Transcript Creating a foundation for war

Eve of Destruction
Creating a foundation for war
Origin of the Species
Charles Darwin
1859
• Species must adapt,
change, or die
• “Social Darwinism”
results
• Applies scientific
thinking to man
• Opposes biblical theory
of “creation”
Why does it lead to world war?
• Redefines human
existence; we are on an
equal plain with other
organisms
• Used to excuse social
inequities and violence
against other people
and industrial nations
• Social Darwinism leads
to justification of
superiority of one man
over another
• Lays foundation for the
Holocaust,
propaganda, justified
killing of other human
beings
Turn and talk….
• How does Darwin’s “Origin of the
Species” cause humans to change
their views on life?
Industrial Revolution
• The late 18th century brings the factory system
to Great Britain, America
• Products are mass produced in more efficient
factories
• Inventions change the way that people live
• Machines made this happen
Why does it lead to war?
• Creates a need for
expanding markets for
resources
• Coupled with capitalism,
creates a breeding ground
for labor exploitation
• Communism is the workers’
response (Karl Marx and the
Communist Manifesto)
• War by machine
• Increases the pace of life
and destruction and solves
problems, too
Turn and talk….
• How does the Industrial
Revolution help to set the stage
for world war?
How are the Origin of the
Species and Industrial
Revolution related?
• They show the triumph of science and
rational thought over religious dogma and
superstition
• Both lead to a cheapening of human life in
lieu of greater rewards, perhaps for that of
the nation-state
• Both pair to create the motives and
justifications to kill on a grand scale
End of Napoleonic Wars
• Treaty of Paris,
1814
• Ends Napoleonic
Wars after
Napoleon’s
defeat at
Waterloo
• Establishes a
newly unified
Germany as a
power
• Russia creates an
empire
• Britain becomes
the major
military power in
the world
• Nations begin to
create alliances
for protection
Turn and talk….
• Why might alliances be an
important factor in bringing about
a world war?
And so….
Is this a Brave New World?
• What did man create as a result of these wars?
• Has science helped or hurt us?
• Has science helped us create a “perfect” world,
or hopes thereof?
• Have we created our own undoing?
• 1932 book by Aldous Huxley speculates on this
idea
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raqVySPrD
UE
Turn and talk….
•What does Huxley warn us of?
•Do you agree with him?
•What influence has science
had on society?
Show your thinking…
•How do these ideas intersect
to lay a foundation for world
war?
•Has a “Brave New World” been
created? Or, have we laid the
foundation for our own
demise?
One Pager
Use images & words to explain the intersection of these themes
that resulted in the world being ready for a “world” war.
• Darwin’s theory
• Industrial Revolution
Creation of alliances in post Napoleonic Wars world
• Science fiction ideas of “Brave New World”
• Due
• Work days: today, Friday, Monday