Statistics of Wars, Oppressions and Atrocities of the Eighteenth Century

(the 1700s)

Alphabetical Index

Site Index

Over 1,000,000 killed

18th Century Slave Trade
- Atlantic slave trade: ca. 5,000,000 transported and 8,100,000 died.
- Islamic slave trade: ca. 1,300,000 transported and 2,000,000 died.
Seven Years War (1755-63) [make link]
- Gaston Bodart, Losses of Life in Modern Wars (1916)
  - Austrian deaths:
    - KIA: 32,622
    - Dead of wounds + disease: 93,408
    - MIA: 19,592
    - TOTAL: 145,622
- Samuel Dumas, Losses of Life Caused By War (1923)
  - Austrian:
    - Killed: 32,000
    - Dead of wounds or disease: 93,400
    - TOTAL: 125,400
  - Prussian:
    - Killed: 180,000
- The Historians' History of the World by Henry Smith Williams, 1904, vol. 12, p. 352: “The Seven Years' War was a glorious means of personal aggrandisement to Frederick... yet it cost... 180,000 lives among his own partisans, a general diminution of Prussia's population by 500,000, and a grand total of 853,000 soldiers killed on all sides.”
- Clodfelter (v.1, pp.99-100): "The conflict was the bloodiest of the eighteenth century"
  - "One estimate": 868,000 d., all causes
  - "Another": 460,000 Austrians and allies, and 180,000 Prussians died.
- Urlanis:
  - K. in Battle: 140,000 (p.45)
  - Military. Killed and died: 550,000 (p.226)
  - The civilian population of Austria declined from 5,739,000 to 4,890,000 -- a loss of 849,000. (p.282)
- Eckhardt: 550,000 civ. + 550,000 mil. = 1,100,000
- Levy: 992,000
- Sorokin (k+w):
  - Austria: 400,000
  - Prussia: 262,500
  - France: 168,000
  - Russia: 138,000
  - England: 20,000
  - Spain: 3,000
  - Total Losses: 991,500 [K=1/4-1/3: 250-330,000]
- MEDIAN (interpolated & rounded)
  - Military: 600,000
  - Civilian: 700,000
  - Total: 1,300,000
French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802) [make link]
- NOTE: The era of almost continuous warfare that followed the overthrow of the French monarchy is traditionally split into three parts:
  1. The Revolution itself (including all internal conflicts)
  2. The Revolutionary Wars during which France fought international wars as a Republic
  3. The Napoleonic Wars, during which France fought international wars as an Empire.
  The numbers here generally refer only to the international wars of the Republican period, but not always.
- Clodfelter
  - War of the 1st Coalition, 1792-97
    - French: 100,000 combat d.
    - Austrian: 94,700
  - War of the 2nd Coalition, 1799-1801
    - French: 75,000 KIA
    - Austrian: 79,520 KIA
- Urlanis
  - K. in Battle: 290,000
  - Military. Killed and died: 1,100,000
- The Napoleonic Empire, 2d ed (1991, 2003) Geoffrey Ellis (citing Esdaile)
  - KIA, Died of Wounds + Camp Disease, France Proper: 1,400,000 during the period 1792-1815, incl. 916,000 [65%] under the Empire. [Which would leave 484,000 dead (or 35%) under the Republic.]
  - Total war dead among all Eur. armies: 3 million [35% or 1.05M under the Republic?]
- Levy: 663,000
- Eckhardt: 1,000,000 civ. + 1,030,000 mil. = 2,030,000
- Sorokin (k+w):
  - TOTAL: 731,740 [K=1/4-1/3: 185-245,000]
  - By Nation:
    - France: 434,700
    - Austria: 201,800
    - Russia: 44,100
    - England: 20,340
    - Prussia: 9,000
    - Sardinia: 7,700
    - Spain: 7,500
    - Holland: 6,600
  - By Sub-war:
    - First Coalition (1792-97): 330,800
    - Vendee (1793-96): 58,000
    - France v. England (1793-1802): 77,840
    - Egyption Expedition (1795-1802): 11,200
    - Second Coalition (1797-1801): 253,900
- see also: French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars

