Prior to the American Civil War, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio were the most populous states in the Union, each with between two and four million inhabitants. Industrialization in the north was one of the key drivers of population growth during this period, through both internal and external migration, and Illinois saw the largest population growth during the 1860s largely due to the expansion of industry around Chicago. The gradual industrialization of the north in the early 1800s also contributed to the decline of slavery in the Union states, and the economic differences between the Union and Confederacy was a key factor in both the build-up to the Civil War, as well as the Union's eventual victory in 1865.

This graph shows the total number of soldiers who were enlisted in the Union and Confederate armies during the American Civil War, between 1861 and 1865. The total population of the Union states was 18.9 million in 1860, and the Confederate states in the south had a population of 8.6 million. The Border States, who primarily supported the Union but sent troops to both sides, had a population of 3.5 million. From the graph we can see that over the course of the war a total of 2.1 million men enlisted for the Union Army, and 1.1 million enlisted for the Confederate Army. The Union Army had roughly double the number of soldiers of the Confederacy, and although the Confederacy won more major battles than the Union in the early stages of the war, the strength of numbers in the Union forces was a decisive factor in their overall victory as the war progressed.

During the American Civil War, not only was the Confederacy made up of fewer states than the Union, but these states were also much less populous than many in the North. For example, in the final census before the war in 1860, the five largest states in the South had around one million inhabitants each, while the largest states in the North had three to four million. In addition to the Union's larger population, the fact that European immigration into urban and industrial centers in the North was much higher also gave the Union a steady supply of recruits that were drafted as the war progressed, which was vital to the Union's victory in 1865.

The Border states were the five slave states who did not secede from the Union and did not declare allegiance to either side. Their name comes from the fact that they bordered the free states of the Union to the north, and the slave states of the Confederacy to the south. Generally speaking, the border states supported the Union more often than the Confederacy, however this changed throughout the war. For example, Missouri sent 39 regiments to fight in the siege of Vicksburg: 17 to the Confederacy and 22 to the Union. The involvement of men from these states was also complicated, as family members quite often found themselves on opposing sides of the battlefield. From the graph we can see that, while all states' populations grew, the smaller states had a lower growth rate, as they saw a higher proportion of conflict. Missouri had, by far, the highest growth rate during this decade, due to an increase in westward migration, as well as a lower rate of conflict.

This data collection was designed to compare the differences between adult white males rejected by the Union Army and those accepted into the Union Army. Information includes each person's first and last name, date, place, and term of enlistment, place of birth, military identification number, occupation before enlistment, age at enlistment, and height. Summary of physical conditions, international classification of diseases code, and reason for rejection also are presented.

There were almost 700 thousand slaves in the US in 1790, which equated to approximately 18 percent of the total population, or roughly one in every six people. By 1860, the final census taken before the American Civil War, there were four million slaves in the South, compared with less than 0.5 million free African Americans in all of the US. Of the 4.4 million African Americans in the US before the war, almost four million of these people were held as slaves; meaning that for all African Americans living in the US in 1860, there was an 89 percent* chance that they lived in slavery. A brief history Trans-Atlantic slavery began in the early sixteenth century, when the Portuguese and Spanish forcefully brought captured African slaves to the New World, in order to work for them. The British Empire introduced slavery to North America on a large scale, and the economy of the British colonies there depended on slave labor, particularly regarding cotton, sugar and tobacco output. In the seventeenth and eighteenth century the number of slaves being brought to the Americas increased exponentially, and at the time of American independence it was legal in all thirteen colonies. Although slavery became increasingly prohibited in the north, the number of slaves remained high during this time as they were simply relocated or sold from the north to the south. It is also important to remember that the children of slaves were also viewed as property, and (apart from some very rare cases) were born into a life of slavery. Abolition and the American Civil War In the years that followed independence, the Northern States began gradually prohibiting slavery, and it was officially abolished there by 1805, and the importation of slave labor was prohibited nationwide from 1808 (although both still existed in practice after this). Business owners in the Southern States however depended on slave labor in order to meet the demand of their rapidly expanding industries, and the issue of slavery continued to polarize American society in the decades to come. This culminated in the election of President Abraham Lincoln in 1860, who promised to prohibit slavery in the newly acquired territories to the west, leading to the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865. Although the Confederacy (south) were victorious in much of the early stages of the war, the strength in numbers of the northern states (including many free, black men), eventually resulted in a victory for the Union (north), and the nationwide abolishment of slavery with the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. Legacy In total, an estimated twelve to thirteen million Africans were transported to the Americas as slaves, and this does not include the high number who did not survive the journey (which was as high as 23 percent in some years). In the 150 years since the abolishment of slavery in the US, the African-American community have continuously campaigned for equal rights and opportunities that were not afforded to them along with freedom. The most prominent themes have been the Civil Rights Movement, voter suppression, mass incarceration and the relationship between the police and the African-American community has taken the spotlight in recent years.

