21 of the Bloodiest Battles In the History of War
Unfortunately, for as long as humans have been around, we've been killing each other. We've dedicated quite a bit of our history to it, and those who have been better than others at killing people have gotten to shape history around their will. We've even developed countless methods to help us kill each other from Samurai swords to Roman spears, to the AK-47, F-22 fighter jets, chlorine gas, and all sorts of bombs. Those weapons have assisted in creating some truly harrowing battles, and in this gallery, we've assembled a few.
The "Attack of the Dead Men" at the Osoweic Fortress in World War I is undoubtedly one of the most terrifying events in human history. Needing desperately to capture the fortress from Russian control, the Germans decided to turn to chlorine gas after numerous failed traditional assaults. Despite outnumbering the Russians by a factor of 10, they released the gas at 4 am when wind conditions were in their favor. It is said that the grass around the fortress turned black before the gas reached the structure.
Coughing up parts of their own lungs, the Russians still charged any Germans who entered the fortress, and the Germans who escaped claimed it felt like fighting an army of "dead men." Soon after, the Russians destroyed the fortress themselves realizing the futility of a long-term hold-out. But that is just one of history's bloodiest battles. See more right here.
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The Battle of Cannae was a literal bloodbath. Of the 80,000 Romans that took the field only 3,000 managed to escape. 77,000 Romans were slaughtered in a single day. The general of the opposing army, Hannibal Barca, orchestrated the strategy to annihilate the Romans. Even to this day, Cannae is considered tactical perfection. -
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Stalingrad. Some say about 1.5 million dead in 6-8 months. Some accounts claim bodies littered the streets for months, frozen. Some civilians stayed in the city throughout, on the edge of starvation. The tanks were said to have had a hard time advancing down the street because their treads would slip on all the bodies. -
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The Sack of Magdeburg might be up there. When the Catholic League troops ran amok, they just started killing everyone. The overall body count was only 25,000, but that included five out of every six inhabitants of the city. It took them two weeks to dump all the bodies into the river. -
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The Battle of Borodino during Napoleon's Russian Campaign. An 8 hour battle that caused 65,000 casualties. The majority would have been caused by artillery fire - 12 pound and up balls of cast iron ploughing through tightly packed files of men at groin height. -
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The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest battle of the US Civil War. It was interesting how both armies chose to fight the Civil War, they virtually ignored the massive loss of life to secure victory. -
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The 1099 Siege of Jerusalem during the First Crusade. There is a myth of "wading through knee-high blood.” -
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During the battle of San Jacinto during the Texas revolution, so many Mexicans were killed in such a small area and so quickly that the San Jacinto river was said to run red. -
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The Alamo was the loss of a battle that should never have happened. Goliad was a war crime by Mexico. Over 400 POWs summarily executed by the Mexican army- lined up and shot point blank. -
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The Battle of Towton. The single bloodiest day in British history with 28,000 dead, for context the first day of the Somme claimed just over 19,000. So horrific was the fighting that the river next to the battle was said to run red for several days and to this day the field it was fought on is known as Bloody Meadow. -
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Prior to the Civil War the bloodiest engagement the USA had ever fought was with Native Americans in 1791 with Saint Clairs defeat, of the 1,000 man army that marched to Ohio almost 900 perished as combat deaths, almost a 95% fatality rate, prisoners were not taken and wounded were given no quarter. -
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It hardly gets worse than Verdun. For ten months, millions of men lived, fought and died within an area smaller than Manhattan. -
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The Battle of Leipzig in 1813. Almost both armies at the end had barely anyone left, and it was a critical defeat for Napoleon. -
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Siege of Leningrad during World War 2. -
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The Battle of Suiyang in 757AD: mostly unknown outside China, but uniquely horrifying. After the city was besieged for a long time, at the beginning, the horses were eaten. After horses ran out, they turned to the women, the old, and the young. 30,000 people in total were eaten. People knew their death was close, and nobody rebelled. When the city fell, only 400 people were left. They still lost fewer people than their opponent. -
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Passchendaele, the attack of the dead men at Osowiec Fortress, Gallipoli. World War I. Chemical warfare at its worst.
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The Battle of Cannae was a literal bloodbath. Of the 80,000 Romans that took the field only 3,000 managed to escape. 77,000 Romans were slaughtered in a single day. The general of the opposing army, Hannibal Barca, orchestrated the strategy to annihilate the Romans. Even to this day, Cannae is considered tactical perfection.
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