User:David Kernow/List of massacres involving thousands of people

User:David Kernow/List of massacres involving thousands of people/Preface to lists of massacres


Ancient and Middle Ages (to 1500)

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Date Name Deaths Location Summary
334 BCE Destruction of Thebes c.6,000 to 8,000 Greece

Alexander the Great slaughters the population of the city following a revolt. (Subsequently Alexander massacres at least a quarter of a million city dwellers at Sindimana, Gaza and other locations.)

260 BCE Battle of Changping 400,000 Jincheng, China

The State of Qin defeats the State of Zhao, killing 400,000 Zhao people. The battle becomes a decisive victory in the establishment of the Qin Dynasty.

150 BCE Lusitanian Massacres c.8,000 Spain

Roman troops under Galba massacre Lusitani citizens after convincing them to surrender.

71 BCE Third Servile War c.6,000 Roman Republic

Surrendering slaves are crucified along the Via Appia.

532 Nika riots c.30,000 Byzantine Empire

After a sports rivalry turns into a full-scale riot, Emperor Justinian I locks the rioters in the Hippodrome and has them killed.

650 Mesopotamian massacres 10,000 Mesopotamia

Arabs conquer Mesopotamia and kill 10,000 Assyrians and other Christians. All others flee to the Iraq's mountains or convert to Islam.

782 Bloody Verdict of Verden 4,500 Verden, Germany

Massacre of non-Christian Saxons by Charlemagne; actual scale subject to debate.

1096 German Crusade c.10,000 Rhine River

The "People's Crusade" prior to the First Crusade results in the deaths of thousands of Jews living beside or near the river Rhine (see also Emicho).

1098 Siege of Antioch c.20,000 Antioch, Syria

Almost all Muslim inhabitants slaughtered after the fall of the city to the Crusaders.

1099 First Crusade c.70,000 Jerusalem

Almost all Muslim and Jewish inhabitants slaughtered after the fall of the city to the Crusaders.

1191 Siege of Acre (Akko) 2,750 Akko

Richard the Lionheart slaughters Muslim prisoners taken during the siege.

1209 Albigensian Crusade 20,000 to 100,000 Beziers, France

Crusaders slaughter the Cathars. Other civilian slaughters occur in Toulouse and Saint-Nazaire.

1220 Samarkand massacre c.75,000 Samarkand, Khwarezm[1]

After the city's surrender, the Mongols under Genghis Khan they drive out and slaughter its population. Over 75,000 men, women and children perish.

1221 Herat massacre 600,000 Herat

Genghis Khan's Mongols destroy the city and massacre the population.

1268 Siege of Antioch 40,000 Antioch, Syria

Baibars' army destroys the city and massacres the population.

1282 Sicilian Vespers thousands Italy

French citizens of Sicily killed during a revolt.

1289 Siege of Tripoli c.10,000 Palestine

Muslim conquest of Crusader state; virtually the whole population killed.

1291 Siege of Tyre 10,000 Tyre, Palestine

Baibars' army destroys the city and massacres the population.

1296 Massacre of Berwick 30,000 Berwick, Scotland[2]

As they invade Scotland, forces under the command of Edward I massacre the population of Berwick.

1358 Jacquerie Revolts 8,000 Meaux, France

Peasants massacred in aftermath of revolt.

1348 Black Death Scapegoats 6,000 to 16,000 Germany

Jews are blamed as the cause of the Black Death, leading to their massacre in Mainz (up to 12,000) and Strasbourg (4,000).

1398 Massacre of Delhi 100,000 Delhi, India

Massacre of prisoners under Timur Lenk. (Total deaths from his conquests eventually exceed 20 million.)

1415 Agincourt c.5,000 Agincourt, France

So that guards may join the fight, Henry V orders the deaths of 5,000 prisoners of war during the Battle of Agincourt.

1480 Sack of Otranto 12,000 Otranto, Italy

Modern (from 1500)

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1500 to World War II

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Date Name Deaths Location Summary
1571 Enryaku-ji 3,000 Mount Hiei, Japan
1572 St. Bartholomew's Day massacre 70,000 France

A wave of Catholic mob violence against the Huguenots.

1631 Sack of Magdeburg 20,000 Magdeburg, Germany

Troops of the Holy Roman Empire beseige then storm Magdeburg during the Thirty Years' War, massacring nearly all its inhabitants.

1641 Irish Rebellion of 1641 4,000 Ulster, Ireland

English Protestant planters killed by dispossessed Irish Catholics.

1644 Massacre of Bolton 1,500 Bolton, England
1648 Khmelnytsky Uprising tens of thousands Poland

Jews, Polish nobles and Uniates killed during a Cossack and peasant uprising led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky.

