Although it is difficult to calculate the death toll of the Enlightenment, the 18th century philosophical movement has given rise to many regimes that engaged in killing on a vast scale. This article attempts to describe, in broad terms, the loss of live arising from the application of Enlightenment ideas, and thus record one dimension of the effect of ideology on human history, and one way in which it impacted the lives of billions of individuals.
Elements of Enlightenment Thought edit
The Enlightenment was an eighteenth century intellectual movement which was enormously influential on the subsequent course of human history. Although it can not be described as a unified philosophical theory, there are certain points which are common to almost all enlightenment thinkers. They include the idea of the basic goodness of man, and his great capacity to accomplish good. Although the Enlightenment was not a strictly atheist movement, this high vision of man's abilities was generally seen as independent of his relationship with God or gods, and hence something intrinsic to himself. Coupled with, and related to this anthropology was a view of the world as basically knowable and hence controllable by mankind. It thus implied a progressive worldview that saw the future as a potential golden age for mankind freed from many of the problems of the present day. Enlightenment thought tends, therefore, to be humanist, and secular. While this ideology does not directly advocate mass killing of individuals, many political systems based on the enlightenment did engage in such behavior. While the Enlightenment resulted in many positive effects, for example, the broad recognition of Human Rights, it also had a darker side in that many of its adherents would come to view the human person as expendable on a massive scale. This article will consider the various intellectual and political movements that grew out of the Enlightenment, and the deaths that resulted from them.
How the Enlightenment inspired violent regimes edit
While there is much to be admired in Enlightenment thought, in many instances Enlightenment optimism regarding man and the future led to the formation of political ideologies that devalued the human person. Each instance is different, of course, but broadly speaking, these regimes believed that they had the obligation to bring about the progress and the better world envisioned by the Enlightenment. The desire for a utopian future led to deep antagonism towards existing structures and institutions, and seemed to many to justify the use of violence in eliminating the structures and individuals that were seen as obstacles to a better future for all of mankind. In view of the great good of an imagined better world, the deaths of millions seemed an acceptable cost. Likewise, given the Enlightenment assessment of human nature as essentially good, the problem of evil in the world seemed to be a consequence of corrupt individuals or institutions who created and maintained the social problems of the day. Again, the elimination of these individuals seemed justifiable in light of the better world their deaths was expected to produce. Unfortunately, however, these thinkers were in error, and while the political systems they inspired did indeed kill hundreds of millions, it is hard to see that their efforts improved the world in any way.
Tally of Deaths from Enlightenment Regimes edit
| 1776-1783 | American Revolution | A precursor to the true Enlightenment regimes, the American Revolution had causes beyond the ideological assertion of the right to self-government, and the justifiability of war to attain it. However, it provided an indication of what was to come in the much more ideologically based (and bloody) French Revolution | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1789 | French Revolution | The first government based on Enlightenment principles takes power. | |
| 1793-1794 | Reign of Terror | 30,000-40,000 | The first government inspired by the Enlightenment uses "scientific" application of the guillotine to eliminate those who are considered disloyal. |
| 1803-1815 | The Napoleonic Wars | 3,500,000–6,000,000[1] | The Napoleonic Wars sought to spread the liberties and Enlightenment ideals of French society to the rest of Europe, at the cost of a tremendous loss of life. |
| 1848-1849 | Revolutions of 1848 | 25,000 - 70,000[2] | In this case, revolutionaries inspired by enlightenment ideals failed to gain power in numerous European countries |
| 1917-1922 | Russian Civil War | 2,800,000 - 10,000,000[3] | The first time Karl Marx's political ideology is embraced by a governing regime casts a long shadow over the 20th century. |
| 1924-53 | Soviet Union, Stalin's regime | 20,000,000-60,000,000[4] | Stalin sought to create a communist utopia in the Soviet Union by eliminating those uncommitted to communism and his regime. |
| 1927-1950 | Chinese Civil War | 2,500,000 [5] | Although only one side of the war typified an Enlightenment government, the struggle over Enlightenment ideals was at the heart of the war. |
| 1933-1945 | Nazi Germany | 15,003,000 - 31,595,000[6] | Hitler promised a better world of progress to the German people, grounded in secularism and science. His racist ideology called for the elimination of individuals and peoples who were considered to be inferior and obstacles to the promised utopia. |
| 1949-1975 | People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong's Regime | 30,000,000 - 72,000,000[7] | Another exponent of global Communism, Mao sought to create a worker's paradise in China. |
| 1975-1979 | Khmer Rouge Cambodia | 1,000,000 - 2,300,000[8] | Educated in Paris, Pol Pot sought to create a Marxist state in Cambodia where the dismantling of urban life would create an idyllic agricultural society. |