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Britain and global deaths in conflict – an estimate

By Mark Curtis | December 13, 2018

Table – Britain and global deaths in conflicts

The following table is taken from Mark Curtis’ book, Unpeople: Britain’s Secret Human Rights Abuses, published in 2004. It gives figures on the estimated number of deaths for which Britain bears ‘significant responsibility’. There are four categories of British responsibility:

• ‘Direct responsibility’ is where British military and/or covert forces have played a direct role.
• ‘Indirect responsibility’ is where Britain has provided strong support (through trade, arms exports, aid and/or diplomatic support) for allies engaged in aggression or killing.
• ‘Active inaction’ is where Britain has specifically helped to block international action to halt killings (Note that this and the second category are different than merely ‘turning a blind eye’, which would include many other cases).
• The ‘others’ category contains a solitary case, that of the Idi Amin regime’s state terror, a description of which is provided below.

Estimates on the number of deaths in any conflict always vary, often very widely. Where there is no footnote below, I have used the most commonly cited estimate. For others I have generally sourced the varying estimates. The overall figure is between 8.6 million and 13.5 million – or ‘around 10 million’. Of these, Britain bears ‘direct responsibility’ for between 4 million to nearly 6 million deaths.

Note that this figure is if anything likely to be an underestimate. For one thing, not all British interventions have been included, such as those in Oman in 1957-9 and in 1964-74 owing to lack of available on the scale of deaths. In the category of ‘indirect responsibility’, I have excluded many repressive regimes that Britain has backed throughout the postwar period; I have tended to include those cases on which I have focused in this and previous books. I have also not included US backing of the Guatemala regime from the 1960s to the 1980s, responsible for around 200,000 deaths. The reason is that while Britain strongly backed US policy in Central America, there is not as much direct and specific support for US policy in Guatemala as there was in the case of El Salvador and Nicaragua, explained in the third column.

The figures generally refer to the number of ‘enemy’ deaths rather than total deaths, where it has been possible to disaggregate the estimates.

Finally, I do not pretend this is a fully scientific analysis – the exclusion of certain episodes, the extent of British responsibility and the estimates on numbers of deaths are of course all open to interpretation, as in any table of this kind. Nevertheless, it gives a reasonably accurate reflection of British responsibility for a very large number of deaths in the postwar world.

