita Khrushchev. The individual airbrushed out of the photo was Grigory Nelyubov, who was expelled from the cosmonaut corps in 1963 for drunken disorderly conduct.

[@imjustsam1745]

Read that book over a decade ago. Did great things for my perspective and just an enjoyable read really.

[@kirbertmott]

nice to see you uploading something more light hearted for once😀

[@Blate1]

I don’t think there’s any chance you will have to add to this list in the next 10 years. In the world today, there’s just no chance a conflict gets to that scale without going nuclear. That fact acts as a deterrent. And if that deterrent ever fails… you won’t be here to add it to the list anyway… 😬

[@walkingcontradiction223]

Yay?

[@darksu6947]

​@@walkingcontradiction223Yay!

[@pponkshe7729]

@@walkingcontradiction223 Yay!!

[@amandachamberlain3169]

Who said it had to be a conflict? There's famine, pandemic and economic disaster that could kill without being war. Besides 10 years is a decent amount of time and we have a lot of global instability.

[@prestonjobe]

The Rudyard “HEH-HEH-HEH” laugh is legendary, and at this point it lives rent free in my head

[@DLtheGreat]

I relate with Whatifaltlist, I'm always getting bucked by horses

[@SJ-co6nk]

Saving a hardcopy of this before listening to it since the last time it got historical atrocitied out of my youtube playlist.

[@RealMajora]

Rudyard what are your thoughts on Globalisation? Was it inevitable, was it good, and were the Europeans always going to be the only ones who were capable of pulling it off? Would be a neat topic to look into to get away with from the doomeristic future arc.

[@tau-5794]

Inevitable? Yes. Good? No. Could it be good? Maybe. It depends, I'm fine with people across the world becoming more interconnected naturally, and forming their own communities like some sort of semi-feudal society, but NOT the idea of disconnected, global leaders with central authority making decisions for the rest of the world.

[@dorkydevil]

Chilling towards the end when he talks about our comparative population to these past atrocities.

[@jongilchrist7229]

Thank you for this. You are most proficient historian and an excellent orator. From what I've gathered you reside in the Philadelphia area. That's where I was born and grew up. Keep it up young man.

[@joshuaengland9087]

this is the content we all signed up for

[@benmcreynolds8581]

Random: Would you consider making a video about thought experiments? I'd like to hear u ponder about topics like, What if we committed to a new modern nuclear energy era? What If we advanced genetic science abilities? Could we use it to help people overcome common ailments, improve medicinal drugs, etc. *Although, In order to advance in those areas, we would probably need to figure out better human trials? To advance discoveries, would society need to decide new, improved ways of doing research on humans? So should we use only the most violent criminals to help us advance scientific discoveries? I know it sounds harsh but right now these violent criminals are still weighing down our society. Also we are struggling to figure out discoveries using current methods of mice trials and other things that overall are holding back progression a ton.. So why not at least have the most violent criminals who have hurt society the most, at least give back by helping society improve & become better off. The discoveries we could possibly figure out thru these studies could be utilized to overall help improve the average persons quality of life. Is this something we should consider? (Personally i think it's worth it) *You can add any other ideas that you want to talk about. A thing I can't help but think about when i go out each day lately is: I see so many aspects of our society struggling from the effects of poverty but due to our country being so stuck in our ways, we are not capable of doing anything to improve this. I don't think we need to "drastically change things" i just think we need to view poverty as a understandable systematic issue in our society. (Our government has no problem giving assistance to the banks/airline corporations, etc.) But if we consider providing assistance to those struggling with poverty, small businesses barely able to make rent, then our government never consideres it? Think of this: if people stuck in poverty get help, that could trickle into money going towards landlords, property owners, small businesses, large businesses, that money would get spread out throughout society as a whole. While improving people's quality of life. Even those people who weren't stuck in poverty because right now people are dealing with homeless people everywhere, abandoned houses, empty store lots, stores going out of business, etc. etc. *I think there is a way to approach this issue with people who are stuck in poverty and find a way to improve our society and quality of life while not having to change much in the way we operate. It doesn't take a huge change to address that poverty is a real issue effecting many aspects of our modern society... I really hope we can do something to improve things.

[@amandachamberlain3169]

No, we should not use violent criminals as test subjects. It's a slippery slope when you start rationalizing and justifying things like that, the question becomes "where does it end?" Hitler's Germany did this to people he thought were useless or evil and millions died. I've heard first hand accounts from the twin studies they did and it's unimaginable what those people had to live through.

