The Futurist is running a two part article (titled “The Winds of War, The Sands of Time”) discussing the relative state of peace in the world. The article points out that from the metric of human beings killed in combat; the last couple years have been the most peaceful in recorded human history. The reasons for this “”expansion of peace” are the usual suspects; expansion of democracy and an increase in overall absolute wealth worldwide.
The other interesting piece of data gleaned from the article is the wikipedia List of wars and disasters by death toll. When I saw this page I had the same feeling as the one I got the day I first saw the History channel. Something along the lines of “Ohhhh, crap! There goes my free-time for the next six months.” They even list the individual battles by death toll.
Please excuse me, I have some reading to do.