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List of massacres

Massacres are individual events of deliberate mass killing, especially of noncombatant civilians or other innocents. The term may refer to individual, civil, or military acts and is often characterised as having distinct political significance in shaping subsequent events.

Below is a list of incidents that are commonly referred to as massacres, though other incidents may also qualify yet not be called massacres. Note that the figure for deaths is usually an estimate, and is frequently contested. See the individual article on each massacre for more information.

Date Name Deaths Location Description
1 AD Massacre of the Innocents ????? Bethlehem, Israel (according to the Gospel of Matthew)
9 AD Teutoburg Massacre ~30,000 Teutoburg Forest, Germany Roman legions under Varus ambushed by Germanic tribes
787 Mass slaughter of non-Christian Saxons ???? Verdun by Charlemagne
November 13, 1002 St. Brice's Day Massacre ~Unknown England Danes slaughtered on orders of Ethelred II of England
1096 German Crusade, 1096 Thousands Along the Rhine River "People's Crusade" prior to the First Crusade killed thousands of Jews along the Rhine; see also Emich of Leiningen
March 16, 1190 Massacre at Clifford's Tower ~150 York, England Mob attacks Jewish residents; many commit suicide
June 1220 Samarkand Massacre ~75,000 Samarkand, Khwarezm (present day Iran and Iraq) During the Khwarezm War Mongols under Genghis Khan sieged to the capitol city of Khwarezm and, after the Turkish garrison surrendered the city, drove out the remaining population slaughtering over 75,000 men, women, and children. The Turkish soldiers were also killed as an example for their treason.
1282 Sicilian Vespers ? Italy
October 25, 1415 Agincourt ~5,000 Agincourt, France One of the major atrocities commited during the Hundred Years War Henry V, in order to raise enough soldiers guarding the French Nobles, orders the deaths of 5,000 prisoners of war during the Battle of Agincourt after receiving reports of French forces breaking though the English rear defenses and attacking its supply lines.
August 24, 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre 70,000 France A wave of Catholic mob violence against the Huguenots
September 20, 1565 Fort Caroline ~Unknown Fort Caroline, Florida [US] Spanish forces under naval officer Pedro Menendez de Aviles attack and destroy Fort Caroline killing most of the settlers. Renaming the settlement San Mateo the Spanish would use the fort as one of many bases in which Menendez would search for a water passage through Florida.
September 12, 1571 Enryakuji set fire ~3,000 Enryakuji , Japan
March 22, 1622 Jamestown ~347 Jamestown, Virginia [United States] Led by Opechancanough, brother of Powhatan, local tribes attack the Virginia Colony destroying virtualy all the settlements save the heavily fortified Jamestown.
May 10, 1631 Sack of Magdeburg 20,000 Magdeburg
1648-1649 ? 100,000 Jews and Poles killed by Cossacks under Bohdan Chmielnicki
1689 Massacre of Palatinate ? Germany
February 13, 1692 Massacre of Glencoe 78 Scotland
September 22, 1711 Tuscarora ~Unknown North Carolina [US] The Tuscarora kill an unknown number of settlers along the Chowan and Roanoke Rivers in northeastern North Carolina as well as abandoning the settlement of New Bern begining the Tuscarora War lasting from 1711-1713.
April 1715 Yamassee ~Unknown South Carolina [US] With Spanish support the Yamassee kill several hundred South Carolina settlers. This act would begin a violent conflict between South Carolina colonists, allied with the Cherokee, defeating the Yamassee northwest of Port Royal, South Carolina almost a year later in January 1716.
1755 Deportation of the Acadians in New France New France
1763 Distribution of blankets exposed to smallpox to American Indians unknown (none or possibly hundreds) Fort Pitt During Pontiac's Rebellion, in which many white noncombatants (perhaps hundreds) were killed by Native American warriors, British General Jeffrey Amherst wrote a letter suggesting this tactic to stop the assault, but it is uncertain anyone died as a result.
