Page 80 - The Disasters Darwinism Brought To Humanity

80 T T H E D I S A S T E R S D A R W I N I S M B R O U G H T T O H U M A N I T Y Y

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Darwinism's Preparatory Role in the First and
Second World Wars
In his book Europe Since 1870 the famous British
professor of history James Joll explains one of the
factors leading to the outbreak of the First World
War as being the belief of the leaders of Europe of the
time in Darwinist ideas:
We have seen how Darwinian ideas had a great influence on the ide-
ology of imperialism at the end of the nineteenth century, but it is important
to realise how literally the doctrine of the struggle for existence and of the
survival of the fittest was taken by the majority of the leaders of Europe in
the years preceding the First World War. The Austro-Hungarian chief of staff
for example, Franz Baron Conrad von Hoetzendorff, wrote in his memoirs
after the war:
Philanthropic religions, moral teachings and philosophical doctrines may
certainly sometimes serve to weaken mankind's struggle for existence in its