[@Speleomimus]

Anyone who has not read Matthew white's atrocities book is missing out. It reads like a data book of factual accounts of the events that led to millions upon millions dying, just like the video here. But the humor is almost as dry highly recommend highly recommend

[@HealthySkepticism1775]

I'm literally halfway through this book right now. It's incredible

[@blurglide]

I remember as a child, in the late 80's, people would say the 2nd amendment was obsolete. I'd tell them "do you think it'll always be like this"? I was picturing "this" as at least 100 years in the future, but here we are.

[@ruvanefriebus-cv6td]

"For blood does not sleep" Salahuddin Ayyubi

[@levongevorgyan6789]

Because War, War never changes.

[@kenshin891]

​@@levongevorgyan6789NANOMACHINES, SON

[@star_duck]

"-'cause at the end of the day, long as there's two people left in this planet, someone is gonna want someone dead" -Sniper TF2

[@DocsDota]

#18 Founder of Ming: Zhu (Surname) Yuanzhang

[@Garmin21111]

I think the big reason behind the reason why death tolls are much lower now is because no one targets civilians on the scale we saw in pre pre-modern period. We don't see entire areas depopulated anymore due to their population being massacred. Frontlines and armies move much slower than they used to which is Ironic considering they could move much faster. But Because modern armies have to face constant fighting, set up depots and supply bases, and have extremely complicated logistics, modern armies in real terms move very slowly, combine this with the fact news can travel basically instantaneously now means armies that may wish to depopulated entire region by massacring their populations, can't as civilians can evacuate much faster then the armies can move. So modern massacres usually happen now because civilians think the enemy forces won't kill them. The most deadly modern war actually happens in armies that are majority infantry or only have light vehicles instead of heavy tank battalions because of this. Now don't get me wrong, modern armies can move fast, but only in basically ideal conditions, for instance in wide open plains or deserts with no buildings, or tree lines and having air superiority, yes a modern army can move as fast as a medieval army but only a few modern war have been fought in those kinds of conditions.

[@sosig6445]

Modern armies just get bogged down by guerilla forces far smaller than they are. If anything the supply and logistics needed for that army is it's biggest weakness a weakness an enemy conventional army can't exploit but partizans can. And the cherry on top is usually armies now fight until one of them disintegrates into an underground resistance group, and the victorious side instead of negotiating a mutually agreeable peacedeal is hellbent on total victory with regime change or total conquest in mind, wich extends the conflict into an unwinnable partizan grind.

[@Garmin21111]

@@sosig6445 The prevlence of Partisans scale depending on the conflict. And large armies suffering greatly due to guerrilla fighting is by no means new either, Hannibal probably lost upwards of half of his army before even reaching Roman territory due to constant ambushes, hit and run tactics, and other kenetic actions by mountain tribes.

[@sosig6445]

@@Garmin21111 Yes but at the very least the bulk of hannibal's army always stayed mostly together, apart from the scouts and vanguard. Meanwhile today's armies despite being many times larger are spread so thin you'll only encounter a single platoon in any given location along the frontline, And even smaller units defending supply runs. Thus it is very easy for a partisan force to gain momentary local superriority to conduct their attack. Meanwhile Hannibal on several occasion succesfully beat back ambushes precisely because they happened in hearing distance and he could move thousands of troops there in a minute.

[@wellston2826]

Finally.... A topic I can get my teeth into and truly enjoy...

[@prestongalle9158]

What is this, the third publishing? Anyway, outstanding video. Keep up the great work!

[@Hawaiian_Shirt_guy]

yes so glad to see this! :) I'm tim, btw, the weirdo fan who DMed you on twitter other day.

[@Barakeh]

As Lebanese the very last scene in the video was eerie, scary af

[@JhoferGamer]

yay youre the most interesting guy on youtube atm

[@stever089]

I'm a fellow attilla and let's be real .... he did not die from a nose bleed while drunk.... we will never know though

[@Leuthen57]

good video, like other comments have said really puts things in perspective.

[@Harrisonhsieh]

Just letting you know that there are no other Middle Ages Chinese dynasty that has a claim to Taiwan. The only claim they had was the small island called Penghu dated back to Song dynasty.

[@LekiCurbsYou]

Great to hear your "coming of age" through your voice changing over time haha

[@carlcramer9269]

Leopold's Kongo causing more deaths than the 30-years war was... a hard pill to swallow.

[@bosertheropode5443]

Usually I think that people who bash colonialism are silly, but it's virtually impossible to defend the belgian Kongo in my opinion.

