August 19, 2003

 

                                           THE WORLD AS A KILLING FIELD B

 

                                   THE PROBABILITY OF BEING KILLED (a) (b)

 

During the 20th Century (1900-1987)

World Population, 1953 (c)                           2,900,000,000

                        Killed in battle                                        36,500,000                        Ratio              1:  79

Killed by their own state                       169,202,000               Ratio                    1:  17

Total killed                               205,702,000               Ratio                 1:  14

 

During World War I (1914-1918)                                                   

Europe=s Population, 1933 (d)                          500,000,000

Killed (in battle and as civilians)            10,000,000              Ratio               1: 50

 

World Population, 1890 (e)                           1,500,000,000

Killed in Battle                                       10,000,000               Ratio                        1:150

 

During World War II (1939-1945)

Europe=s Population, 1933 (d)                          500,000,000

Total killed                                                       46,000,000               Ratio             1:  11

 

World Population, 1953 (c)                           2,900,000,000

Total killed                                          46,000,000                 Ratio              1:  63

 

                                         PROBABILITY OF MY BEING KILLED

 

Number killed by Hitler

Killed by Hitler (1933-1945)                                                 

Jews                                                          6,000,000

Non-Jews                                                14,946,000                             

Total killed                                             20,946,000

                                                                             

Probability of my being killed by Hitler     

Europe=s Population, 1933 (d)                          500,000,000

All killed                                                 20,946,000               Ratio                    1:  24

Non-Jews only                                        14,946,000                   Ratio                    1:  33

Non-Germans only (estimated) (f)            4,553,000               Ratio              1:167     

Best Estimate of Probability of my being killed

During World War II                                           1: 11       

 

Specifically by Hitler (f)                                        1: 24 

 

 

                                                                     References

 

Charny, Israel ( Ed.), Encyclopedia of Genocide, Volumes 1 and 2 (ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, CA), 1999, p. 24.

States kill several times more of their own people than they kill in wars.

 

Gilbert, Martin The Second World War B A Complete History (Revised) (Owl/Henry Holt, New York, N.Y.), 1989, p. 1.

AThe Second World War was among the most destructive conflicts in human history; more than 46,000,000 soldiers and civilians perished, many in circumstances of prolonged and horrifying cruelty.@

 

The New Columbia Encyclopedia (Columbia University, New York, N.Y.), 1975, under AEurope,@ APopulation@ and World War I.@

Europe=s population, 1973: 640,000,000.

 

United Nations Human Development Programme, Human Development Report 2001, New York, N.Y., 2001.

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(a)        Does not include the wounded or those who died of scourges accompanying war, such as disease, starvation or oppression.

 

 World population:

                                     Year                              World Population              Reference

Roman Empire                           250,000,000                        Encyclopedia

Colonization of America            500,000,000                        Encyclopedia

1850                                        1,000,000,000             Encyclopedia

1930                                        2,000,000,000             Encyclopedia             

1975                                        3,800,000,000             Encyclopedia

1997                                        5,862,700,000             U.N. Human Development

2015 (medium projection)       7,048,200,000             U.N. Human Development

 

Estimate of world population, 1953: half-way mark between 1930 and 1975.

 

Estimate of Europe=s population in 1933:

        Year                   World                             Year                      Europe

        1930            2,000,000,000                         1933                   500,000,000 (estimated)

        1975            3,800,000,000                       1973              640,000,000

 

Growth (25 years): 190 percent                        Growth (20 years): 128 percent (estimated)

 

Estimate of world population, 1890: half-way mark between 1850 and 1930.        


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rummel, R.J.

APower kills, Absolute Power kills Absolutely,@ in Charny, Israel ( Ed.), Encyclopedia of Genocide, Volumes 1 and 2 (ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, CA), 1999 (by the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem), pp. 23-34. 

From 1900 to 1987, the number of dead in battle from all international and civil wars totaled 36,500,000.  The number of people massacred by their own government totaled 169,202,000 B 4.6 times, or almost five times as many.  

 

If the same ratio held for Hitler as for other oppressive governments during the century, Hitler would have killed 4.6 times more Germans than non-Germans and the probability of 1:24 is, in proportion, overestimated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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