THE MOST HORRENDOUS EVENT IN WRITTEN HISTORY

Can I have two votes?

The Rwandan Genocides http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide

And the Khmer Rouge atrocities in Cambodia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Kampuchea

Both these distress me more than say the Nazi extermination programs because the international community was complicit in the crime. Genocide allowed for reasons of political expediency - with Western nations sewing the seeds of calamity but washing their hands of the dark harvest.

BM

It depends a lot on what you would regard as "horrendous".

How about the explosion of Santorini? Countless lives lost, and the utter destruction of one of the world's great civilizations. The event was felt over the entire earth, and may have had cultural impacts upon many human societies.

Closer to us in time, what can compare to the Black Death that reduced the European population by as much as one third. The Plague was the last straw in destabilizing a Feudal/church system that had endured a thousand years. I asked what could compare to the Black Death, how about the diseases that reduced the aboriginal inhabitants of the New World to perhaps a tenth of what existed before the arrival of Europeans.

It's pretty hard to be more "horrendous" than Mother Nature, but perhaps you reserve the term for the wanton acts of human cruelty. In that case, what are we looking for sheer numbers of deaths, percentages, or those acts that appear meaningless to "rational" minds?

I am for human agency when it comes to horror.....the natural stuff is, in my view, awesome and tragic for we poor, bare, forked animals...but horror comes when it is planned and thought out.



I am finding it hard to differentiate between the Nazi holocaust, Stalin and Mao's decimation of their people, or the invasions of the Americas and Australia by white people.

I think that the genocides that occurred with these invasions were not especially planned...so I am going for one of the first three....not sure which yet.

"Written history" helps narrow it somewhat.


Do you actually mean 'horrendous' is in the consequences or fallout from the event or do you mean 'horrific' as in how much suffering was involved?

Actually, Mr. Stillwater, a combination of both, is that possible?

I believe the public has a very short memory re such events. Yes, Hurricane Katrina has caused great suffering; however, as the details become clearer, it was the lack of proper human workmanship on the dikes and lack of government leadership which lead to the extented kill zone. And contrary to immediate emotional suffering, I don't see this event at the top of our list.

My wish is to give life to those events in written history so that we can measure them against a Hurricane Katrina. Do what you can to give life to your nominee. Don't let us forget the details. Cause us to lift ourselves up out of our lifespan and experience the depth and sufferings of mankind over time.

hingehead, I found your format helpful. Your quotation, "Despite intelligence provided before the killing began, and international news media coverage reflecting the true scale of violence as the genocide unfolded, virtually all first-world countries declined to intervene." Suggests darker motives among the FIRST-WORLD COUNTRIES. Your references certainly opened the door to serious readers.

If I would have added anything, it would be a bit more descriptive. Additional details, which would cause me to pause, think and click your offered URL.

OK, what did I do to turn people off to this thread?

Perhaps the 'measuring things against Hurricane Katrina' did it. Maybe you should have gone with 'measured against Janet Jackson's tits-out moment'....

I miss Abuzz's star ratings. But Stilly gets 5.

And he quotes David Byrne....

And has a new avatar.

Mr. Stillwater, perhaps you are right.

Probably. And a more than a few points to Hingehead, latest winner of the "Spot Stilly's Quote Competition".


Mapleleaf - we all end up with a topic (or three) that never quite makes it. Blame Gustaf or the Bunny, it is a never fail fall-back....

I know, but sometimes I am able to redirect the topic

It seems an overwhelming task, there have been so many, and so diverse . . .

For a simplistic answer I will go with WW II.


WIthin that I will pick the Batan Death March

ralpheb,

For our historically disadvantaged, would you write a paragraph or two describing the march? Or a site URL?

sand creek massacre, colorado, usa

http://home.pacbell.net/fbaldie/In_Retrospect.html

This should give some information on the death March

"The most_(x)__in history"

is an invitation to oversimplification and superficiality.

Human history is too complex a process to be meaningfully reduced to simplified formulaic statements, although many notable people (including historians, philosophers, and economists) have tried to do just that.