Top 10 Most Terrible Events in History

I knew an old woman who lived on my street when I was about sixteen. That would be around 1980 or so, and I remember she still had the numbers tattooed on her arm. That was devastating to me because I knew she had suffered horrors we could never begin to understand. She had seen things no one should see: family members gassed, shot, children murdered. This was profoundly emotional for me and still is. This is by far the worst atrocity ever suffered by any one group of people - millions of Jews murdered just because they were Jews. Hitler was a maniac, but people loved him. That above all astounds me the most. As human beings, we are born with a sense of right and wrong - how did millions do this for him and believe in it?

Hands down, the most horrifying event in modern-day history is the Holocaust. Concentration camps, especially Auschwitz-Birkenau, treated Jewish people in such horrible ways that it is impossible to fully comprehend. Nazis were let off way too lightly. How can you gas three million innocent people and feel nothing inside? How can you watch grotesque piles of bodies increase day by day, watch people with thin bodies and gaunt eyes become nothing more than skeletons, knowing that this will be their existence until they are gassed or shot? The history of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust deserves its own class in high schools across the world.

In my opinion, World War II, along with the Holocaust, are the most horrible and tragic events in history. Approximately 52 million people lost their lives during the war, and it was all due to the belief of one race that they were the "Master Race." They believed that anyone who did not look a certain way, share the same religious beliefs, or who opposed them should be killed. Six million Jewish people were killed by the Nazis, and another five million political prisoners, Romani, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc., were also murdered in concentration camps and death camps.

Whoever had to live through that horrible time in history deserves to have World War II and the Holocaust be number 1 and 2 on this list. The inclusion of the birth of Justin Bieber on this list is ridiculous. Whoever added that should be ashamed of themselves. I want to thank all the people who served in the Second World War for bringing down the Third Reich. We should always remember and never forget.

Way worse than 9/11, sorry Yanks. I know your aunt probably died, but listen, 9/11 involved thousands. This was millions. However, I think of this as possibly the worst event if the death toll is worse than WWII (I can't remember, have to Google it). But it is not the worst as a virus. Because if it had happened within the last century, like the Spanish Flu did, it wouldn't have killed as many people as it did in the 1300s. Currently, I see the Spanish H1N1 as the possible worst virus in history. Maybe along with this, as there is still not major proof it wouldn't have killed as many people in the 1900s and 2000s. But if COVID surpasses the Spanish H1N1, then I will officially rank it the worst virus in history and the second worst event behind World War II.

It's hard to recognize the horrible devastation this left on the Old World. An entire village would be wiped out. Cities were breeding grounds for disease. People thought it was a punishment from the divine, beating themselves in public hoping God would have mercy. You'd wake up every morning and check yourself for sores, and if you found them, you knew you'd die the next day. No doubt Europe's population would be the size of India or China today if it wasn't for this event.

I was four years old when this happened, and man, let me tell you, I was crying like the world was going to end. Everyone thought I was smart for a four-year-old, and that I acted like a six-year-old, but I still cried like crazy. My parents were on the couch watching television, while I was running back and forth in the living room. My parents told me what had happened, but I didn't understand what a terrorist was, or what an accidental mishap was, either. I just understood their tones of voice were very serious, and I was a cheerful child. Just knowing that they were very serious made me upset, and when they started crying, I lost it.

I don't understand how anyone in their right mind could fly themselves into a tower, killing lots and lots of people. Don't tell me they weren't in their right minds, because I know they were. How could someone insane fly an airplane, pass security, and hit directly into the tower? I know they weren't being right with their right mind, but they were in their right mind. I just hate everything about the 9/11 attacks. When people joke about 9/11, I get offended. Since I wasn't alive during the Holocaust, I think that the 9/11 attacks were the worst events in history.

FYI, the slave trade has existed for tens of thousands of years, not just 400, and not just for African peoples. The Romans alone enslaved people from every nationality, and today in some small places, slavery still exists in the form of sex slaves and serfs. Yes, America didn't contribute anything good in that department by continuing to use slaves until the Civil War, but it didn't start with Americans, and sadly, it didn't end with the abolishment of slavery. Because of the billions of people throughout time enslaved and the fact that almost everyone living today can trace their roots back far enough to where someone in their family was a slave, I think slavery is the worst act brought onto mankind.

This just pains me so much. I've got to say, when I was younger, kids bullied me because of my skin. It just goes to show that even if you stop something, kids may still carry on with it (in a more childish way, e.g., bullying). This should be number one, joint with the Holocaust.