Conflict	Estimated number of deaths	Britain’s role
		Direct responsibility
2003 – invasion of Iraq	10,000-55,000[1]	British forces played secondary role to US in military operations
2001 – bombing of Afghanistan	15,000 – 25,000[2]	Ditto
1999 – bombing of Yugoslavia	1,000[3]	British forces played secondary role to US in military operations as part of wider NATO campaign
1998 – bombing of Iraq	600 – 1,600[4]	British forces played secondary role to US in military operations
1991 – Gulf war against Iraq	over 100,000[5]	Ditto
1982 – Falklands war	655	British military fought Argentina
1961-73 – war against Southeast Asia	2 – 3 million[6]	Britain privately backed US strongly, regularly supported it publicly but also played several direct roles: providing military and ‘counter-insurgency’ advice to South Vietnam; British covert forces took part in the war; intelligence was passed to US military. The British role was therefore more ‘direct’ than ‘indirect’ (see Unpeople, chapter 12)
1962-70 – war in Yemen	100,000 – 200,000	British secret operation involving covert action and arms supplies (see Unpeople, chapter 16)
1964-7 – British suppression of Aden revolt	300 – 900	British ‘colonial’ government forces responsible
1965/6 – Indonesian army slaughters	500,000 – 1 million[7]	Britain provided Indonesian generals with variety of direct, covert support, including ‘information’ operations[8]
1952-60 – war in Kenya	up to 150,000[9]	British colonial war and ‘resettlement’ operations[10]
1948-60 – war in Malaya	10,000 – 13,000	Ditto[11]
1957/8 – rebellion against Indonesian central government	thousands[12]	Covert operation with US to support the rebellion, including arms supplies (see Unpeople, chapter 11)
1956 – British invasion of Egypt	1,600 – 3,000[13]	Military intervention with France and Israel
1948-55 – Uprising in Baltic states of the USSR	75,000[14]	British covert operation to fund and support uprisings[15]
1953 – coup in Iran	300	Covert operation with CIA[16]
1950-3 – Korean war	at least 1 million[17]	Military played key role technically as part of UN force, in reality led by US
1944-9 – Greek civil war	65,000 – 80,000[18]	Military/covert operations to support Greek government
1945-9 – war for Indonesian independence	5,000 – 80,000[19]	Military involvement to suppress independence movement
SUB-TOTAL		4.03m – 5.71m
		Indirect responsibility
2000-present – Israeli killings in occupied territories	2,723[20]	Blair government is strong supporter of Israeli policies, in various ways (see Unpeople, chapter 9)
1999-present – killings in Nigeria	up to 10,000[21]	Blair government is strong supporter of Nigerian policies, in various ways (see Unpeople, chapter 10)
1999-present – Second Russian invasion of Chechnya	15,000 – 25,000[22]	Blair government is strong supporter of Russian policies, in various ways (see Unpeople, chapter 9)
1996-present – Nepal civil war	3,300[23]	Blair government provides military/diplomatic support to Nepal government (see Unpeople, chapter 9)
1990- present – Colombia state killings	20,000 – 40,000[24]	Blair and previous governments are strong supporters of Colombian policies, in various ways (see Unpeople, chapter 9)
1976-present – Indonesian attacks in Aceh province	15,000	Blair and previous governments are strong supporters of Indonesian policies, in various ways (see Unpeople, chapter 11)
1969-present – Indonesian attacks in West Papua province	100,000	ditto
1991-2003 – Sanctions against Iraq	500,000 – 1 million[25]	Technically maintained by the UN; in reality supported virtually solely by Britain and US
1999 – Indonesian attacks in East Timor	around 5,000	Blair government continued to support, and arm, Indonesia, throughout violence[26]
1984-1999 – Turkey’s campaign against Kurds	around 30,000[27]	Blair and previous governments are strong supporters of Turkish policies, in various ways[28]
1998 – US bombing of Sudan	perhaps tens of thousands[29]	Britain strongly supported US attack that destroyed  pharmaceutical factor producing most of Sudan’s life-saving drugs
1994-6 – Russian invasion of Chechnya	60,000 – 100,000	Major government provided strong support to Russia, in various ways
1948-94 – Apartheid South Africa state killings	10,000 – 20,000	British governments consistently backed South African regimes, in various ways[30]
1989 – US invasion of Panama	350 – 3,000[31]	Britain provided strong diplomatic support
1980-88 – Iran/Iraq war	1 million	Thatcher government effectively supported Iraq’s attack on Iran, supplying it with military equipment and financial aid
1987-8 – Iraq’s campaign against Kurds	100,000	Ditto[32]
1984/5 – Ugandan civil war	100,000 – 300,000	Britain provided strong support to Ugandan government and maintained military training programme
1984/5 – Indonesian state killings	5,000	Thatcher government was strong supporter of Indonesia, in various ways
Early 1980s – El Salvador civil war	75,000-80,000	Thatcher government provided strong diplomatic backing to US strategy supporting Salvadoran regime
1980s – US aggression against Nicaragua	30,000	Thatcher government provided strong diplomatic and other backing, including covert support, to US strategy[33]
1953-79 – Shah’s regime in Iran	10,000	British governments provided strong support to Shah’s regime, in various ways[34]
1975 – Indonesian invasion of East Timor	200,000	Wilson/Callaghan governments provided strong backing to Indonesia in various ways[35]
1973 – coup in Chile	at least 3,000	Heath government welcomed coup and backed Pinochet regime, as did subsequent British governments (see Unpeople, chapter 14)
1967-70 – Nigeria/Biafra civil war	1 – 3 million	Wilson government gave strong backing to Nigeria in various ways (see Unpeople, chapter 10)
1963 – Iraq killings	5,000	Macmillan government in effect supported massacres and welcomed new military government (see Unpeople, chapter 5)
1960s – Iraq campaigns against Kurds	12,000 – 100,000[36]	British governments gave strong backing to Iraq in various ways (see Unpeople, chapter 5)
SUB-TOTAL		3.32m – 6.20m
		Active inaction
1990s – Yugoslav civil wars	200,000 – 250,000	Major government played key role to prevent international action against Milosevic regime[37]
1994 – Rwanda genocide	800,000 – 1 million	Major government played key role at the UN to prevent international action to prevent or stop genocide[38]
SUB-TOTAL		1m – 1.25m
		Others
1971-9 – Ugandan state terror (Idi Amin era)	300,000	Heath government welcomed and supported Amin’s rule in its first year. Most atrocities were committed after this period but Britain bears significant responsibility in enabling Amin regime to consolidate its rule.
SUB-TOTAL		300,000
TOTAL		8.65m – 13.47m

