The An Lushan Rebellion

12,750,000

estimated total dead

Each dot below represents 1,000 human lives. Scroll to watch the scale unfold.

Military Dead

750,000 soldiers killed in combat, from wounds, or from disease. Each = 1,000 lives.

Tang Dynasty — 400,000 military dead

Yan Rebels — 350,000 military dead

Civilian Dead

12,000,000 civilians killed — from violence, famine, disease, and displacement. Wars are not fought only by soldiers.

Civilian dead — 12,000,000

Deadliest Engagements

The Battle of Xiangzhou110,000

incl. 10,000 civilians

The Battle of Tong Pass100,000

The Recapture of the Capitals100,000

incl. 30,000 civilians

The Siege of Suiyang60,000

incl. 30,000 civilians

The Rise and Fall of Shi Siming60,000

incl. 20,000 civilians

The End of the Rebellion50,000

incl. 20,000 civilians

The Fall of Luoyang30,000

incl. 20,000 civilians

The Siege of Yongqiu25,000

incl. 5,000 civilians

For Perspective

How An Lushan Rebellion's dead compare to other conflicts and events.

An Lushan Rebellion — total dead12,750,000

Tang army lost at Tong Pass100,000

Reported eaten at the siege of Suiyang30,000

Tang population before the war (millions)53

Tang population counted after the war (millions)17

Milestones of Loss

53 dead

The imperial census fell from about 53 million people (754) to roughly 17 million (764) — a drop of some 36 million. How much reflects deaths versus the state's collapsed ability to register people is fiercely debated.

30,000 dead

During the ten-month siege of Suiyang, the starving defenders are said to have resorted to cannibalism, consuming tens of thousands of the city's inhabitants — one of the most horrific episodes in Chinese history.

750,000 dead

Military and total casualty figures are highly uncertain; by the widest reading of the census, the rebellion ranks among the deadliest events in human history, though most modern historians treat the raw census drop with caution.

All figures are historical estimates and vary across sources. The true human cost of war is impossible to fully quantify — these numbers represent the best scholarly consensus. Each number was a person with a name, a family, and a life unlived.