Ever since mankind has walked the face of the earth, no conflict has ever been as devastating as World War II. The sheer number of military causalities alone is unrivaled, but it's the millions upon millions of civilian deaths that truly set it apart from all other wars. World War II was a conflict on a global scale, and nothing since has ever come close to rivaling it.

While the war is well-documented, the black-and-white photographs of soldiers marching or civilians fleeing tend to be more intimate. It's only one photo, after all - it's impossible for any one picture to accurately represent just how insanely massive World War II really was. There are many examples out there showing just how brutal, violent and cruel it was - but in terms of the scale of its victims, nothing has ever really captured what the second World War really looked like.

For better or worse, that has changed: one Neil Halloran (via io9) took it upon himself to try and accurately depict the scale of World War II and the devastation it wrought. A single picture may not be able to show the grand scale of the war's casualties, but an infographic can - by compiling the data from numerous sources, Halloran's video shows just how unbelievably lethal World War II was:

To be frank, merely writing about the 18-minute epic doesn't do it justice. There is so much to look at and so much to learn that trying to summarize each point as a list just doesn't make sense. It's definitely long, and it's certainly morbid - but that doesn't really matter. No matter your interest on the subject, The Fallen of World War II is a must-watch.

It's startling to see everything laid out as it is in the infographic: nowadays, casualties are measured in hundreds and thousands. The casualties of the United States entire involvement in the Middle East can't even hold a candle to the number of losses a single country suffered during the second World War - for most of us, thinking about a conflict on such a massive scale is impossible.

The Fallen of World War II is an amazing look back at one of the greatest tragedies to ever befall mankind. The amount of effort and research alone is commendable - hopefully, this isn't the last we see of Neil Halloran's work.

If you're interested, there's an interactive version available on Halloran's site: while the entire video isn't interactive, some specific charts are available for closer inspection. For those watching the video on a mobile device, you're pretty much stuck with the video version; if you're watching from a computer, the interactive version is definitely worth checking out.

For more on Neil Halloran's work, you can head over to his Vimeo channel.

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