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WELLS, HITLER AND THE WORLD STATE
In Wells, Hitler and the World State, George Orwell delivers a sharp and timely critique of H.G. Wells’s utopian optimism in the face of fascist brutality. Written during World War II, this essay confronts the dangerous gap between liberal idealism and political reality, questioning the blind faith in progress, science, and reason that shaped early twentieth-century thought. With Orwell’s trademark clarity and insight, the piece explores why totalitarianism triumphed where rational planning failed—and why emotional forces like nationalism, myth, and collective identity can shape history far more powerfully than cold logic. A must-read for fans of Orwell, political thinkers, and anyone interested in the intellectual struggles of wartime Europe.
11 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 15, 2025
About the author
George Orwell
1,369 books52.2k followersEric Arthur Blair was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism (both fascism and stalinism), and support of democratic socialism.
Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the industrial north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture.
Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian"—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", "Room 101", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "doublethink", and "thoughtcrime". In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945.
Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the industrial north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture.
Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian"—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", "Room 101", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "doublethink", and "thoughtcrime". In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 3, 2026
Wells, Hitler and The World State by George Orwell is the twelfth of The Essays that you find on the 917th position on The Greatest Books of All Time site, where Nineteen Eighty Four is sixth and Animal Farm is 54th, furthermore, Homage to Catalonia is 453th – the last number I just made up for some stupid reason, we live in the age where the leader of the free world is a liar, what he says is not true – not this place, but it is there, with the crème de la crème – speaking of which, there are more than five thousand reviews on magnum opera, books and films, on my blogs https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... if you choose to visit
9 out of 10
Orwell and H.G Wells https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... have had opposing views, mainly on science, the latter seems to have seen science as the solution to anything
There is also the problem of Hitler, dismissed by H.G. Wells as the ‘screaming little defective in Berlin’ – also, the German army was not ready, they could not push thorough the front lines, blitz Krieg was finished
Words to that effect, but clearly, Wells had been wrong in his predictions, and Orwell writes about this, it must be emphasized that the latter is a cautious, he writes that in the meantime, the Nazis have advanced in the Soviet Union
Without venturing to make a prophecy – we know that the Germans would be defeated, by the allies, who are at odds now, though Orange Woland, leader of NATO so to say, would rather side with the enemy, the butcher in the Kremlin, rather than his country’s friends, which he punishes with high tariffs, while embracing Putin
H.G. Wells attacked Churchill https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... calling him a flag waver, afraid that the Bolsheviks would win and would make those like Winston irrelevant
Orwell exposes the fallacies of Wells, take the worshipping of science, which is at its peak in Germany, order, industry, but all serving ideas fit for ‘the stone age’, indeed the essays are so overwhelming and this one is no exception
Geroge Orwell makes the prediction that if Hitler wins, he would have four casts, like in India, the rulers would be the Nazi party, then the German overlords, the occupied Europeans and last would-be African peoples
The latter would work as slaves, Hitler called them ‘half monkeys’, Orange Woland referred to African states as ‘shit hole countries’ https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
George Orwell is fair, judicious, he says that Wells had been like a prophet, with his predictions, the airplane, but there are some aspects that are absurd, he placed in opposition science, and what it represents with
- Religion and…horses
I cannot understand what Wells had against horses, except writing helps one see from a different angle, just as I put down the incomprehension, I realized that the animal was a symbol of the old, science brought the age of the automobile and the dismissal of Equus
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
9 out of 10
Orwell and H.G Wells https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... have had opposing views, mainly on science, the latter seems to have seen science as the solution to anything
There is also the problem of Hitler, dismissed by H.G. Wells as the ‘screaming little defective in Berlin’ – also, the German army was not ready, they could not push thorough the front lines, blitz Krieg was finished
Words to that effect, but clearly, Wells had been wrong in his predictions, and Orwell writes about this, it must be emphasized that the latter is a cautious, he writes that in the meantime, the Nazis have advanced in the Soviet Union