1768 Koliwszczyzna ? massacre of Poles and Jews in Human, Ukraine
March 5, 1770 Boston Massacre 5 British colony, now US state of Massachusetts In the early days of the American Revolution, British soldiers open fire upon a hostile crowd.
July 3, 1778 Wyoming Valley Massacre ~Unknown Pennsylvania Occurred during the American Revolutionary War; labeled a massacre but most deaths were in battle.
11 November 1778 Cherry Valley Massacre 33 eastern New York During the American Revolutionary War, Iroquois warriors raid a village, killing and scalping civilians, including women and children.
May 29, 1780 Waxhaw Massacre ~113 plus 100+ mortally wounded Buford, South Carolina - the Waxhaws British Col. Banastre Tarleton killed some Americans as they attempted to surrender; many of the deaths were in battle.
March 8, 1782 Gnadenhutten massacre 96 Gnadenhutten, Ohio During the American Revolutionary War, Pennsylvania militia execute Christian Lenape non-combatants, mostly women and children.
1794 Raze of Praga 20 000 Praga, Warsaw, Poland Praga, the eastern borough of Warsaw looted and burnt by Russian forces under Aleksandr Suvorov
April 6-9, 1812 Badajoz ~Unknown Badajoz, Spain After a four week siege British soldiers under the Duke of Wellington siezed the Spanish city of Badajoz, a fortress on the Spanish-Portuguese border, from French control. After the battle however British soldiers began looting the city for three days before Wellington could regain control. This was one of the most serious breakdowns of control over British military forces during the Napoleonic Wars.
August 15, 1812 Fort Dearborn Massacre ~46 Fort Dearborn (present day Chicago), Illinois Receiving a guarantee of safe passage from British and American Indian allies to evacuate Fort Dearborn, under orders from American General William Hull, the US troop column of 54 soldiers, 12 milita, 9 women, and 18 children, while escorted by Indian guides, joined in an attack by larger Indian force while on route to Detriot with over half of the column killed and the remainder captured several of which were ransomed to Detroit.
January, 1813 River Raisin Massacre 30–60 Monroe, Michigan prisoners scalped during the War of 1812
August 16, 1819 Peterloo massacre 11 United Kingdom
August 2, 1832 Bad Axe River ~Unknown Bad Axe River, Wisconsin [US] Illinois militia under the command of General Henry Atkinson attack a Sauk camp at the mouth of Bad Axe River where many Sauk women and children are killed in the fighting. Shortly after the Winnebago would abandon Black Hawk forcing him and the Sauk to surrender several weeks later ending the Black Hawk War.
1836 Goliad massacre 342 Goliad, Texas Mexican army executes American prisoners of war
February 16, 1838 Weenen Massacre ~300 South Africa Zulus massacre Voortrekker men, women, and children
1838 Myall Creek Massacre 40 Australia Aboriginal people were murdered by white stockmen taking revenge for lost cattle.
November 29, 1847 Whitman massacre ? near Walla Walla, Washington Medical mission established by Marcus Whitman attacked by the Cayuse
1848 Rabacja ? Galicia massacre of Polish nobles by peasants
October 26, 1853 Gunnison Massacre ? Utah territory Exploration party of John Gunnison killed by Pahvant Utes
May 2425, 1856 Pottawatomie Massacre 5 Franklin County, Kansas Radical abolitionist John Brown murders pro-slavery men with swords in "Bleeding Kansas"
June 27-July 15, 1857 Cawnpore ~200 Cawnpore, India During the Sepoy Rebellion the British garrison at Cawnpore agreed to abandon the post under the agreement they would be granted a safe escort by Nana Sahib. However as they left the city the men were immediately massacred and 200 women and children were held in the Bibi-Ghar (House of the Women) where they were killed on July 15, 1857. When the British recaptured Cawnpore they reportedly forced each Sepoy prisoner to lick one square foot of the bloodstained floor where the massacres took place before being hanged.
September 11, 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre 120 Utah, United States Mormon militia and Paiutes kill an entire wagon train of Arkansas farming families.
