Changes

In 1904, Haeckel reiterated the view of Darwin quoted above:  "These lower races … are psychologically nearer to the mammals (apes or dogs) than to civilized Europeans; we must, therefore, assign a totally different value to their lives." <ref>Ernst Haeckel, The Wonders of Life (New York: Harper 1904), 56-57 (emphasis added).</ref>

In 1904, Haeckel reiterated the view of Darwin quoted above:  "These lower races … are psychologically nearer to the mammals (apes or dogs) than to civilized Europeans; we must, therefore, assign a totally different value to their lives." <ref>Ernst Haeckel, The Wonders of Life (New York: Harper 1904), 56-57 (emphasis added).</ref>

It wasn't long before intellectuals viewed war as an essential evolutionary process.  Vom Heutigen Kriege, a popular book by Geberal Bernhardi, "expounded the thesis that war was a biological necessity and a convenient means of ridding the world of the unfit.  These views were not confined to a lunatic fringe, but won wide acceptance especially among journalists, academics and politicians."<ref>A history of Germany 1815-1990, 4th ed., at 205, by W. Carr.</ref>  In America, Justice Holmes similarly wrote that "I always say that society is founded on the death of men - if you don't kill the weakest one way you kill them another."<ref>2/26/22 Letter to Sir Frederick Pollock.</ref>

It wasn't long before intellectuals viewed war as an essential evolutionary process.  ''Vom Heutigen Kriege'', a popular book by Geberal Bernhardi, "expounded the thesis that war was a biological necessity and a convenient means of ridding the world of the unfit.  These views were not confined to a lunatic fringe, but won wide acceptance especially among journalists, academics and politicians."<ref>A history of Germany 1815-1990, 4th ed., at 205, by W. Carr.</ref>  In America, Justice Holmes similarly wrote that "I always say that society is founded on the death of men - if you don't kill the weakest one way you kill them another."<ref>2/26/22 Letter to Sir Frederick Pollock.</ref>

World War I entailed a brutality unknown in the history of mankind.  Gregg Easterbrook, a senior editor of the liberal ''New Republic'' magazine, observed that "prior to the Scopes trial [in 1925, William Jennings] Bryan had been on a revival tour of Germany and had been horrified by the signs of incipient Nazism. Before this point, Bryan had been a moderate in the evolution debate; for instance, he had lobbied the Florida legislature not to ban the teaching of Darwin, only to specify that evolution must be taught as a theory rather than a fact. But after hearing the National Socialists talk about the elimination of genetic inferiority, [historian Gary] Wills wrote, Bryan came to feel that evolutionary ideas had become dangerous; he began both to oppose and to lampoon them."

World War I entailed a brutality unknown in the history of mankind.  Gregg Easterbrook, a senior editor of the liberal ''New Republic'' magazine, observed that "prior to the Scopes trial [in 1925, William Jennings] Bryan had been on a revival tour of Germany and had been horrified by the signs of incipient Nazism. Before this point, Bryan had been a moderate in the evolution debate; for instance, he had lobbied the Florida legislature not to ban the teaching of Darwin, only to specify that evolution must be taught as a theory rather than a fact. But after hearing the National Socialists talk about the elimination of genetic inferiority, [historian Gary] Wills wrote, Bryan came to feel that evolutionary ideas had become dangerous; he began both to oppose and to lampoon them."