Why did the population of civilians died more than military in world war 2?

Answer 1

America: WW2 opened up vast wartime industries, which completely revitalized the economy, opening thousands of jobs, and since the men were away at war, women stepped up to the plate. Without the war who knows how long the depression would have lasted. After the war as the men were returning from the war, a much larger than normal population increase began (Baby Boomers).

The rest of the world: With a few slight differences, much of the same could be said (Except for the USSR, although my brain is telling me to include it with the rest of the world, I'm not educated enough about it to give a definite answer).

Answer 2

WWII was unusual in that for the first time in modern history (perhaps 500 years?), civilians were killed in greater numbers than soldiers. This was despite WWII being the bloodiest 'soldiers' war in all history.

It is estimated that about 30,000,000 soldiers died in the conflict from battle ( a few million more from mistreatment at POWs, roughly half and half Allied and Axis). However, over 50,000,000 civilians died.

Civilians were deliberately targeted by the bombing raids conducted by the British against German targets, this being British government policy during the conflict. American bombers tried to be more 'accurate' and only attack targets of some military value - industries, military targets - but still caused many civilian deaths. German retaliation again Britain was by necessity scattered, killing perhaps 1/10th the number killed by British air crews.

In Russia there were millions of civilians who died. Some were targets of Nazi racial policy (Jews) and political motivation (communist party members). German military actions also killed many civilians such as the 1942 air raid on Stalingrad that killed about 60,000. Many civilians died of starvation to a large extent due to the Russian government policy of destroying all food supplies they could during retreats. Otherwise, the Russian army used civilians of all ages as cannon fodder to rush German defensive positions (useful to identify gun emplacements or even to just force the Germans to use up ammunition). Russians forces continued their brutal ways as they entered Germany and Poland. Probably two million defenseless German civilians were murdered outright by their armies.

The Japanese killed many millions of Chinese civilians during their extended ten year war in China. American bombers killed about half a million to a million Japanese civilians as Japan's cities were laid waste in 1945 (about a third of the deaths were from the two atomic bombs).

These were the largest casualty lists. However, various nations suffered civilian deaths including all the nations of Europe and Asia involved in the war.

More accurate numbers are not available due to such huge numbers dying in Russia and China with few records being kept.

The brutality did not end with the end of the war either. In particular the Soviets continued to brutalize the people of eastern Europe, especially the German civilians. Other nations such as the Chezchs, Poles, and French also killed many German civilians after the war.

The barriers of civilization that were broken down in WWI have never been repaired. WWII was merely the opening act to the modern warfare technique of deliberately killing civilians. Thus we see the wave of terrorist attacks against police, schools, and religious persons in Iraq and other such nations right up to the the major world powers targeting each others populations centers with atomic weapons.

Answer 3

air bombardment of cities

Edit: Also the time period was longer and not to mention the extended grounds fought on (E.G it took part in Asia. Africa. Europe) and also do not forget the first Atomic Bomb used during WWII in Heroshima which nearly (or completely) wiped out every resident/tourist within the radius.

Answer 4

No one knows for sure how many civilians were killed during the Second World War, however, the high estimate is 55 million. Several factors contributed to the staggering number of civilian deaths including bombings, famine, and disease.

Answer 5

Also more of Word War 2 was fought in city's and in small towns through the streets and homes. For example, the battle of Stalingrad in Russia. German bombers just about leveled the whole city and all that was left was ruins. in World War 1 most of the fighting was done in fields with the men sitting in trench for weeks at a time instead of in homes shooting out doors and windows. With Hitlers mindset of purifying Europe of all Jews many people were slaughtered in camps and killed on the streets.

Answer 6

Several reasons why more civilians died than soldiers in World War II:

1) The first was the genocidal, racist, and brutal policies implemented by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. These nations killed millions and millions of ethnic minorities and enemy civilians and communist supporters simply because of what they were or for the hell of it. In Germany, millions of Jews and other ethnic minorities - Homosexuals, Gypsies, Poles, Russians, people with mental disabilities, etc - were murdered by the Nazis and SS in concentrations camps, such as being shoved into the gas chambers where millions of them were poisoned with chemical weapons. German troops in Nazi-occupied Europe executed hundreds, if not, thousands of enemy inhabitants in retaliation to anti-Nazi resistance activity. Hitler felt that the Aryan race were superior than the Jews and the Slavs and as a result, he felt these races should be exterminated off the face of the earth to completethat objective. At the end of WWII, over 10 million of ethnic minorities were murdered as part of the Nazi genocidal racist policy.

In China and other Asian nations Japan conquered, Japanese troops rounded up hundreds of thousands of civilian inhabitants of these nations and slaughtered them, including the Rape of Nanking, in attempting to force their corrupt beliefs and rules upon them. The Japanese felt that they were superior than any other non-Japanese race in the world and they exterminated non-Japanese Asians as part of the territorial gains in Asia. They also dropped and/or fired hundreds of thousands of chemical and biological weapons (against the international rules of warfare) which killed 400,000 Chinese civilians as part of this policy. At the end of the war, over 30 million non-Japanese Asian civilians were killed and/or murdered by Japanese troops.