Between 100,000 and 1,000,000

War of the Spanish Succession (1701-13) [make link]
- Gaston Bodart, Losses of Life in Modern Wars (1916)
  - Austrian KIA + deaths from wounds: 35,000 to 40,000
  - TOTAL, both sides: 400,000
- Clodfelter: ca. 400,000 d. (both sides) incl. 35,000 Austrians
- Urlanis
  - K. in Battle: 235,000
  - Military. Killed and died: 700,000
- Levy: 1,251,000
- Eckhardt: 1,251,000 military
- Sorokin (k+w):
  - TOTAL: 1,324,300 [K=1/4-1/3: 330-440,000]
- MEDIAN: between 700,000 and 1,251,000 [ca. 1m]
- Population of France declined from 19m to between 16m and 17m. (John Bassett Moore, "International Law and Some Current Illusions", p.119, Proceedings of the Fifty-ninth convocation of the University of the State of New York, Oct. 18 and 19, 1923)
Northern War (1700-21) [make link]
- Clodfelter
  - Sweden (+Baltics + Finland) lost 350,000 d. of all causes.
  - Cost to Russia, Poland, Denmark, Saxony unkn. but higher.
- Urlanis
  - K. in Battle: 70,000
  - Military. Killed and died: 300,000
- Levy: 64,000
- Sorokin (k+w)
  - Russia: 315,000
  - Poland: 55,040
  - Prussia: 3,600
  - England: 1,000
  - TOTAL: 374,640 [K=1/4-1/3: 95-125,000]
- The population of Finland plunged from 400,000 to 330,000 (Tapio, “War and the Great Wrath,” Finnish American Reporter, Vol. 8 p. 23, February 28, 1995; Solsten, et al., Finland: A Country Study. GPO for the Library of Congress, 1988
Persia (1720s)
- Trager, The People's Chronology
  - Invasion by Mir Mahmoud of Kandahar (1722): 80,000 inhabs d. in siege of Isfahan
  - Siege of Erevan (1723): 20,000 Turks die of disease + battle before taking city.
  - Massacre at Kazbin by Mahmoud (1723): 3,000 guards, + unnumbered others.
  - Invasion by Ottomans (1725): 30,000 Persians, 20,000 Turks k. in siege of Tabriz; 39 Safavid princes executed.
  - (1727): Ottoman invasion repulsed w/ 12,000 dead.
  - TOTAL: > 175,000
- Clodfelter (1722-27)
  - Turks lost 20,000 k/wd/dis taking Erevan
  - 2nd assault on Tabriz: 20,000 Tks + 30,000 Persians lost (casualties)
Caspian Sea (1722-34)
- Angus Konstam, Russian Army of the Seven Years War: 130,000 Russian soldiers died of disease fighting in this region, 1722-34
War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48) [make link]
- Clodfelter
  - Habsburgs: 28,100 KIA (excl. mortally wounded)
  - French: 140,000 killed & wounded
- Levy: 359,000
- Eckhardt: 359,000 military
- Reed S. Browning, The War of the Austrian Succession (1995) p.377: "to the 100000 men in arms who perished as a consequence of the war must be added an additional 400000 civilians.... The War of the Austrian Succession killed half a million people." The same numbers (100,000 + 400,000) appear in Armstrong Starkey's War in the Age of the Enlightenment, 1700-1789 (2003) p.6.
- Urlanis:
  - K. in Battle: 120,000 (p.45)
  - Military. Killed and died: 450,000 (p.226)
- Sorokin: 381,470 (k+w) [K=1/4-1/3: 95-125,000]
  - Austrian Succession (1741-48)
    - France: 158,400
    - Austria: 120,000
    - England: 26,400
    - Sardinia: 7,840
    - Spain: 3,000