Both leave horrible thoughts in people's minds.

You can't judge people on their skin color. Judge them on their personality. In fact, just don't judge!

Think of Aesop. He was judged because of his looks. His parents sold him and made him a slave just because they believed he was ugly. But look at him now. He's a famous myth writer that everybody knows!

If this hadn't been stopped, some of the most famous black people in the world wouldn't even be known.

The Japanese government caused this to happen to their own people. The USA literally warned Japan to evacuate the civilians from the two cities after the Americans warned Japan that they would get nuked if they never surrendered to them.

I am Japanese, and I have seen photos of victims from this event. My mum told me countless times about how much damage the bombs caused and how war was pointless. In Japan, I saw countless books, movies, and documentaries about this, and it is sad that people can do things like this to each other. Little kids, men, women, moms, dads, grandparents, all were killed without mercy. Imagine how the people slowly died from burns, radiation poisoning, and the like. I know it was done to stop the war, and I don't hate any American people for this, but I don't want this to ever happen again. And why is this lower than Justin Bieber?! Would you rather stop this event that killed thousands of innocent people or the birth of one lousy human being? If only this was taught in school in detail. Students should see the people with severe burns, melting skin, and those who look like a black lump in the shape of a human. It wasn't a quick death. We need to look at these tragedies in detail so as never to forget about how much pain and sadness it caused for people.

The First World War is often overshadowed by the Second, which is believed to have created catastrophic devices, turned countries around, and killed millions. What isn't understood, however, is that the First World War started it all. King Wilhelm united Germany under Prussia, creating what was thought to be a great country. However, his son, Wilhelm the Second, shoved off his advisor and all his father's hard work. Power was unable to quench his thirst, thus beginning a foolish domination of the European countries. True, the number of lives lost is incomparable to that of the events of World War II, but it was the loss presented by this foolish ruler and the greed of the countries involved that tore people to ruins, electing to power Hitler under the democracy, desperate for any salvation.

In other words, it was the foolish decisions of the second king, the catastrophic scale, damage, and backlash of this true war that ignited the flames in many hearts to follow a path leading to even greater ruin. Truly a terrible, and perhaps one of the most memorable, events.

Yes, I agree, the sinking of the Titanic wasn't as catastrophic as the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, but still, it is the only thing behind it. Generally, the reason why the Titanic is more talked about is that it was called "Unsinkable" by the media because of its size, while the Wilhelm Gustloff wasn't.

Also, the Titanic's sinking was actually avoidable. The reason it sank is that the Titanic collided with ice on the starboard side, which created a 300-foot gash in the hull, breaching six watertight compartments, and the Titanic was designed to survive head-on collisions. Another factor is that Captain Smith went to bed during the collision. If he had been at the helm at that moment, he would have hit the iceberg head-on because he knew from his 40 years at sea that it would only breach two of the watertight compartments.

Additionally, there were surprisingly many shortcuts in the construction of the Titanic in Belfast. That's because Harland & Wolff wanted to build a ship of that size in a short amount of time and at a reasonable cost. So, they cut corners with many things, such as the bulkheads and especially with the rivets. They knew that they should be of better quality, but they bought the cheaper ones so that it wouldn't cost as much.

All this, along with a bunch of other reasons, is why this once wonderful ship now sits at the bottom of the North Atlantic, 400 miles from the nearest piece of land (Newfoundland).

How is this below Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Granted, the death toll was higher, there were innocent people, but Japan's intention was to make America useless so that it couldn't defend itself. America wanted to end the war. Japan is technically responsible for Hiroshima and Nagasaki anyway. If they hadn't bombed Pearl Harbor, America wouldn't have taken revenge. The Pearl Harbor attack isn't just tragic in itself but also in that it caused other attacks.

In my opinion, Pearl Harbor was worse than Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and not only because I'm American. Even though more people died with the atomic bombs than with the surprise attack, our bombing of Japan actually made sense. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was completely uncalled for since, at the time, the US and Japan weren't even at war!

When we bombed Nagasaki and Hiroshima, that was a last resort effort to end the war started as a result of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese warlords were extremely stubborn and refused to stop fighting, even though it was obvious they were losing. By dropping the atomic bombs, America could've even saved lives! After all, Japan wasn't about to just give up.

And not only that, but two days prior to the bombs, US planes dropped 700,000 pamphlets down to Japan warning the Japanese of the coming disasters. They chose not to take heed of the pamphlets, which is why so many got killed. They didn't do that for us before they attacked Pearl Harbor, now did they?

