The following countries/governments are the most evil in the 20th century. I have ranked them by the deaths they have caused since 1945. The leaders of these countries may not end up on the 10 most evil persons in the 20th century but some surely will.
1. Republic of China -35 million people in China plus 1.6 million in Tibet
2. USSR -22.4 million-(no longer exists)
3. Congo- 3 million
4. Cambodia- 2.5 million
5. Sudan-2.2 million
5. North Korea- 2 million
6.Yugoslavia- 1.7 million
7. Pakistan- 1.5 million
8. NorthVietnam- 1.1 million
9. Nigeria – 1 million
10. Mozambique- 1 million
The list above is compiled from data at Genocide Watch.
In the above list, 4 countries are currently engaged in genocide, mass murders, or politicide: China, North Korea, Sudan, and the Congo. One country, Pakistan, is a powder keg of terrorist attack and preparation for politicide.
One day we must answer the question: Am I my brother’s keeper? Judging by these numbers, perhaps we already have.
Politicide:
“In one definition, politicide is a form of mass, targeted killings in which a group of people are destroyed because of their political or ideological beliefs. It is similar to genocide, but different in that politicide does not specifically target ethnic, racial or cultural groups, rather, it seeks to eliminate a group of persons identified by their political or ideological beliefs.”- Wikipedia
24 responses so far ↓
uyyyy // November 11, 2006 at 11:05 am
so all the people americans killed in the vietman do not rank them on that list?
kindlingman // November 12, 2006 at 6:05 am
That is a good point. Because South Vietnam was invaded by North Vietnam, neither the US nor South Vietnam would earn any opprobrium.
This list already has North Vietnam on it but perhaps the total number of people killed should include both sides of the war. In which case North Vietnam would gain notoriety.
The Vietnam War killed about 1 million NV army, 2 million NV civilians, 2 million SV civilians, and 230,000 SV army, and 58,000 Americans for a rough total of 5.3 million. This would elevate North Vietnam (and Ho Chi Minh’s) ranking as one of the top evils of the 20th century.
Is America an Evil Country? « Points Of View // November 13, 2006 at 4:18 pm
[...] Top Ten Evil Countries in the 20th Century [...]
Ak // April 16, 2007 at 12:28 am
This is preposterous. An opinion in any case and i do not even need to argue with you but perhaps you’ll consider looking at whose point of view/which nation(s) point of view is expressed in your so called “Genocide watch.” In the Case of Vietnam, your response to the first comment is absolutely asinine. If according to your count, the same amount of civilians was killed on both the NV and SV sides then you should know that both countries were equally wicked. Now soldiers should not be factored – their job is to fight and in war there are casualties.
Ak // April 16, 2007 at 12:31 am
Might i add that there is no possible justification for the inclusion of Nigeria in that list by either you or anyone else. If the USSR is to remain there for yes, they have committed crimes, the U.S. must also be there.
Ak // April 16, 2007 at 12:32 am
Evil is quite a child’s word in this contest – you might want to redefine what you mean by evil.
kindlingman // April 17, 2007 at 4:51 am
The list relates to the 20th century. You are welcome to list the atrocities of the American government that qualify to place it on the TOP TEN list.
kindlingman // April 17, 2007 at 4:53 am
You are also welcome to list your own Top Ten and why you think so.
kindlingman // April 18, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I think evil is people harming other people and it is composed of malice (intention to harm), maleficence (planning the harm) and morality/immorality ( societies acceptance of harm). Spanking a child and genocide are both examples of harm, yet spanking is accepted by society and genocide is not.
In some societies certain types of harm are acceptable (moral, if you will). For example, stonings in muslim society are acceptable under certain conditions but in American society they are not.
Before the great quake in Lisbon, Portugal the philosphers thought that natural disasters were evil. But as science knew more about earthquakes it became obvious that natural disasters were not God’s punishment of wicked and evil people. If natural disasteres are not evil, then what is?
