4 ms·
Didn't world wars and modern oppression from various regimes kill many?
by natmaka 6y ago
Didn't world wars and modern oppression from various regimes kill many?
- SpicyLemonZest 6y agoThey did, but wars and oppression aren't an invention of the Industrial Revolution. Premodern leaders were very capable of killing and oppressing people at scale when they put their minds to it.
- InitialLastName 6y agoTo put that further, the wars and automated atrocities of the industrial age wouldn't break the noise floor of human suffering in pre-industrial history. By some estimates, Genghis Khan was responsible for the deaths of 40 million people, and all he had were horses. Europeans coming to North America led to the deaths of ~50 million people in the 16th century, mostly by accident.
- natmaka 6y ago"Human suffering" seems difficult to assess, and all Industrial Revolution effects will only be known during post-industrial history (maybe after some thermonuclear/bacteriologic war). Many/most Genghis Khan "victims" are highly debatable: "most of them were victims of plague, floods and famine long after the war in northern China was over in 1234 and were not killed by Mongols" ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan#In_China](Source) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan#In_China](Source)). Even the most certain Genghis Khan victims, resulting from systematic slaughter in non-obedient zones, are postmarks in history because they were very unusual (and probably exaggerated). There are few other pre-industrial similar events, however there are many post-industrial similar ones (extermination camps, genocides, battles of Stalingrad/Verdun ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_battles_by_casualties](Source) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_battles_by_casualties]..., ...). IMHO "mostly by accident" invalidates your point.