This statistic shows the population of the United States in the final census year before the American Civil War, shown by race and gender. From the data we can see that there were almost 27 million white people, 4.5 million black people, and eighty thousand classed as 'other'. The proportions of men to women were different for each category, with roughly 700 thousand more white men than women, over 100 thousand more black women than men, and almost three times as many men than women in the 'other' category. The reason for the higher male numbers in the white and other categories is because men migrated to the US at a higher rate than women, while there is no concrete explanation for the statistic regarding black people.

The issue of race and slavery was arguably the largest cause of the American Civil War, with the southern states seceding from the Union as the practice of slavery became increasingly threatened. From the graph we can see that roughly 16.5 percent of the entire US population at this time was black, and the vast majority of these were slaves. In 1860 there were almost 27 million white people, four and a half million black people, and less than one hundred thousand non-black or white people (mostly of Native/Latin American or East-Asian origin).

Although the founding fathers declared American independence in 1776, and the subsequent Revolutionary War ended in 1783, individual states did not officially join the union until 1787. The first states to ratify the U.S. Constitution were Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, in December 1787, and they were joined by the remainder of the thirteen ex-British colonies by 1790. Another three states joined before the turn of the nineteenth century, and there were 45 states by 1900. The final states, Alaska and Hawaii, were admitted to the union in 1959, almost 172 years after the first colonies became federal states. Secession in the American Civil War The issues of slavery and territorial expansion in the mid nineteenth century eventually led to the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 until 1865. As the U.S. expanded westwards, a moral and economic argument developed about the legality of slavery in these new states; northern states were generally opposed to the expansion of slavery, whereas the southern states (who were economically dependent on slavery) saw this lack of extension as a stepping stone towards nationwide abolition. In 1861, eleven southern states seceded from the Union, and formed the Confederate States of America. When President Lincoln refused to relinquish federal property in the south, the Confederacy attacked, setting in motion the American Civil War. After four years, the Union emerged victorious, and the Confederate States of America was disbanded, and each individual state was readmitted to Congress gradually, between 1866 and 1870. Expansion of other territories Along with the fifty U.S. states, there is one federal district (Washington D.C., the capital city), and fourteen overseas territories, five of which with a resident population (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). In 2019, President Trump inquired about the U.S. purchasing the territory of Greenland from Denmark, and, although Denmark's response indicated that this would be unlikely, this does suggest that the US may be open to further expansion of it's states and territories in the future. There is also a movement to make Washington D.C. the 51st state to be admitted to the union, as citizens of the nation's capital (over 700,000 people) do not have voting representation in the houses of Congress nor control over many local affairs; as of 2020, the U.S. public appears to be divided on the issue, and politicians are split along party lines, as D.C. votes overwhelmingly for the Democratic nominee in presidential elections.

