What was the costliest battle in human history?

Answer 1

2,000,000 - Brusilov Offensive (4 June-20 September 1916)
1,800,000 - Battle of Stalingrad (1942–1943)
1,500,000 - Siege of Leningrad (1941–1944)
700,000 - Battle of Moscow (1941–1942)
552,000 - Battle of Gallipoli (1916)
500,000 - Battle of Smolensk (1941)
400,000 - Battle of Kiev (1941)
370,000 - Battle of Voronezh (1942)
370,000 - Battle of Belarus (1941)
330,000 - First Battle of the Marne (1914)
300,000 - Battle of the Somme (1916)
300,000[1] - Siege of Tenochtitlan (1519–1521) - Note: This is the MAXIMUM number, as this is the number of citizens in Tenochtitlan during Cortes' attack. It is almost beyond doubt that A) The actual figure is significantly lower once one accounts for those who escaped, and B) That the actual figure for the general decimation of the Aztecs & their tributaries as a whole (and not just one battle) would be significantly higher, once one considers the entire area of Aztec influence.
280,000 - Warsaw Uprising (1944)
280,000 - Second Battle of the Aisne (1917)
270,000 - Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive (1942)
270,000 - Battle of West Ukraine (1944)
260,000 - Battle of Verdun (1916)
260,000 - Battle of the Caucasus (1942)
250,000 - Battle of Gaugamela (331 BC)
240,000 - Third Battle of the Aisne (1918)
240,000(est) - Battle of Bibracte (58 BC)
230,000 - Battle of Berlin (1945)
230,000–350,000 - Battle of Kursk (1943)
207,000 - Battle of Plataea (479 BC)
200,000 - Siege of Tenochtitlan (1520–1521)
200,000 - Battle of Carthage (c.149 BC) (149 BC–146 BC)
190,000 - Battle of West Ukraine (1941)
180,000 - Battle of France (1940)
175,000–350,000 - Operation Bagration (1944)
170,000 - Battle of the Lower Dnieper (1943)
170,000 - Battle of Königsberg (1945)
165,000–300,000 Battle of Chalons (451)
150,000 - Battle of Rostov (1941)
150,000 - Battle of Okinawa (1945)
150,000 - Battle of Passchendaele (1917)
140,000 - Battle of Vercellae (101 BC)
132,000 - Battle of Normandy (1944)
130,000 - Battle of Budapest (1945)
125,000 - Third Battle of Nanking (1864)
125,000 - Battle of Lemberg (1914)
120,000 - Battle of Arausio (105 BC)
117,000 - Battle for the Liberation of Manila (1945)
115,000 - Battle of the Frontiers (1914)
110,000 - Battle of Issus (333 BC)
100,000 - Battle of Chernikov-Poltava (1943)
100,000 - Battle of Smolensk (1943)
100,000(est) - Battle of Lugdunum (197)
90,000 - Battle of Cambrai (1917)
90,000 - Battle of Aquae Sextiae (102 BC)
83,000 - Battle of the Baltic (1941)
80,000 - Battle of Gazala (1942)
80,000 - Battle of the Somme (1918)
80,000 - Second Battle of the Marne (1918)
80,000(est) - Battle of Watling Street (AD 61)
74,000 - Battle of Polyarnoe-Karelia (1941)
72,000+ - Battle of Belgorod (1943)
70,000 - Second Battle of El Alamein (1942)
70,000 - Second Battle of the Atlantic (1939–1945)
70,000 - Second Battle of Anchialus (917)
69,000 - Battle of Leyte (1944)
66,000 - Battle of Donbass (1943)
65,000 - Battle of Lvov-Sandomir (1944)
62,000 - Battle of Artois (1915)
61,000 - Battle of the Baltic (1944)
60,000 - Battle of Basra (655)
60,000 - Battle of Monte Cassino (1944)
60,000 - Battle of Arras (1917)
60,000 - First Battle of Ypres (1914)
60,000 - Second Battle of Champagne (1915)
56,000–66,000 - Battle of Cannae (216 BC)
55,000 - Korsun Pocket (1944)
55,000 - Battle of Voronezh (1942)
50,000–80,000 - Battle of Salamis (480 BC)
50,000 - Meuse-Argonne offensive (1918)
50,000 - Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo (1917)
50,000 - Battle of Caporetto (1917)
50,000 - Battle of Hsuchow (1927)
45,000 - Fourth Battle of Kharkov (1943)
45,000 - Battle of Hurtgen Forest (1944–1945)
44,000 - Battle of the Crimea (1944)
42,000 - Battle of the Seelow Heights (1945)
40,000–56,000 - Tet Offensive (1968)
40,000 - Battle of Imphal (1944)
40,000 - Battle of Adrianople (378)
38,000 - Battle of the Bulge (1944–1945)
37,000 - Battle of Tannenberg (1914)
36,500 - Battle of the Ebro (1938)
35,000 - Battle of Mukden (1905)
32,000 - Battle of Lepanto (1571)
31,000 - Battle of Thapsus (46 BC)
31,000 - Battle of Taierzhuang (1937)
30,000 - Hartmannswillerkopf (1914-1918)
30,000 - Battle of Saipan (1944)
30,000 - Battle of Konotop (1659)
30,000 - Battle of Marignan (1515)
30,000–50,000 - Battle of Naissus (268)
30,000 - Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9)
30,300–34,000 - Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC)
29,000 - Battle of Iwo Jima (1945)
28,000–38,000 - Battle of Towton, (Wars of the Roses, 1461)
26,000 - Battle of Guadalcanal, (1942–1943)
25,000 - Battle of Pydna (168 BC)
26,000 - Katyn Massacre (1940)
24,000 - Battle of Chancellorsville (1863)
22,500 - Battle of Leipzig (1813)
21,000 - Battle of Guam (1944)
20,000–30,000 - Battle of Munda (45 BC)
20,000 - Battle of the Trebia (218 BC)
20,000 - Battle of Zama (202 BC)
19,000 - Battle of Vienna (1683)
18,500 - Battle of Borodino (1812)
18,500 - Operation Market Garden (1944)
17,000 - Battle of Bataan (1942)
16,500 - Battle of Halhin Gol (1939)
15,000 - Battle of Waterloo (1815)
15,000 - Battle of Lake Trasimene (217 BC)
13,500 - Battle of Leyte Gulf (1944)
12,000 - Siege of Tobruk (1941)
11,000 - Battle of Heraclea (180 BC)
11,000 - Siege of Petersburg, Virginia (1864–1865)
10,500 - Battle of Asculum (279 BC)
10,360 - Battle of Mons Graupius (83 or 84)
10,000 - Battle of Ðiện Biên Phủ (1954)
10,000 - Battle of the Metaurus (207 BC)
10,000 - Battle of Celaya (1913)
8,700 - Battle of Cynoscephalae (197 BC)
8,600 - Battle of Jutland (1916)
8,000+ - Battle of Agincourt, (Hundred Years' War, 1415)
7,200 - Kokoda Track Campaign, (1942–1943)
7,058 - Battle of Gettysburg (1863)
7,000–11,000 - Battle of Pharsalus (48 BC)
6,592 - Battle of Marathon (490 BC)
6,500 - Battle of the Kasserine Pass (1943)
6,500 - Battle of Tinian (1944)
5,600–6,600 Battle of Tali-Ihantala (1944)
5,700 - Battle of Tarawa (1943)
5,350+ - Battle of Suomussalmi (1939–1940)
5,000–8,000 - Battle of Hastings (1066)
5,000+ - Battle of Dara (530)
5,000+ - Battle of Dyrrhachium (1081)
4,808 - Battle of Antietam (1862)
4,360 - Battle of Chickamauga (1863)
4,329 - Battle of Isandlwana (1879)
4,175 - Battle of Leuthen (1757)
3,750 - Battle of the Wilderness (1864)
3,477 - Battle of Shiloh (1862)
3,205 - Second Battle of Bull Run (1862)
2,800 - Battle of Midway (1942)
2,400 - La Noche Triste (1520)
2,000+ - Battle of Vimeiro (August 20, 1808)
2,000+ - Battle of Manzikert (1071)
1,900 - First Battle of Fredericksburg (1862)
1,705 - Battle of Cold Harbor (June 1-June 3, 1864)
1,700 - Battle of Vicksburg (1863)
1,015 - Battle of Bud Dajo (Philippines, 1906)
1,000+ - Battle of Dyrrhachium (48 BC)
868 - First Battle of Bull Run (July 21, 1861)
639 - Battle of San Jacinto (1836)
586 - Battle of the Alamo (1836)
567 - Battle of Rorke's Drift (1879)
495 - Battle of Monongahela (1755)
366 - Battle of Bunker Hill (1775)
350 - Battle of Spioen Kop (1900)
302 - Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)
200–2,850 - Battle for Fallujah (November 8–November 14, 2004

