00:00The often mentioned but never depicted eugenics wars became an important part of Star Trek canon
00:05in the original series episode Space Seed. According to this episode, in the 1990s,
00:10the notorious Khan Noonien Singh and several other genetically engineered humans known as
00:14Augments rose to power as dictators over large portions of Earth. These tyrants were eventually
00:19overthrown after four years of bloody struggle. As important as they are, Star Trek writers have
00:24been vague about the exact nature of the conflict, such as when and where the wars took place and who
00:29was involved. However, the pilot episode of Strange New Worlds did provide a tantalising historical
00:34summary putting the eugenic wars into their proper context. Just as World War I set the stage for the
00:39even more devastating World War II, the eugenics wars served as a prelude to a series of ever-escalating
00:44conflicts culminating in World War III. They also shaped societies for many centuries afterward.
00:50With all that in mind, I'm Tom Roberts Finn for Trek Culture and here are 8 things you didn't know
00:55about the eugenics wars. Number 8. The Augments were created in the 1950s.
01:01Just as the first atomic bombs were created to bring a swift end to World War II, the Augments
01:06were created with the best of intentions. Geneticists created them during the Cold War era in the hope
01:11that the so-called supermen would lead humanity into an era of peace after centuries of war.
01:17But they were wrong. Along with their superior physical and mental capabilities, the Augments were
01:22arrogant and aggressive. Their creators were unable to correct these character flaws due to the limited
01:26capabilities of genetic science at the time. As one of their creators succinctly put it,
01:31superior ability breeds superior ambition. That scientist would pay for his own arrogance and
01:36ambition when he was killed by his own creations. By the time the Augments were fully grown, they were
01:40ready to put their superior abilities to use. However, they were more interested in conquering humanity
01:45then leading them into an era of peace. Khan came to power in 1992 and eventually conquered one quarter
01:52of the world's population. The next year, his fellow supermen took control of over 40 nations.
01:57Number 7. The Augments ruled as despots
02:01In Space Seed, Khan described the era of the eugenics wars in romantic terms, calling them a period of great
02:07dreams and aspirations. He countered Spock's argument that they were fought to end tyranny by saying that
02:12they were an effort to unite humanity under a single ruler much like Rome under the Caesars. He claimed
02:17that while there were many petty dictatorships in that era, eventually one Augment would prevail over
02:23the others, bringing peace and order to the world. Contrary to Khan's high-minded rhetoric, the Augments
02:28ruled their territory as authoritarian dictators who treated ordinary humans as little more than slaves.
02:34Khan, however, considered himself a prince who ruled as a benign dictator. Unlike his fellow despots,
02:39Khan didn't slaughter his own citizens and his regime was peaceful. He didn't engage in warfare until
02:44his territory was attacked. Because of this, he was still admired in the 23rd century as the best of the
02:49tyrants.
02:51Number 6. They may have been largely fought covertly rather than through open war
02:56In the Voyager episode Future's End, the USS Voyager travelled back in time to 1996. Although
03:01this was the year the eugenics wars ended, Voyager's crew didn't see any signs of warfare. In Venice Beach,
03:07people pursued leisure activities such as roller skating, bicycling and sunbathing. In the Hollywood
03:12Hills, Tuvok in Paris observed people enjoying the Griffith Observatory's exhibits and planetarium.
03:18In downtown, the crew witnessed well-dressed business people and shoppers. The only signs of
03:22social strife the crew witnessed included homelessness and an encounter with members of a right-wing militia.
03:28So, like now. A possible reason for this was explored in the novel series Star Trek The Eugenics
03:33Wars. These novels depicted the Eugenics Wars as a covert conflict similar to the earlier Cold War
03:39rather than open warfare. However, Star Trek Picard showrunner Terry Metallus has suggested that
03:44Spock might have been wrong about the date. Metallus and the showrunner's writers concluded that World
03:48War III's nuclear exchanges generated electromagnetic pulses that erased many electronic records, a reason
03:55that the Eugenics Wars were later in the 21st century. Star Trek Podigy writer and story editor
03:59Aaron Waltke has also suggested that the Temporal Cold War may have shifted the timeline.
04:055. Captain Jonathan Archer
04:08Other regions of the world were not so lucky as the United States. One area devastated by open war
04:13was North Africa. One of the soldiers involved in the North African campaign was Captain Jonathan
04:17Archer's great-grandfather. As depicted in the Enterprise episode Hatchery, during the Enterprise's
04:22conflict with the Zindi, Enterprise encountered a disabled Zindi ship containing an insectoid hatchery.