Einstellung zum arabisch-israelischen Konflikt, zur Wirtschaftspolitik,zur Europäischen Union, zur Ausländerpolitik und Einwanderung, zuinternationalen Beziehungen, zum Irak-Krieg, zu Militärinterventionen,zur nationalen Sicherheit, zur NATO, zu Atomwaffen, zur politischenEinflussnahme, zum Terrorismus und zu den Vereinten Nationen. Themen: Befürwortung der Übernahme einer aktiven Rolle des Landes inder internationalen Politik; Einstellung zur globalen Führungsrolle derUSA; Präferenz für eine europäische oder amerikanischeSupermachtstellung; Ablehnung des Supermachtstatus der EU wegen einer zuerwartenden Erhöhung von Militärausgaben; wünschenswerte Stärkung derEU, um zu einem besseren Wettstreit mit den USA zu kommen; Einstellungzur Höhe der Verteidigungsausgaben des Landes; Einstufung potentiellerBedrohungen der Interessen Europas durch den islamischenFundamentalismus, den internationalen Terrorismus, die hohe Zahl vonEinwanderern und Flüchtlingen in Europa, den militärischen Konfliktzwischen Israel und seinen arabischen Nachbarn, die weltweiteAusbreitung von AIDS, den wirtschaftlichen Abschwung sowie einenterroristischen Angriff mit Massenvernichtungswaffen; Einstellung zu denVereinten Nationen; Sympathie-Skalometer (100-stufige Skala) für dieUSA, Russland, Israel, die Europäische Union, die Palästinenser,Nordkorea, die Türkei, China, den Iran, Saudi-Arabien, Frankreich undDeutschland; Einstellung zur internationalen Politik der amerikanischenRegierung unter George W. Bush; Existenz gemeinsamer Wertvorstellungenzwischen den USA und der EU; Europäische Union oder USA als wichtigsterPartner des eigenen Landes; Einschätzung der Entwicklung der Nähezwischen Europa und den USA; Wunsch nach engerer Partnerschaft zwischenden USA und der EU (Split: allgemein und in Anbetracht desIrak-Krieges); Bedeutung der NATO für die Sicherheit; Einstellung zueinem Einsatz des nationalen Militärs zur Vereitelung einesterroristischen Anschlags, zur Versorgung von Kriegsopfern mitNahrungsmitteln und medizinischer Hilfe, zur Beendigung der Kämpfe ineinem Bürgerkrieg, zur Sicherung der Ölversorgung, zur Bereitstellungvon Friedenstruppen nach Beendigung eines Bürgerkrieges, zur Entmachtungeiner menschenrechtsverletzenden Regierung, zur Verhinderung derVerbreitung von Atomwaffen sowie zur Verteidigung einesNATO-Mitgliedslandes; Einstellung zur Stationierung von Truppen deseigenen Landes in Afghanistan; Preis für den Irak-Krieg zu hoch (Split:allgemein und unter dem Gesichtspunkt der Befreiung des irakischenVolkes); Einstellung zur Entscheidung der nationalen Regierung, Truppenbzw. keine Truppen in den Irak zu entsenden; Einstellung zur Entsendungvon Landestruppen in den Irak im Falle der Zustimmung der UN (Split:allgemein und unter US-Kommando); Auswirkung der Militäraktion im Irakauf die Bedrohung durch den weltweiten Terrorismus; Einstellung zurNotwendigkeit, sich vor der Anwendung militärischer Gewalt derUnterstützung der UN (dreifacher Split: NATO bzw. der wichtigsteneuropäischen Verbündeten) zu versichern; Einstellung zu einerMitgliedschaft der Türkei in der EU; Hauptgrund für eine Befürwortungbzw. Ablehnung einer Mitgliedschaft der Türkei in der EU; Einstellung zueinem Militäreinsatz der Landestruppen in einem anderen Land zurBeseitigung eines drohenden Terrorangriffs (Split: einem Bürgerkrieg inAfrika) nach Zustimmung der UN (dreifacher Split: der NATO bzw. derwichtigsten europäischen Verbündeten); Unterstützung eines solchenMilitäreinsatzes trotz fehlender Zustimmung der UN, der NATO bzw. derwichtigsten europäischen Verbündeten; wirtschaftliche oder militärischeMacht als wichtigste Grundlage zur Beeinflussung des Weltgeschehens;Einstellung zur Notwendigkeit eines Krieges und zum Übergehen der UN;militärische Stärke als Friedensgarant; Maßnahmen zur nationalenSicherheit nur mit den Bündnispartnern ergreifen; Unabhängigkeit derEuropäer von den USA durch militärische Stärke; Militäraktionen oderErhöhung des Lebensstandards als bester Weg zur Terrorismusbekämpfung. Demographie: Geschlecht; Alter; höchster Schulabschluss;Parteipräferenz (Sonntagsfrage); wichtigste Issues für eigeneWahlentscheidung bei der nächsten Wahl; Einstufung auf einemLinks-Rechts-Kontinuum; Schulbildung, Beruf, Haushaltsgröße; Wohnorttyp;(in den USA zusätzlich: Migrationshintergrund; Land). Attitudes towards the Arab/Israeli conflict, economic policy, theEuropean Union, immigration, international relations, the Iraq war,military interventions, national security, NATO, nuclear weapons, theuse of political power, terrorism, and the United Nations. Topics: support for an active role of own country in internationalpolitics; attitude towards strong leadership in world affairs by theUSA; personal preference for superpower status of the European Unionand/or the USA; against superpower status for the European Unionbecause of higher military spending; support for a politicalstrengthening of the European Union to better compete with the USA orto better cooperate with the USA; assessment of own country´s amount ofmilitary expenditure; assessment of potential international threats toEurope/the USA: Islamic fundamentalism, large numbers of immigrants andrefugees, international terrorism, the military conflict between Israeland its Arab neighbors, the global spread of AIDS (HIV), a majoreconomic downturn, a terrorist attack on own country using weapons ofmass destruction; attitude towards the United Nations in general;100-point sympathy temperature scale for the USA, Russia, Israel, theEuropean Union, the Palestinians, North Korea, Turkey, China, Iran,Saudi Arabia, France, and Germany; assessment of the George W. Bushadministration´s handling of foreign policy; European Union and USAhave enough common values to cooperate; European Union or the USA moreimportant for vital interests of own country; assessment of thedevelopment of transatlantic relations in recent years; support forcloser partnership between the European Union and the USA in general(split A) and especially considering the developments in Iraq (splitB); opinion on NATO´s importance for own country´s security; attitudetowards the use of own country´s military to prevent an imminentterrorist attack, to provide humanitarian assistance to victims of war,to stop civil wars, to ensure the supply of oil, for peacekeepingmissions, to remove governments that abuse human rights, to preventnuclear proliferation, and to defend a NATO ally under attack;assessment of costs in lives and money for Iraq war (split A) andespecially considering the liberation of the Iraqi people (split B);attitude towards presence of own country´s troops in Iraq (exceptFrance, Germany, Spain, Turkey); attitude towards decision not to sendtroops to Iraq (only France, Germany, Turkey); attitude towardsdecision to remove troops from Iraq (only Spain); attitude towards owncountry´s troops in Iraq if supported by United Nations mandate (splitA) or if led by the USA under United Nations mandate (split B);assessment of Iraq war´s influence on the threat of internationalterrorism; attitude towards the need to ensure support for militaryaction similar to Iraq war by the United Nations (split A), by theEuropean Union (split B) or by the most important European allies(split C); attitude towards European Union membership of Turkey; mainreasons for rejecting/supporting Turkish EU membership; support formilitary action to prevent an imminent terror attack if sanctioned bythe United Nations (split A), NATO (split B), the most importantEuropean allies (split C); support for military action to end a civilwar in Africa if sanctioned by the United Nations (split A), NATO(split B), the most important European allies (split C); support formilitary action without mandate by the United Nations (split A), NATO(split B), the most important European allies (split C); economicstrength more important than military strength in world affairs;attitude towards the necessity of war to fight injustice; attitudetowards ignoring the United Nations if vital interests of country areconcerned; military strength is best way to secure peace; importance ofcooperating with allies on national security issues; need for Europe tostrengthen military to reduce dependence on USA; regarding globalissues USA does not need European support; combating terrorismmilitarily is best; raising living standards in foreign countries isbest way to combat terrorism; political affiliation (USA only). Demography: sex; age; highest level of education received; age whenfinished full-time education; current occupation; voting intention(Sonntagsfrage); most important political issues in decision to vote;self-placement on a left-right continuum, size of household; ethnicbackground (US only). Additional variables: country, region, degree of urbanity. Weights: redressment weight for age, gender and education (USA: racenot considered); redressment weight for age, gender and education (USA:race considered); population weight for all European countries;population weight for European countries except Slovakia, Turkey andSpain; population weight for European countries except Turkey.