Answer 2

Because an incompetent nincompoop corporal with a toothbrush mustache decided that sacrificing an entire army for a useless place with a fancy name was a good idea. Stalingrad was just a city. A big city, the gateway to the Caucasus. But on its own not worth anything at all. He wanted to take it regardless the costs and hold it, no matter what, because of the name. After loosing Stalingrad, the German army lost the offense, and began to withdraw. The cost had been (far) too high. They lost almost every men, every gun and a lot more of von Paulus' army. Including von Paulus, but that was just a side benefit. He was a very good planner, but a terrible commander. No nation can afford to loose an entire army.

Answer 3

It could have been the Battle of Thermopylae where King Leonidas and 300 Spartans died to a man in order to give the Greeks time to prepare for the Persian invasion. There was a monument on the battlefield in ancient times that read, "Stranger: Go and tell the Spartans that, obedient to their will, we remain here."

Maybe the silliest of the costliest was the charge of the light brigade during the Crimean war (1850's).

Answer 4

As far as casualties, the Battle of Stalingrad was arguably the bloodiest, with 740,000 Germans killed or wounded, and another 110,000 captured (most died in captivity), with 750,000 Russians killed, wounded or captured and at least 40k civilians as well.

The Battle of the Somme is probably the next bloodiest. Around 500,000 German casualties, 420,000 British, and 200,000 French, for a total of about 1.1 million, all for only about 12 km of territory.

Answer 5

human history? the battle against racism

Answer 6

The Battle of the Marne during World War I would rank right up there: 250,000 on each side.

Here are the details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_the_Marne

Answer 7

Stats for various individual battles http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm#WW1

Answer 8

In lives or money??? Lives it was WW1 took place in 1914 over 250,000 killed in one day? In costs id have to say when we dropped bomb on Japan in todays dollars gov spent billions on development

Answer 9

do you mean financially or ecomonically? or cost in human lives? there is no winner in a war, only losers, regardless of who starts or finishes it. thats what the inventor of the atomic bomb found out, which is why he committed suicide after seeing what happened to human life in japan in WW2.

Answer 10

Probably "Shock and Awe" in 2003. Supposedly each radio guided missile the US uses is worth a million.

Answer 11

It's still raging.....the battle of the bulge....eat on