The fact of war, remembered by the whole world when Russia began to invade Ukraine, brought to mind the bloodiest periods in history. Unfortunately, the world has very quickly forgotten the heavy consequences of wars in which millions of innocent people lost their lives for the sake of power struggle, political decisions and ideological confrontations. We have compiled the last two centuries, the bloodiest and deadliest period in human history, with a series of articles on 'Wars in the 20th and 21st Centuries'. In the series of articles we prepared for our readers as Milli Gazete, we examined the heavy losses suffered as a result of wars, internal turmoil, struggles for independence and revolutions.
The reality of war, which stood as a black mark in the history of humanity, came to mind once again with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The wars that caused the heaviest dramas in the world caused many epidemics, famines, migration and the unjust killing of millions of innocent people.
MORE THAN 100 MILLION PEOPLE DIED IN WORLD WARS
It is thought that more than 17,000,000 people were killed in 4 years in the First World War that the nations fight together. The heavy loss of the First World War, in which many states were destroyed, millions of innocent people were killed unjustly, and millions of Muslims were martyred, unfortunately, could not prevent the Second World War. The Second World War, which started in 1939 and ended in 1945, is known as the bloodiest period in human history. World War II, in which 85 million people were massacred, takes its place in the pages of history as a black mark in which many crimes against humanity were committed and millions of children and civilians died.
NUMBER OF MARTYRS IN THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL STRUGGLE IS NEAR TO 1 MILLION
We paid a heavy price for independence in our War of Independence, where our heroic nation was fighting the murderous states of the world. Despite many absences, more than 700 thousand civilians were martyred during the War of Independence, while more than 250 thousand Turkish soldiers were martyred. However, It is estimated that approximately 1 million people died from the states that occupied the Anatolian lands especially from Greece. When the entire War of Independence period is taken into account, it is estimated that more than 2 million people died as a result of diseases and war, and millions of people were injured.
STRUGGLES FOR INDEPENDENCE COST MILLIONS OF LIVES
The 1st Indochina War between France and Vietnam took place between 1946 and 1954, and a total of 400,000 people lost their lives. More than 6 million people died in the Korean War between 1950 and 1953. In the Korean War, in which Turkey also sent peacekeepers, 1,000 Turkish soldiers were martyred. The Algerian War, in which Algerian Muslims fought for independence against France, took place between 1954 and 1962, more than 1 million Muslims were martyred and 2 million people died in total. The Vietnam War, known as the 2nd Indochina War, started in 1955 and lasted 20 years, and this process cost nearly 6 million lives.
REVOLUTIONS MADE WITH BLOOD
In the Bolshevik Revolt, which started in 1905 and ended in 1906, 14,000 people died. Likewise, in the Mexican revolution that started in 1910 and continued until 1921, more than 1 million people died. By 1917, a new civil war had begun in Russia, and as a result of this new civil unrest, more than 14 million people died. Struggling for its independence in 1919, Ireland went to war with England, and as a result, more than 7,000 people died. About 12 million people died in the Chinese Civil War, which started in 1927 and lasted until 1949. In the First Sudanese Civil War between 1955 and 1972, more than 500 thousand people died. The bloody civil war in Nigeria started in 1967 and lasted for 3 years and nearly 4 million people died.
TOMORROW: THE ENEMY OF WAR HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE INNOCENTS