The Bloodiest Battles In World History

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An epic battle scene of the Battle of Waterloo, showing both sides going at it.

Battle of Waterloo

Here are twenty bloody battles that were fought throughout world history.From the battles of Europe to South America, there are many battles that were fought for religion, territory or just hatred. Sadly war has always been in our history and future, almost like humans cannot live without war. Check out the bloodiest battles that occurred in history. 

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The Battle of Waterloo was labeled as the last defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte and French domination across Europe. The battle took place in Belgium, Napoleon was against the might of the Prussian and English army and was defeated on June 18, 1815. After Napoleon was defeated he resigned from the throne and later died on a foreign island. This was one bloody battle adding the casualties up to around 60,000 men on both sides, one of the great battles in Europe. 

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The Thirty Years’ War 

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One of the many bloody battles of the war.
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The Thirty Years’ War was a religious war that was sparked by the Holy Roman Emperor of the time Ferdinand II of Bohemia. The Emperor tried reducing the religious activities of his people which caused rebellions to rise all over Europe. Countries like France, Spain, Austria and Sweden fighting all over German soil. This war had a death count of about 8 million lives, making this one of the most gruesome in history. In result of the end of the war Protestants were able to practice there religious activities, the Catholic Church had a decline in Europe and many countries ended up declaring independence. 

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War of Spanish Succession

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British soldiers marching into battle.
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The War of Spanish Succession was thought to be the first World War as European Imperialism was sweeping its way across Europe. This was all started when the Spanish royal line died out due to inbreeding within the Hapsburg family. The throne was empty and a mighty empire to control, so Louis XIV of France saw an opportunity to unite his mighty empire with Spain's. As a result of Louis XIV greed, the rest of Europe saw this as a threat to their countries and the expansion of France. The end of the war resulted in the Treaty of Utrecht which the Spanish empire was partitioned between the major and minor powers. 

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Taiping Rebellion

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The bloody Chinese rebellion.
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The Taiping Rebellion was one of the most important events that happened in China during the 19th century. It was caused by political and religious changes that cause many of the civilians to rebel. An estimated 20 million lives with lost in this 14 year war, Hong Xiuquan was the one to start this war and believed himself to be the son of God and his mission was to spread Christianity across China. 

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Taiping Rebellion

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A battle of the Panthay Rebellion in a very detailed painting.
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The result of the Taiping Rebellion was the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, unfortunately for the Hakka people this lead to persecution of its people because they supported the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. This also had a negative outlook on Christianity in China that has lasted ever since. Around 20 to 30 million people were killed mostly civilians making this a long a bloody war. 

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Tamerlane

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Tamerlane commanding his men to sack the city.
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Timur was a Turko-Mongol military general who lived during the 14th century, he conquered a lot of the Muslim world and many parts of Asia and India. Timur was one of the main reasons why the Ottoman Empire came to fall, he marched on cities with his 90,000 men to pillage anyone who opposed him. The conquering of Persia was Timur's greatest achievement and is looked at like a god of war, millions of people lives were lost because of this one man. 

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American Civil War 

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A Confederate soldier standing proudly against his foes.
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There were many bloody battles during the Civil War between the Confederates and the Union. Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle that was fought in the war, it took place in Pennsylvania on July 1st to the 3rd, 1863. There were an estimated 200,000 soldiers of both forces combined, around 50,000 soldiers were lost that day and the Union ended up getting the decisive victory. 

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Russian Civil War

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Russian soldiers marching in formation.
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The was a bloody civil war that lasted three years and was between the Bolsheviks and the rest of the Russian political groups. The Bolsheviks were led by Vladimir Lenin who was a strong believer in communism and wanted to make Russia communist. The February Revolution led to the removal of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II which happened when the Tsar was out visiting troops on the front of WWI. Then the October Revolution also know as the Bolshevik Revolution overturned the provisional government and formed the Soviet Union. 

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Balkan Wars

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Russian soldiers fighting the Ottoman Empire.
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The Balkan Wars consisted of two wars fought one after the other, in 1912 through 1913. The first Balkan War was battled between Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro which were the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. The Balkan League took the victory from the Ottoman Empire and also took control of Macedonia. The second Balkan War started when Greece, Serbia and Romania started arguing about what land was owned by Bulgaria, this sparked another war. The Bulgarians were defeated in the second war and Greece gained some land back and so did Serbia. 

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World War 2

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Adolf Hitler standing next to his right hand man Heinrich Himmler.
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The second World War was one of the bloodiest wars in history not only because of what Hitler was doing to the Jewish population but also the modern technology that was being used at the time for war. Many battles were fought in this war, the bloodiest come from the Western European Front and especially the Eastern Front where German and Russian forces were loses soldiers by the millions. This was the last war when so many soldiers and people died hopefully a war like this never happens again. 

