Wars And War-Related Deaths, 1500-1990

This dataset provides information on military and civilian deaths from wars, drawn from the chapter by Eckhardt (1991).

What years and countries are covered? 1500 – 1990.

Which conflicts are covered? War, domestic or international, involving at least one state.

• Threshold for a war: "War—any armed conflict involving one or more governments and causing the death of 1,000 or more people per year" (Eckhardt 1991: 25).

• "Location refer to country which was principal battleground, except for two World Wars for which location refers to participating country" (Eckhardt 1991: 25).

• Also included: "Intervention—overt military action by foreign forces, at the invitation of the government in power" (Eckhardt 1991: 25).

• Also included: "Invasion—armed attack by foreign country, including air attack without land invasion" (Eckhardt 1991: 25).

Which deaths and casualties are covered? Deaths; total, military, or civilian.

• "War-Related Deaths" (Eckhardt 1991: 22).

• "Civilian [—] Military [—] Total" (Eckhardt 1991: 22).

• "Incomplete; breakdown of civilian and military deaths not available in all cases" (Eckhardt 1991: 25).

• "World War area-wide deaths are in addition to those which could be located by country, and are shown under the country of origin" (Eckhardt 1991: 25).

How did we construct it?

• We extracted conflicts as well as deaths and casualties from the list in this book.
• There seems to be an affordable used edition available in the UK that we could buy if we wanted more information; alternatively, this book by Eckhardt may have more details in chapter 9.