August 21, 1863 Lawrence Massacre ~150 Lawrence, Kansas Confederate raiders under William Quantrill loot and burn the town killing over 150 men.
April 12, 1864 Fort Pillow ~354 Fort Pillow, Tennessee After Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest demand of the surrender of Union Fort Pillow was refused Forrest's forces assaulted the fort defenses in a particularly violent battle until a white flag was flown by the Union defenders. However Confederate forces continued firing upon the surrendering soldiers killing or wounding over 354 of the 580 men.
November 29, 1864 Sand Creek Massacre ~150 Colorado Territory United States cavalry troops kill Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples in an undefended Native American village.
March 10, 1873 Canby Massacre ~4 Four of seven Americans as part of a peace delegation led by General E. R. S. Canby, under the pretext of peace negotiations, are killed by Modoc leader Captain Jack during the Modoc War.
April 13, 1873 Colfax Massacre 100 Colfax, Louisiana
June 1, 1873 Cypress Hills Massacre 16–23 Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan, Canada 16-22 Nakoda (Assiniboine) killed by American wolfers. 1 American was killed.
May 4, 1886 Haymarket Riot 12 Chicago Bomb tossed amongst police and striking workers
December 29, 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre 153–300 Wounded Knee, South Dakota Last confrontation of US troops and the Great Sioux Nation
1894 First Armenian Massacre ? Ottoman Empire
1903 Kishinev pogrom ? (Chisinau) - Moldova
April 20, 1914 Ludlow Massacre 20 Ludlow, Colorado Suppression of a strike by twelve thousand Colorado coal miners.
1915 Second Armenian Massacre 0.2–1.8 million Anatolia Deportation of ethnic Armenians by the Young Turks.
July 17, 1918 Romanov massacre ~10 Yekaterinburg, Russia Bolshevik execution of Nicholas II and the Russian royal household
April 13, 1919 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre ~379-400 India British troops led by Brigadier General Reginald Dyer fired 1650 rounds of ammunitions into a crowd of 20,000 people gathered in a garden with its sole exit blocked to prevent people from escaping.
September 18, 1923 Kanto massacre ~2,711–6,415 Kanto region, Japan Korean and Okinawan immigrants blamed for looting and arson
November 21, 1927 Columbine Mine Massacre at least 6 Serene, Colorado 500 striking coal miners, some with their families, were attacked with machine guns by a detachment of state police dressed in civilian clothes
February 14, 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre 7 Chicago Bugs Moran's gang is murdered by Al Capone's men
1929 First Hebron massacre ~67 Palestine Arab mob massacred and "pogromed" at least 67 Jews and wiped out the old Jewish settlement in Hebron
1937 Nanjing Massacre 200,000 China by Imperial Japanese Soldiers, also called Rape of Nanking
1938 Kristallnacht 36–200 Germany also called Pogromnacht
September 1939 Bromberg Bloody Sunday up to 8000 Bydgoszcz, Poland Killing of between 358 and 5,000 ethnic Germans during the Polish Defence War of 1939 and subsequent massacre of ~3,000 Polish civilians as a reprisal.
1939 Polish victims of Nazi initial occupation of Poland most of Poland Poland Imprisonment and execution of Polish citizens and soldiers immediately after German invasion.
December 27, 1939 Wawer 107 Poland 120 men caught in a łapanka shot as a reprisal for death of two German soldiers, 13 of them survived the massacre under the pile of bodies.
December 1939 - July 1940 Palmiry ~2000 Poland Gestapo murder systematically members of Polish intelligentsia, sportsmen, politicians and common people.
1940 Katyn Massacre 25,700 Soviet Union Russian massacre of Polish intelligentsia, POW reserve officers
July 3-4, 1941 Massacre of Lwów professors 45 Lwów, Poland Part of the AB Action , fourty-five university professors are executed by an Einsatzkommado unit following the German capture of the city on June 30.
