Wars

This topic page provides pointers to wars of various natures across epochs and ages, their origin and meaning, not limited to modern history but rather from an evolutionary perspective as part of the development of mankind.

Wars are conflicts between people, and represent the physical emanation of underlying conflicts - see Schema FMC00.059.

This can be compared to how in the human being, illness is the outcome of spiritual influences that work their way down through the Human I and affect the astral and etheric bodies before flowing in and becoming noticeable as physical or mental illness.

Contemporary history studies mainly the physical wars between peoples from a worldview perspective with cause-effect mechanism and mainly political, economical, sociological and religious reasons for wars.

Spiritual science looks for the patterns giving rise to the wars that are ultimately - by necessity - the outcome of what has to happen on the physical plane as a result of the waves that have been rising below and and ultimately have to collide (re: Schema FMC00.059).

Rudolf Steiner described 'spiritual wars' between various classes of spiritual beings, and used examples to link these to physical historical wars.

Aspects

• depending on worldview and belief, the outcome of a war can be seen as divine judgement as corresponding with historical necessity (what needs to happen). This view changed throughout centuries and millenia, but is currently also very different in the West versus the East. (1916-12-25-GA173B)

Spiritual wars

• War in heaven as a general term for spiritual wars, but also for the origin of evil as a result of what happened in previous planetary stage of evolution, between Old Sun to Old Moon.
• for the fight of 'Michael and the dragon' and the so-called 'fall of the spirits of darkness' in the 19th century, see topic page: 1840 and 1879

Indirect wars

• the opium war (between England and China, between 1770-1840 and 1860) and its impact on a timescale of centuries, affecting patterns of reincarnation between peoples and geographies, see Sixteen paths of perdition#Note .5B3.5D - The opium war. More in general, see also Model for hereditary physical body#Alchohol and drugs
• see also: worldview wars, and Contemporary worldview war

Physical wars

• Atlantean epoch
• Current Postatlantean epoch
  • second ancient Persian cultural age
    • the great war between Iran and Turan (which "lasted not decades but centuries"!) as an expression of duality, the antithesis between the North and the South (1910-09-01-GA123) - see more on Turanian stream
  • Current fifth cultural age
    • the 30 years war between 1618-1648
      • Jacob Boehme#Note 1 - Historical perspective - waves and counterwaves
      • see also 1918-10-18-GA185
    • the 20th century 30 years world war consisting of WWI and WWII
      • see oa Schema FMC00.489 on History
    • future war between East and West
      • "if men refuse to take the course of returning to the spirit and bringing their intellect with them, then still greater wars will come upon us, wars that will become more and more savage. Men will really destroy one another as the two rats did that, shut up together in a cage, gnawed at each other till there was nothing left of them but two tails. That is putting it rather brutally, but in fact mankind is on the way to total extermination. It is very important to know this." (1924-08-06-GA354)
      • Nostradamus#2.1 - War between the West and Asia and World catastrophy
      • Stages of clairvoyance#Alois Irlmaier
  • Seventh cultural age
    • War of all against all

Various notes

• besides the 'war of all against all' at the end of the current fifth Postatlantean epoch, Rudolf Steiner also uses the term for a much more short term projection at the end of the 20th century (1921-08-06-GA206) - see War of all against all#1921-08-06-GA206
• wars and world karma between peoples

Inspirational quotes

anonymous

attributed to several people but no written records)

When the power of love is greater than the love of power, the world will know peace.

2024-03-25 - Rawn Clark quote around 30-35' in this youtube movie here

.. a major catastrophe requires people to rely on eachother .. and that brings out the best in people ...

there is a collective human awareness, that all humans participate in .. but it is unconscious at this point in time .. we do not have a conscious collective human awareness (we had in the past, we will again in the future) ..

in a collective awareness ... you just don't treat the world this way

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.059 positions history 'as we are told' to what can be read clairvoyantly as objective truth in the akashic records, and how true history is an emanation and expression of spiritual impulses that are carried by waves of reincarnating human souls.