Just before the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 Union states had approximately five times as many factories as the Confederacy, and ten times the amount of factory workers. This level of industrialization is reflective of the economies at the time, with the Confederate and Border states depending more heavily on agriculture for their economic output, whereas the more industrialized cities of the northern states had many more factories. This also ties in with the issue of slavery at the time, which was arguably the most influential factor in the cessation of the southern states. The rural farm owners of the south depended on slave labor to maintain their output, and did not have large concentrations of population to pull workers from, whereas the factory owners of the north had a large supply of workers from more urbanized areas.

In 1800, the region of present-day Syria had a population of approximately 1.25 million people. Growth was relatively slow during the 19th century, and the population reached just over two million by the time of the First World War in 1914. However, population would begin to grow more rapidly following the beginning of French occupation in 1920, and by the time Syria achieved independence from France in 1946, the population would be just over 3.2 million. Following the country’s independence, Syria would begin experiencing exponential growth, the result of significant economic growth from the country’s growing petroleum exports.

However, the 21st century would see a sharp reversal of Syria’s exponential population growth, with the beginning of the Syrian Civil War after widespread anti-government protests in 2011. After peaking at 21.4 million people in 2010, Syria’s population would see a rapid decline during the civil war, as widespread conflict, massacres, and destruction would lead to significant fatalities and a mass exodus of refugees from the country, with several million migrating to neighboring Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, and another several hundred thousand ultimately migrating to the European Union. As a result, the population of the country has declined greatly, falling from over 21 million in 2010 to just under 17 million by 2018. However, as the fighting has gradually decreased in intensity and refugee rates have levelled off, the population of Syria has slowly began to grow again. In 2020, Syria is estimated to have a population of 17.5 million people.

