Short documentary puts World War II fatalities into context

WWII

More people died in World War II than in any other conflict in history, yet it can be hard to conceptualize that massive loss of life.

Thankfully, this powerful new 18-minute documentary by Neil Halloran called "The Fallen Of World War II" uses compelling visual graphs to help make those statistics feel tangible.

Specifically, the video charts the military and civilians deaths that took place over the course of the six-year war. It lays out when and why they occurred and juxtaposes the losses experienced by each country involved in the war. The video touches on events that are likely familiar to Americans, like the D-Day invasion and the Holocaust, but it also focuses on the massive and less-discussed loss of life that occurred in the Soviet Union and the Pacific Ocean Theater as well. The final section of the video puts the whole war into a larger historical context and argues that we might actually be living in a far more peaceful time than we think.

There's also an interactive version available on the project's official website.

[h/t io9]