779 dyadic fatal quarrels are recorded from 1809 to 1949, representing an early attempt to quantify historical conflict behavior. Each quarrel is identified by a start date and a magnitude measured as the base-10 logarithm of the number of deaths. The study was conducted by Lewis Fry Richardson and includes nominal variables describing quarrel type and similarities between combatants.
Use Cases
- Modeling conflict magnitude and frequency over time based on the recorded start dates and death toll logarithms.
- Analyzing the relationship between political, cultural, or economic similarities and conflict occurrence based on the nominal variables.
- Classifying types of deadly quarrels (e.g., interstate war, civil conflict) using the quarrel type variable.
- Benchmarking early quantitative conflict models against modern datasets.
Strengths
- Contains 779 specific conflict events, providing a foundational quantitative record.
- Covers a long historical time range of 140 years (1809-1949).
- Includes a defined magnitude scale (log10 of deaths) ranging from 2.50 to 7.50 for consistent measurement.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
Provenance
- Source
- Lewis Fry Richardson
- Collection Method
- Historical quantification and data collection, as described in the study.
- Time Range
- 1809-1949