Estimates for the total death count of the Second World War generally range somewhere between 70 and 85 million people. The Soviet Union suffered the highest number of fatalities of any single nation, with estimates mostly falling between 22 and 27 million deaths. China then suffered the second greatest, at around 20 million, although these figures are less certain and often overlap with the Chinese Civil War. Over 80 percent of all deaths were of those from Allied countries, and the majority of these were civilians. In contrast, 15 to 20 percent were among the Axis powers, and the majority of these were military deaths, as shown in the death ratios of Germany and Japan. Civilian deaths and atrocities It is believed that 60 to 67 percent of all deaths were civilian fatalities, largely resulting from war-related famine or disease, and war crimes or atrocities. Systematic genocide, extermination campaigns, and forced labor, particularly by the Germans, Japanese, and Soviets, led to the deaths of millions. In this regard, Nazi activities alone resulted in 17 million deaths, including six million Jews in what is now known as The Holocaust. Not only was the scale of the conflict larger than any that had come before, but the nature of and reasoning behind this loss make the Second World War stand out as one of the most devastating and cruelest conflicts in history. Problems with these statistics Although the war is considered by many to be the defining event of the 20th century, exact figures for death tolls have proven impossible to determine, for a variety of reasons. Countries such as the U.S. have fairly consistent estimates due to preserved military records and comparatively few civilian casualties, although figures still vary by source. For most of Europe, records are less accurate. Border fluctuations and the upheaval of the interwar period mean that pre-war records were already poor or non-existent for many regions. The rapid and chaotic nature of the war then meant that deaths could not be accurately recorded at the time, and mass displacement or forced relocation resulted in the deaths of many civilians outside of their homeland, which makes country-specific figures more difficult to find. Early estimates of the war’s fatalities were also taken at face value and formed the basis of many historical works; these were often very inaccurate, but the validity of the source means that the figures continue to be cited today, despite contrary evidence.

In comparison to Europe, estimate ranges are often greater across Asia, where populations were larger but pre-war data was in short supply. Many of the Asian countries with high death tolls were European colonies, and the actions of authorities in the metropoles, such as the diversion of resources from Asia to Europe, led to millions of deaths through famine and disease. Additionally, over one million African soldiers were drafted into Europe’s armies during the war, yet individual statistics are unavailable for most of these colonies or successor states (notably Algeria and Libya). Thousands of Asian and African military deaths went unrecorded or are included with European or Japanese figures, and there are no reliable figures for deaths of millions from countries across North Africa or East Asia. Additionally, many concentration camp records were destroyed, and such records in Africa and Asia were even sparser than in Europe. While the Second World War is one of the most studied academic topics of the past century, it is unlikely that we will ever have a clear number for the lives lost in the conflict.

The term "lynching" is believed to derive from the name of Charles Lynch, a Virginia planter who presided over an irregular and unofficial court during the Revolutionary War. Lynch's use of extralegal measures to punish those loyal to the British crown, helped to inspire mobs in later years to administer their own form of vigilante justice outside of the courts. Eventually, the term came to describe cases where supposed offenders were executed through mob violence without a proper trial and outside of legal jurisdiction. The most famous examples of these executions in the U.S. were those where the victim was hanged (due to the relatively large amount of photographic evidence); however, there were also cases where the victims were shot, burned or tortured and dismembered, among others. Lynching before Jim Crow In the early years of U.S. independence, lynching was most common along the frontier and in western territories, due to the lack of established or immediate judicial systems, and most studies suggest that these victims were mostly white and Mexican. Possibly the largest case of lynching (and largest case of mass hanging) in the United States, was in Texas in 1862, in what is known as the "Great Hanging at Gainsville"; this was where local slaveholders organized the mob hanging of 41 white men and shot three others, due to their supposed allegiance to the Union. Following the American Civil War, however, lynching became inextricably linked with racial inequality and white supremacy in the southern states of the U.S., and black Americans comprised the vast majority of lynching victims from 1886 onwards. Lynching of black Americans The Compromise of 1877 coincided with the emergence of the Jim Crow era in the southern states; it saw the removal of Union troops from the south and established political structures based on white supremacy and the oppression of minorities. Gradually, many of the rights and protections that were granted to black Americans following emancipation were stripped away. This period also saw a vast increase in the number of lynchings in the country, with the majority of these cases taking place in the south. Within ten years of Reconstruction's end, the number of black lynchings exceeded those of white lynchings, and over the next century it is estimated that there were over 4,700 lynchings across the country. Of the 4,740 lynchings estimated to have taken place between 1882 and 1965, 3,445 of the victims were black; this equates to over 72 percent of the total victims of lynching, despite black Americans making up just 10 to 13 percent of the total population. Of these 4,700 lynchings, around 3,500 took place in former Confederate states, where the share of black victims increased to 86 percent. As the years progressed, organized lynchings became more infrequent and were publicized less, and the implementation of the death penalty is thought to have replaced the sense of justice that lynching brought to its perpetrators. Nonetheless, it was not until 1952 where the U.S. went a full year without any known cases of lynching, and the final lynching cases were recorded in 1964 (although some have classified a number of murders after 1964 as lynchings, due to their connections with race and civil rights).

