reply to post by blocula
How can you say that these specific numbers are true? First of all, they are presented as estimates, with a lower and a higher value, so they cannot
be considered definitive values, just estimates, and if they are estimates then it means that the people behind those numbers couldn't get values
that they considered true.
For example, the 30 years war, besides being a war between two factions and, by definition, cannot be considered as actions of just one of the
factions, one estimate is between 7 and 12 millions (Wikipedia says 8 millions), for, as far as I understand it, from both sides, so it cannot be
presented in the same way as the direct victims of persecution.
And I didn't saw the 100 year war listed as a cause of depopulation.
I think that there's no way of knowing how many people died, so believing some numbers instead of others is just a question of what we are inclined
to believe.
PS: it may be possible to get a good idea of how many people died directly from persecution from the Catholic Church because they were (and are) very
good at keeping records, we just have to find them.