July 10, 1941 Massacre in Jedwabne 380–1600 Poland Jewish residents of Jedwabane are marched into the center of the city where there are beaten, tortured, and killed by Nazi and Gestapo members (although Polish citizens may have been involved). Only seven of the group, hidden by a Polish family, survive the massacre.
September 2930, 1941 Babi Yar massacre 33,771 Ukraine
July 1941- August 1944 Ponary ~100,000 Lithuania
June 10, 1942 Lidice ~172 Lidice, Czechoslovakia After Czech agents, with British assistance, assassinate Nazi Protector of Bohemia-Morovia, and former Deputy Chief of the Gestapo, Reinhard Heydrich the small Czechoslovakian town of Lidice is surrounded by the German SS and all men and teenagers over 16 are rounded up and shot. The remaining women and children are sent to concentration camps and the village is destroyed.
February 1943 Massacres of Poles in Volhynia ~100,000 Ukraine
July, 1943 Canicatti slaughter 12 Sicily US Troops kill unarmed civilians at a soap factory.
July 14, 1943 Biscari Massacre 76 Sicily US Troops kill German and Italian POWs.
February, 1944 Manila Massacre 100,000 Philippines Retreating Japanese troops kill Filippino civilians.
January 28-29, 1944 Koniuchy Massacre ~300 Poland Three hundred men women and children are murdered by 120 members of Soviet partisan groups, including the Lithuanian Brigade, of the village of Koniuchy.
April 2, 1944 Ascq massacre ~86 France After two railway cars are derailed, presumably by the French Underground, soldiers of the 12th SS Panzer Division under the command of SS Obersturmführer Walter Hauck murder 86 men in the surrounding area of the Ascq railway station.
June 9, 1944 Tulle Murders ~99 France In responce to French Underground activity the 2nd SS Panzer Division, upon finding mutilated remains of 64 garrison soldiers of the 95th Security Regiment, 99 men are hanged and the remaining population of Tulle sent to work labor camps in Germany. Of the 149 townspeople only 48 survived the war.
June 10, 1944 Oradour-sur-Glane Massacre 642 France Responding to recent French Underground activity in which two German soldiers were killed, 120 SS soldiers of the 2nd SS Panzer Division, commanded by SS Sturmbannführer Adolf Diekmann, execute 642 men, women, and children of the town of Oradour.
August 1944 Wola Massacre up to 50,000 Warsaw German troops slaughter most of civilians in the borough of Wola during the early stage of the Warsaw Uprising
September 30, 1944 Putten Atrocity 39 Netherlands General Heinz Helmuth von Wuhlisch orders the execution of 39 Dutch civilians and the village burned after an attack by the Dutch resistance results in the capture of a German soldier despite the later release of the hostage. The remaining men in the village are sent to labor camps and out of 589 only 49 survive the end of the war.
October 24, 1944 Amsterdam Reprisal 29 Netherlands 29 Dutch civilians are executed as well as several buildings set on fire after the assassination of S.D. officer Herbert Oelschagel by the Dutch resistance the previous day.
December 17, 1944 Malmédy massacre 80 Belgium Massacre of American POWs
January 1, 1945 Chenogne massacre 60 Belgium In reprisal for the Malmedy massacre sixty German soldiers are executed by a unit of the US 11th Armored Division outside the town of Chenogne .
February 13-14, 1945 Firebombing of Dresden 30,000 Germany Massive firebombing raid against the city of Dresden, Germany, by the United States and the United Kingdom
March 10, 1945 Firebombing of Tokyo 80,000~100,000 Japan Massive firebombing raid against the city of Tokyo, Japan, by the United States
1945 Firebombing of Osaka 10,000 Japan Massive firebombing raid against the city of Osaka, Japan, by the United States
April 29, 1945 Dachau Massacre 560 Germany Soldiers of the US 157th Division kill 560 German POWs remaining in the recently liberated Dachau concentration camp.