This posting came about because I was reading the concepts of Evil in modern philosophy and I disagreed with their underlying premises that Evil was depravity. I don’t think a person has to be depraved to commit evil. If a person intends to harm someone, and plans to do so, and society agrees it is bad, then and only then is the act itself evil. An example is one soldier killing twenty people during war time compared to one man killing 20 of his neighbors. One is evil and the other is not because society agrees that war time killing is acceptable.
Depravity may be the form of committing evil but it is not a measure of evil.
When I looked to create my list of the Top Ten Evil Countries I was certain that Malice, Maleficence, and Morality were the key items to focus on. When I found the Genocide Watch web site, they had done all the leg work already and I saw no need to re-invent the wheel. I compiled the Top Ten based upon the information I found there. I am willing to consider other sources if you have them. But what I saw were governments that intended harm, planned it, and the harm they committed was not accepted by society.
Thanks again for stopping by.
Regards,
amrik singh saroya // August 31, 2008 at 2:38 pm
25,000 young people killed in india (punjab state) north side of india. Directley centre & State Government of india were responsible for that. According to you Who is responsible for that?
ReasonableCitizen // August 31, 2008 at 8:51 pm
The government of India.
Johannes Grootboom // October 7, 2008 at 11:07 am
Put the whole of africa on the list except SA and Egypt. I travelled there and it is the worst nightmarish hell of all time
Alex // October 16, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Yugoslavia never killed 1.7 million people That is a lie. Do u even know how much is 1.7 million.
Yugoslavia lost 1.7 million people in WWI.
It`s the land with the biggest loses in WWI.
Rachel // October 23, 2008 at 7:58 pm
what the hell??lMakes no sense
Kenneth // November 9, 2008 at 2:55 pm
How do you create a top 10 evil list and not include Hitler’s Germany?
ReasonableCitizen // November 10, 2008 at 6:33 am
The counting date set was after 1945.
See the first paragraph.
I was searching for a top ten list myself and could not find one. When I found Genocide Watch on the net I started from after World War II and began looking for the worst countries.
I may re-write this post. My internet search skills are stronger today and I may try to make a more definitive list for the century. It is difficult to wade thru failed policies, military conflicts, and outright murder by governments. While each may have caused deaths, the question is do we consider each of them evil?
Vietnam is case in point. Was the US evil by overturning the elections in Vietnam and sending in troops? I may have to consider how aggression in foreign policy and establishing puppet regimes factors in.
It is a complicated world and history is written by the victors. I welcome other thoughts on how evil should be determined and counted.
Harry // May 14, 2009 at 8:05 am
I want to vomit after seeing this.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS THE MOST EVIL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.
America has caused more deaths than the so called ‘top 10′ combined.
I presume the person who wrote this is American and is oblivious to the evil doings of their own country.
ReasonableCitizen // May 14, 2009 at 9:37 am
Did you click on the link for Genocide Watch? The data is from an independent organization that monitors civilian deaths. I did not create the data; I just reported on it.
Karan Govind // June 11, 2009 at 8:36 am
I don’t think this list is even worth looking at if you don’t include any Western nations. Along with the deaths caused by them, you also have to look at the way some nations have ruined lives and other nations. You have to look at their political ideals and their propaganda, at the views of the Governments and people and at the way that Governments treat their own citizens.
1. Historically, the British Empire caused a huge number of deaths across the Empire. The British colonial empire was racist in the extreme and definitely existed past 1945. Just look at some of the massacres carried out by them intentionally in places like India and Australia (with the Aborigines). They invaded sovereign nations and subjugated the people, draining away the wealth and removing the people’s rights. They propagated the idea of white supremacy and most of the poverty in Asia and Africa can be directly traced to the British. Look too at what they did in Ireland and elsewhere. They fought for freedom during WW2, but gave others none. Typical Western hypocrisy…
2. You left out apartheid-era South Africa? Is this a joke?? I don’t think I even have to tell you why. Look it up on Wikipedia. They caused a huge amount of misery in South Africa, as did the all-white governments of other African nations post-1945.
