Greatest Killer in World History
Genghis Khan, also known as Chinggis Khan, founder and first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, (1162?-1227)
No one seriously disputes that in recorded history that any world leader slaughtered more people than the Great Khan.
The great of wave of the Black Death that took out an estimated one third of the population of Europe killed about 25 million. That’s not even close to the Genghis Khan’s record—and diseases don’t count because they are not a person. The 1918 pandemic of influenza, commonly called the Spanish Flu, killed about 50 million—closer to the Khan, but again—not a person. Worldwide deaths from COVID aren’t even close—estimated under seven million.
It is believed that up to 85 million people died in World War II, but that’s a lot of different people killing a lot of different people.
Some mass murders like Stalin are not even in the running. At most, Joseph Stalin was responsible for the deaths of about 20 million, including everything from political executions and wars to indirectly as a result of policies like mass starvation and the deportations.
Let’s compare all this to the Khan’s carnage.
How many people did Genghis Khan kill? Have seen estimates of cumulative deaths from the Khan’s military campaigns at 40-50 million. He may, for example, have killed three-fourths of modern-day Iran’s population during his war with the Khwarezmid Empire. All told, scholars estimate that the Mongol attacks under Genghis Khan may have reduced the entire world population by as much as 11 percent. Some argue this changed the global climate.
Did Genghis Khan kill the most people in one hour? There is a claim the Khan’s army killed almost two million people in one hour. This is impossible to verify. This incident occurred at Persian city of Nishapur in 1221. If true, the Khan’s army would have had to put over 29,000 people a minute to the sword. Grim Stuff.
What were the most unusual way of killing people? One way was execution by molten metal, just like in the Game of Thrones. Genghis Khan’s grandson, Hulegu, killed the caliph of Baghdad, Al-Musta-sim, by having him rolled up in a carpet and trampled to death by horses. Another caliph was sealed in a box and the invaders dined over him while he suffocated.
How did the Mongols practice mass death? The Mongols exercised, “the nerge,” a mass hunt, where coordinated units drove all the wild animals in a region together in one spot and then slaughtered them. This was great training for organizing military operations and made for a hefty dinner.
Did they really kill that many people? Who knows? The Mongols were also famous for using disinformation. They wanted everyone to fear them. So, yeah they may have fudged on the numbers a little. We’ll never know.
Other Extreme History from War and More
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Worst Defeat in U.S. Military History
Greatest Warrior King of All Times
The Most Violent Place on Earth
And in the “Shameless Plug” category.
A perceptive, vivid, and insightful panorama of one of the most brutal, yet least understood, campaigns of the Pacific theater of World War II. A must read! -- Russell A. Hart, Hawai'i Pacific University
In 1942, US and Australian forces waged a brutal war against the Japanese in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. Plunged into a primitive, hostile world in which their modes of battle seemed out of place and time, they fought, suffered, hated, starved, and killed in muck and mud. James Carafano's vivid history brings this all to life. Ranging from detailed descriptions of specific battles to accounts of the fates of prisoners and the crucial role played by New Guinea's Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, Carafano chronicles the grueling, and ultimately successful, Allied campaign, telling a tale of war at the very edge of human endurance.
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