    - Holland: 14,630
    - TOTAL: 330,270 (k+w) [K=1/4-1/3: 80-110,000]
  - 1st Silesian War (1740-42)
    - Prussia: 13,500
    - Austria: 9,900
    - TOTAL: 23,400
  - 2d Silesian War (1744-45)
    - Austria: 18,200
    - Prussia: 9,600
    - TOTAL: 27,800
China (1755-57) [make link]
- China vs Dzungars
  - Eckhardt: 300,000 civ. + 300,000 mil. = 600,000
  - John DeFrancis, In the footsteps of Genghis Khan, p.175: “By 1755, nine-tenths of the Dzungars and their allies, some six hundred thousand people, had been wiped out”
  - Douglas Carruthers, Unknown Mongolia: a record of travel and exploration in north-west Mongolia and Dzungaria (1914) v.2 p.376: “When the Chinese invaded Dzungaria, they killed off her population to a man — of six hundred thousand inhabitants not one remained.”
China (1771-76)
- Szechwan Revolt
  - Eckhardt: 60,000 civ. + 60,000 mil. = 120,000
French Revolution (1789-94) [make link]
- Encarta, "French Revolution"
  - Reign of Terror
    - Executed with Trial: 17,000
    - Executed w/o Trial: 12,000
    - Died in jail: "thousands"
    - TOTAL: 40,000
  - Vendee rebellion: 100,000
- Britannica: 17,000 executed and 10,000 died in jail during the Reign of Terror.
- James Trager, The People's Chronology (1992): 300-600,000 men, women, children k. in suppression of Vendée revolt. ("1793")
- Herbert Rowen, A History of Early Modern Europe: 1500-1815 (1960)
  - September Massacres (Paris, 1792): >1,000
  - Reign of Terror: 17,000 k. after trial and 20,000 "with less formality".
- M. de Jarjayes, A little bit of History [http://amarisee.tripod.com/FoR/Debate8.html]
  - Executions: 13,800-18,613 with trial, 25-40,000 without trial
  - Wars: 400,000 in Revolutionary Wars; 400-500,000 in civil wars
- Bell, First Total War, p.156: 250,000 dead in the Vendee.
- Spark Notes: 250,000 k. in 9 months of the Reign o'Terror [http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/frenchrev/summary.html]
- Rummel: 263,000
- Clodfelter: 80-100,000 d. in Vendee in 1793
- Pitirim Sorokin, The Sociology of Revolution (1967): 1,400,000 "men perished", 1789-1801. This would include all those killed in the Revolutionary Wars as well.
Saint-Domingue (1791-1803) [make link]
- Slave Revolt and Civil War
  - Scheina, Latin America's Wars, v.2, p.18
    - Haitians: 350,000 d.
    - French
      - soldiers: only 10,000 survived out of 55,131 sent
      - sailors: 10,000 d.
  - Dumas (citing Fröhlich):
    - French: 60,000
    - Whites: 50,000
    - Colored: 50,000
    - TOTAL: 160,000
  - Rogozinski, A Brief History of the Caribbean (1994):
    - More than one third of the 435,000 slaves died (i.e. >145,000)
    - 1791: rebel slaves killed 2,000 whites
    - 1793-98: 13,000 out of 20,000 British troops died, mostly of disease.
    - 1802-1803: French lost 40,000 soldiers.
  - James Trager, The People's Chronology (1992): 2,000 Whites and 10,000 Blacks and Mulattoes k (1791) (also, LC [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/httoc.html])
China, White Lotus Rebellion (1796-1805)
- PGtH: 100,000 rebels killed

