That was a mass suicide.
I, too, notice a very blurry line here.
I think if you include projectile weapons with a known intended individual target you might clear things up a bit. Still, using firearms is building on others technology. But you’ve got to draw the line somewhere. I think as horrendous as killing in any way is, I think it is safe to say that lobbing a killing device at an unknown person/group and not sticking around for the results or not defending yourself in the process would be easier than say luring someone to your home and killing them after you get to know them would be for most.
Heck, going on an unneeded trip in a gasoline powered car will probably eventually result in the death of an Iraqi national.
Or you could just say, who personally caused the death of the most people by whatever means. But would that include the folks who unknowingly passed on the Black Plague?
According to this article:
Leave it to the Papal executioner…
Maybe this guy should be in the running. He was the top scoring German ace of WWII, and is the the most successful ace in the history of aerial combat with 352 victories. While it is hard to say how many lives that equates to, I’d bet its damn near 500.
People can bail out of planes.
Depending on your definition of people and killing, I would say that abortion dr’s might qualify, though I don’t know how many they would perform in a lifetime.
My WAG would be Vlad the Impaler. Most of the murders he’s responsible were carried out under his orders, but he unquestionably carrried out a huge number of them personally. (FYI - it’s important not to allow prolific serial killers to become heads of state.)
Apparently some in Romania still think the guy was a hero for driving back the Turks.
Shouldn’t he he have a higher rank than thug, then? AFAIK there were apprentice ranks below thug(those who performed the actual strangling) and ranks of commanders, teachers, and high priests above thug.
I guess it’s like Kirk on Star Trek. He made it to Admiral, but everybody still calls him Captain. That Behram, he was a real thug’s thug.
Kirk made it to admiral, stole a ship and violated Star Fleet law while searching for Spock, and was busted back to Captain.
Let the record show that on the SDMB you cannot make a Star Trek reference without first checking its validity. :rolleyes:
While that is true, not every aircraft shot down had it’s crew survive. I did look for some stats on the percentages of pilots shot down and those who survived vs died, but I have not come across any yet.
Also, while each single aerial victory may not equate to a person killed, it is possible to have two (larger fighters and smaller bombers), three (larger bombers), or more (transport aircraft) people killed in the downing of a single aircraft.
I’m not saying the guy is in first place, just throwing the name in for thought.
Yeah, but what I meant is when the crew called him “captain” in the first movie, and he wore captain’s insignia…and yes, I know they say he accepted a temporary reduction in rank to command the Enterprise, but I say it’s because we all know he’s really Captain Kirk. I mean, don’t you think Captain America should be a general by now? 
Like** kinoons**, I’m not saying the guy is in first place, just throwing the name in for thought.
Wiki says that when Mohamed Atta al Sayed, aka “Mohamed Atta” crashed American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767, into the North World Trade Center Tower at least 1,366 people died in the Tower and another 92 aboard the plane.
Erzabet Bathory of Hungary Drank and bathed in the blood of young girls. 600 were missing when she was caught and tried. She did perverse things before this, so it’s possible she killed others before this. She did not kill all the girls, but she was present at least, so she could bath in the warm blood and drink it as it drained from the victim.
The priests and rulers of the Aztec used blood to work there ritual magic. The rulers were scarified from the use of their own blood to bring the rains and grow the corn. For the important rituals they killed hundreds or thousands at a time. I would think that some rulers killed many more than the bloodiest killers in current written history. The priests most certainly did.
Scarified? This is the first time I’ve heard that the whole ‘run strip of bark through two cuts’ ritual was designed to scar. On one hand, it makes sense that they would want scars as proof of their devotion and social status. On the other hand, do you have a cite?
I don’t know. For one, you had many priests for many gods. The guy cutting the heart from a living victim as an offering to Quezacoatl was probably not the same guy baking live infants as offerings to Tlaloc. Second, for hundred or thousands of sacrifices, you’d need a bucket brigade of warriors passing people down the line. I’d think when a truly large number of sacrifices was called for, certain members of the military were authorized to do the killing.
DocCathode
I meant that the arms were scarified from the blood lettings, not purposeful designs. The only thing I know of the rulers done by design was the enlarged earlobes.
The priests were the ones that I meant killed thousands at a time, The ruler would not have killed that many at a time.
Over a life time the rulers alone had to have killed large numbers, and who can say how many the priest killed in their life time.
Cain wiped out 1/4 of the world’s population by killing Abel. 
A quick dictionary search shows that the term scarfiy can also mean ‘to make shallow cuts’. I was only familiar with the meaning ‘the process of cutting the skin and treating the wounds in order to produce a raised design.’ BTW Remember it wasn’t just the arms. The tongue and penis were even better sites. For those not familiar with preColombian wackiness- It wasn’t just the blood. The act was by design excruciatingly painful. Eventually, the pain grew intense enough to throw the priests into a trance state.
But did the priests do all the ritual killing themselves? For the big festivals, you’d need a line of warriors passing folks to the table, laying them down, and picking up the corpses as the priest stood there making constant stabbing motions. They could have done it that way. But, it seems more likely that certain warriors were given temporary authority to kill the sacrifices themselves. It would make things faster and easier, and strengthen the loyalty of the chosen warriors to the priests and royalty.
How about the anonymous Spanish sailor who introduced smallpox to the Americas? He killed millions.