Futility Closet

Death tolls:

• 300 million - smallpox, worldwide, 20th century
• 200 million - bubonic plague, worldwide, 1300s
• 62 million - World War II
• 60 million - Mongol conquests, 13th century
• 19 million - AIDS, worldwide to date
• 1 million - Irish potato famine, 1846-1849
• 830,000 - Shaanxi earthquake, China, 1556
• 650,000 - Deaths in the Roman Colosseum for public entertainment, 80-404
• 36,000 - Krakatoa eruption, Indonesia, 1883
• 15,000 - Holy Inquisition, 1184-1800
• 1,517 - RMS Titanic, 1912
• 300 - Great Chicago Fire, 1871
• 270 - Pan Am Flight 103, Lockerbie, Scotland, 1988
• 36 - Hindenburg disaster, Lakehurst, N.J., 1937
• 7 - Space shuttle Challenger, Florida, 1986
• 4 - Kent State shootings