3. ISRAEL!!! They cry about their holocaust, but then look at the genocide being carried out by them in Gaza. They have invaded their sovereign neighbours multiple times, killed countless civilians, taken over large tracts of land illegally, are still illegally building colonies on stolen land, removed the rights of Palestinians and taken their land, produced extremely racist propaganda, destabilized the Middle East greatly, used illegal military techniques (white phosphorous, etc), illegally destroyed countless homes and towns, disregarded and openly criticized UN law and policy, tortures prisoners and holds them without trial and turned Gaza into a huge penal colony. Your list is useless without Israel.
4. Myanmar – another mad dictatorship which I fell is very similar to North Korea in many ways.
5. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!! – The fact that the most interfering, violent, freedom-taking, destructive, supremacist nation on earth is not included here is terribly unfortunate. last 100 years – native Americans, Texas, Hawaii, Philippines, Hiroshima and Nagasaki (You very conveniently started after 1945, so that USA wouldn’t top the list! It would have had your list started 1 year earlier…), Gulf War, Korean War, Iraq, Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, Vietnam War – how the hell did one country get into so many wars??? The number of people killed by American troops even post-1945 is staggering. America has forcefully tried for decades to forcefully impose its own ideology on other people and nations. The recent war in Iraq was with0ut real reason. It was purely economic. And while the people at Washington lined their wallets with cash, the people of the Middle East suffered. The USA has done more to spread terrorism, hatred, sectarianism, anarchy and imbalance in the Middle East and throughout the world. They support Israel and at one time supported Saddam Hussein, as it was convenient to them, but they hate people who do not bring them money and control, like Qaddafi, who join an American-created list of most evil people in the world. They single-handedly ruined the economies of the SE Asian tigers… this kind of interference and hypocrisy cannot be tolerated any longer. Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib… the US says torture is right so it is?? What about illegally holding foreign prisoners (usually innocent) without trial?? They have killed a huge number of civilians in Vietnam and elsewhere, so they deserve to be on your list anyway. They only support countries that observe American democracy and elect American-approved leaders.
6. Iraq, for it’s chemical attacks on Iran and persecution of the Kurds. Some of the things done by Iraq were truly disgusting.
7. Iran, for the number of people killed and imprisoned during the Islamic Revolution. They back many terrorist groups and they too flaunt the laws of the UN. God knows what they’ll do with nukes.
8. Australia – for the murder and persecution of so many native Aborigines. It was simply unforgivable what they did.
9. Syria
10. Serbia! For the genocidal acts committed against Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo. They definitely deserve to be here too, as the things they did were disgusting. Look them up, and you’ll definitely agree.
11. Uganda during Idi Amin’s reign.
12. The old Rwandan Government, for carrying out one of the biggest genocides in history.
13. Indonesia – for what it did to East Timor.
Overall, you’re list holds, but it definitely needs to be expanded greatly to fit in most, if not all, of the above. Bottom line is, you can’t trust these Western-oriented organizations. They come up with only pro-Western material and make it look like they’ve done nothing wrong.
Karan Govind // June 11, 2009 at 8:42 am
Oh yeah,
13. Sri Lanka, for the state the Tamil civilians are now in and for deliberately targeting Tamil civilians.
Karan Govind // June 11, 2009 at 8:43 am
sorry, 14. Sri Lanka
ReasonableCitizen // June 11, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Thanks, Karan, for stopping by. As you can see this posting gets a fair amount of traffic. I would like to quote a better source but at the time I could not find one.
I try to point out that the data is from an organization in which they measure genocide.
James // June 26, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Every country is responsible for evil things which are truly disgusting, anybody who denies their country is at fault is in denial. The world needs to change now before more innocent people suffer. The influential countries of the world today need to stop the hypocrisy and start setting a good example. We have to stop the mindless violence in the world.
ReasonableCitizen // June 29, 2009 at 6:04 am
I think that countries’ moral standards are different than people’s. But that does not mean that they have none. Killing people for religious reasons, race reasons, ideological reasons, all of these are wrong no matter if you are a person or a country.