May 8, 1945 Setif Massacre 150 pied-noirs
1,500–45,000 Algerians
Algeria
May, 1945 Bleiburg massacre Tens of thousands Yugoslavia Partisans retaliate against Ustashe and their supporters
July 31, 1945 Usti Massacre ~80 Czechoslovakia Czech soldiers lynch ethnic Germans
August 6, 1945 Hiroshima 100,000 Japan The United States drops the atomic bomb "Little Boy" on the city of Hiroshima, Japan
August 9, 1945 Nagasaki 60,000 Japan The United States drops the atomic bomb "Fat Man" on the city of Nagasaki, Japan
1948 Hadassah medical convoy massacre ~77 Palestine
1948 Deir Yassin massacre 107 Palestine
1948 Arab al-Mawasi massacre 14 Palestine
April 31948 Jeju Massacre 30,000 Korea
July 26-29, 1950 Nogun-ri massacre 121–? Korea
1953 Qibya massacre ~50 West Bank
1956 Kafr Qasim massacre 49 Israel
March 21, 1960 Sharpeville Massacre 69 killed, 180+ injured South Africa Police opened fire on a crowd of black protesters
October 17, 1961 Paris Massacre of 1961 32-200[1] Paris, France Killing of Algerian demonstrators
June 1-3 1962, 1962 Novocherkassk Massacre 24 killed, 39 injured Novocherkassk, Soviet Union police opened fire on a crowd of protesters against inflation
1968 Tlatelolco massacre 200–300 Mexico Mexican soldiers open fire on student demonstrators.
1968 My Lai massacre 347–504 Vietnam
February 8, 1968 Orangeburg Massacre 3 South Carolina State University, USA
1969 Killevanamani Massacre ~35 Tamil Nadu, India more than 35 farm labor and their families, mostly women and children, were burnt alive by upper caste landlords
January, 1969 Massacre at Hue ~2500 Hue, Vietnam
May 4, 1970 Kent State massacre 4 Kent State University, Ohio, USA
January 30, 1972 Bloody Sunday 14 Derry, Northern Ireland
September 5, 1972 Munich Massacre 12 Munich, Germany Palestinian terrorists kidnap and kill Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games
November 18, 1978 Jonestown massacre 5+913 Jonestown, Guyana People's Temple cult attacks Rep. Leo Ryan and delegation; after 5 killed in shootout, Jim Jones leads mass suicide
November 3, 1979 Greensboro massacre 5 Greensboro, North Carolina Ku Klux Klansmen and American Nazis opened fire on an anti-Klan demonstration.
May 1980 Gwangju Massacre 191–250–2000 Gwangju, South Korea Jeon-nam University
December 11, 1981 El Mozote massacre ~900 El Salvador
February 2, 1982 Hama Massacre ~20,000 Syria
September, 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre 300–3,000 Beirut, Lebanon
1984 Sikh Massacre ~2733–4000 Delhi, India Sectarian violence following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards
August 8, 1987 Hoddle Street massacre 7 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
August 19, 1987 Hungerford massacre 17 Hungerford, Berkshire, England, United Kingdom
December 8, 1987 Queen Street massacre 8 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
December 6, 1989 École Polytechnique Massacre 15 University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada also called Montreal Massacre
June, 1989 Tiananmen Massacre up to 2,600 Beijing, China Chinese PLA troops open fire on unarmed students and civilians gathered in Beijing
November 13, 1990 Aramoana massacre 13 Aramoana, New Zealand Psychotic gunman, David Gray, opens fire on residents in a peaceful coastal settlement.
November 12, 1991 Dili Massacre 271 Dili, East Timor Timorese protesting Indonesian rule are killed by Indonesian soldiers.
February 25, 1994 Second Hebron Massacre 29 Hebron, West Bank Israeli extremist Baruch Goldstein opens fire on a group of Palestinian Muslims praying at the Cave of the Patriarchs site.