Prior to 1829, the area of modern day Greece was largely under the control of the Ottoman Empire. In 1821, the Greeks declared their independence from the Ottomans, and achieved it within 8 years through the Greek War of Independence. The Independent Kingdom of Greece was established in 1829 and made up the southern half of present-day, mainland Greece, along with some Mediterranean islands. Over the next century, Greece's borders would expand and readjust drastically, through a number of conflicts and diplomatic agreements; therefore the population of Greece within those political borders** was much lower than the population in what would be today's borders. As there were large communities of ethnic Greeks living in neighboring countries during this time, particularly in Turkey, and the data presented here does not show the full extent of the First World War, Spanish Flu Pandemic and Greko-Turkish War on these Greek populations. While it is difficult to separate the fatalities from each of these events, it is estimated that between 500,000 and 900,000 ethnic Greeks died at the hands of the Ottomans between the years 1914 and 1923, and approximately 150,000 died due to the 1918 flu pandemic. These years also saw the exchange of up to one million Orthodox Christians from Turkey to Greece, and several hundred thousand Muslims from Greece to Turkey; this exchange is one reason why Greece's total population did not change drastically, despite the genocide, displacement and demographic upheaval of the 1910s and 1920s. Greece in WWII A new Hellenic Republic was established in 1924, which saw a decade of peace and modernization in Greece, however this was short lived. The Greek monarchy was reintroduced in 1935, and the prime minister, Ioannis Metaxas, headed a totalitarian government that remained in place until the Second World War. Metaxas tried to maintain Greek neutrality as the war began, however Italy's invasion of the Balkans made this impossible, and the Italian army tried invading Greece via Albania in 1940. The outnumbered and lesser-equipped Greek forces were able to hold off the Italian invasion and then push them backwards into Albania, marking the first Allied victory in the war. Following a series of Italian failures, Greece was eventually overrun when Hitler launched a German and Bulgarian invasion in April 1941, taking Athens within three weeks. Germany's involvement in Greece meant that Hitler's planned invasion of the Soviet Union was delayed, and Hitler cited this as the reason for it's failure (although most historians disagree with this). Over the course of the war approximately eight to eleven percent of the Greek population died due to fighting, extermination, starvation and disease; including over eighty percent of Greece's Jewish population in the Holocaust. Following the liberation of Greece in 1944, the country was then plunged into a civil war (the first major conflict of the Cold War), which lasted until 1949, and saw the British and American-supported government fight with Greek communists for control of the country. The government eventually defeated the Soviet-supported communist forces, and established American influence in the Aegean and Balkans throughout the Cold War. Post-war Greece From the 1950s until the 1970s, the Marshall Plan, industrialization and an emerging Tourism sector helped the Greek economy to boom, with one of the strongest growth rates in the world. Apart from the military coup, which ruled from 1967 to 1974, Greece remained relatively peaceful, prosperous and stable throughout the second half of the twentieth century. The population reached 11.2 million in the early 2000s, before going into decline for the past fifteen years. This decline came about due to a negative net migration rate and slowing birth rate, ultimately facilitated by the global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008; many Greeks left the country in search of work elsewhere, and the economic troubles have impacted the financial incentives that were previously available for families with many children. While the financial crisis was a global event, Greece was arguably the hardest-hit nation during the crisis, and suffered the longest recession of any advanced economy. The financial crisis has had a consequential impact on the Greek population, which has dropped by 800,000 in 15 years, and the average age has increased significantly, as thousands of young people migrate in search of employment.