# Bloodiest Single Day in History? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 11, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349 "2006-09-11T22:53:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Teius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@Teius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teius)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/1 "2006-09-11T22:53:23Z")
I’m curious about this one. It seems that fatality (not casualty) reports for historical events vary wildly. Are there some semi-definitive numbers for the bloodiest day in history? The wikipedia page for death tolls seems highly suspect. For example, it lists the Battle of Borodino at 18,500, but the wiki entry for Borodino says 66,000. Also, we’re talking about a single day, so stuff like the Battle of Somme (400,000), or Nanking Massacre (300,000) doesn’t count, as they spanned weeks. And for sake of argument, let’s exclude “history” before 1700, as I’m skeptical of the accounting accuracy from those periods (e.g. “600 men/minute” for during the day at Cannae in 216 BC). For stuff like Hiroshima, I’m interested in how many died in the first day, not all the rest in the following weeks or years. Some likely candidates: Hiroshima - 90,000? Battle of Borodino - 66,000? As a side note, looking around it sure seems like Russia has absorbed more than its fair share of deaths over the centuries. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/2 "2006-09-11T23:01:13Z")
My first thought was [the Battle of Antetiem](http://www.nps.gov/anti) at 23,000 killed. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/3 "2006-09-11T23:07:18Z")
The firebombing of Tokyo killed about 100,000 people – almost all civilians. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/4 "2006-09-11T23:16:50Z")
I think we’ve done this before, but I can’t find the thread. In any case, especially if “bloodiest” is defined to include wounded, it’s hard to beat [the first day of the Battle of the Somme](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_day_on_the_Somme) (July 1, 1916). ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/5 "2006-09-11T23:18:09Z")
Dresden was close to Tokyo, as far as the number killed. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/6 "2006-09-11T23:28:08Z")
If we’re just talking about the bloodiest day – not bloodiest battle – I’d imagine that the Tangshan Earthquake, with at least a quarter of a million killed, has got to be near the top, along with the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/7 "2006-09-11T23:44:28Z")
The Romans lost 60,000 men in one day at the [Battle of Cannae](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cannae) ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/8 "2006-09-11T23:46:57Z")
The [1970 Bangladesh Cyclone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_Bhola_cyclone). One day - 500 000 (plus 100 000 missing). ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/9 "2006-09-11T23:55:05Z")
Wikipedia has a [List of deadliest natural disasters](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_natural_disasters) (as you might expect). Those with overv half a million on a single day are: 1970 Bhola cyclone – November 13, 1970 Eastern Mediterranean Earthquake – July 5th 1201 1938 Yellow River flood – June 9th, 1938 Shaanxi Earthquake – January 23, 1556 (I got the date of the 1201 earthquake from the [1201 page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1201) – although there is no article on that specific earthquake, it may be the worst one-day natural disaster.) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/10 "2006-09-12T00:44:18Z")
[QUOTE=UncleRojelio] My first thought was [the Battle of Antetiem](http://www.nps.gov/anti) at 23,000 killed. [/QUOTE] 23,000 casualties, but the actual number of dead (cf Shelby Foote) was around 5000. It was the bloodiest day of the war (and the bloodiest day in US history), but most battles list casualties, which include wounded. Not up among the other natural disasters (maybe 2500 kills), but the worst fire in US history took place on October 8, 1871, and is almost completely forgotten because another, less deadly fire occurred on the very same day and hour. The lesser fire is known to all Americans as one of the country’s great disasters, but the [Great Peshtigo Fire](http://www.peshtigofire.info/) deserves to be better know. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/11 "2006-09-12T01:17:27Z")
Kurt Vonnegut, in his new book, puts the number of dead at Dresden at 135,000. However, I found several other of his historical “facts” to be dubious. And as with many such disasters, there was never any good way to do an accurate census or count of the dead. There is no question that nature is far bloodier over shorter times than we humans have had the audacity to be. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/12 "2006-09-12T03:35:54Z")