Between 10,000 and 100,000

Hungarian Insurrection (1703-11)
- Sorokin (k+w):
  - Austria: 43,200 [K=1/4-1/3: 11-14,000]
- Eckhardt: 43,000 military k.
Russia, Bulavin's Revolt (1707-08)
- Clodfelter: 28,500 rebels k. by czarist armies
Venetian-Austro-Turkish War (1714-18)
- Clodfelter
  - Austria: 40,000 killed and wounded
  - Venetian: "half that" [20,000 K&W]
  - Turkish: "double the Habsburg" [80,000 K&W]
  - [TOTAL: 140,000 K&W, maybe 35,000 K]
- Sorokin (Austro-Venetian War)
  - Austria: 10,260 (k+w)
War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718-20) [make link]
- Clofelter: 20,000 d. in combat
- Sorokin (k+w)
  - Austria: 11,250
  - England: 6,000
  - Spain: 4,350
  - France: 3,000
  - Sardinia: 2,250
  - Holland: 1,500
  - TOTAL: 28,350
- Levy: 25,000
War of the Polish Succession (1733-38)
- Sorokin (k+w)
  - France: 50,400
  - Austria: 32,000
  - Sardinia: 7,200
  - Russia: 3,000
  - Spain: 3,000
  - Prussia: 1,800
  - Poland: 1,200
  - TOTAL: 98,600
- Levy: 88,000
Russo-Austro-Turkish War (1736-39)
- Sorokin (k+w)
  - Austria: 22,400
  - Russia: 15,960
  - TOTAL: 38,360
- Levy: 38,000
Delhi (1738)
- Invasion by Shah Nadir of Persia
  - PGtH: 20,000 Indian soldiers k. in battle, 150,000 civilians massacred ("believed ... exaggerated")
  - Clodfelter
    - Battle of Karnal: 17,000 Moguls (Indians) + 2,500 Persians k.
    - Delhi riot: first 900 Persians k; then 20,000 citizens k. in retaliation.
Batavia (1740)
- 1911 Britannica "Batavia": 12,000 Chinese massacred by Dutch
Russo-Swedish War (1741-43)
- Sorokin (k+w)
  - Russia: 10,500
- Levy: 10,000
French and Indian War, North American version of the 7 Years War (1754-63) [make link]
- Clodfelter: 1,512 UK KIA and 13,400 died of wounds and disease. Est. 3000 battle deaths (KIA+DOW, British side)
- Library Journal book review of Faragher, A Great and Noble Scheme: 10,000 Acadian (French) settlers died being deported from Nova Scotia of starvation, disease, warfare, exposure.
Maratha-Afghan War (1760-61)
- Ripley and Dana, The American cyclopaedia: a popular dictionary of general knowledge, Volume 9, p.209: 200,000 Maratha soldiers k. at Battle of Panipat
- Clodfelter
  - Maratha camp followers massacred by Afghans: 20,000
  - Maratha soldiers k. at B. of Panipat: 20,000
Burmese-Chinese War (1765-69)
- Clodfelter: 20,000 Chinese KIA
Russo-Turkish War (1768-74)
- Sorokin (k+w)
  - Russia: 28,000
  - Poland: 11,500
  - TOTAL: 39,500
- Levy: 14,000
Annam, Tay Son Revolution (1772-1802)
- Clodefelter: 10,000 Chinese drowned in Red River after losing Hanoi
Russia, Pugachov Revolt (1773-74)
- Clodfelter: 20,000 rebels k.
- Sorokin
  - Russia: 5,000 (k+w)
American War of Independence (1775-83) [make link]
- [Listed roughly in order of completeness.]
- Louis Duncan, Medical Men in the American Revolution (1931) Page 373
  - US:
    - KIA and mortally wounded: 7,000
    - Disease: 63,000
    - TOTAL: 70,000
  - UK:
    - KIA and mortally wounded: 4,000
    - Disease: 27,000
    - TOTAL: 31,000
  - Hessians:
    - KIA and mortally wounded: 1,800
    - Disease: 6,000
    - TOTAL: 7,800
  - TOTAL: 108,800
- Clodfelter
  - US dead, citing Peckham, The Toll of Independence
    - KIA: 6,824, incl. naval
    - POW deaths: 8,500
    - Disease, etc.: 10,000
    - [TOTAL: 25,324]
  - British side: 15,000 KIA+DOW, incl...
    - Lost at sea: 3,000
    - Tories and Canadians: 3,000
    - German mercenaries: 3,000
    - NAm Indians: 500
  - American allies:
    - French: 10,000 battle dead, 75% at sea.
    - Spain: 5,000
    - Netherlands: 500
  - [TOTAL: 37,324 battle dead, all sides, all theaters, plus 18,500 Americans dead of disease, which would give an overall total of 55,824 w/o Brtitish, French and Hessian disease deaths. It looks like about a third of the battle dead (ca. 11,500 French, US, UK) died in the war at sea.]
- Thomas Purvis, A Dictionary of American History (1995)
  - US deaths:
    - KIA on land: 6,090
    - KIA at sea: 1,084
    - Disease: 10,000
    - Deaths among POWs: 8,000
    - [TOTAL: 25,174]
- Oscar Reiss, Medicine and the American Revolution (1998)
  - US deaths:
    - KIA: 6,500
    - Disease: 10,000
    - Deaths among POWs: 8,500
    - TOTAL: 25,000
- Official DoD: 4,435 US KIA
- The 1991 Information Please Almanac: 4,435 US KIA
- The World Almanac and Book of Facts (1985): 6,824 KIA + 18,500 other = 25,324 deaths
- Robin May, The British Army in North America 1775-1783 (1997): perhaps 12,000 Americans killed, not very different to the number of British killed.
- Edwin G. Burrows, Forgotten patriots: the untold story of American prisoners during the ...
  - Rebels killed in combat: 6,824
  - Loyalists (very rough est.)
    - killed in combat: 1,700
    - died in prison: 5,300
  - TOTAL American deaths on both sides: 41,100
- Levy: 34,000
- Eckhardt: 20,000 military
- Elizabeth Fenn, Pox Americana: the great smallpox epidemic of 1775-82
  - Estimated minimal mortality across North America, 1775-82: 130,658, incl. the following deaths associated with the Revolutionary War, as the armies spread the virus around the English colonies:
    - Military
      - Quebec: 538
      - Retreat from Canada: 700
      - Ethiopian Reg.: 480
      - Alexandria: 20
      - [TOTAL: ca. 1,738, probably incl. in all the military estimates above.]
    - Civilian
      - Boston: 287
      - Nova Scotia: 153
      - Iroquois: 170
      - Hudson R.: 58
      - NC Moravians: 13
      - SC black loyalists: 2,000
      - Wilmington NC: 5
      - VA black loyalists: 3,500 of smallpox
        
