Who’s killed the most people?
On the surface, this seems like an easy question to answer, but it brings up a weird philosophical question: what does it mean to kill? If an individual uses his or her bare hands to choke another human to death, they 've obviously killed someone. That person is a killer.
It becomes more complicated when you add a weapon. If the person above shot someone with a gun, most people would regard the shooter as a killer. But what about the guy at a console of a submarine who pushes the button that launches a missile to blow up a base full of humans? Did that guy kill the enemy? He essentially did the same thing as the person who shot the gun. Or was it the guy who ordered him to fire the missile? What about the person who started the war? What about someone who through inaction caused the war? Who 's the killer here?
Because of this weird middle ground, I 'm going to divide this list into a few different categories. I 'm also going to warn that this list isn 't all inclusive and my numbers may differ from others. Numbers become fuzzy over time and, again, the definition of what makes a killer varies from one person to another. Also, this list is morbid. Feel free to skip it if need be.
The person who 's killed the most people based on policy decisions
There’s no way to properly measure this. How do you say who is most responsible for a war? Do you count someone 's death if it led to saving someone else 's life? Whose numbers do you believe? I have no idea how to answer any of these questions, so I 'm trusting fellow historians.
Having said all that, this answer comes down to three people and no one else is close. One who 's almost universally reviled, one who 's making a historical comeback, and another who 's been worshiped by his people in spite of a shaky human rights record.
Adolph Hitler. 12-50 million
Hitler is obviously to blame for millions of deaths. If you had to pinpoint one person who was responsible for starting World War II in Europe, it would be Hitler (plenty of other people deserve at least some of the blame, however, including the next guy on this list). Hitler should be regarded as a killer, even though the only person Hitler shot during the war was himself. Hitler was also the head of Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. Even using conservative estimates, millions of Soviet POWs, Jews, Romas, handicapped, and homosexuals died under Hitler 's rule.
Joseph Stalin. 20-50 million
The leader of the Soviet Union in the 1930s and 1940s, Joseph Stalin, too, helped start World War Two by invading Poland and Finland. So some of Hitler 's death count falls on him. Even before the war, however, Stalin was responsible for millions of deaths. He ordered the execution of countless political enemies, and millions more died in Soviet gulags. Stalin also starved millions of Ukrainians in the 1930s in an attempt to force obedience to the Soviet Union, and his ineffective attempts to industrialize led to further starvation. During WW2, Soviet soldiers killed millions of prisoners and civilians under Stalin 's orders. Although this high death count has made Stalin unpopular throughout the world, in recent years Russians have come to regard the leader as an 'effective manager. '
Mao Zedong. 40-70 million
According to the book Mao: The Unknown Story, Chinese leader Mao Zedong was responsible for some 70 million deaths. Like Stalin, Mao was a communist who gained power and used his authority to massacre political opponents. He also led Chinese communists against the Japanese in WW2 and fought Chinese nationalists in the Chinese Civil War. Most of those who died under Mao, however, came about as a part of a program called The Great Leap Forward. In an attempt to industrialize China in order to compete with the United States, Mao ordered farmers to drop their hoes and pick up industrial jobs. Communist collectives would take care of food production. They didn 't. The collectives ' attempts to improve irrigation and crop yields failed horrifically, leaving some 40 million people to starve to death. In spite of his faults, Mao is still a popular figure in China today.
The person who 's killed the most people with one physical action
Thomas Ferebee. 80,000
Thomas Ferebee holds the distinction of being the man operating the bomb bay doors of the Enola Gay aircraft when it dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, resulting in some 80,000 deaths. Obviously, Ferebee was not solely responsible for the Hiroshima deaths. He didn 't build the bomb, he didn 't authorize its use, he didn 't even arm the thing, and he hadn 't even known that the Enola Gay was carrying an atomic weapon when it went airborne. Ferebee was just the guy who unleashed the bomb.
The person who 's killed the most people in person
Vasili Blokhin. 30,000
This next person can 't say the same thing. A General in the Soviet army, Vasili Blokhin has the distinction of being Stalin 's most prolific executioner. Whenever the higher ups in the U.S.S.R. had prisoners they wanted quieted or didn 't want to feed, they brought them to Blohkin. Throughout the late 1930s and early 1940s, Blohkin would sit in a concrete room, dressed in butcher 's apron, where he 'd wait until his officers brought in prisoners. Blohkin would then shoot the prisoners through the head using a German pistol (he didn 't trust Soviet manufactured weapons, fearing that they 'd backfire). In one month alone in 1940, Blohkin was said to have personally executed 7,000 Polish prisoners. In total, the general executed some 30,000 people.
The person who 's killed the most people in battle
Simo Hayha. 700
Finish soldier Simo Hayha earned the nickname 'White Death, ' when he killed more than 700 people in 100 days during the 1939 Winter War between the U.S.S.R. and Finland. A sniper, Hayha forwent scopes, as the glare could give away his position, and instead used iron sights to pick off ill-trained Soviet invaders. Although the U.S.S.R. tried to kill Hayha using counter snipers and artillery, they only managed to wound the man in his cheek. Hayha not only survived the Winter War and World War II, he lived to be ninety-seven years old.
Although some historians argue that Simo Hayha had fewer than 700 kills, most recognize him as the soldier with the highest combat body count. There are a number of Russian snipers, including at least one female who recorded more than 100 sniper kills in WW2. In the recent wars in the Middle East, a few Americans achieved this distinction. Navy Seal Chris Kyle, for example, is said to have killed some 255 insurgents.
The person who killed the most people in a single battle
David Rubitsky. 500-600
Reported to be a photo of Rubitsky via wnd.com
Although not as well known as Audie Murphy or Alvin York, David Rubitsky was responsible for killing more enemy soldiers than these two men combined ' in one day. On December 1, 1942, Rubitsky 's fellow soldiers left him alone to defend a machine gun post in New Guinea against an oncoming Japanese force. Using a machine gun, grenades, and a bayonet, Rubiski mowed down wave after wave of Japanese soldiers, who were unable to isolate Rubiski 's bunker. Although there remains some doubt about Rubitsky 's story, if true, he 'd rival and possibly surpass Vasili Blohkin for the amount of men killed in a 24-hour period.
The person who’s killed the most people in separate instances
Serial Killer Luis 'The Beast ' Garavito. At least 138 possibly 400
Colombian serial killer Luis 'The Beast ' Garavito killed at least 138 young boys across Columbia in the 1990s, but locals suspect that he may have been responsible for 300 more. Police arrested and imprisoned Garavito for his crime in 1999, but because Columbia does not have life in prison or the death penalty, the serial killer may be released from prison soon.
I could break this down further, but the morbidity is overwhelming. However, if anyone has someone else that should be added to this list, please post in the comments section or send us an email.