So yeah, even though I think that the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastating (and I really mean that. Sorry, Japan, wish it didn't have to end that way), I still think Pearl Harbor was worse and should be higher.

People don't take the Holodomor as a serious tragedy, but as a Ukrainian, for me, it is a very painful memory. My grandmothers survived that time, but they still cannot forget how their children died in their arms.

More people died in the Holodomor than in the Holocaust, which is truly horrific. Ukrainian traditions and people were starved to death for vile reasons. Children, mothers, and pregnant women were shot if they tried to save or reach food. In the notes of some journalists, they described how newborns and children were dumped in piles of bodies, looking more like bags of skin and bones, and then burned to ashes. It wasn't kept as a secret. People just chose not to accept the fact that this was happening.

The Holocaust is at the top of this list (and rightly so, in my opinion), but this event needs to be higher. Millions of people were systematically starved, soldiers murdered with impunity, and the saddest thing of all is that barely anybody knows that it happened.

Do you people just ignore the events in ancient and medieval history and focus on modern history? That can imply why this list is so biased. Sandy Hook above the Mongol Conquests, the Crusades, and slavery? Why do you people care more about the deaths of 26 innocent people rather than the deaths of millions?

They killed an insane number of people, raping, pillaging, and torturing villages from Baghdad to Beijing. If a city didn't surrender to the Mongols, the Mongols starved and burned the city, killing the citizens in droves.

The cause of this, Genghis Khan, was brutal. He poured molten silver into the victims' eyes and ears. He even killed his half-brother as a child. Killed more people than Hitler, etc.

My mum and dad were young when this happened, and they told me about how my mum's mum almost died in it. I told my mum about when we learned about it in school, and she burst into tears. Then she told me about how her mum died. I burst into tears also. Then my dad came in and started kissing my mum! I almost puked, though.

How is this so low on the list? Maybe it's not the worst thing that's ever happened in history, but it was pretty damn horrible.

This was a time of poverty and despair that caused many lives to start deteriorating.

The Rwanda Genocide is indeed one of the most traumatic events in history. It should be right under the Holocaust. How can one genocide be on top and the other be ranked lower than the birth of Donald Trump? Has his birth killed 10,000 people each day?

Some things shouldn't be joked about. I am a Rwandan, born and raised. Even 24 years after the genocide, people still scream and shout during commemoration events. Nothing can erase it from people's lives.

This genocide is a living proof of the inefficiency of the UN. We hope nothing as such ever happens again in this world. We are waiting for the moment when FRANCE will gather the courage to admit their involvement in the preparation...

How is the Birth of Donald Trump before this? People killed their own neighbors, even wives, with machetes and clubs just based on what tribe they were. The chilling words "cut down the tall trees," as a signal to start the genocide. Tutsis fled for refuge at their local Catholic churches, but they were not safe there, and many were slaughtered. I view this as worse than the holocaust. The holocaust was done systematically so no one would have to be directly killing one by one, and only soldiers were involved, whereas many Hutus that were not part of armies took up arms and killed their own neighbors. Also, the West did nothing to intervene.

I can't believe this happened. So many innocent children were murdered that day. It's so sad. I am still in school, and I wish I had never heard about it. But, it doesn't matter if this incident only had 27 deaths. Everything that leaves a scar in history can't be undone.

I know it's selfish, but my friends and I sometimes worry because the school we go to had an incident last year where a kid brought a gun to school. Imagine being one of those kids? Also, the Columbine Massacre was absolutely horrific. I've heard about all that happened. Eric and Dylan should be locked up in hell, with people slicing their throats continuously, and they should feel it.

The thing that's sad to me about this is that there are many school shootings, not just one. It's like having 100 9/11s every year. Yeah, I know that 9/11 killed more people than one, but there are at least 100 of these school shootings, and you're killing kids that had not had a full life yet. They're all just so sad.

Approximately 5% of the world's population at the time died. The life expectancy dropped by 12 years. Terrible stuff, probably one of the worst 'disasters' in human history.

So many people died. This is 30 times more deadly than a regular flu. This COVID-19 pandemic is nothing compared to this. Be grateful.

I am just grateful that I didn't live back then. But this is awful. A war had just ended and now a pandemic? What the heck.

With the assumption of power of a superpower country, we expected him to exhibit higher degrees of responsible statements, and not further polarize America and the world with his racist remarks and policies towards ethnic-religious minorities of America and the Muslim world.