[@carlcramer9269]

Just so

[@zephyr4174]

Hey, I was just thinking. It would be very interesting if you made a video on how different countries in Europe could capitalise off the upcoming crisis and how new empires would flourish under these new regimes. E.g. say Spain which is leaning towards the left manages to form its empire from a defensive war with morocco thus gaining western sahara along with it and what type of ideology might push this forward and int his case a far right group possibly

[@xmanreturn]

As a Chinese, I am sad to see the history might repeat itself one more time

[@grbradsk]

From my read, the Roman empire was Christian and non-social rotted when it fell. The key thing IMO was the rich-poor divide. The rich have different outlooks/needs than society, but the voice of the rich in ruling a society grows large and so it breaks down. The rich mainly survived the downfall of Rome by marching off and creating kingdoms in France.

[@Heywoodthepeckerwood]

Rome was socialist at that time. Do not make the mistake that because there was a rigid class and social structure (as there are in all socialist states no matter how much many like to pretend) it wasn’t state control of production as well as full on authoritarianism.

[@gabrielethier2046]

​@@Heywoodthepeckerwoodit being an autocratic mess did not mean it was socialist

[@chico9805]

​@@gabrielethier2046It's economic and social policies resemble socialism.

[@gabrielethier2046]

@@chico9805 socialism is an ideology, one which may make use of autocratic measures, the Romans didn't hold to this ideology

[@Heywoodthepeckerwood]

@@gabrielethier2046 autocratic as well as economic control of production. Re read what I typed goob

[@gnarfarmer]

Thoroughly enjoyed your appearance on sitch and adam 300, keep up the good work

[@conradlee8861]

If you did this list in terms of the percentage of the population of the time that was killed, the World Wars wouldn't even be near the top ten which is crazy to think about. The Mongols and Thirty Years War were way deadlier when taken that way. There actually was some level of restraint during the World Wars crazy as it is to say.

[@thomasgalla1670]

to answer your thing about why Nazism is un acceptable but communism despite more people dying of communism I'd say is because i Nazism took control of about 80 million people for 12 years. While the Soviet Union alone controlled double that for 70 years not even considering other communist countries Like China and Cambodia

[@7Seven1OneThree3]

Awesome video!

[@user-BasedChad]

As dar as the congo disaster. I have heard that the actual death toll was about 1-2 million and not 10 million. Douglas Murray does a great interview with a historian i think it was the episode colonialism of the uncanceled history series he did for some time. The historian who did the research from my understanding inflated the number stonmake it sound even worse than it actually was and to this day he is pretty much the only actual work that has happened on the subject and thus people are treating a liar as a messiah and fo along with his x10 above reality numbers

[@user-BasedChad]

Also about the British India, the British did feed the population but people shockingly still died. Even before the British, in India millions had died form starvation is that it wasn't recorded that well

[@ollep0lle]

I cant even picture how many most of these numbers are. Just something like 7 million is so many.

[@mayachico9766]

Thank you my love

[@orboakin8074]

As a Nigeria, i feel that most of you westerners, especially the British and Americans, don't give your ancestors enough credit for abolishing slavery.

[@abdullahyaser9073]

The conclusion is on point

[@jaskim5723]

My guess as to why communism is but fascism isn’t, is that communism was on the winning side of ww2.

[@TheHoneyBadger-yh5vj]

God bless you and your work 😊

[@Jewmoniez]

Congratulations to all the First! Graders

[@dnash2131]

No notification for video but bell is tickled

[@riseup3150]

Good video rud

[@jamesgordley5000]

The Muslim conquest of India is missing from this list. Numbers vary wildly (some many times bigger than this entire video combined and may in fact be greatly bolstered by lingering political resentments) but even the more conservative figures put it at about 8th place in terms of body count.

[@mrcin1233]

The perfect video to put on the future Voyager-like Space probe

[@gamesmore6583]

Excellent video. I was aware of almost all of these events including the Tai Peng in the 19th century in China, Leopold's Congo, and the Muslim slave trade. I knew there were some troubles in the transition from the Sui to Tang dyansties. I was not aware the deaths were so high.

[@adamnesico]

No, the Tang rise isn’t in this list.

[@umaryusuf537]

* Arab slave trade if you call the Arab slave trade the Muslim then call the Atlantic one Christian slave trade.

[@adamnesico]

@@umaryusuf537 not all the ones who did it were arabs, but they were muslim. Atlantic, european, christian... any of those fits.

[@umaryusuf537]

@@adamnesico it was mainly Arabs my point of if you call the Arab one Muslims or Islam call the Atlantic Christian plus calling it islamic doesn’t fit because the way Arab slavery was conducted didn’t aline with Islamic sharia

[@adamnesico]

@@umaryusuf537 Berbers, turks, indians or ethiopians we’re equally part of such trade. Muslims have been ignoring their faith forbids forever, they perpetrated the slavery and so many ither things they were supposed not to do. In fact, the parts they usually do even if they shouldn’t is still part of their culture, like all the harems and their related slavery.