[QUOTE=Can Handle the Truth] The Romans lost 60,000 men in one day at the [Battle of Cannae](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cannae) [/QUOTE] Dude, try reading all of the OP, not just the title. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/13 "2006-09-12T03:45:10Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Kurt Vonnegut, in his new book, puts the number of dead at Dresden at 135,000. However, I found several other of his historical “facts” to be dubious. [/QUOTE] This figure actually stems from the notoious Nazi apologist David Irving, and he’s since retracted it in a vain attempt to retain what little credibility he had as a historian. [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II) says: > [@](#): > > Earlier reputable estimates varied from 25,000 to more than 60,000, but historians now view around 25,000–35,000 as the likely range with the latest (1994) research by the Dresden historian Friedrich Reichert pointing toward the lower part of this range. It would appear from such estimates that the casualties suffered in the Dresden bombings were not out of proportion to those suffered in other German cities which were subject to firebombing attacks during area bombardment. > > Contemporary official German records give a number of 21,271 registered burials, including 6,865 who were cremated on the Altmarkt. There were around 25,000 officially buried dead by March 22, 1945, war related or not, according to official German report Tagesbefehl (Order of the Day) no. 47 (“TB47”). ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/14 "2006-09-12T03:49:44Z")
As a point of reference, according to [this cite](http://www.mwilliams.info/archives/005085.php), 155,000 people die every day of all causes. He goes on to mention that the 2004 tsunami nearly doubled the death rate for that day. It would be interesting to recalculate the numbers for the events in previous posts to figure them as percentages of the world population at the time, and also of the daily average death rate at the time. Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/15 "2006-09-12T03:50:00Z")
[QUOTE=postcards] Dresden was close to Tokyo, as far as the number killed. [/QUOTE] [25,000](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II) vs [100,000](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_in_World_War_II) according to Wiki. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/16 "2006-09-12T05:11:13Z")
Wikipedia says about 36,000, as an upper limit, for the [Mount Pelée eruption,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pel%C3%A9e) with similar numbers for Krakatoa. (Pelée’s dead were pretty certainly from one day, and one town, though.) Also says that the [1931 Yellow River Flood](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1931_Huang_He_flood) killed between 900,000 and 2 million, but it doesn’t say over how long. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/17 "2006-09-12T16:21:48Z")
[QUOTE=Askance] [25,000](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II) vs [100,000](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_in_World_War_II) according to Wiki. [/QUOTE] And the 25,000 were not all on a single day. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/18 "2006-09-12T16:45:40Z")
My first guess was the December 2004 earthquake and the resulting tsunami in the Indian Ocean. It killed about 200,000 people, but again I don’t know over which period. It could have been several days since the tsunami wave needed some time to travel across the sea. [Cite.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake#Casualties_in_historical_context) According to that same site, and the site it links to, an earthquake in China’s Shaanxi province that caused the death of 830,000 people on January 23, 1556. I think this casualties ought to have occured on that very day. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/19 "2006-09-12T16:59:20Z")
> **[BBC ON THIS DAY | 28 | 1976: Chinese earthquake kills hundreds of thousands](http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/28/newsid_4132000/4132109.stm)** > > More than 200,000 people are feared dead after an 8.3 magnitude earthquake hits China. > **[1556 Shaanxi earthquake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaanxi_Earthquake)** > > The 1556 Shaanxi earthquake (Postal romanization: Shensi), known in Chinese colloquially by its regnal year as the Jiajing Great Earthquake "嘉靖大地震" (Jiājìng Dàdìzhèn) or officially by its epicenter as the Hua County Earthquake "华县地震" (Huàxiàn Dìzhèn), occurred in the early morning of 23 January 1556 in Huaxian, Shaanxi during the Ming dynasty. > Most of the residents there lived in yaodongs—artificial caves in loess cliffs—which collapsed and buried alive those sleeping inside. Modern estimates ... > **[List of natural disasters by death toll](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_natural_disasters)** > > A natural disaster is a sudden event that causes widespread destruction, major collateral damage, or loss of life, brought about by forces other than the acts of human beings. A natural disaster might be caused by earthquakes, flooding, volcanic eruption, landslide, hurricanes, etc. To be classified as a disaster, it must have profound environmental effects and/or loss of life and frequently causes financial loss. > This list takes into account only the highest estimated death toll for each dis... ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349/20 "2006-09-12T18:25:04Z")
[QUOTE=Teius] As a side note, looking around it sure seems like Russia has absorbed more than its fair share of deaths over the centuries. [/QUOTE] And at their [own hand](http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/soviet.exhibit/famine.html). > [@](#): > > The death toll from the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine has been estimated between six million and seven million. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bloodiest-single-day-in-history/372349.md?page=2)