REFERENCES (See Unpeople book for full references)

[1] See chapter 1

[2] Figures vary widely. The Guardian estimated 10,000-20,000 civilian deaths as an indirect result of the bombing. Estimates of the military deaths are usually in the 3,000-6,000 range. Web of Deceit, p.49

[3] Human Rights Watch estimates 500 civilian deaths (‘Civilian deaths in the NATO air campaign’, February 2000, www.hrw.org). Some estimates, which include military deaths, are often over 1,000. 20^th Century Atlas: Alphabetical list of war, massacre, tyranny and genocide, www.users.erols.com

[4] 20^th Century Atlas

[5] Figures vary very widely; see 20^th Century Atlas.  Immediately after the war the US government estimated 100,000 deaths. Other independent estimates are much lower, others much higher.

[6] Figures vary very widely, from hundreds of thousands to 4 million. Most deaths were those of Vietnamese, with figures usually ranging from 1 – 3 million. Hundreds of thousands were also killed in Cambodia and Laos.

[7] Some estimates are as low as 300,000 but most credible figures are much higher and some estimate over a million.

[8] See Web of Deceit, chapter 20

[9] estimated number of deaths due principally to the brutal ‘resettlement’ operations. Estimates of number of Mau Mau killed in actual fighting vary from 10,000-13,000.

[10] See Web of Deceit, chapter 15

[11]  See Web of Deceit, chapter 16

[12] Figures unknown

[13] 20^th Century Atlas

[14] Prados, p.43

[15] See Dorril, chapter  16

[16] See Web of Deceit, chapter 14

[17] Figures vary very widely. This is approximate figure for North Korean and Chinese deaths

[18] This is approximate figure for deaths on the rebels (ie, EAM/ELAS) side.

[19] Figures vary extremely widely. See 20^th Century Atlas

[20] Figure from September 2000 (beginning of second intifada) to March 2004; Palestinian Red Crescent Society, http://www.palestinercs.org

[21] Nigerian police and army are complicit in many of these killings; See chapter 10

[22] Russia provided an official number of 15,000 Chechen deaths by August 2003 (AFP, ‘Russia underplays Chechnya deaths’, 8 August 2003). This is likely to be a severe underestimate, especially in light of the ferocious attack on Grozny in 1999/2000.

[23] Number of deaths by government forces from 1996-2002; Web of Deceit, p.81

[24] Figures vary. 35,000 – 40,000 is a commonly cited figure since 1990; some current estimates, however, state 15,000 in the past 10 years.

[25] The UN estimated half a million deaths of children under five as a result of the 1991 war and sanctions. Former UN Coordinator for Iraq, Denis Halliday, has given a figure, including adults, of over a million. Web of Deceit, p.29

[26] See Web of Deceit, chapter 21

[27] The Turkish government in 2001 gave a figure of 23,000 Kurds killed; www.harpers.org/warcrime.html; Independent estimates are usually higher.

[28] See Web of Deceit, chapter 1

[29] see Web of Deceit, p.111; Chomsky, Hegemony or Survival, p,206

[30] See Ambiguities of Power, pp.119-29

[31] The Central American Human Rights Commission estimates 2,000-3,000; Physicians for Human Rights estimates 300 civilian deaths and 50 military deaths (‘Panama: Operation Just Cause’, December 1990)

[32] See Web of Deceit, chapter 1

[33] See Web of Deceit, chapter 4

[34] See Web of Deceit, chapter 14

[35] See Web of Deceit, chapter 21

[36] Figures vary widely; 20^th Century Atlas

[37] See especially Brendan Simms, Unfinest hour: Britain and the destruction of Bosnia, Allen Lane, London, 2001

[38] See Web of Deceit, chapter 18

June 30, 2019 - Posted by aletho | Militarism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | UK