Evolution and Social Darwinism

War and oppression have always been components of human history, however
with the advent of Darwin's theory of evolution man had a new justification
for his cruelty. Recall that the prime component of Darwin's ideas revolves
around the notion that life progresses by natural selection - the survival
of the fittest. Couple this with the racist teachings in the scientific
world of his day and you have the rational to pursue any exploitive agenda.
"Might makes right", so why not declare yourself the master race and
conquer others?

Both sides of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 used Darwinism as a rational.
When Cecil Rhodes established the famous Rhodes Scholarships it was for
uniting English-speaking peoples for greater racial development. Theodore
Roosevelt maintained that a racial war to the finish with the Indians was
inevitable and there should be a spread of English-speaking people all over
the world (Morris 1989, 68-70).

The notions of racial superiority were more pronounced in Europe. Friedrich
Nietzsche of the "God is dead" fame adapted Darwin's ideas and promoted a
"superman" or "super-race" philosophy. He took the idea of natural
selection further, suggesting that warfare, eugenics, and the merciless
extinction of inferior races was appropriate. Nietzsche would later go
insane.

Another German of influence was the great evolutionary biologist Ernst
Haeckel (1834-1919). Haeckel is known for his "Ontogeny recapitulates
Phylogeny" (the embryo re-traces evolution) contribution to the field of
evolution, a theory which is now discredited but still lingers on.
(Incidentally, the illustrations that Haeckel used to show embryonic
development were fabricated.) Haeckel established the Monist League (monism
is the philosophy that bases all reality on matter alone) and "became one
of Germany's major ideologists for racism, nationalism, and imperialism"
(Morris 1989, 73). One could argue that the ideas of Darwin, Nietzsche, and
Haeckel were the seeds of World War I - British Anglo-Saxonism vs German
Teutonism.

The ideas of racial supremacy and the survival of the fittest race reached
it's zenith with the National Socialist party of Nazi Germany. The legacy
of Haeckel and the Monist league turned many German scientists to monism
and atheism. Adolf Hitler himself was a evolutionist. His book "Mein Kemp"
(My Struggle), which sold 11 million copies in 1944, has a strong theme of
the necessity of struggle, a struggle between the races. "The Jews formed a
sub-human counter race, predestined by their biological heritage to evil,
just as the Nordic race was destined for nobility" ... "History would
culminate in a new millennial empire of unparalleled splendor, based on a
new racial hierarchy ordained by nature herself". (Morris 1989, 78 -
quoting Gann). One has to ask - would Hitler act the way he did if he were
a creationist?

Others in Nazi Germany were evolutionists as well. The notorious head of
the Gestapo, Heinrich Himmler stated that "the law of nature must take its
course in the survival of the fittest" (Morris 1989, 78 - quoting
Schaeffer). Joseph Mengele, the "angel of death", infamous for his gruesome
experiments on humans at Auschwitz was indoctrinated in evolutionary racism
in school. One biographer notes that Mengele was influenced by the notion
that "some human beings afflicted by disorders were unfit to reproduce,
even to live" (Morris 1989, 79 - quoting Posner and Ware).

And finally, Benito Mussolini was an evolutionist who mocked perpetual
peace and asserted that "the reluctance of England to engage in war only
proved the evolutionary decadence of the British Empire" (Morris 1989, 81 -
quoting Clark).

References:
Morris 1989, 68-82