A look at 24 refugee crises from the last century

The world's history is filled with wars, conflicts and genocides that mar our present and will continue to scar our future. Humanity's need for ultimate power and control leaves nothing but destruction. The results of destruction and living in war torn regions leaves no option for many but to flee. Thus, refugee crises occur.

Though people have been seeking refuge for a variety of reasons for centuries, border control and foreign policy have shunned millions during the 20th century. Refugees are rarely accepted fully and many countries deport them to their homelands once stability is evident.

Case in point, the current refugee crisis, which is believed to be the worst since World War II, is ignored by many nations in the world while robbing thousands and thousands of their lives.

Here are some of the last century of major conflicts and wars that led to refugee crises:

The exact number of refugees that resulted from WWI is unknown. However, it is estimated that more than 1.8 million refugees fled Europe.

It is estimate that over 1.5 million Russians who strongly opposed communism fled their country during the 1917 revolution.

One million Armenians fled Turkey in order to avoid further persecution and death during the  genocide that lasted eight years.

Otherwise known as the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, the yearlong vicious battle displaced more than 275,000 Ethiopians.

Approximately 67,000 Spaniards, most of whom were from the opposing Republicans party, fled to France for refuge.

Twenty million civilians from around the world were forced to seek refuge abroad while facing mass rape, genocide, murder and the savage global war.

Tough the Cold War, which finally ended in 1990, did not involve bombings and combat, it resulted in 272,000 refugees within the first few years. The number significantly increased to more than 1 million by 1990.

Two million people fled the civil war, which started in 1928, and found refuge in Taiwan and Hong Kong following the official establishment of the Republic of China in 1949.

In a war that lasted 9 months, 700,000 Palestinians  were able to find refuge in other countries. In the years following, more than 500,000 were forced to flee to Lebanon.

The war started in 1950 and ended in 1953. During those three years, American troops were told to target civilians and anyone trying to seek refuge abroad and therefore, there is no exact estimate to the number of people who were able to get out alive. However, due to the major atrocities committed in the Korean War, many American citizens stood by their fellow human beings and started a number of adoption agencies such as Holt's International Children's Services in order to assist over 100,000 Korean orphans.

More than 1 million Vietnamese citizens successfully fled the war zone of North Vietnam to safety in South Vietnam.

Also known as the Algerian Revolution, a war erupted between France and the Algerian independence movements. It is considered to be a very important mark in the world's history because Algeria was decolonized and thus, became its own independent country. However, it came with the hefty price with at least 1.4 million refugees fleeing to France and a large number of civilian casualties.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner Resources (UNHCR) estimates that over 300,000 Sudanese fled to bordering countries during and after the civil war.

The Cuban Revolution, which was an armed revolt orchestrated by Fidel Castro's 26th of July movement and its allies against the American backed Cuban government and President Fulgencio Batista, resulted in over 1 million refugees. The five year revolution had powerful domestic and intentional outcomes, most notably, the strained relationship between the new Cuban government and the U.S.

An estimated 10 million people fled into India when the Pakistani army moved to put down the independence movement in Bangladesh, then called East Pakistan. Another 30 million were internally displaced in the eight month war,

Two million Vietnamese tried to find refuge. However, only approximately 800,000 made it to another country while  3.8 million people died in that war including 430,000 Vietnamese civilians.

The Soviet Afghan war resulted in 5 million Afghan refugees within a time period of nine years from 1979 to 1989. Substantial aid was provided to Afghanistan by the U.S government and multiple Muslim countries in order to fight the powerful soviet army.

With a long history of conflict between both nations, a war erupted in 1980 and ended in 1989. Four million Iraqis became refugees and fled the war zone to neighboring countries and elsewhere. Another two million Iraqis were internally displaced.

Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 was condemned globally. The U.S deployed armed forces and urged other countries to do the same and therefore, the largest army coalition since Word War II was created. The result was a swift end to the occupation, Kuwait's independence and more than 1.4 million Iraqi refugees.

Yugoslavia was established after WW I through the merging of Solvenia and Croatia, both Catholic nations, along with Serbia and Montenegro, both of which were Eastern Orthodox nations. However, when Bosnia, an ethnically and religiously diverse nation, was included into the mix, the Balkan war erupted and 1.5 million people fled and found refuge abroad.

The infamous Rwandan Genocide, which lasted for 100 days, resulted in the slaughter of 1 million Tutsis – 20 percent of  the entire Rwandan population – by members of the Hutu majority. Two million people were able to escape the mass killings and fled to other countries.

The 20th century was filled with conflicts. However, the beginning of the 21st century has proven to be similar, if not a worse, than previous centuries in regards to wars, conflicts and refugee crises.

Following the U.S invasion of Iraq in 2003 and its re-involvement in 2014, over 3 million Iraqis fled the country to date. However, the ongoing war may further strain the refugee crisis by forcing more Iraqis out of their war torn homelands.

Following 9/11, the U.S invaded Afghanistan along with its close allies. The ongoing war resulted in 5.7 million Afghan refugees. However, as fighting started to ease up, many were able to safely return back to their country while 2.2 million remained refugees.

Following Assad's attack on his own people during the revolution, Syria is now divided between Assad, ISIS, and rebel controlled territories. The ongoing and relentless war in the country left no choice for at least 4 million refugees that were able to flee. Additionally, there are an estimated 6.5 million others that are internally displaced in Syria.