human history or at least the parts we know about is full of stories of great
civilizations and their achievements far less common though are accounts of
some of its darkest periods outside the context of those achievements
from global wars to plagues to natural calamities straight out of the bible
we see historical events of mass destruction as merely hiccups in the grand story of modern
civilization for the people living through them however they were really some of the worst places
to be alive living nightmares that need to be continuously remembered so as not to repeat them
10. the taiping rebellion the typing rebellion was perhaps the most devastating war before
world war ii in terms of sheer numbers though few people outside china know about it while estimates
vary historians place the number of casualties somewhere between 20 to 70 million people making
it the deadliest civil war ever the rebellion officially began in 1851 when its leader hong
xian kwan declared a new dynasty called taipin tianguo or the heavenly kingdom of great peace
he was heavily influenced by the teachings of christianity and believed himself to be
the younger brother of jesus christ his ideas also involved equality for women redistribution of
land and better rights for the peasantry which is likely why he was quickly able to amass an army of
more than a million dedicated volunteer fighters the rebellion went on for around 14 years fought
between royalist ching forces supported by the various western empires and taiping rebels the
fighting was intense and often involved brutality against civilians suspected to be involved with
the other side leading to large-scale violence and destruction across china while the rebellion was
brutally crushed with the fall of nanjing in 1864 it severely weakened the qing dynasty it caused
lasting changes in chinese society the communist revolutionaries that seized power in 1959 as
an example could be seen as direct ideological descendants of the taipings 9. tokyo firebombing
raids while the atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki during world war ii are still remembered
as symbols of the many horrors of that war and rightfully so the firebombing raids on tokyo
with substances like napalm and white phosphorus are usually only mentioned as a footnote yet
it remains all the most destructive acts of war against a civilian population in history killing
more people than both the atomic bombs combined the warmings went on for almost the entire first
half of 1945 though the worst of them happened on the night of march the 10th when 300 b-29 bombers
dropped about 1 500 tons of incendiary bombs on the city the operation was specifically aimed
at civilians as the target region in northeastern tokyo was mostly residential with houses made of
wood and paper by some estimates the fires killed over a hundred thousand people and turned an area
about 16 square miles to ash in a matter of hours survivors recollect firestorms eating up entire
neighborhoods within minutes and the sounds of screams throughout the night until they went
silent according to u.s military records the heat generated by the fire was so intense that
it caused turbulence over the targeted region for later raids and the smell of burning flesh forced
a few members of the crew to wear oxygen masks number eight siege of sarajevo before the advent
of modern ideas of wartime conduct and human rights violence against civilians and wars was
as commonplace as the war itself one example were sieges military operations specifically
aimed at starving out and reducing the morale of the civilian population of settlements while
all sieges in history were hard for the civilians living inside the besieged city perhaps the most
brutal was the siege of sarajevo by the rebelling bosnian serb army in the bosnian war or already
known for its exceptional brutality the siege was preceded by bosnia and herzegovina declaring
independence from yugoslavia in 1992 which was strongly opposed by bosnian serbs following the
referendum serb forces surrounded the city and placed it under siege on april 5th 1992.
the ordeal went on for almost four years making it the longest siege in history the residents of the
city were subjected to regular shelling and sniper shots from the hills surrounding the city as well
as a severe shortage of food and supplies in one case 68 people were killed and 150 injured by
shelling while waiting in line for bread because of the ethnic nature of the conflict the siege
included many episodes of torture rape and ethnic cleansing particularly by the better armed serb
forces by the end of it in february 1996 more than 11 000 residents of the city had lost their lives
making it the deadliest military operation against a civilian population since world war ii
7. nanjing massacre germany's invasion of poland in 1939 is usually marked as the
official beginning of world war ii though many historians maintain that it was actually the
japanese invasion of the chinese mainland in 1937 that started the war at least in the asian theater
the invasion began in 1937 and continued until the end of the war in 1945 though tensions between
the two countries went as far back as at least 1931. it included some of the worst atrocities
committed by the japanese during the war including torture biological experimentation and systematic
ethnic cleansing the worst episode by far was the treatment of the civilian population after
the japanese capture of nanjing in december 1937 then a thriving modern capital of the
chinese republic while it's nearly impossible to quantify the true number of casualties estimates
range from a hundred thousand to three hundred thousand dead which included the residents of the
city and pows captured from other regions in a war full of horrific stories the massacre of nanjing
also known as the rape of nanjing stands out as a particularly gruesome tale most of the
accounts come from foreigners who stayed back due to various reasons and lived in designated
safe zones for about a month the imperial japanese army engaged in arson looting burden and torture
throughout the city most prevalent however were the stories of rape against women of all ages
often followed by murder using melee weapons like bayonets swords the massacre was so shocking that
it was even opposed by nazis in the city such as john rabe the leader of the local nazi party whose
safe zone sheltered close to 250 000 civilians throughout the massacre number six 536 a.d
we've gone through plenty of bad years in history making it almost impossible to pick the worst one
however according to michael mccormick a professor of medieval history at harvard the answer is clear
it's the year 536 a.d mccormick conducted years of research and came to the conclusion
that the year 536 a.d was the beginning of one of if not the worst ever periods to be alive
to start with a mysterious fog had covered the sky for around 18 months in regions around the
world including most of europe the middle east and parts of asia and africa according to records the
sun was invisible for almost the entire period resulting in crop failure famine rebellions
and other tumultuous events across the region if that wasn't enough it was followed by the plague
of justinian in 541. this was the first recorded outbreak of the same virus that later caused the
black death and killed over half the population of the byzantine empire by the year 549.