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Spanish Civil War

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Spanish civilians fighting for their freedom.
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The Spanish Civil War was fought between left-sided republicans and right-wing Spanish military officers. The biggest reason for the revolt of the Spanish Monarchy was that Spain was lacking in industry and technology compared to the rest of Europe so people wanted a change. Close to a million people died in battle and also from famine and bombardments. The end of the war resulted in the Nationalists gaining control of the government and forming the Francoist Spain. 

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The Chinese Revolution of 1949

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Chinese military spreading communist propaganda.
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The Chinese Civil War lasted a very long time from 1927 to 1950, the war was interrupted when Japan invaded China and World War II broke out. After the end of the World War, the Civil War started up again and was fought between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China. Around 8 million people died during the civil war making this the third largest war right next to WWI and WWII. Both sides of the government still exists in China but none have fought again. 

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Korean War 

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Two Korean children standing in front of a tank.
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The Korean War was fought between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea which turns into North and South. North Korea was being supplied by the Soviet Union to invade the South during 1950, the United States and the United Nations joined the side of South Korea. The US and the UN were making good progress in driving the North Koreans north but out of nowhere, the Republic of China came to North Korea's aid and drove the US out of the north. The end of the war resulted in a parallel line that separates the two countries. 
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World War One

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American troops marching in Formation off to the front lines.
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World War I is labeled to be the bloodiest war of the world, this war including every country in the world and everyone suffered from it. More than 38 million people died in battle and innocent civilians from bombardments, this left the world in shock. The war was fought between The Germanic Empire and Ottoman Empire against the Allied forces of Europe, North America and Russia. The end of the war resulted in the Treaty of Versailles which demolished German military and territory, unfortunately leading to the cause of WWII. 

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Tang dynasty

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The military might of the Tang dynasty.
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The Battle of Baekgang was a battle between the Baekje and their allies Japan against Silla and their allies Tang dynasty of China. The battle took place in a province in Korea and was won by the Silla-Tang forces leading the Japanese forces to completely flee Korea. Around 400 ships, 10,000 men and 1,000 horses were slain in the battle on the Baekje-Japan side. This era was considered to be the Golden Era of China because of the wealth, knowledge and power China gained in such a short time. 

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Battle of Cannae

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Carthage soldiers settling down before the battle to come.
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The Battle of Cannae was an ancient battle between the army of Carthage and the Roman Republic, the army of Carthage was led by a notable Punic general Hannibal. Hannibal and his Punic army defeated the much larger army of Rome by only losing around 10,000 but killing over 70,000 Romans resulting in the greatest tactical feats in history and one of the largest defeats of Rome. Hannibal will always be recognized as the man who belittle the mighty Roman Empire, soon after Roman eventually fell to its people, The Ottoman Empire and barbarians. 

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Arab–Israeli conflict

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Angry mobs of people rises up against the police.
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This conflict all started when land regarded to Palestinian people as a scared and historical homeland is also the same for the Jewish people. This has raised tensions between the two races and has resulted in a lot of violence, around 100,000 people have perished in the effort of this war-like conflict. Everyone around the world is now starting to get involved with this conflict making it more than just a Middle-Eastern conflict. 

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The Ming Dynasty

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Chinese soldiers riding on their horses to war.
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The Ming Dynasty ruled China for around 300 years, trading with Europeans and focused in arts and knowledge. The Dynasty ended up falling due to internal rebellion, the beginning of the Dynasty was filled with disasters resulting in millions of dying. Towards the middle everything started calming down and a lot of the interesting parts of the China Wall were built during this time. The Emperor towards the end of the Dynasty was forced to hang himself and the government was overthrown by the starving peasants. 

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Spanish Conquering 

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Hernán Cortés being greeted by the Aztec people.
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When the Spanish landed on what is now Mexico, it was a very strange world for the Spanish to see. But when they spotted that there were people who lived here too it opened there minds. Hernán Cortés took advantage of this seeing how these primitive people named the Aztecs worshiped him like a God. Cortés ended up seeing the vast wealth the Aztecs had and started taking everything that they had, from city to village he captured all of the Aztec cities leading to the defeat of them. 

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Vietnam War

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American soldiers assaulting an area with a Huey helicopter.
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The Vietnam War was a very bloody war that was started between the North communist side of Vietnam and South Vietnam. The North side was supported by Russia, China and other communist countries, the South was supported by the United States, the Philippines and other countries. Around 4 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives in this war, the fire fights in this setting were the most brutal of all. The US had to eventually withdraw leading to a defeat, as the US left thousands of people were killed and it wasn't until two more wars that Vietnam finally got their Independence. 

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