        T Jefferson est.: of 30,000 Virginia slaves who joined the British, 27,000 died of smallpox and camp fever. [published in The writings of Thomas Jefferson, G.P.Putnam and Sons, 1895, vol. 5, p. 40]
      - [TOTAL: ca. 6,186 war-related smallpox deaths, plus maybe (?) another 23,500 d. of "camp fever".]
- William Osborn: The Wild Frontier: atrocities during the American-Indian War from Jamestown Colony to Wounded Knee (2000)
  - Deaths caused by specific settler atrocities (1775-83): 124
  - Deaths caused by specific Indian atrocities (1775-83): 568
Peru, Tupac Amaru rebellion (1780-83) [make link]
- Clodfelter
  - Lives lost, all sides, all causes: 80,000
  - Died in siege of La Paz: 60,000 k+dis.
Korea (after 1784) [make link]
- 14 May 1984 Time: First Catholic converts in 1784. "[A]s many as 10,000 Catholics were executed in the next few decades."
Russo-Austro-Turkish War (1787-91)
- Sorokin (k+w)
  - Russia: 181,500
  - Austria: 10,000
  - Turkey: not included
  - TOTAL: 191,500 [K=1/4-1/3: 48-64,000]
- Levy: 192,000 k
- Eckhardt: 192,000 military k
Irish Uprising (1798) [make link]
- According to Dan Smith, 50,000 died.
- BBC: 40,000 k. in Wexford Reb., 1798 [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A698862]
- R.F. Foster, Modern Ireland 1600-1972 (1988): 30,000 by summer 1798

