Here is the preceding paragraph to give some context: I have spent a lot of this chapter on the statistics of war. But now we are ready for the most interestin

Here is the preceding paragraph to give some context: I have spent a lot of this chapter on the statistics of war. But now we are ready for the most interesting statistic since 1945: zero. Zero is the number that applies to an astonishing collection of categories of war during the two-thirds of a century that has elapsed since the end of the deadliest war of all time. I’ll begin with the most momentous... So the "zero" figure means "since 1945."