The role of Islamists in 20th century democides
~ Armenian, Assyrian & Greek Genocides (1915–1917) — 1.5–2 million killed — Ottoman Empire (Young Turk regime) — ✅ Islamist–nationalist mix
~ Red Terror & Russian Civil War (1917–1922) — 7–12 million — Bolshevik regime — ❌
~ Holodomor, Ukraine (1932–1933) — 3–5 million — Stalin’s USSR — ❌
~ Imperial Japanese massacres (1937–1945) — 6–10 million — Imperial Japan — ❌
~ The Holocaust (1939–1945) — 11 million Jews + 5–6 million others — Nazi Germany — ❌
~ Stalinist purges & Gulag (1945–1953) — 10–15 million — Soviet Union — ❌
~ Partition of India massacres (1947) — ~1 million — Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim extremists — ✅ partly Islamist
~ Great Leap Forward famine (1958–1962) — 30–45 million — Mao’s China — ❌
~ Anti-communist massacres, Indonesia (1965–1966) — 500,000–1 million — Suharto regime, with Islamist militias — ✅ partly Islamist
~ Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) — 1–2 million — Maoist Red Guards / CCP — ❌
~ Bangladesh genocide (1971) — 1.5–3 million — Pakistan Army (Islamist regime) — ✅
~ Khmer Rouge (1975–1979) — 1.7–2.2 million — Communist Cambodia — ❌
~ East Timor occupation (1975–1999) — 100,000–200,000 — Indonesian military — ❌
~ Argentine Dirty War (1976–1983) — 10,000–30,000 — Military junta — ❌
~ Darfur & South Sudan genocides (1983–2005) — 2–3 million — Islamist Khartoum regimes — ✅
~ Bosnian genocide (1992–1995) — ~100,000 — Bosnian Serb forces — ❌
~ Rwandan genocide (1994) — ~800,000 — Hutu Power government — ❌
~ Congo wars & massacres (1998–2003) — 3–5 million — Multiple militias and regimes — ❌
⸻
✅ Islamist or partly Islamist: ~4–5 major cases
❌ Non-Islamist: The overwhelming majority — well over 90% of 20th-century genocide and democide deaths.
Mark, thanks, follow and enjoy your content.
I had trouble understanding the implications here. Is the point that most “democides” specifically were not conducted by Islamists? What about the Lebanese Civil War, just to give one example. Or the Iranian revolution in 1979. While maybe these events do not fit the narrow definition in your list, they are examples of traumatic events precipitated by violent Islamic takeovers. While I don’t have first hand experience with living in either of those countries post the transition, I would imagine, as a Christian or a Jew, or perhaps a secular person, the quality of life changed substantially to say the least.
It does seem, in the end, between the communists and Islamists, you can pretty much cover most of the traumatic social upheavals in the 20th century. Are there any that don’t fall into either of the buckets?