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World War II resulted in more extensive territorial changes in Europe, both during and after the German surrender in May 1945. World War II is unique in the long bloody annals of warfare. The very first historians, both Greeks, began reporting on wars (3rd century BC) and we know of ancient battles dating back over 5,000 years. But in all that extensive history, there has been nothing like World War II. It boils down to the fact that never before in history has there been such an existential conflict between good and evil. That of course is a value judgement, but one easily made if you look at German atrocities and Japanese atrocities. But lets just look at numbers.
First, World War II was the greatest human disaster in history, either natural or man made. The death toll of World War II exceeded that of the Black Plague or any other pandemics. (Some diseases like smallpox have larger death tolls, but not specific outbreaks.) It exceed Stalin's brutal killing programs. And far more than the 17 million killed in World War I. It was comparable only to Mao's death toll, but much of his killing was inadvertent and over a much longer period. here is not precise total, but 60-65 million deaths is a rough estimate. There are different estimates, but rarely do the estimate go below 50 million deaths.
Second, it was mostly civilians who were killed in World War II. This is a little difficult for Americans to understand as we had a mere 6 civilian war casualties in the Continental United States--of all people Sunday school picnickers. The Axis powers actually targeted civilians as a war goal. It was the only war in modern history in which more non-combatants were killed than combatants. In World War I, some 65 percent of deaths were military personnel. In World War II, 80 percent of the fatalities were civilians. That was the case because the Axis powers set out to kill civilians as a mtter of policy.
Third, World War II is the only war we know of in which the victorious powers (the Allies and Soviets) suffered far more casualties than the defeated powers (the Axis). And most of the Allied casualties were civilians--much less the case for the Axis. Of the civilian and military deaths, some 80 percent were killed by the Axis. As one historian puts it, "What ever we can say about the losers, one thing is that they were savage killers." And their victims were mostly civilians. And if you look closely, almost two thirds of those victims were Soviets or Chinese. [Hanson]
World War II resulted in more extensive territorial changes in Europe, both during and after the German surrender in May 1945. World War II is unique in the long bloody annals of warfare. The very first historians, both Greeks, began reporting on wars (3rd century BC) and we know of ancient battles dating back over 5,000 years. But in all that extensive history, there has been nothing like World War II. It boils down to the fact that never before in history has there been such an existential conflict between good and evil. That of course is a value judgement, but one easily made if you look at German atrocities and Japanese atrocities. But lets just look at numbers.
First, World War II was the greatest human disaster in history, either natural or man made. The death toll of World War II exceeded that of the Black Plague or any other pandemics. (Some diseases like smallpox have larger death tolls, but not specific outbreaks.) It exceed Stalin's brutal killing programs. And far more than the 17 million killed in World War I. It was comparable only to Mao's death toll, but much of his killing was inadvertent and over a much longer period. here is not precise total, but 60-65 million deaths is a rough estimate. There are different estimates, but rarely do the estimate go below 50 million deaths.
Second, it was mostly civilians who were killed in World War II. This is a little difficult for Americans to understand as we had a mere 6 civilian war casualties in the Continental United States--of all people Sunday school picnickers. And most of the Allied casualties were civilians--much less the case for the Axis. The Axis powers actually targeted civilians as a war goal. It was the only war in modern history in which more non-combatants were killed than combatants. In World War I, some 65 percent of deaths were military personnel. In World War II, 80 percent of the fatalities were civilians. That was the case because the Axis powers set out to kill civilians as a matter of policy. And in the case of The NAZIs and to a lesser extent the Soviets, a primary war goal.
Hanson, Victor Davis. The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won (2017). This is a brilliant book with many insights missed by purely military historians.
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