Lecture coverage and references

1899 - James Morgan Pryse - translation of Bible extract

in 'The Sermon on the Mount'

from the preface

The following- translation of a few passages from the New Testament writings is not a paraphrase but an attempt at a more literal rendering than the received version done from the Latin Vulgate and ''diligently compared with the original Greek." Waiving the fact that the oldest Greek manuscripts of the New Testament can not be assigned to an earlier date than the third and fourth centuries, the originals having been lost, the diligence of the learned translators and revisers failed to compensate for their absolute ignorance of all psychic things, not to speak of things spiritual and magical. They have made woeful havoc of the mystical terms employed; all their work is vitiated, even to the extent of suppressio veri, by their pious desire to dissociate what they believed to be the unique literary productions of Deity from all pagan sources.

from Chapter 'The coming of the Christos'

Matthex 24 1-21

And Iesous, answering, said to them:

"Beware lest any one lead you in wandering ways: for many shall come in my Name, saying, lI am the Anointed,' and shall lead many in wandering ways. And yon shall be about to hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you are not alarmed, for all [things] must come into being; but the Perfecting-period 1 is not yet. For class shall rise up against class, and realm against realm; and there shall be privations of food, 2 and epidemics, and earthquakes, according to places. 3 Now, all these [things are] the first of birth-pangs.

4 Then they shall deliver you up to a hemming-in, 5 and make you wretched; 1 and you shall be hated by all classes because of my Name. And then many shall be tripped up, and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another.

And many false seers shall rise up, and shall lead many in wandering ways. And because sorcery shall be prevalent, the love of the masses 2 shall become cold; but he who stands firm until the Perfecting-period, that [man] shall be saved.

...

Now, immediately after the hemming-in of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the Sky and the Forces of the Skies shall be vibrated. 1 And then shall be manifested in the Sky the Sign of the Son of the Man ; and then shall all the tribes of the Earth 2 lament, and they shall see the Son of the Man coming in the clouds of the Sky with great Force and Radiance; and he shall send his Messengers with the loud sound of a trumpet-call, 3 and they shall gather together his chosen ones from the four Winds, 1 from the one end of the Skies to the other."

for comparison the New King James Version:

Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the Temple

24 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. ² And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age

³ Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for ^[a]all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, ^[b]pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows.

⁹ “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. ¹⁰ And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. ¹¹ Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. ¹² And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end shall be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

The Great Tribulation

¹⁵ “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), ¹⁶ “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. ¹⁸ And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. ¹⁹ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰ And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

1915-05-09-GA159

lecture with title: The War as an Illness Process - Central Europe and the Slavic East - The Dead as Helpers of Human Progress

short extract

Thus you understand when I return to that which I said just now: our time had many reluctant forces, and if we call the war an illness - we can do this, this is an illness which was caused by something that took place long ago, and it is there to the recovery, so that something is eradicated that had to lead to the damage of the life of the whole culture gradually.

If we call it illness in this sense, if we look at the illness as a defence, we understand this war and the destiny-burdened events of the present, understand it also in its significant hints and admonitions.

We then experience it with all internal forces of our souls, so that we can surely take notice of those who have gone through the gate of death and look at the next future and really have learnt what they can inspire in the souls which they want to hear. That spiritual deepening which is necessary for the human welfare and progress in the next future must come into them.

If your souls can rightly take up that which I would like to say with these words, you are supporters of our spiritual-scientific world view in the right sense only now. If your souls can make the decision to become such souls which turn their attention to that which is murmured down from those who have gone through the gate of death because of the destiny-burdened events.

A connecting bridge between the living and the dead should be built by spiritual science just for the next future, a connecting line by which the inspiring elemental forces of those who have made the big sacrifices in our time are able to find their way to us.

1916-12-25-GA173B

Consider the following: We have gradually built up a picture for ourselves of the evolution of mankind and we now know how to assess the fact that, during a certain period in this evolution, wars came upon the scene, that wars were what fired mankind. But it was a time when mankind believed in war.

What do I mean when I say that it was a time when mankind believed in wars? What does it mean: to believe in wars?

Well, a belief in wars is very similar to a belief in the duel, in the fight between two. But when does a duel have a real meaning? It has a meaning only when the two concerned are inwardly fully convinced that, not chance, but the gods will decide the outcome. If the two who take up their positions in order to fight a duel fully believe that the one who is killed or wounded will receive his death or wound because a god has sided against him, then there is truth in the duel. There is no truth in the duel if this conviction is lacking; then, obviously, the duel is a genuine lie. It is the same in the case of war. If the individuals who constitute the warring peoples are convinced that the outcome of the war is divine, that the gods govern what is to happen, then there is truth in the actions of war. But then the participants must understand the meaning of the words: A divine judgement will come about.

Ask yourselves whether there is any truth in such words today! You need only ask:

Do people believe that actions of war express divine judgements? Do people believe this?

Ask yourselves how many people believe that the outcome is divine! How many people truly believe this, how many honestly believe this?

