100
votes
Where is the bloodiest square mile on Earth?
Strong contenders would likely include the deadlier major WW1 battlefields (Passchendaele, Verdun, Somme, etc.) - they were more spread out than a single square mile, but the amount of casualties in ...
- 23.1k
100
votes
Accepted
Where is the bloodiest square mile on Earth?
The square mile around the Colosseum in Rome seems a likely candidate for most deaths using conventional weapons. Within a mile of the Colosseum were the Circus Maximus and the Roman Forum where ...
- 107k
47
votes
Accepted
Which year in history had the highest ratio of non-natural deaths?
The actual year would be in prehistory, when the human population were more concentrated.
In terms of recorded history, the initial outbreak of the Plague of Justinian in 541 had an estimated death ...
- 96.6k
33
votes
Which year in history had the highest ratio of non-natural deaths?
70,000 BC
Analysis of the human genome has suggested that there was a choke-point in human history where the number of humans was drastically reduced.
Some believe that this was due to a single ...
- 3,143
30
votes
Accepted
Why did Japanese samurai disembowel themselves?
The usual explanation is that Japanese culture believed the soul resides in the abdomen. Since the ritual of seppuku or harakiri is usually meant to provide an honourable death, cutting open the ...
- 96.6k
28
votes
Accepted
What was the ratio women to men after World War 2 in the Soviet Union
According to this article the ratio rose from 1.10 to about 1.54 (ratio of men/women fell from 0.91 to about 0.65) between 1941 and 1946 in the draft-age group (people born around 1887 to 1927), which ...
- 8,627
28
votes
Where is the bloodiest square mile on Earth?
We can't be sure
The much lower population and population density of antiquity means that the least documented parts of history probably aren't in the running. There have been (Fermi estimate) about ...
- 1,955
28
votes
Accepted
Was Heinrich Himmler's death a suicide?
The answer to your question "is there any historical documentation which could lend support to this theory?" would be no.
The entire story was based on forged documents planted at the UK National ...
- 76.9k
27
votes
Which year in history had the highest ratio of non-natural deaths?
A bit of quick research tells me the worst in absolute terms almost has to be 1918.
There was a worldwide influenza epidemic that killed about 40 million people that year. That's the single biggest ...
- 114k
25
votes
Where is the bloodiest square mile on Earth?
Some square mile of The Somme, probably around some WWI strongpoint.
While it's impossible to determine how many casualties happened at any particular square mile of the Somme, the concentration of ...
- 54.4k
20
votes
Accepted
Did Boris Pavlovich Belousov die in 1970 or 1976?
The 1976 date appears to be a transcription error. Not only is the 1970 date more frequent in English literature, the two Russian language sources below (that appear to be independent) agree on a ...
- 70.2k
18
votes
Accepted
Where did the so-called "Japanese Skulls" end up?
They didn't end up in any one particular place. In more recent decades, discovered skulls are generally returned to Japan, or disposed of in various ways (lack of identification).
Certainly at least ...
- 96.6k
17
votes
What was the ratio women to men after World War 2 in the Soviet Union
The Soviet population in 1941 was 196,716,000. In 1946, it was 170,548,000.[1] That's a difference of 26,168,000 people. According to a study published by the Russian Academy of Science[2], there were ...
- 4,302
17
votes
Accepted
When did Robert Briscoe die?
30 May, 1969.
Here is a copy of an obit published in the Desert Sun, Volume 42, Number 256, 30 May 1969
This information is confirmed by multiple other posted obituaries in the
genealogical source, ...
- 36.3k
15
votes
What does a leaning cross on a gravestone mean?
It is a Portate Cross, also called cross of St. Gilbert. There were some pages which stated that "portate" derives from Latin "portare" (carry), and that it symbolizes the cross Christ carried, but I ...
- 8,627
12
votes
Accepted
How did knights in full suits of armor eventually die in combat? What were the most common causes of death for soldiers in full-body plate armor?
It's a common misconception that knights in full armor couldn't get up when they fell down. In real life they could, without much difficulty. Jumping and running was also not a problem. The could ...
- 19.1k
11
votes
How did England react to the arrival of the Black Death?
There were quite a few different reactions, and panic was probably the main one. People didn't understand much about disease in those days so some of what they did wouldn't make much sense to us today....
- 2,223
11
votes
Accepted
Has any place exhumed more dead bodies than San Francisco?
The Catacombs of Paris contain the remains of more than 6 million people, and much like the San Francisco situation the catacombs were established to alleviate overflowing cemeteries throughout Paris. ...
- 3,993
11
votes
Where is the bloodiest area with most deaths within a single day?
Given that the question asks specifically for conventional weapons (so ruling out Hiroshima and Nagasaki), and is now limited to a 24 hour period in history, you are probably looking at Operation ...
- 76.9k
9
votes
What evidence is there that Lenin died because he was poisoned?
It's hard in history to prove that something did not happen, which is along the lines of the "impossible to prove a negative" concept. However, I think most historians do not believe Lenin was ...
- 1,828
9
votes
Which town or village in Britain lost the greatest percentage of men in WWI due to "Pals Battalions"?
This question is addressed in this article:
Tragedy of the lost generation
It concludes that Durham had the highest percentage loss, with 6353 dead representing nearly 8% of the city's population.
- 36.3k
8
votes
Did people on the Bridge of Death in Pripyat actually die?
The BBC's More or Less podcast discussed this, and interviewed Professor Jim Smith of Portsmouth University. He pointed out that Pripyat was fortunately not directly downwind of the disaster, and that ...
- 578
8
votes
Accepted
What happened to dead WWI soldiers whose faith believed in cremation?
Those who were killed in battle were indeed generally buried on the spot. Many of those temporary burials remain lost to this day, and the names of the fallen are recorded on monuments erected near ...
- 76.9k
8
votes
Accepted
When did Wiktoria Narutowicz die?
Searching online for Wiktoria's married name seems to be drawing surprisingly few results, and all of them blanks. Like "Died after 1865 after age 21 [location unknown]"…
However, she is ...
- 79.9k
8
votes
Accepted
How could Stutthof's inmates reach Palmnicken?
Your error is to assume the sub camps were only to the west of Stuthoff. Numerous camps were in areas that are now in the Kaliningrad oblast (Gerdauen/Zheleznodorozhny, Heiligenbeil/Mamonowo, Jesau/...
- 1,564
7
votes
Did Andrew Jackson threaten to kill the Vice President?
There was a general statement by Andrew Jackson that could have referred to his Vice-President John C. Calhoun.
"Do not be deceived by names. Disunion by armed force is treason... I will hang the ...
- 104k
7
votes
Accepted
Why were there so many US military deaths outside of the major battles in WW2?
In almost every war, most deaths occur not in the major battles.
In the Pacific war
that you refer to most US death occurred from mines, bad weather conditions, accidents and
diseases. Also the ...
- 38.1k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible