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The deadliest war before WW1 was the Napoleonic Wars (which essentially set up the then-existing European system), and before that, the Thirty Years' War and si
by jcranmer 4y ago
The deadliest war before WW1 was the Napoleonic Wars (which essentially set up the then-existing European system), and before that, the Thirty Years' War and similar wars of religion were incredibly destructive.
When were "the good old days" you were referring to?
- bell-cot 4y agoFor the winners (recall that the ruling classes were rather indifferent to the deaths of large numbers of the less-well-born) many of those wars turned out pretty well. In "let's play Prisoner's Dilemma" terms, the payoff matrix for "Go to War?" was, for the ruling classes, far more favorable back then. (Vs. for modern industrialized warfare.) Add the Mongol Empire and Russian Empire to my "war & conquest worked out pretty well for 'em" list.
- bell-cot 4y agoClarification - by "Russian Empire" here, I mean the old Empire - say, from the Battle of Kulikovo (1380) up until the Crimean War (~1855). The latter was against several modern-ish, getting-industrialized major powers. Yes, plenty of parallels can be drawn between the Crimean War and the current Russian "special military operation" in Ukraine. The former ended with the Treaty of Paris on March 30, 1856 - which was a very clear Russian defeat.