For among the many lies buzzing about in the world today are the prayers to the gods, or to God, offered up — naturally — by all sides. Obviously, in this materialistic age there cannot be a real belief that a divine judgement is going to take place. So it is necessary to look seriously and soberly at this matter, and admit that one is doing something without believing in its inner reality. One does not believe in this inner reality, and one believes all the less in this inner reality the further westwards one goes in Europe — quite rightly, because the further westwards one goes, the more does one enter western Europe, which has the task for the fifth post-Atlantean period of bringing about materialism.

Things are different going eastwards, however. I am not in the habit of constructing theories about such things or of saying such things lightheartedly. When I say something of this kind it is based on actual facts. It is nowadays already possible to make a remarkable discovery. Coming from the West to Central Europe you discover that here there exists a sporadic belief in divine judgement. In the West this is impossible unless it has been imported from Central Europe. But in Central Europe there are isolated individuals who have a kind of belief in destiny and who use the word ‘divine judgement’. And if you go right to the East where the future is being prepared, you will, of course, find numerous people who regard the approaching outcome as a divine judgement. For Russian people are not averse — as are the people of the West — to seeing a divine judgement in what takes place.

1916 - Beinsa Douno

from 'The Mercy' (1916)

[translation by Annael]

There are [spiritual] Laws that regulate [all] things. Wars happen for reasons.

What are the causes when [for instance], there is a storm and dust is raised in the air? Scientists say that somewhere the air has warmed more, somewhere less and currents have formed. Why must the air be heated up and why must it be cooled down, is this not possible, that these things do not happen? No, it is not possible. You will say that this is evil, because some storms destroy houses. Yes, but at the same time storms will bring moisture, will purify the air, and so on, that is, they will do more good than harm to the vegetable kingdom.

What causes a war [to break through]? The war is a storm in the spiritual world which [has the task to] refresh people. After this storm, nations will become very clever, writers will appear who will reason very cleverly. Now we see only the evils, but in fifty years we shall come and see the effects.

In the divine world, all things are used, nothing is accidental. Whoever was slain on the battlefield should have been slain; whose house is set on fire, it should have been set on fire; the one whose foot is cut off, it should have been cut off. There are statistics that prove the great regularity in events.

...

Therefore, there is a [spiritual] Law that regulates [certain] things [in life]; it is a new science, [spiritual science] that has deep and wise foundations.

...

So, we must live wisely. There are many books written on the question of what wise Life [in reality] is. This is your task—you must live the way you understand things, for a student who has no understanding of his own, he will never understand what the teacher teaches him. Now, we find ourselves in the following contradiction. There is a legend that God originally created two people on Earth, but they could not understand each other, they began hating each other, and therefore God decided to put them in two places which were very far from each other in space, so that they could not see each other. But these two people became so sad and missing each other, they started to [feel] love for each other and wished to unite [again]; then they made a bridge and this bridge is [now] the Milky Way. So, there is a path, a way people can understand each other - this is the Milky Way of Harmony, of Love. Through this Milky Way of Harmony Christ descended.

...

When a Divine Messenger comes from Heaven to us, he wants to tell us that without [inner] purity we will never see God, without holiness we will not understand Him, without kindness and love, without mercy and without justice we will not feel Him. We need to understand what kind of thing [the Divine] Love is. Some say: "We understand love". Some of you, I believe, understand it, but you need to understand it deeper. Love always brings after itself the hatred: if you love good, you will hate evil; if you love evil, you will hate good. Therefore, love alone cannot solve the question and bring salvation to people if it is not accompanied by constant avoidance of its opposite.

Powell - The Solar system

describes how violence and war were key characteristics in the Lemurian and Atlantean epochs, ao describing the warlike nature of Toltec, Turanean and Primal Semites sub-races.

Illustrative extract from Ch 38 (XXXVIII)

Although earlier races had begun to fight with one another, it was the Atlanteans who first developed organised warfare. In fact the principle of strife was the fundamental characteristic of the fourth root race, and all through the Atlantean epoch war on land and sea was the order of the day.

So deeply rooted in Man's nature did the principle of strife become, that even now the most intellectually developed of the Aryan (fifth) root-race are ready to war upon each other. The fact that kings and emperors consider it necessary or appropriate, on state occasions, to appear in the uniform of one of the fighting services, is a significant indication of the apotheosis reached by the combative qualities in Man.

...