04:27Marched to the crew's confusion, Captain Archer became obsessed with protecting this hatchery from
04:32harm. To illustrate his point that even war has moral rules, he related a war story about his
04:37great-grandfather to trip Tucker. During the Eugenics Wars, his great-grandfather was in command
04:42of a battalion. The battalion was evacuating civilians from a school in the middle of a combat zone
04:46when they came under attack from Augments. Wanting to limit collateral damage, Archer's great-grandfather
04:51contacted his Augment counterpart and successfully convinced the Augment commander to hold fire long
04:57enough to finish evacuating the school. 4. Casualties were in the millions
05:02How the Eugenic Wars began is unknown. As Spock pointed out in Space Seed, by the 23rd century,
05:07records from the 20th century had been sketchy. The aggressive and ambitious Augments may have begun
05:12fighting among themselves or ordinary humans may have risen up against them. However the wars started,
05:18governments around the world were soon drawn into the conflict. By the time the Tyrants were defeated,
05:22entire populations had been erased from existence through genocidal massacres and mass bombardments.
05:27The official death toll was 30 million. However, other estimates ranged between 35 and 37 million.
05:34Whatever the true total number of deaths was, another major but less obvious casualty was the
05:39human psyche. The human fear of genetically engineered beings lasted well into the 24th century. Bans on genetic
05:45engineering shaped everything from medical research to human interactions with other societies. They even
05:50jeopardised the careers of people associated with benign forms of genetic medicine.
05:543. Earth's governments hid Khan's escape from the public
05:58When the Eugenics Wars ended in 1996, the governments of the world sentenced Khan and more
06:03than 80 of his fellow supermen to death as war criminals. However, the Augments had disappeared
06:07before they could have been arrested. In order to prevent a panic, the governments hid the fact from
06:11the general public. As it turned out, Khan and his followers had acquired a sleeper ship used for deep
06:16space missions in the days before warp drive. Khan christened the ship SS Botany Bay after the
06:21Australian penal colony. He and his followers fled into space with no particular destination in mind.
06:26Two centuries later, the Botany Bay was encountered by the USS Enterprise. Kirk and his crew revived the
06:31hibernating supermen without fully realising the threat they posed. It wasn't long before the
06:35revived Khan led his supporters in an attempt to take control of the Enterprise. Kirk eventually thwarted Khan's
06:41efforts and exiled him and his supporters to the uninhabited planet Seti Alpha V.
06:462. They had far-reaching effects
06:49Following the Eugenics Wars, thousands of augmented embryos were secretly put into cold storage and
06:54the genetic engineering of humans was banned. This ban on genetic engineering made pariahs of those who
06:59had been treated with genetic therapy and led to conflicts with the Illyrians, a race known for genetic
07:04modifications. Illyrians were banned from Starfleet, the medical technology was banned in the Federation,
07:09as was mixing of human and Illyrian blood. As depicted in the Strange New Worlds episode,
07:14this bias against Illyrians ultimately endangered the career of Enterprise First Officer Una Chin Riley.
07:20In the 22nd century, Arik Soong stole several Augment embryos from Cold Station 12 and attempted to
07:26raise them himself. Their aggressive tendencies overcame Soong's attempts to temper their behaviour.
07:31These Augments threatened to incite war and mass murder just as their brethren from the Eugenics Wars had.
07:36Klingon experiments with stolen Augment DNA led to the release of a highly contagious virus that
07:41affected the appearance, biology and personality of a large number of Klingons.
07:461. The Eugenics Wars were the first in an escalating series of wars
07:51As shown in Strange New Worlds, the Eugenics Wars turned out to be a part of an era of ever
07:56-increasing
07:56violence and civil unrest. It was followed by the Second Civil War, which grew out of a series of
08:01protests against the US government. Another factor depicted in the Deep Space Nine episode
08:05Past Tense included the civil unrest that followed the development of sanctuary districts as a
08:10response to homelessness. A second Eugenics War followed the Second Civil War, which ultimately
08:15escalated into World War III. The cataclysmic nuclear exchanges during the war led to the death
08:20of 30% of the population and the extinction of 600,000 species of plants and animals. As depicted in
08:27the
08:27next-generation pilot episode encounter at Farpoint, the post-atomic horror that followed persisted
08:31into 2079. And that was 8 things you didn't know about the Eugenics Wars. Make sure to like and share
08:37the video and subscribe if you haven't already, and tap the notification bell to be alerted of future
08:42videos. If you can think of anything that we may have missed, or you just want to tell us that
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08:55at TomCFinn and on various other socials as well. Thanks for watching, and until next time, buh-bye.
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