World War II & The Holocaust

The deadliest conflict in human history, culminating in industrialized genocide and the atomic bomb.

70-85 million dead, including 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. The war ended with nuclear weapons used against civilian populations, inaugurating the atomic age.

Perspective

The Holocaust is the event that should haunt every discussion of "human nature." It wasn't primitive — it was industrialized, bureaucratic, and carried out by a modern, educated nation. The capacity for organized evil scales with civilization, not against it.