In the later days of war and strife they constructed giant air-ships, which superseded battleships for the sea, and which contained 50, or even 100 fighting men.

1921-01-02-GA338

The Second World War, which must develop between Asia and America and what lies in between, must develop out of economic reasons. You hear how the call sounds from the lower classes: world revolution! This idea of world revolution can only be shrouded in a fog by unleashing this second world war catastrophe. There is no other way.

other translation

The Second [Third from the present point of view] World War, which will be fought between Asia and America, along with what is between them, is absolutely necessary - and the reasons for this will be economic. You must be hearing the calls of the lower classes for a world revolution — the only way to obscure and hide this idea of a world revolution would be to ignite the catastrophe of another World War. It just has no alternative.

1924-08-06-GA354

We have to come back to the spirit by way of the intellect. And that, you see, is the task of anthroposophy. It has no wish to do what would please many people, that is, to bring primitive conditions back to humanity-ancient Indian wisdom, for example. It is nonsense when people harp on that.

Anthroposophy, on the other hand, sets value on a return to the spirit, but a return to the spirit precisely in full possession of the intellect, with the intellect fully alive. It is important, gentlemen, and must be borne strictly in mind, that we have nothing at all against the intellect; rather, the point is that we have to go forward with it. Originally human beings had spirit without intellect; then the spirit gradually fell away and the intellect increased. Now, by means of the intellect, we have to regain the spirit. Culture is obliged to take this course.

If it does not do so — well, gentlemen, people are always saying that the World War was unlike anything ever experienced before, and it is indeed a fact that men have never before so viciously torn one another to pieces.

But if men refuse to take the course of returning to the spirit and bringing their intellect with them, then still greater wars will come upon us, wars that will become more and more savage. Men will really destroy one another as the two rats did that, shut up together in a cage, gnawed at each other till there was nothing left of them but two tails. That is putting it rather brutally, but in fact mankind is on the way to total extermination. It is very important to know this.

1943-01-01-BD - Beinsa Douno

The excerpt below is from the lecture "New Foundation", Sofia, January 1, 1943 (translated by Annael) and talks about why war has to exist.

also on: Meaning of life#1943-01-01-BD - Beinsa Douno

War is a contradiction, the reasons for which lie in the distant past.

Because God transforms evil into good, the war will bring some good to humanity. For humans war brings misery and death, but for the Great Beings it is a [kind] of show. Just as actors die on the stage and are "resurrected" behind the scenes, the same way the participants in the war will be resurrected. God will give them new bodies, healthier ones and more beautiful, with new and healthier legs, arms, eyes, and heads.

People go through great sufferings and will go through great suffering, but after [that], they will rejoice. Suffering is the material for building future human bodies.

Today's people live more for themselves than for their neighbors. They close themselves in their shells and think only for themselves.

The war will force them to open their coffers, to open their minds and hearts, to take out everything they have hidden in them. It will make them give up their selfishness. Selfishness is coming to an end.

The end of the caterpillars' life is coming. Until now, humans have been caterpillars, gnawing leaves and thinking only for themselves. This life is over. In four or five years they should hatch, they should become butterflies.

.."We want to indulge in life." ..

How do you want to indulge in life? As caterpillars, or as butterflies?

You can no longer live like caterpillars - the life of the caterpillars is over!

Discussion

Note 1 - On fundamental principles and causes of conflicts

Draft WIP to be developed

The players: the established 'powers that be'

In every cultural age over the last millenia, there have been large empires and political, economical, military 'powerhouses' ruling a large part of the world. Examples are the Roman empire, the empire of Charlemagne, the empire of Ghenghis Khan, etc. Of course these were very different in terms of power structures and rulership.

This is no different in our current fifth cultural age. This note bundles some observations on two main powers which we can call the western and eastern, even though they are both globally structured with worldwide presence.

1 - fear <-> polarization <-> enemy

The first principle is 'divide et impera', the polarization requiring an 'enemy', a party that can be labelled and identified as a threath.

A simple example is the polarization between the USA and the USSR in the 20th century (re cold war). This principle is underlying every war, and rests upon the identification of an 'enemy' that poses a 'threat' to our society, which therefore requires a power to defend society against that treath.

See also quote from Extra terrestrial intelligences#197X - Dr. Wernher von Braun, quoted by Carol Rosin: "first the Russians are going to be considered the enemy... then terrorists ... then third world crazies [i.e. Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong-un] ... then asteroids... and the final enemy card are 'aliens', extraterrestrials.