5. the plague of london the black plague is often cited as the most destructive pandemic in history
though we forget that it wasn't just one plague starting in the 14th century when it first spread
from asia to europe and took on its worst form it sporadically returned to many european and asian
cities for the next two centuries making it hard to quantify the full extent of its overall damage
the london plague of 1655 was one of the worst of these plagues though its story is often lost in
the larger history of the black death it was an outbreak of mebonic plague and it killed people
within a few days or even hours in some cases victims developed a severe headache body pain and
huge pus-filled tumors before succumbing to the disease anyone living through it would have seen
victims with severe symptoms all over the city as about 15 of the city's population succumbed
to the disease by the time it was over by some estimates the real number of casualties may have
been as high as a hundred thousand making it one of the biggest tragedies in london's history 4.
world war 1 trenches world war one was in every way the first modern war it was a unique war in
terms of technology deployed while the means to attack had advanced considerably in the years
preceding the war the same couldn't be said for defensive tactics as a result countless soldiers
were lost on both sides trying to charge against newly trained fully equipped lines of artillery
and machine gun fire an effective shock tactic not too long ago as a result the war quickly turned
into a stalemate with long lines of trenches on both sides stretching across the western theater
as you'd expect those trenches were easily one of the worst places to be in the war and
not just because of the threat of the enemy apart from artillery shells that occasionally
hit their targets and chemical weapons in the later stages of the war the soldiers living in
the trenches faced horrific conditions according to estimates most of the allied deaths in the war
were due to famine and disease anyone unlucky enough to be stuck in one of these trenches
would be a real risk of starvation as well as diseases like influenza typhoid and yellow fever
number three battle of stalingrad one of the most oft-repeated myths about the european theatre of
world war ii is the notion that most of it took place in western europe and that it was operations
like the normandy landings that changed the tide in the favor of the allies in reality there is no
reason to believe that the battles in the west had any impact on the larger outcome of the war
in fact the german war machine was so successful in its initial days that countries like britain
and france had next to no chance of winning if it wasn't for the war in russia which engaged over 80
percent of the entire german force and served as a turning point of the war the outcome of world
war ii would have almost definitely been vastly different the focal point of the german invasion
of soviet russia also called operation barbarossa was the battle of stalingrad beginning in august
1942. until then germany was well on its way to complete victory in russia propelled by its
superior air force and tank divisions for one year germans and russians fought in one of the most
unique settings of the war stalingrad was a large industrial city with no room for maneuverability
for tanks as a result the battle soon turned into a fierce close quarters contest as
both sides occupied different buildings and vine for control of strategic points across
the city the battle lasted for about six months as the germans slowly lost their advantage due to
dwindling supplies deadly cold and a widespread loss of morale by february 1943 their flanks
had weakened to the extent that they were easily overcome by the russian forces germany's defeat
in stalingrad would serve as the turning point of the war in favour of the allies albeit at
an unprecedented loss of life for the russians caught in the crossfire 2. european colonization
of the americas the arrival of europeans in the americas and its eventual colonization may have
been a multi-dimensional long-drawn-out event that can't be summarized in a few sentences though no
one can deny that it was an absolute nightmare for the native population while estimates are hard to
verify even the most conservative calculations put the number of casualties around 90 percent
56 million people there were many causes for the deaths including foreign disease famine war and
others anyone traveling through the destruction would have come across villages with their entire
population lost to diseases like smallpox or influenza according to one recent study
this dramatic reduction in the global population contributed to lower temperatures around the world
as the lands farmed by the native populations were now reclaimed by vegetation number 1. sacking of
baghdad in the 13th century baghdad was known across the world as the greatest city ever built
it was the epicenter of the islamic golden age a five-century-long period of immense cultural
scientific and social progress across the islamic empire all of that however came to a tragic
end with the siege and eventual sacking of the city by mongol forces in 1298 while most mongol
invasions involved some violence the worst was reserved for the kingdoms that put up a fight or
resisted in any way as you can guess that's exactly what happened when faced with the option
to surrender or fight against an oncoming mongol horde the ambassador for king decided to take his
chances and fight it wasn't a foolish decision as the military strength of his empire matched
the mongols and baghdad was a well-defended city obviously he was wrong the mongol army
led by hulagu khan one of genghis khan's grandsons was able to breach the city's defenses in no time
at all what followed was perhaps one of the most destructive acts of war in history for ten days
mongol soldiers and mercenary groups raided and plundered anything that they could find in the
city the house of wisdom perhaps the largest library built until that time was raised to
the ground along with all the other buildings of note almost every single inhabitant of the
city was killed or sold into slavery according to legend so many people were killed that the
color of the river ran completely red for days so i really hope you found this video interesting if
you did please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe and thanks for watching