2) The second involved the rise of aerial warfare technology involving four-engine bombers and advanced fighter-aircraft. Germany set the precedent of strategic bombing in World War I when they dropped bombs indiscriminately on cities in Britain and France using airships but this has a limited effect and only less than 400 enemy civilians were killed by the end of the war. As World War I ended, many nations were in love with air warfare and started developing bombers to be more lethal and better. In World War II, aircraft were already more lethal, more flexible, and deadly than ever before.

In the European Theater, German aircraft started attacking Polish cities and civilians with bombs and machine guns indiscriminately when its country's invasion of Poland begun. They also bombed dozens of cities in other nations, including the bombing of Rotterdam in the Netherlands which killed 800 civilians. British policy was limited to bombing strictly military targets although bombing accuracy was still inaccurate at the time and some of the bombs missed its intended target. The German Luftwaffe started intensive bombing raids on British cities after they lost during the Battle of Britain. The British Royal Air Force responded to the Blitz by launching 1,000 plane raid on German cities and continued this policy throughout the rest of the war.

The United States Army Air Forces arrived in Europe in 1942 and attempted to limit bombing to strictly military targets but still caused hundreds of civilian casualties. They operated along with the British Royal Air Force in conducting air raids over Germany and other cities in Nazi-occupied Europe. At the end of the war in Europe, over 900,000 civilians were killed in strategic bombing of cities and towns in enemy territory - 600,000 were Germans, 40,000 were British, 67,000 were French (most died by friendly fire from Allied aircraft), and 300,000 others inflicted by either German or Allied aircraft.

In the Asian and the Pacific theater, pilots of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force conducted terror bombing campaign on Chinese cities and towns, designed to inflict civilian casualties and terrorize the civilian population simply for the hell of it. Over tens of thousands of non-Japanese Asian civilians were killed in Japanese terror bombing of Asia.

Later on, in 1945, the United States Army Air Forces undertook an intense bombing campaign on Japan, using incendiary bombs to burn down Japan's cities and industrial factories and shatter Japanese civilians' morale. In August 1945, the United States Army Air Forces dropped a single atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima followed by another on Nagasaki a few days later. It is estimated that at the end of the Pacific War, over 400,000 and possibly closer to 600,000 Japanese civilians were killed in United States Army Air Forces strategic bombing of Japan.

I mean think about it, when incendiary bombs were dropped on wooden and paper buildings in Tokyo on the night of March 9-10, 1945, over 100,000 civilians were killed within a few hours. That's like equivalent of American soldiers marching up to that same city, dragging 100,000 innocent people, and shooting them. However, no one could stomach the killing of a person eye-to-eye as opposed to the killing of a person by a bomb dropped from a high-flying aircraft. Bombs dropped from 10,000 ft in the air and you can't tell whether theses bombs will hit industrial targets or not and you don't see the victims below. That's the reason why most of the belligerent airmen in WWII handle their emotions way better than shooting them eye-to-eye.

Majority of the combatants were in the frontlines when civilian-populated cities and towns were being bombed by enemy aircraft. That's the reason why combatants don't suffer as much aerial bombardment than civilians.

3) The third involved the use of battlefield techniques during close combat and brutal tactics as armies advanced across enemy territory and neglected policies. The use of human shields was unheard off in modern warfare. The Russian Army used civilians of all ages as cannon fodder to rush German defensive positions (useful to identify gun emplacements or even to just force the Germans to use up ammunition). German forces often used civilian inhabitants as human shields to protect themselves from attacked by anti-Nazi resistance groups. This resulted in thousands and thousands of civilians killed. Japanese troops in Okinawa used Okinawan civilians as human shields against American troops and forcing them to serve in their military by threatening them to executed. The three-year Siege of Leningrad killed up to 1.2 million Russian civilians. Intense firefighting was going on between opposing forces in areas where civilian residents still lived. It's also hard to distinguish between combatants and civilians once you entered urban areas in cities and/or towns to drive the enemy out. Over 150,000 civilians died in Okinawa as a result of the firefighting, being used as human shields, unable for the opposing side to distinguish themselves, etc

Rape and mass murder was also common among Russians forces in addition to the Nazis and the Japanese. They continued their brutal ways as they entered Germany and Poland. Probably two million defenseless German civilians were murdered and/or raped outright by the Russian armies.

In India, 1.5 to 4 million Indians died from starvation when their food supplies were cut off. The British-led government of India, Indian politicians plus British officials, ignored the problem as it developed, denied the problem when it became serious, and failed to act to resolve it throughout the rest of the war.

In Russia, tens of millions of civilians died of starvation to a large extent due to the Russian government policy of destroying all foodsupplies they could during their retreats.

I could name many more incidents involving civilian deaths in WWII but that's all I have.

Also, World War II was merely a gateway to modern warfare techniques of deliberately targeting civilians. Thus, we see waves of terrorist attacks against civilian targets in the Middle East that still occurred today.