The American war dead numbers got me thinking about civil war. According to long-standing historical estimates, our American Civil War killed about 620,000 Union and Confederate soldiers. With the US population from the 1860 census at 31,443,321, that represented about 2% of the population. So, if an American Civil War II kicked off, with a current population of about 343 million people, an equivalent 2% death toll would be almost 7 million.There are 33 states with 7 million or fewer people. 7 of those are right around that number. Indiana, for example, is 7.01 million. There’s some context. Even more – that would be about 14 times our World War II losses.
Now, there are a bunch of assumptions and errors built into that comparison. Perhaps a more recent example? Spain’s civil war in 1936 – 1939 had about 500,000 war dead with a population of 25 million population. Huh. 2%. Maybe this is a thing? But that would be a doctoral research thesis.
KatNap Fever! 