1649 Fall of Drogheda at least 1,000 Drogheda, Ireland

Unarmed civilians massacred by Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army[3]

1794 Praga massacre 10,000 to 20,000 Praga, WarsawPoland Kościuszko Uprising: Russian troops massacre civilians as they loot and burn Praga following their victory in battle.
1822 Chios Massacre c.42,000 Chios / Psara islands[4]

Reprisals after the Greek Christian population rebel against the Ottoman Empire.

1876 Batak massacre c.5,000 Batak[5]

As part of the reprisals following the April Uprising, bashi-bazouks (Ottoman army irregulars) massacre Bulgarian men, women and children barricaded in Batak's church. More than 7,000 others are massacred throughout Bulgaria.

1895-1897 Hamidian massacres 80,000 to 300,000 Ottoman Empire

On the orders of Abdul Hamid II, Ottoman forces massacre Armenians living in Anatolia.

1904 Herero and Namaqua Genocide c.65,000 German South West Africa

German colonial attempt to exterminate the Herero and Namaqua peoples, directed by General Adrian Dietrich Lothar von Trotha.

1915-1917 Armenian Genocide c.400,000 to 1.5 million Ottoman Empire

Forced evacuation and mass killing of Anatolian Armenians during the Young Turks' government.

1915-1918 Assyrian Genocide c.275,000 Ottoman Empire

The Assyrians of northern Mesopotamia forcibly relocated and massacred by Ottoman and Kurdish forces.

1916-1919 Pontian Greek Genocide c.353,000 Ottoman Empire

Massacres of Pontic Greeks by the Young Turks' government.

1918 March Days 3,000 to 12,000 Baku, Azerbaijan

Assuming them to be Ottoman Turks, Dashnak and Bolshevik forces massacre ethnic Azerbaijanis in revenge for the Armenian Genocide.

1918 September Days 10,000 to 20,000 Baku, Azerbaijan

In retalisation for the March Days, Enver Pasha's Army of Islam supported by local Azerbaijani forces recaptures Baku and massacres ethnic Armenians.

1923 Kantō massacre c.2,700 to 6,415 Kantō region, Japan

Korean and Okinawan immigrants blamed for looting and arson in the wake of the Great Kanto earthquake.

1931-1945 Japanese biological warfare program 3,000 to 200,000[6] East Asia

An official program of medical experimentation on humans that resulted in thousands of deaths during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.[7]

1932 La Matanza c.30,000 El Salvador

Having crushed a peasants' rebellion, the military government sanctions the massacre of indigenous peoples.

1937 Addis Ababa massacre 3,000 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Massacre by Italian soldiers.
1937-1938 Nanjing Massacre[8] 100,000 to 300,000 Nanjing, China

Massacre of citizens and prisoners committed by the Japanese army following the Battle of Nanking. Estimates of fatalities vary widely.

1937-1938 Great Purge 680,000 to 1.3 million Soviet Union

Stalinist purges aimed at ethnic minorities and perceived dissidents.

World War II

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Date Name Deaths Location Summary
1939 Bromberg Bloody Sunday up to 8,000 Bydgoszcz, Poland

A combination of the 350 to 5,000 ethnic Germans killed during the Polish Defensive War and the subsequent massacre of c.3,000 Polish civilians in reprisal.

1939-1940 Palmiry massacre c.2,000 Poland

Systematic murder by the Gestapo of Poles deemed to be dissident, including politicians, sportspeople and members of the intelligentsia.

1940 Katyn massacre 14,000 to 28,000 Poland

Massacre of Polish POWs, reserve officers and members of the intelligentsia by Soviet forces.

1941 Białystok Massacre 2,200 Poland

In one of the first massacres of Jews during World War II, the German reserve Police Battalion 309 herd the Jews of Białystok into the city's central synagogue and set fire to it. Those trying to flee are shot.

Jedwabne Pogrom 380 to 1,600 Poland

Jewish residents of Jedwabane and its environs are marched into the center of the village, where they are beaten and killed by a number of their fellow townsmen. Some sources suggest German police and/or military involvement.

Babi Yar 33,771 Ukraine

As reprisal for acts of sabotage they did not commit, the Jewish population of Kiev was marched in small groups to a ditch at Babi Yar and machine-gunned.

Ponaren c.100,000 Lithuania

Jewish and Polish citizens of Vilnius marched to Ponary Woods and shot by Lithuanian police units (the "Ponary Rifles") under German supervision. 40,000 were killed in 1941 alone.

Dnipropetrovsk 12,000 Ukraine

Most of the remaining Jews in the city are marched to a ravine and massacred by Einsatzkommando 6.

Odessa massacre 36,000 Ukraine

Mass shootings of the Jews of Odessa.

Ninth Fort 9,000 Lithuania

Those Jews of Kaunas unable to work – including women and children – are marched to the Ninth Fort and shot. (Over 40,000 Jews will eventually be killed there.)

Rumbula Forest 25,000 Latvia

Over the course of a week, the Jews of Riga are taken to Rumbula Forest and shot.

