Is there progress in evolution? Many, including Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles), Herbert Spencer, Julian Huxley, and Richard Dawkins think there is. Others are not so sure. Some, like Charles Darwin himself, sit on the fence. It is hard enough getting progress, let alone putting up barriers like the non-directedness of the Darwinian evolutionary process. One problem is that of defining evolutionary progress. Often it is done in the name of complexity, but as paleontologist Dan McShea points out, to define complexity is a far from easy process and it is not always the case that complex means desirable. The backbone of the whale is simply but highly adapted for life in the deep. A number of possible progress-supported mechanisms are introduced and discussed – arms races, morphological convergence, and even some natural unguided processes simply emerging. The drunkard is going to fall off the sidewalk eventually, even though he doesn’t plan it. All are found lacking, as one might have predicted. Darwinian theory is drained of absolute value judgements. Progress is of absolute value. Hence, it cannot be derived from Darwinian theory.

In the world of 1914 the great powers of Europe were divided into rival blocs: the Triple Alliance, in which Italy and Austria-Hungary tolerated each other for the sake of friendship with Germany, and the Triple Entente, in which France, Russia, and Britain (three countries with little in common, which more often than not had been enemies rather than friends) were drawn together by their mutual fear of Germany. Beyond Europe, the United States and Japan had emerged as great powers in their own right, Japan tied to Britain by alliance. The British Empire, with its self-governing dominions along with its colonies, remained the envy of other aspiring imperial powers. Experiences from the Anglo-Boer war (1899-1902), Russo-Japanese war (1904-5), and Balkan wars (1912-13) helped shape the strategies, tactics, arms, and equipment of the armed forces of 1914. Nationalism, Darwinism, and arms races contributed to tensions in the prewar years, during which the Balkans emerged as Europe’s most volatile region. Among the Balkan states, Serbia emerged as the most volatile but also the most ambitious. Beyond the Balkans, Europe’s smaller and weaker countries were steadfastly neutral; among them, only Belgium and Portugal became embroiled in World War I.