Top 10 Countries Suffering The Most Casualties In World War II
#10. Yugoslavia 1,027,000
In the April War of 1941, the Axis Powers (at that time Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania) invaded Yugoslavia. 11 days after the initial invasion, the Royal Yugoslav Army had surrendered. Many of the deaths came on April 6th, when the Germans bombed the capital city of Belgrade. Over 400,000 civilians were killed in the incident. The Soviet Red Army helped liberate Yugoslavia in 1944, and the country became a part of the United Nations once again a year later. Josip Broz Tito, the Yugoslavian prime minister, gained praise for helping his country unite.
#9. Philippines 1,057,000
The Philippines was not a country during World War II, but rather a protectorate of the US. This is one of the main reasons Japan attacked and invaded in December of 1941, not long after declaring war on the United States. Japan believed Asia rightfully belonged to them, and sought to make this a reality. The Philippine army was woefully unprepared, as even their shoes would wear out after only two weeks. Finally, a naval operation by the allied forces in 1944 liberated Philippines and the country was granted independence in 1946, after the end of the war.
#8. French Indochina 1,500,000
The French owned modern-day Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia under French Indochina until 1954. Japan attacked in 1940 as they sought to construct strategic military bases, after the Nazis had forced France to sign an accord allowing Japan to build their bases in the area. The Vietnamese Resistance was more able at fighting than the Philippines’ army, and battled the Japanese until winning independence in 1945. However, France attacked, and a vicious war continued until 1954, when North Vietnam and South Vietnam became two independent countries.
#7. India 2,587,000
Yet another Asian country that gained independence following World War II, India declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939. As part of Britain, it was a part of the Allies by default, and sent 2 million troops to fight the Axis Powers. However, many Indians, led by Mahatma Gandhi, believed Britain’s war for liberty was hypocritical, as they were denying the Indians freedom. However, India remained an important part of the Allies, as their financial, industrial, and military assistance gave the British an advantage over Nazi Germany. India became one of the world’s largest economies when the war ended, and gained independence in 1947.
#6. Japan 2,700,000
The Japanese killed millions and millions of people during their conquest of Asia, but they also lost many people themselves. One of the most infamous moments of World War II was when the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 9th, 1945, respectively. Over 200,000 people died because of the bombings. Many of the deaths also came from soldiers from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) dying in battle. The kamikaze attacks contributed largely to the death totals.
#5. Dutch East Indies 4,000,000
When Japan attacked Indonesia in late 1941 and early 1942, the Royal Dutch East Indies Army was vastly outnumbered, and quickly lost. All able-bodied Europeans in the country were taken as Prisoners of War (POWs), and around 25% did not survive their imprisonment. The UN later estimated that 4 million Indonesians died from starvation and forced labor. The allied forces tried to assist, but were crushed by the Japanese in the Battles of Java Sea, Sunda Strait, and Second Java Sea. However, the Japanese did stop Dutch rule, and encouraged the independence movement. In 1949, Indonesia officially became a country.
#4. Poland 5,820,000
Almost 22% of Poland’s population was killed during World War II, and 3 million of the deaths were from Jews being killed in the Holocaust. It had the highest pre-war Jewish population in Europe. Almost 80% of Jews in German-occupied Europe were killed in the Holocaust. Numerous Polish citizens were also killed in the infamous blitzkriegs the Germans conducted. Poland was first invaded in September of 1939 and, despite their valiant effort, was outmatched and surrendered a month later. German forces reportedly lined up Polish citizens and shot them dead, with execution sites found with bodies numbering up to 20,000. When Poland was liberated in 1944, 90% of the deaths the country suffered was from civilians.
3. Germany 8,680,000
Germany tends to get chastised for World War II, but the fact is that most German citizens were against the war, and the country also suffered great losses from the war. A great deal of the deaths came from the military, as Hitler’s aggressive tactics took a toll on those fighting. Over 300,000 German civilians were also killed by their own government, as they were deemed dangerous by the Nazis. A further 400,000 more were killed in aerial attacks by the Allies. It is estimated that 5.3 million deaths were military, and 3.3 were civilians.
#2. China 20,000,000
The Nanking Massacre was a genocide Japan committed in the former Chinese capital of Nanjing (Nanking). During a six-week period, the Japanese military killed thousands and thousands of unarmed civilians, and tortured up to 80,000 more in a vile manner. Additionally, General Yasuji Okamura implemented his Three Alls Policy (Kill All, Burn All, Loot All) was responsible for around 3 million deaths in of itself. Due to the Japanese, 80% of Chinese who died during World War II were civilians. The way Japan slaughtered innocent Chinese is what caused tension between Japan and the rest of the world for many years, whether fair or unfair.
