system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Wars] Higher death toll in Clone Wars or Galactic Civil War?

Post-Clone Wars media (e.g. Tarkin book, A New Dawn) talk of billions of lives lost during the Clone Wars. In Bloodline novel, they also say that billions were lost in the Galactic Civil War (Empire vs. Rebellion). I was under the impression that even though half of the combatants in the Clone Wars were droids, it was much more widespread than the Galactic Civil War and had higher casualties. 

What do you guys think?
gpt
The Galactic Civil war was not a true war until after the destruction of the Second Death Star. The majority of the war was fought using insurgency tactics on various worlds, because the for a long time the Rebels could never hope to match the Empire in manpower or industry. There were true battles, but they were more of the exception than the rule. The Rebels avoided battles as best they could, but they did have to engage in them on occasion. 


The Clone Wars were a true war, where pitched battles against two large armies were fought on planets across the galaxy. Even the Umbara Campaign, which used more irregular forces and ambush tactics than the standard battle, was still very much a fairly standard battle. Onderon was the exception, a tactic adopted too late into the Clone Wars to do anything other than annoy the Separatists. 

However, because of the brutal tactics the Empire used, the Civil War still might have larger casualties. They destroyed Alderaan and wiped out an entire species using a genetic virus (The Geonosians).

So while Clone Wars undoubtedly has higher casualties from the battlefield, the Galactic Civil War might edge it out due to civilian casualties.