Under 10,000

Austro-Sardinian War (1701-03)
- Eckhardt: 7,000 military d.
- Sorokin (k+w)
  - Austria: 6,000
  - Sardinia: 1,200
  - TOTAL: 7,200
Camisard Insurrection, Languedoc (1702-06)
- Sorokin: 4,000, France (k+w)
- Eckhardt: 4,000 military d.
Pruth River Expedition (1711)
- Sorokin: 2,000. Russia (k+w)
- Eckhardt: 2,000 military d.
Tarnograd Confederation (1715-17)
- Sorokin: 5,500. Poland (k+w)
- Eckhardt: 6,000 military d.
Anglo-Swedish Naval War (1715-19)
- Sorokin (k+w)
  - England: 2,500
Great Britain, 3rd Jacobite Rebellion (1715-16)
- Clodfelter: 3,000 total fatalities
- Sorokin, Pretender War
  - England: 1,000 (k+w)
Khiva Expedition (1716-17)
- Sorokin
  - Russia: 2,000 (k+w)
Russo-Persian War (1722-23)
- Sorokin
  - Russia: 4,000 (k+w)
War of the Younger Pretender (1745-46)
- Sorokin
  - England: 2,500 (k+w)
Sainte-Domingue, Macandal Rebellion (1751-58)
- LC : 6,000 [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/httoc.html]
- Clodfelter: 6,000 k. by Macandal
Spanish-Portuguese War (1762)
- Sorokin:
  - Spain: 1,000
Anglo-Indian War (1763-65)
- Sorokin:
  - England: 2,250
Sepoy Mutiny (1764)
- Sorokin:
  - England: 750
Gaidamack Revolt (1768)
- Sorokin:
  - Poland: 460
First Mahratta War (1778-81)
- Sorokin
  - England: 2,250 (k+w)
War of the Bavarian Succession (1778-79)
- Sorokin (k+w)
  - Austria: 220
  - Prussia: 120
  - TOTAL: 340
- Levy: 300
- Eckhardt: 2,000 military
Anglo-Dutch War (1780-1800)
- Sorokin (k+w)
  - Holland: 5,000
  - England: 3,750
  - TOTAL: 8,750
First Mysore War (1782-84)
- Sorokin:
  - England: 2,250
Austria v Holland (1784-85)
- Sorokin (k+w)
  - Austria: 4,000
Transylvanian Insurrection (1784-85)
- Sorokin
  - Austria: 2,000 (k+w)
Russo-Swedish War (1788-90)
- Sorokin (k+w)
  - Russia: 2,640
- Levy: 3,000
Austrian Netherlands Insurrection (1789-90)
- Sorokin (k+w)
  - Austria: 1,000
Arabia, Wahhabi uprising (1790s-1800s)
- Tariq Ali, The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity: 5,000 inhabitants of Karbala killed (1801). Population of Taif massacred (1802).
Second Mysore War (1790-92)
- Sorokin
  - England: 2,250 (k+w)
United States, Northwest Indian War (1790-95)
- Clodfelter: 1,000+ American soldiers K.
Zong, slave ship, 1781
- 130-132 living slaves cast overboard to save food/water [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3581815.stm or http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1h280.html or http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A25167-2005Jan20?language=printer]
Polish Insurrection (1792-94)
- Sorokin (k+w)
  - Poland: 27,000
  - Russia: 4,080
  - TOTAL: 31,080 [K=1/4-1/3: 8-10,000]
Russo-Persian War (1796)
- Sorokin
  - Russia: 2,150 (k+w)
England v Spain (1795-1801)
- Sorokin
  - Spain: 7,000 (k+w)

Total:

EXTREMELY PRELIMINARY TOTAL:
- Adding all the events listed here gives a very, very (very) tentative total of 18 Million unnatural deaths during the 18th Century.
- Using "How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?" by Carl Haub [http://www.prb.org/Content/ContentGroups/PTarticle/0ct-Dec02/How_Many_People_Have_Ever_Lived_on_Earth_.htm]
  1. We can calculate the number of deaths between 1750 and 1850 as [1750_population] + [Births_1750-1850] - [1850_population] = [Deaths_1750-1850] = ca. 3576 million.
  2. We can calculate the number of deaths between 1650 and 1750 as [1650_population] + [Births_1650-1750] - [1750_population] = [Deaths_1650-1750] = ca. 2877 million.
  3. Adding half of [1] and half of [2] would give us some 3226 million deaths in the 19th Century.
- Eighteen million unnatural deaths would be 0.6% of 3.2 billion deaths (or 1 out of every 179). This is a lot lower than either the 19th or 20th Centuries death rates, but we shouldn't take this as proof that the 18th Century was more peaceful. With a childhood mortality rate far higher than later eras, fewer people would live long enough to get caught up in wars and tyranny.

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Last updated November 2010