He is a horrible man, and I fear for my future in this country and for the whole world's safety. The sad part is I'm only 15.

Everyone died inside.

The largest famine in human history as well as the single deadliest policy ever to be put into place by a government. It probably led to thirty to forty thousand deaths per day, which is about ten to twelve nine-elevens per day. The only thing it has "going for it" was that the famine was due to incompetence and ignorance as compared to direct malice or intent to kill, though it certainly would take an unimaginably cold or stupid person to let an event like this go on for three straight years.

The Holocaust killed 6 million in 6 years... The Great Leap Forward killed 60 million in 4 years.

Why does no one bother mentioning this? Millions of people died in the span of three years.

There are other things worse than the Coronavirus, but still, it's a terrible thing. So far, 2020 has been a horrible year! The 2020s are not off to a good start at all! The 2010s weren't off to a good start either, Jeff Conaway died in 2011 of cocaine. Kenickie's my Grease crush!

It is in a reasonable place, but it should be slightly higher. It had so many awful deaths, and if it had happened at another time in history when we didn't have the tools to deal with it, this would have killed millions in months.

How in the hell is this only number 93? I can't do any of my fun activities now because this awful virus had to come and kill thousands of people and close everything.

The Japanese killed 300,000 Chinese civilians in the most sadistic and cruel ways ever. People were burned alive, skinned alive, boiled alive, buried alive, disemboweled, mutilated, dismembered, beheaded, and castrated. It should've been ranked in 1st place, and the fact that Donald Trump's election is ranked higher than this event is just rude and disrespectful.

Should definitely be ranked higher than the Coronavirus Outbreak, Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, 9/11, Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Pearl Harbor, Sinking of the Titanic, The Great Depression, Sandy Hook shooting, and Donald Trump's election.

The fact that the Nanjing Massacre is ranked lower than 9/11, Donald Trump's election, and Pearl Harbor is beyond me. This massacre should be ranked in 2nd place to the Holocaust.

Turkey has a state-imposed denial of these "events of mass death of Armenians" being genocide. I would also like to point out that the Armenian Genocide also coincided with the less talked about genocides of nearly a million Greeks and three-quarters of a million Assyrians by the Ottoman Empire. These too are denied by Turkey.

I am half Armenian, and when my mom told me what the lavender flower meant for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, I was heartbroken. The Ottoman Empire almost wiped out all of the Armenians.

As an Armenian, this is one of the great crimes in human history that should never be forgotten and NEVER repeated.

It's like the World War in Africa.

This was another plague (bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic) epidemic that occurred in the first millennium. Some people estimate up to half of the world's population was killed by this event. That's even more than the Second Plague Pandemic (the Black Death) and the Third Plague Pandemic.

The Columbine shooting was horrible. At approximately 11:19 am, Eric Harris (18) and Dylan Klebold (17) started shooting. They were dressed in black trench coats, which they did wear before, so it just seemed normal for them.

They had propane tank bombs planted in the cafeteria set to kill 600 people, but they couldn't wire them properly, so the bombs never went off. After the bombs were to go off, they wanted to shoot any survivors, but as you can see, it didn't really go as they wanted it to.

By 11:35 am, they had killed twelve students and one teacher, wounding more than twenty people. At exactly 12:08 pm, they turned the guns on themselves and pulled the trigger.

In the end, they killed about fifteen people and wounded twenty-four. They wanted so much power that the world would shudder at the power they had.

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold wanted to leave their mark on the world, and not in a good way. Eric was a psychopath who fantasized about killing people, and both of the boys wrote about blowing up the school and killing 2,000 people in their journals. They were racists - they killed students for the mere fact that they were black and they killed a girl because they asked her if she believed in God and she replied 'yes'. When they killed people, they laughed and enjoyed themselves, and left a teacher to bleed to death. The massacre, in my opinion, deserves to be somewhere in the top 10. It is one of the most recent tragedies, and even though 15 people were killed (including themselves), their intentions were so much worse. Their actions will leave a lasting impact on their families and the families and friends of the victims, not to mention the survivors.

I actually remember that day, going home from a friends, and news about a bombing at the marathon. I thought the guys were so stupid, to blow up people that were running for a charity. I also remember some towns had to go under lockdown and the news wouldn't shut up about it.

My friend's mom was a couple of miles ahead of the bombs when they went off.

Seriously? Who drops a bomb with bb's in it to hurt audience of people running?!?!?!?