2 - wars

Wars are physical conflicts with armed forces, in contrast to political and economical wars that may go on for long times without strongly visible conflicts, nevertheless increasing tensions through subterranean support for undermining power structures etc.

A large war is therefore a culmination of an underlying conflict that is at the end of its cycle and needs a final resolution, it is like a last resort for example if a party may see that its situation is untenable or unsustainable.

Whereas history sees the causal dependencies, there are also underlying spiritual causes, see captured in Schema FMC00.059 with more background on History and Impulses from waves of reincarnating souls.

3 - east and west

becoming more specific, with reference to Rudolf Steiner's prophecies regarding a future war and conflicts between the West and the East ..

Note 2 - Questions on future war(s)

Note following (recurrent, related) questions in forum

Rudolf Steiner did not speak of a war with Russia, but he did speak of the tension field between the east and the west that would lead to at least one great war and possibly more conflicts beforehand. And he did imply area(s) in between as likely battlefield, as is Europe (and Russia).

For more information, see: Nostradamus#2.1 - War between the West and Asia and World catastrophe,

The below concatenated some quotes by Rudolf Steiner in that location in a more condensed form:

"The real opposition is not between America and Russia, that is only apparently so .. the real clash will be between China and America" (1924-06). In "the World War which will be fought between Asia and America" (1921-01-02-GA338) .. in "the crushing together of East and West .. the great conflict that lies ahead between Japan and America" (1920-10-30-GA200) .. in "the great spiritual battle between East and West .. the culture of Middle Europe will be wedged (1920-10-31-GA200), as .. "the East and the West will come together above the head of Middle Europe" (1921-01-09-GA203)

however this is not just to be seen as a one off or a single war, but rather over a longer timeframe of 1000-1500 years as part of a large transition:

"a great war will have to take place between the white and coloured humanity in the transition between the fifth and sixth cultural ages, and this in the most manifold ways. ... .. we stand before something collosal, that we can see unfolding as a necessity in the future (1915-02-13-GA174B)

Comments

• This tension field is between two power 'blocks' or 'alliances' of the US/UK/Israel and China/Japan and the BRIC countries that have the experience of being ill treated and exploited by the West for many centuries. Russia is a forepost for countries like China, just like Europe is for the US/UK.
• From a spiritual scientific perspective one should never loose sight of the importance of the Germanic and Slavic cultures for the fifth and sixth cultural ages, re eg the conscious reshaping of Europe with the 30 year war WWI+II. First see Central European cultural basin, then in that context the info on Jacob Boehme#The wave of 1880-1900
• there have been prophecies and clairvoyant visions of WWIII and a war also with Russia, oa by Alois Irlmaier (and others, in context of the Three days of darkness). More info here: Stages of clairvoyance#Alois Irlmaier. For further reading on Irlmaier, see Dowsing#Alois Irlmaier.

Related pages

• Worldview wars
• History
• Impulses from waves of reincarnating souls

References and further reading

• Friedrich Rittelmeyer: 'Christ und Krieg : Predigten aus der Kriegszeit' (1916)
• Theodor Fuchs: 'Vom Götterstreit zum Kampf der Ideologien : Menschheitsgeschichte im Spiegel des Krieges' (1987)
• Peter Tradowsky: 'Frieden durch Krieg? : Die Geisteswissenschaft als Friedensbewegung' (2005)

20th century

some authors offering perspectives on and underlying reasons for the thirty years war between 1914-1945.

Note these are not mainstream official versions, so the authors and works are likely to be discredited and attacked. They are offered here for those with an open mind who want to exercise the techniques explained by Rudolf Steiner in the Karma or Untruthfulness lectures.

• Francis Delaisi (1873-1947)
  • La Démocratie et les financiers (1910 - also 1911, 1936)
  • La Guerre qui vient (1911)
  • La Banque de France aux mains des deux cents familles (1936)
• Helmuth von Moltke: 'Erinnerungen, Briefe, Dokumente 1877-1916 : ein Bild von Kriegsausbruch, erster Kriegsführung und Persönlichkeit des ersten militärischen Führers des Krieges' (1921)
• Smedley Butler (1881-1940) .. Major General in the US army and at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. military history
  • War Is a Racket (1935)

