That scene in "Bread and Circuses"...
- Thread starter Kryton
- Start date
Oh, you know you'd have done the same thing. I know I would have.
Not very subtle, but MAN what a dig.
That was 1967 or was it 68(?). At the time, Spock's estimates matched what many people thought. It wasn't until decades of later scholarship, especially into civilian deaths in E. Europe and China that more accurate estimates came about. Still, they go up with each new generation of historians.
I've spoken to one Russian historian who believes that 50 mil is the total death of the Soviet Union alone, meaning that 80+ mil is a more reliable total figure.
I apologise, but I'm going to have to call complete and utter bullshit on that statement. Now, they're not your numbers, but they're patently inoperable.
Of a prewar population of about 175,000,000. 80 million dead would approach 50%, it is 46%, and the economy and infrastructure of the nation would collapse. 50 million would be over 25% and is also supremely unrealistic.
The oft-stated 20-25,000,000 figures are accurate, and those include military, civilian and Holocaust casualties. The Russians consider lying about their casualties to be policy (Maskirovka) and I'd believe none of it.
Let's be realistic, eh?
^^^
Well, that may depend of what is included geographically. The Nazis slaughtered millions of slaves alone... they had a bullet shortage! Which, btw, is where the idea of gassing the concentration camp prisoners came from. War... it's the mother of necessity? Think i just scared myself.
Well, that may depend of what is included geographically. The Nazis slaughtered millions of slaves alone... they had a bullet shortage! Which, btw, is where the idea of gassing the concentration camp prisoners came from. War... it's the mother of necessity? Think i just scared myself.
I agree that the estimate of 50 mil for Russia seems unrealistic. I was just offering that as an example of historians constantly revising the figures.
It is interesting though, now that Western scholars have begun studying the Japanese/Chinese conflict from Manchuria in 31 onwards as part of the Second World War, how the total figure is rising.
We'll never have completely reliable figures, since most estimates say that more than half of the casualties in the broader war were civilians, and that is mostly guess-work, especially when it comes to E. Europe or China (do famine deaths count as war deaths in Russia and China? etc.)
It is interesting though, now that Western scholars have begun studying the Japanese/Chinese conflict from Manchuria in 31 onwards as part of the Second World War, how the total figure is rising.
We'll never have completely reliable figures, since most estimates say that more than half of the casualties in the broader war were civilians, and that is mostly guess-work, especially when it comes to E. Europe or China (do famine deaths count as war deaths in Russia and China? etc.)
Similar threads
