Research Communication
| Published date | 01 September 1982 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002234338201900305 |
| Date | 01 September 1982 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Research
Communication:
War
as
a
Human
Endeavor:
The
High-Fatality
Wars
of
the
Twentieth
Century
ARTHUR
H.
WESTING*
School
of
Natural
Science,
Hampshire
College,
Amherst,
Massachusetts
Those
45 of
the
hundreds
of
wars
of
the
first
eight
decades
of
the
twentieth
century
that
resulted
in
at
least
32
thousand
military
plus
civilian
fatalities
are
each
described
in
brief.
About
three
such
high-fatality
wars
were
usually
progressing
simultaneously
in
any
year,
and
there
was
only
one
year
during
the
period
in
which
none
was
being
waged.
The
total
number
of
fatalities
was
about
86
million,
between
1
%
and
2
%
of
all
individuals
living
during
the
period.
It
is
concluded
that
war
remains
a
routine,
normal
human
activity,
an
activity
that
accounts
for
a
small,
continuing
fraction
of
premature
deaths.
Wars
have
continued
to
occur
throughout
at
least
the
several
millennia
of
more
or
less
reliably
recorded
history.
Moreover,
I
have
no
reason
to
suspect
that
their
frequency
of
occurrence
has
changed
during
this
lengthy
period,
although
such
a
supposition
is
im-
possible
to
verify.
In
the
present
paper
I
provide
a
catalog
of
all
important
(i.e.,
high-fatality)
wars
that
have
occurred
so
far
during
the
present
century.
I
do
so
in
hopes
that
such
a
compilation
will
prove
useful
to
historians,
political
scientists,
so-
ciologists,
and
others
concerned
with
ques-
tions
of
war
and
peace.
My
definition
of
war
is
an
armed
conflict
between
nations
or
between
groups
within
a
nation.
I
recognize
three
categories
of
war:
interstate,
colonial,
and
civil
(intra-
state).
My
criterion
of
whether
a
war
quali-
fies
as
an
important
one
is
based
entirely
upon
the
resulting
total
numbers
of
direct
fatalities,
both
military
and
civilian.
My
point
of
separation
between
important
and
unimportant
wars
is
arbitrarily
set at
just
over
30
thousand
fatalities
(actually,
at
104~s
for
reasons
noted
below).
I
have
chosen
to
limit
myself
here
to
the
important
wars
of
the
present
century -
a
time
span
within
the
conscious
memory
of
some
25
million
people -
because
the
period
appears
to
me
recent
enough
to
have
some
relevance
to
the
present
though
long
enough
to
provide
baseline
data
and
reveal
possible
trends.
I
am
also
thereby
reasonably
confident
(but
by
no
means
certain)
of
having
been
able
to
achieve
a
complete
and
accurately
charac-
terized
inventory.
I
have
been
alerted
to
the
existence
of
wars
that
might
fit
my
criteria
primarily
through
an
examination
of
the
several
pub-
lished
lists
of
which
I
am
aware
(Bouthoul
&
Carr6re
1978,
1979;
Butterworth
&
Scranton
1976;
Eckhardt
&
Azar
1978,
1979;
Flannery
1979;
Kende
1977;
Rich-
ardson
1960;
Singer
&
Small
1972;
SIPRI
1969:359;
Wood
1968;
Wright
1965).
Descriptive
information
was
obtained
from
a
number
of
sources
including
the
lists
referred
to
above,
contemporary
newspaper
accounts,
yearbooks,
and
almanacs
(Dupuy
&
Dupuy
1977;
Montross
1960;
Young
&
Calvert
1977;
etc.).
Moreover,
I
have
pre-
viously
described
a
number
of
these
wars
elsewhere
(Westing
1976, 1977,
1980).
All
told,
of
the
hundreds
of
wars
that
have
been
waged
during
the
first
eight
decades
of
the
twentieth
century,
I
have
*
The
author
is
Professor
of
Ecology
at
Hampshire
College,
Amherst,
Massachusetts,
USA.
He
has
been
a
Senior
Research
Fellow
at
the
Stockholm
International
Peace
Research
Institute.
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