re: What would be the worst war to fight in in history?

American deaths civil war = 620,000

American deaths all other modern wars combined = 650,000

Civil war was a brutal, unrelenting affair. If fought today with current population, the estimated death toll would be near 6 million lives

This, I just got through reading “With the Old Breed”. The needless sacrifice of those Marines on Peleliu was brutal. Folks should read up on the Pacific. The European Theater is romanticized in my opinion due to D-Day.

The Pacific battles were relatively short battles, but they were all in battles. The units engaged fought for 30-90 days. Most suffered over 70 percent casualties. Some with replacements were over 100 percent.

The psychological impact of going in with a Company of 235 and that Company coming out with 10 or 12 of its original members must have been devastating.

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Fighting Genghis Khan wouldn't have been fun.

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Yeah. Tamerlane would’ve been horrifying too considering how grotesquely brutal he was to the losing side.

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Grenada

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That's a funny meme .... lol. Yeah, well, I was there. 2/325th. It wasn't actually a cake walk but we got it over with in a hurry.

Lost a couple of good guys.

I think we may have actually lost more guys on the jump into the Mohave in Gallant Eagle '82 though. We had 7 killed and 156 critically injured in the operation.

Then there was Panama ... people always forget about that one.

But to answer the OP's question, the Civil War and WWI were the worst two imho. Then again, it all just depended on which battles you fought in what wars. Anzio would have been a bitch in WWII, as would have been Bastogne (Battle of the Buldge) and some other battles.

Fighting in the desert ,.as a Roman soilder.
Or jungles as alwxandersen againt porus

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WW1 and it’s not even close.

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Early Korean War would have been.

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Third Servile War

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While most of the rebel slaves were killed on the battlefield, some 6,000 survivors were captured by the legions of Crassus. All 6,000 were crucified along the Appian Way from Rome to Capua

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Think of the resources required to build 6,000 crosses along a 120 mile stretch.

Also the road between Capua and Rome was a major trade route so merchants walked past a dead or dying person every 100 feet or so for days just to get to their destination.

First of all, THANK YOU for your service and sacrifice.

Just as most longer lasting campaigns after D-Day, I think Pusan is criminally ignored by history. There's so many reasons to care about it. I'd argue that from a strategic viewpoint it was almost as dire as Chosin. Being the first real test of the UN, very few available troops, jet engines planes not being in service yet, and almost everything was picked from WWII leftovers. Under those circumstances they had to rush in and hold the port open for weeks until reinforcements could reach it. It still amazes me how they were pushed to their breaking point yet those soldiers did what had to be done. Granted they could retreat to Japan but it would have led to the need for a Pacific D-Day based out of Japan and Australia.

I was fortunate to go to a high school which still taught a "20th century wars" course in the mid-90s. Without that I'm not sure I'd know much about it since Korea took a backseat to Vietnam as WWI does to WWII in general US history books at the time. Seeing MY kids' striped down middle school social studies textbooks makes me want to scream. The pre-9/11 wars are covered in days (compared to a few weeks during my generation.)

After the Battle of Waterloo most British soldiers walked across the continent to the English Channel then walked home in Great Britain from Portsmouth. Thstcwould have been rough.
WW2 eastern front Stalingrad wold have been the worst in modern history.

WW1
But the Civil War is a close second.