The 20th century’s 10 deadliest battles

[The Brain]

Is this Daily Slate?

[CountDeMoney]

Operation Uranus

Heh.

[Ed Anger]

I'm having that now with my constipation.

MAH COLACE

[CountDeMoney]

Pray, may I ask who the author might be?

Not me, which is what you're really asking, right?

We know you wouldn't confuse battles with campaigns, dear. 

[PJL]

Can someone go ahead with the ACW thread highjack already?

Fact; America's most deadly enemy in her wars has been Americans...

[PJL]

Can someone go ahead with the ACW thread highjack already?

Those 20th century battles/disasters/engagements or whatever bone pick Grumbler has, have nothing on the battles/disasters/engagements of the American Civil War.

Yeah, I read that the Battle of Sharpsburg had the highest casualties for one day until the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Which in itself is considered the deadliest day of battle ever.

[Zanza]

Yeah, I read that the Battle of Sharpsburg had the highest casualties for one day until the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Which in itself is considered the deadliest day of battle ever.

Cannae is a fairly well documented one day battle which probably saw more dead than the first day of the Somme. And I am sure there must be more ancient or medieval battles like that. When you just meet with two armies on a field and slaughter each other, you can get very high one day losses.
What makes industrial warfare so deadly is that these kind of battles were sustained over weeks and months.

[grumbler]

Cannae is a fairly well documented one day battle which probably saw more dead than the first day of the Somme. And I am sure there must be more ancient or medieval battles like that. When you just meet with two armies on a field and slaughter each other, you can get very high one day losses.
What makes industrial warfare so deadly is that these kind of battles were sustained over weeks and months.

What makes industrial warfare so deadly is also that the victor was almost as devastated as the loser, and so the battles, while bloody, were not decisive.  In a battle like Cannae, the bulk of the Roman losses came after their formations fell apart, and so were inflicted at hugely disproportionate rates.  There was still an effective Carthaginian army to take advantage of its victory and make sure the broken Romans didn't escape and recover.

[PDH]

Yeah, it seems that ancient battles (as far as I know, not an expert), were fairly low casualties until one side broke due to exhaustion or being flanked.  The victors would then slaughter the defeated if they could.

[alfred russel]

Just imagine if Pickett's men had kevlar vests.   

What would have happened if South African racists went back in time and gave the Confederacy AK-47s? So we know the answer to that one.

But what if at the same time, the NAACP found out about the plot, and went back in time to deliver kevlar vests to the Union?

Now that sounds like the makings of a great book...

[lustindarkness]

Yeah, it seems that ancient battles (as far as I know, not an expert), were fairly low casualties until one side broke due to exhaustion or being flanked.  The victors would then slaughter the defeated if they could.

We should go back to that.

[MadImmortalMan]

How many ancient battles had the sheer number of participants in them? Logistics made uber-concentrations of soldiers relatively rare.

[grumbler]

How many ancient battles had the sheer number of participants in them? Logistics made uber-concentrations of soldiers relatively rare.

I am not sure what you are arguing.  Certainly, numbers reported in ancient "histories" are generally much exaggerated (like the "two million man" army Xerxes supposedly invaded Greece with), but large armies (like that of Xerxes, which may well have been in excess of 500,000 including support personnel) were mustered for a campaign season.  Alesia probably involved a quarter-million men and probably saw 100,000 casualties, including prisoners later released.

[CountDeMoney]

Yeah, it seems that ancient battles (as far as I know, not an expert), were fairly low casualties until one side broke due to exhaustion or being flanked.  The victors would then slaughter the defeated if they could.

We should go back to that.

We do.

[Ed Anger]

My pants are a dairy factory.