• Carroll Quigley (1910-1977)
  • Tragedy and Hope: a history of the world in our time (1966)
  • The Anglo-American Establishment (1981)
• Anthony C. Sutton (1925-2002), selected books from his work:
  • Wars and Revolutions: A Comprehensive List of Conflicts, Including Fatalities (1973)
  • Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution (1974)
  • Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler (1976)
  • The War on Gold.(1977)
  • America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones (1983, 2002)
  • An Introduction to the Order and The Secret Cult of the Order (1983)
  • How the Order Creates War and Revolution (1985)
  • The Federal Reserve Conspiracy (1995)
• Dieter Rüggeberg
  • Secret Politics (in DE as 'Geheimpolitik' with Vol 1 in 1990, Vol 2 in 1994 and Vol 3)
• John Perkins: 'Confessions of an Economic Hit Man' (2004)
• Stephen Mitford Goodson (1948-2018)
  • A History of Central Banking and the Enslavement of Mankind (2014)
  • also
    • Bonaparte & Hitler Versus the International Bankers (2004)
    • The Genocide of the Boers (2017)
• Terry M. Boardman
  • 'Mapping the Millennium: Behind the Plans of the New World Order' (1998)

what may or is called by some 'historical revisionism'

• John P. Cafferky: 'Lord Milner's Second War: The Rhodes-Milner Secret Society; The Origin of World War I; and the Start of the New World Order' (2013)
• Gerry Docherty, Jim MacGregor:
  • Hidden History: The Secret Origins of the First World War (2014)
  • Prolonging the Agony: How The Anglo-American Establishment Deliberately Extended WWI by Three-and-a-Half Years (2018)
• Nick Kollerstrom: 'How Britain Initiated both World Wars' (2016)

Public opinion

see also: Various forms of spiritual perception and influences beyond waking consciousness

• Gustave Le Bon (1841-1931)
  • mass psychology - public opinion
    • L'Homme et les sociétés (1881) (Man and Society)
    • Les Lois Psychologiques de l'Évolution des Peuples (1894), tbc in 1989 as 'The Psychology of Peoples')
    • 'La Foule: Psychologie des Foules' (1895, in EN 1986 as 'The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind')
      • examines how masses behave, arguing that crowds are irrational and easily manipulated by leaders and propaganda.
    • Psychologie des Temps Nouveaux (1920) – Psychology of New Times
      • explores how modern societies are shaped by psychological forces and mass manipulation.
    • 'Psychologie du Socialisme" (1896 or 1898, tbc as 'The Psychology of Socialism' in 1899)
      • analyzes socialist movements, arguing that mass psychology drives political ideologies more than rational thought.
    • 'L’Opinion et la Foule' (1901) – Opinion and the Crowd
      • expands on 'Psychologie des Foules', discussing how public opinion is formed and controlled.
    • La Psychologie Politique et la Défense Sociale (1910) (The Psychology of Politics and Social Defense)
    • 'La Révolution Française et la Psychologie des Révolutions' (1912, in EN 1913/1980 as 'The French Revolution and the Psychology of Revolutions')
      • applies crowd psychology to historical revolutions, arguing that emotional forces drive major societal shifts.
  • specifically on the Great War (WWI+WWII)
    • Enseignements Psychologiques de la Guerre Européenne (1915, in EN 1916 as 'The Psychology of the Great War')
    • Premières conséquences de la guerre: transformation mentale des peuples (1916) (First Consequences of War: Mental Transformation of People")
    • Psychologie des Temps Nouveaux (1920, in EN 1921 as 'The World in Revolt')
    • Le Déséquilibre du Monde (1923, in EN 1924 as 'The World Unbalanced')
    • Les Incertitudes de l'heure présente (1924) (The Uncertainties of the Present Hour)
    • L'Évolution actuelle du monde, illusions et réalités (1927) (The Current Evolution of the World, Illusions and Realities)
• Walter Lippmann: 'Public Opinion' (1922)
  • media serves as an intermediary between the public and reality, shaping perception
• Edward Bernays: 'Propaganda' (1928)
  • how public relations and media manipulation are essential tools in shaping public opinion.
• Jacques Ellul (1912-1994)
  • 'Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes' (1962)
    • explores how modern mass media and propaganda shape public perception and manipulate democratic societies.
  • L'illusion politique (1965, in EN 1967 as 'The Political Illusion')
  • Histoire de la propagande (1967)
• Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman: 'Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media' (1988)

More

• Roger Mucchielli: 'La Subversion' (1971)
• Laurent Obertone: 'La France Big Brother' (2015)

Drugs

• Walther Bühler, Leendert F.C. Mees, Wolfgang Schimpeler: 'Rauschgift : Krieg gegen das Ich' (1980)