What's the Worst Event in History?

I don't think it's right to say that thing A is worse than thing B. To me, it trivializes the experiences of those who experienced thing B, especially in these discussions about genocide, murder, crimes committed against many people, etc. The Holocaust v. slavery (are we talking North America or? I'll just assume we mean African slavery) is a prime example of this.

My ancestors faced genocide when the Europeans colonized the Americas, so that is the worst to me. It's completely subjective, though, but the Holocaust and Mao's rule are very close behind in my opinion. It's just kinda shitty that the British, the French, and the Spanish came storming in, forced the natives off of their land, killed, raped, pillaged, and went to war with them, all because they were power hungry. Not to mention the severe diseases the came along, like malaria and smallpox.

The Fall of Rome or the Crusades. No high death toll in either, but they both set our progress back significantly.

@ Deus Ex Machina
If we're looking at progress, one could argue the Christian Dark Ages.

@ zaphod beeblebroxmas
The Dark Ages weren't as bad as everyone claims. The wars were not on the same scale as those of Rome, who could lose 100,000 soldiers in a day without blinking and continue a war for a decade and a half, and slavery went out of style. The Church deliberately keeping people from learning how to read directly after the Fall of Rome was pretty bad. They couldn't even interpret the Bible for themselves and just did what they were told.

@ zaphod beeblebroxmas
While the Christian Dark Ages may have been bad for Europe, the Islamic empires to the east weren't really affected; it was one of the greatest times of learning for them. I'm not certain what China was doing around this time, but I think they were also doing pretty well around this time.

Yeah, I'd agree it's the holocaust. That was really bad and so many people died.
I asked one of my friends who is American and strong democrat and she said "George Bush 2"

The holocaust was absolutely tragic, but there actually was something that could be considered the same level of atrocity, if not more, going on at the exact same time. That being the Asian Holocaust that was perpetrated by the Japanese in China and Manchuria (and just anyone that happened to be in the areas they were screwing up), but the only difference is that they technically killed less people.

So, volume wise they did not beat the Nazis. However, they win for ingenuity and for never being prosecuted for it. We had a huge uproar about the Nazis and many of them were tried and then executed for their crimes. I'm pretty sure there hasn't been a single Japanese soldier that was ever punished for brutalizing China and Manchuria.

Unit 731 of the Japanese army during WWII was particularly vicious. I mean, these were people that purposely spread the bubonic plague. And not only did the American government know that this happened, but we paid those people for their medical data. We paid the people.