#1. Soviet Union 23,400,000
What is so shocking about the Soviet Union’s deaths is that most of the 23 million casualties was caused by a single man – Joseph Stalin. The vicious leader killed many more people than Adolf Hitler, and is in fact, known as the biggest killer in history. It is estimated that he caused the death of 43 million people, although many of the deaths did not come during World War II. The rest of the death toll can be accounted for as Soviet Union soldiers who died in the terrible battles against Germany. The infamous Battle of Stalingrad alone killed almost 2 million people.
Poland was never really “liberated” they were then put under soviet Russian control.
I just finished a graduate degree in history, and I can tell you that this is a poorly written and innacurate article. I’m disappointed and don’t think I will visit this site again. One fact sticks out far and away, China’s death toll. Where did they get that figure? More importantly, who wrote this article?
I wrote this article, seeing as I co-write this blog. I’m sorry if you were disappointed, but I researched for many hours before beginning to write. As a recent history graduate, I’m sure you know that the death estimates vary widely for each country, as it’s impossible to know exactly how many were killed. I took the average out of the statistics that I did see, and used that for the death toll on my list.
Thank you so much! For the truth even if it was an estimate, seems that we have focused more on how many Jews were killed. Although as horrible as Hitler was because I do love the Israelites, why was not all this others reported in history in this generation? WOW! And it isn’t even over yet! I love history and I love truth.
Kyle, I just posted similar data on facebook. It is of course impossible to quantify the horrors in the Asian countries , but I would say you have done a fair job. Keep posting ,
I appreciate the info. It was nice of you to put it out there. Honestly, I am beginning to believe that most of our history is a lie. So your article is probably closer to the truth then the truth the govt’s want us to know. One death for these thieving liars is too many.
millions more of Indians died from the bengal famine in wwii. More chinese died than soviets. China was in a three sided conflict in wwii. China was fighting both the japanese and each other.
All of the research I did stated that the Soviet Union lost more people in WWII than China, so I have to disagree with that. But thanks for your comment, and info on China’s wars
Stalin reminds me a lot of Arab dictators like Saddam Hussein, who idolized Stalin and in fact red stalinist books before he came to power!
Thank you for the summaries of history of wwii. Enjoyed reading it.
Thanks for the comment, glad you enjoyed it.
Hi, all is going perfectly here and ofcourse every one is sharing
facts, that’s actually fine, keep up writing.
“Top 10 Countries Suffering The Most Casualties In World War II”
“although many of the deaths did not come during World War II.”
Could you be confusing?
If you read the list, it makes perfect sense. I’m saying that Joseph Stalin is believed to have killed 43 million people. However, many of those deaths did not occur during World War II, so they were not counted towards the number of Soviets killed, which was 23.4 million.
thanks kyle, at least you have tried to present the facts as we know them , and not tried to make figures lie ,saying this nation lost 35% , that one lost 20%, which can cloud the issue of one single death is 1 too many!
And Robert you are right, butttt, eventually Poland was freed, it is clearly no longer under soviet control
Great work Kyle, I run a local pub quiz and asked ‘What country lost most lives during WWII’, I didn’t accept Russia as an answer (only accepted Soviet Union), I like to leave emotional impact 🙂
Thank you this was very helpful and interesting to read!
Very good write up. As Kyle stated to someone, the death-tolls vary depending on who you ask, what you read, who is routing for whom, etc… Once (or twice) you read 40 different write-ups you start to see how this happens. Example: Ukraine’s losses were 8 Million if you ask some. But if you go up to 1956, when WWII ended for Ukraine the losses are over 20 million. The Soviets took the Ukraine’s death toll and added it to their numbers (Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union at the time- even though the Ukrainians were fighting against the Soviet Army for starving them out and stealing their grain,food/land, etc. Ukraine also fought against the Nazi’s and some of the Poles. Half of Ukraine were ‘fine’ with allowing the Nazi troops in on their way to Russia – as the starvation was not only killing them off faster than anything, but also making them sick and of course starvation makes you do nearly anything. Most pages will not include Ukraine in their list (if such is written in English) for a few reasons; Ukraine was simply written-up to be part of the Soviets. 2. Americans and Brits didn’t know enough about Ukrainians. 3. After 1945 the West considered the War completely over and ‘we won, all is said/done/recorded’. This last reason is another reason why the # of Germans dead never has an accurate count. 12-14 Million Germans were displaced as soon as the War ended (the largest group of humans moved ever) and approx’ 8 million of these died from starvation/homelessness/malnutrition/etc… There is SO Much to study on it… sadly we are usually only told one side. (Which is not even close to 50% when you consider that the 1 sides horrific acts (rape, theft, throwing puppies off cliffs) is not shown & taught). Example: The Americans fire-bombing Dresden killed more innocent civilians than the Atomic bomb over Hiroshima.