July 11, 1995 Srebrenica Massacre ~8000 Bosnia and Herzegovina Considered the largest massacre in Europe since World War II
1994 Rwandan Massacre 800,000 Rwanda Hutus massacre Tutsis for 3 months
March 13, 1996 Dunblane massacre 18 Dunblane, Scotland, United Kingdom
April 18, 1996 Qana Massacre 102 Qana , South of Lebanon
April 29, 1996 Port Arthur massacre 35 Tasmania, Australia
1997 Sanaa massacre 8 Yemen
April 3, 1997 Thalit massacre 52 Thalit, Algeria
April 22, 1997 Haouch Khemisti massacre 93 Haouch Mokhfi Khemisti , Algeria
June 16, 1997 Dairat Labguer massacre ~50 Dairat Labguer , Algeria
August 20, 1997 Souhane massacre 64 Souhane, Algeria
August 28, 1997 Rais massacre ~200 Rais , Algeria
September 22, 1997 Bentalha massacre >200 Bentalha , Algeria
December 22, 1997 Acteal massacre 45 Acteal , Mexico Allegedly government-linked paramilitaries attack a prayer meeting professing support for the goals of EZLN rebels
December 30, 1997 Wilaya of Relizane massacres of 30 December 1997 412 4 villages near Souk El Had , Algeria
January 10, 1998 Sidi Hamed massacre 103 Sidi Hamed , Algeria
March 24, 1998 Jonesboro massacre 5 Arkansas, United States
December 9, 1998 Tadjena massacre 42 Algeria
April 20, 1999 Columbine High School massacre 15 Littleton, Colorado, United States Two teenage students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, executed a planned shooting rampage killing 12 other students and a teacher before committing suicide. It is considered to be the worst school shooting in U.S. history.
January 911, 2001 Yakaolang massacre ~300 Yakaolang, Afghanistan Taliban executes civilian members of the Shia Sadat and Hazara clans
June 1, 2001 Nepalese royal family massacre 8 Katmandu, Nepal Prince Dipendra shoots his immediate family and himself at a royal dinner
June 8, 2001 Osaka School Massacre 8 Ikeda, Osaka prefecture, Japan
September 11, 2001 September 11, 2001 attacks ~3,000 New York, Washington DC, Pennsylvania (United States) Al-Qaida hijacks 4 U.S. commercial airliners for use in a suicide bombing attack on major American targets. Two planes struck the World Trade Center towers in New York, causing the majority of the deaths; one plane hit the Pentagon; one plane was downed in a Pennsylvania field by its passengers (all of whom were killed.)
September 27, 2001 Zug massacre 14 Zug, Switzerland Friedrich Leibacher (44) entered the Zug parliament and opened fire, killing three members of the cantonal government and 11 parliamentarians before turning the gun on himself.
December, 2001 Dasht-i-Leili massacre 250–3000 Afghanistan Taliban prisoners were shot and/or suffocated to death in metal truck containers while being transferred between prisons by Northern Alliance soldiers during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
February 2002 2002 Gujarat violence ~800–2000 Gujarat state, India Sectarian violence following a train fire in Godhra
March 6 2002 Nanterre massacre 8 Nanterre, Hauts-de-Seine, France Gun massacre by a disturbed individual on a council meeting
March 28, 2002 Passover massacre 30 Netanya, Israel
April 26, 2002 Erfurt massacre 17 Erfurt, Thuringia, Germany
May 2, 2002 Bojaya Massacre 117 Bojayį, Colombia Terrorist organization FARC throw an explosive into a church full of people
October 4, 2003 Maxim restaurant massacre 21

Haifa, Israel||

March 2, 2004 Ashoura Massacre ~170 Karbala, Baghdad, (Iraq)
March 11, 2004 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks 191 Madrid, (Spain) Islamic terrorists apparently linked to Al-Qaida plant several bombs aboard four commuter trains in Madrid
May 2, 2004 Yelwa massacre ~630 Nigeria
May 19, 2004 Mukaradeeb 42 Iraq Bombing of a wedding party; described by US forces as a mistake provoked by its celebratory gunfire
September 3, 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis 331 Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia
March 21, 2005 Red Lake High School Massacre 10 Red Lake, Minnesota, United States


See also

Last updated: 05-07-2005 12:21:56
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04