Simferopol 10,000 Crimea

Mass shooting of Jews. Thereafter, Jews in the region are transported to extermination camps rather than shot.

Kragujevac massacre 4,000 Kragujevac, Serbia

Reprisal killings by German forces following the death of ten soldiers at the hands of partisans.

1942-1944 Warsaw Concentration Camp 200,000 Warsaw, Poland

Non-Jewish population of Warsaw systematically shot or gassed in provisional gas chambers.

1942 Pinsk 16,000 Belarus

Mass executions of Jews.

Sook Ching massacre c.50,000 to 100,000[9] Malaya and Singapore

Japanese troops execute ethnic Chinese Malayans and Singaporeans suspected of resistance.

Bataan Death March 5,650 Philippines American and Philippine POWs are marched to prison camps. Any that fall behind are killed.
1943 Massacres of Poles in Volhynia c.100,000 Volhynia, Ukraine

Ukrainian nationalists massacre Poles.

1943-1947 Foiba massacre 5,000 to 10,000 Istria and Dalmatia

Communist troops commanded by Josip Tito purge Italian fascists and colloborators.

1944 Manila massacre at&least 100,000 Philippines

Retreating Japanese troops slaughter Filipino civilians and raze Manila.

Wola massacre up to 50,000 Warsaw, Poland

As the Warsaw Uprising takes root, German troops systematically slaughter most of the civilians living in the Warsaw borough of Wola.

Meligala massacre 1,500 Greece

Communist ELAS fighters attack the village of Meligala and massacre many of its inhabitants. Many were known to have collaborated with the occupying German forces.

Vojvodina massacre c.34,500 Serbia

Mass executions of Hungarian civilians by Serbian communist partisans.

1944-1945 Chameria issue c.2,000 Chameria[10]

Greek royalist militias battle Pro-German Muslims during the liberation from the Nazi German occupation. Over 25,000 Muslims flee to Albania.

1945 Sandakan Death March 2,431 Malaysia

Australian POWs are forced to march great distances, combined with torture and forced labor.

Bleiburg massacre 55,000 to 300,000 Yugoslavia

Partisans retaliate against Ustashe, [[Domobrani] and Croat civilians.

Contemporary (post-World War II)

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Date Name Deaths Location Summary
Sétif massacre up to 45,000[11] Sétif, Algeria

Colonial French soldiers massacre Algerian protesters.

1947 228 Incident 10,000 to 30,000 Taiwan

Kuomintang forces massacre Taiwanese civilians after an uprising.

1950 Capture of Seoul c.100,000 Seoul, Korea

Communist forces summarily execute civilians after capturing Seoul during the Korean War.

1962 Oran massacre c.2,000 to 3,500 Algeria

Arabs lynch European and Jewish civilians.

1968 Massacre at Huế 2,500+ Huế, South Vietnam

NVA and Việt Cộng forces summarily execute civilians in the city of Huế.

1976 Karantina Massacre c.1,000 Beirut, Lebanon

Lebanese Christian militia massacre the inhabitants of Karantina district, Beirut (mostly Kurds and Armenians) during the Lebanese Civil War.

1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre 800 to 3,000 Beirut, Lebanon

Lebanese Christian militia massacre Palestinian refugees.

1984 Anti-Sikh Riots[12] c.2,733 to 4,000 Delhi, India

Mobs massacre Sikhs following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.

1993 Sukhumi Massacre c.1,200 Abkhazia, Georgia

After storming Sukhumi, Abkhaz separatists and their allies massacre the city's remaining Georgian population.

1994 Rwandan Genocide 937,000 Rwanda

Hutus massacre Tutsis.

1995 Srebrenica massacre 8,000 Bosnia and Herzegovina

Massacre of male Bosniaks primarily by the Army of Republika Srpska; the largest massacre in Europe since World War II.

2001 Dasht-i-Leili massacre 250 to 3,000 Afghanistan

Taliban prisoners shot or suffocated while being transferred between prisons by Northern Alliance soldiers during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.

2002 Gujarat violence c.800 to 2,000 Gujarat, India

Sectarian violence following a train fire in Godhra.

2003
to date
Darfur conflict c.400,000 Sudan

Ongoing massacre and forced displacement of the Fur people of Western Sudan by government-sponsored Janjaweed militia.

Footnotes

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  1. ^ present-day Uzbekistan.
  2. ^ Now within England.
  3. ^ http://www.louthonline.com/html/oliver_cromwell.html
  4. ^ Then part of the Ottoman Empire; now part of Greece.
  5. ^ Then part of the Ottoman Empire; now in Bulgaria.
  6. ^ Chinese, Korean and Allied civilians and POWs.
  7. ^ See also Unit 731.
  8. ^ Also known as the Rape of Nanking.
  9. ^ Singapore alone.
  10. ^ Part of Greece.
  11. ^ including c.150 pied-noirs.
  12. ^ Also known as Black November.