I don’t know how I found myself on this website, but the part about the Soviet Union just shocked me! That is some history being re-written, whenever I hear about WW2, it’s like “the Soviet’s killed themselves, Stalin killed all those people and the USA won the war”. That some ridiculous bs, pardon my French. If it wasn’t for Stalin, you guys would be Zeig Heiling to the Reich till this days. And I’m not a stalinist i have my questions towards him, but not when you f*king discuss WW2, in WW2 he was amazing, when in battles our Red Army most of the times lost even less people than the Germans, most of our casualties were CIVILIANS and not because of Stalin, but because the germans were organizing genocide, not without the traitors from the Vlasov army and Ukrainian Nazi supporters. So check you facts, and pay respect where respect is due. Our country was heroic back then. And you never mention that the battle of Stalingrad was the first time EVER the Nazi’s got their spines broken in half and that from that moment on we start winning and only AFTER that the USA decides to join to pick all the fruits and enslave half Europe until now. Everybody thinks of the USSR as the “Evil” but answer this: we withdrew our troops from Europe, why didn’t the USA? We reunited Germany when the USA was against and together with Great britain wanted to completely deindustrialize Germany making it third world country in the center of Europe, so who is bloodthirsty after all? And This after loosing a couple hundred thousands of people, we lost millions and didn’t seek as much revenge. CHECK YOUR FACTS.
i agree with vladimir
” If it wasn’t for Stalin, you guys would be Zeig Heiling to the Reich till this days.” No, not at all. Simply look at a map of the world from 1933 to 1939; Britain owned/ruled over 1/3 of the entire planet (Canada, Australia, NZ, South Africa, Middle countries in Africa, Caribbean islands, Hong Kong, India, etc. Soviet Union owned/ruled over the 2nd most: Russia, Ukraine, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Chile, Cuba, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Moldova, etc. France had the 3rd most with almost half of the continent of Africa, all of Madagascar, parts of Cambodia, Vietnam, Islands around the world. U.S. had 4th most with more military on foreign soil than most all nations combined (and stealing Hawaii, many other Pacific islands, etc). Germany had…. Germany. They never had any intent on ‘taking over the world’. That was another part of the b.s. story we told over & over & over. “If the Americans didn’t save your ass in WWII you’d all be speaking German now!” Not even close. Even the people who are still staunchly against Germany to this day because of the lies will even admit to one truth – that N.S. Germany did not want to mix with other countries because as they stated, each country and people should hold dear their customs, music, food, fashions, styles, religion, language, culture, work ethic, kin-ship, family values, identity, animals, looks, education, historical background, etc. do you see how it cancels-out the previous statement entirely? 2. As for the numbers dead per country in WWII, AGAIN we must all admit that it is sadly very sketchy. SO MUCH disinformation was put out simply for this reason. When Stalin was asked how many of his people (troops & countrymen) died in the War he said, “5 million”. This is very well documented. I have no idea if he was lying, telling the truth, or somewhere in-between. I do know that the Soviet Union later used the Ukrainian death toll to ADD to their (soviet union) numbers. From approx’ 1933 to 1945 7 to 10 MILLION Ukrainians were purposely starved to death by Bolshevik Russia. (was not ‘the russians’, but the Bolshevik leaders). Crops were stolen, seeds were stolen, farming equipment that could not be stolen was destroyed, many livestock killed, people fighting it were shot, land was salted, crops burned. This is known as “The Holodomor”. Please (PLEASE) study it from every angle. Please see these documentaries: “the Greatest story never told” &
“Europa: last battle” &
“The Benjamin Freedman speech” (2hrs 40mns) &
“Other Losses” (By James Bacque) &
“HellStorm: exposing the real genocide of Nazi Germany” &
“Rhine Meadows death camps in the words of James Bacque” &
“Hitler’s War – What the Historians Neglect to Mention” &
“NOW: Communism by the backdoor” (22 parts) &
“The Secret Masonic Victory of WW2 (by Dennis Wise) (16 parts thus far) &
“David Cole in Auschwitz” &
“Zionism and Christianity: Unholy Alliance” full-length film by Ted Pike (1:35:41)
“One Third the Holocaust” &
“Living in Hitler’s Germany” (11 minutes) &
“William Cooper interviews a 32nd Degree Freemason” &
“The bigger picture-the Synagogue of Satan”.