why did so many civialians die in world war two?

Answer 1

A few reasons.

hitler started off killing civilians. The Jews were not the 1st people he started killing. He started out with the retarded and handicaped. Since he was willing to do this killing civilians during the course of conducting a war wasnt even a concern with him.

battles took place in civilian areas (Towns and cities) where civilians were still present.

bombs were not guided so they would drop 500 to hit one taget and maybe 2 would hit what they were aiming at so the others hit something else.

Fire bombing was practiced by all sides during the war. This was a practice of dropping bombs that caused things to burn more than explode. They would plan these bombing runs in areas where houses and building were close together and when the winds were high. This cause fires to spread from house to house building to building at a very high rate. It was not unusual for entire towns to burn to the ground in a matter of hours.

The Germans killed civilians on a regular basis to retailiate agianst killings of their troops they believed were cuased by local resistance forces. They also killed many they though were sympathetic to the enemy.

Japan was extreamly ruthless in the killing of civilians. In the Then Capital of China a city named Nanking they killed an estimate of between 300k & 600k civilians in that one city alone. It was so bad that the dead bodies made a dam in the river that flowed through the city. You can read about this if you google "the rape of nanking" amazing book to read. will definatley shock you.

Then you have the 2 atomic bombs that were dropped.

then you have the Jews that were killed by hitler.

All these factored in and others I have not mentioned make it a very heavy civilian loss of life

Answer 2

Mickey G isn't quite right. It (civilian deaths) did not start with the bombing of London. When Hitler invaded Poland with the Blitzkreig, many, many civilians were killed in the attacks, both from the air and the ground. Usually factories were located close to residental areas, and since the bombs had no guidance control, they fell where they were dropped. Another reason is that bombadiers were not always accurate in hitting the target due to various causes. Unfortuately, when civilians are killed like that, all sides of the military use the term "collateral damage". To help prevent this situation is what led to the developement of "smart bombs". However, even then, collateral damage can happen, as when Hanoi had anti-aircraft weaponry on rooftops in the downtown area. This also occurred when Saddam Hussein had his troop put anit-aircraft implacements on the roofs of schools and hospitals.

Answer 3

Civilians were considered 'legitimate targets' by the military planners in WW2. It started out with German bombers attacking the City of London(some say it was accidental during the Battle of Britain) the the Brits retaliated and back and forth it went. Once it started it wasnt much of a leap to include them as military targets. Many bombing raids were targeted at civilian cities in the hope of turning the population against their leaders and bringing pressure to end the war. (I never understand the logic in this) Other raids were to remove the labour force from the aircraft and munitions factories in Europe to stifle the war effort. The logical extension of this thinking was the bombing of Japan. The firebombing of Tokyo was terrible. Unlike in Europe where houses were made of brick, Japanese houses in the 1940's were made of wood. The bombing raids used 'incendiaries' to start fires to kill as many of the population as possible. One raid on Tokyo cost nearly 80,000 lives and destroyed over 16 square miles of the city. The next step was Hiroshima where the death toll was around 90,000 (not significantly more than Tokyo, but at much less risk for the attacker - 1 plane vs 350)
Hopefully WW2 will be the last time civilians will ever be deliberately targeted in wartime. I dont think it could ever happen again with the power of the media and public opinion these days.

Answer 4

Well, think about it. The Allies and Axis Bombed each others countries and cities. People live in the cities. Like when Germany Bombed London, they killed lots of civilians there. Then after Germany Bombed London, the UK bombed Berlin. When they bombed each other cities, it was a hit or miss situtation. To make it short, they didn't really care about Civilians at that time. To give you a example of this, the nuclear bombs against Japan. Those were just to hit civilians.

Answer 5

Bombs, shells & Bullets, cannot be programed to tell the difference between civilians and soldiers.

Also factor in: (starvation, sickness, old age, natural causes and wounds).

You need to define your question better as civilians in various countries were killed when:

Their country was invaded by Germany:

Poland, Russia, Belgium, Holland, France, Austria, Czechoslovakia , Greece, Crete, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, (MALTA*), Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, etc...etc...

MALTA* bombed by Germany and Italy but never invaded.

Their country was invaded by Russia:

Poland, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia,
Austria, Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany,

Their country was invaded by the Allies to get rid of the Germans, Italians, Bulgarians, Hungarians etc:

North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Germany,

And finally add the over 6 million European Jewish and other ethnic minorities killed by the NAZI's in Concentration & Extermination Camps.

Answer 6

Two reasons mainly.
1) The holocaust
2) Weapons of mass-destruction

Answer 7

1. Nazis genocide (12million)

2. Allied and Axis strategic bombing of cities, up to a million in all theatres of the war.

Answer 8

the war was fought in places that civilians lived and the local Governments wouldnt move them out....Germans and Japanese got under a lot of bombers...

Answer 9

House to house fighting

Answer 10

Holocaust
Bombing campaigns
Rationing