Without venturing to make a prophecy – we know that the Germans would be defeated, by the allies, who are at odds now, though Orange Woland, leader of NATO so to say, would rather side with the enemy, the butcher in the Kremlin, rather than his country’s friends, which he punishes with high tariffs, while embracing Putin
H.G. Wells attacked Churchill https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... calling him a flag waver, afraid that the Bolsheviks would win and would make those like Winston irrelevant
Orwell exposes the fallacies of Wells, take the worshipping of science, which is at its peak in Germany, order, industry, but all serving ideas fit for ‘the stone age’, indeed the essays are so overwhelming and this one is no exception
Geroge Orwell makes the prediction that if Hitler wins, he would have four casts, like in India, the rulers would be the Nazi party, then the German overlords, the occupied Europeans and last would-be African peoples
The latter would work as slaves, Hitler called them ‘half monkeys’, Orange Woland referred to African states as ‘shit hole countries’ https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
George Orwell is fair, judicious, he says that Wells had been like a prophet, with his predictions, the airplane, but there are some aspects that are absurd, he placed in opposition science, and what it represents with
- Religion and…horses
I cannot understand what Wells had against horses, except writing helps one see from a different angle, just as I put down the incomprehension, I realized that the animal was a symbol of the old, science brought the age of the automobile and the dismissal of Equus
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
September 6, 2025
Wells, Hitler and The World State by George Orwell is the twelfth of The Essays that you find on the 917th position on The Greatest Books of All Time site, where Nineteen Eighty Four is sixth and Animal Farm is 54th, furthermore, Homage to Catalonia is 453th – the last number I just made up for some stupid reason, we live in the age where the leader of the free world is a liar, what he says is not true – not this place, but it is there, with the crème de la crème – speaking of which, there are more than five thousand reviews on magnum opera, books and films, on my blogs https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... if you choose to visit
9 out of 10
Orwell and H.G Wells https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... have had opposing views, mainly on science, the latter seems to have seen science as the solution to anything
There is also the problem of Hitler, dismissed by H.G. Wells as the ‘screaming little defective in Berlin’ – also, the German army was not ready, they could not push thorough the front lines, blitz Krieg was finished
Words to that effect, but clearly, Wells had been wrong in his predictions, and Orwell writes about this, it must be emphasized that the latter is a cautious, he writes that in the meantime, the Nazis have advanced in the Soviet Union
Without venturing to make a prophecy – we know that the Germans would be defeated, by the allies, who are at odds now, though Orange Woland, leader of NATO so to say, would rather side with the enemy, the butcher in the Kremlin, rather than his country’s friends, which he punishes with high tariffs, while embracing Putin
H.G. Wells attacked Churchill https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... calling him a flag waver, afraid that the Bolsheviks would win and would make those like Winston irrelevant
Orwell exposes the fallacies of Wells, take the worshipping of science, which is at its peak in Germany, order, industry, but all serving ideas fit for ‘the stone age’, indeed the essays are so overwhelming and this one is no exception
Geroge Orwell makes the prediction that if Hitler wins, he would have four casts, like in India, the rulers would be the Nazi party, then the German overlords, the occupied Europeans and last would-be African peoples
The latter would work as slaves, Hitler called them ‘half monkeys’, Orange Woland referred to African states as ‘shit hole countries’ https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
George Orwell is fair, judicious, he says that Wells had been like a prophet, with his predictions, the airplane, but there are some aspects that are absurd, he placed in opposition science, and what it represents with
- Religion and…horses
I cannot understand what Wells had against horses, except writing helps one see from a different angle, just as I put down the incomprehension, I realized that the animal was a symbol of the old, science brought the age of the automobile and the dismissal of Equus
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
9 out of 10
Orwell and H.G Wells https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... have had opposing views, mainly on science, the latter seems to have seen science as the solution to anything
There is also the problem of Hitler, dismissed by H.G. Wells as the ‘screaming little defective in Berlin’ – also, the German army was not ready, they could not push thorough the front lines, blitz Krieg was finished
Words to that effect, but clearly, Wells had been wrong in his predictions, and Orwell writes about this, it must be emphasized that the latter is a cautious, he writes that in the meantime, the Nazis have advanced in the Soviet Union
Without venturing to make a prophecy – we know that the Germans would be defeated, by the allies, who are at odds now, though Orange Woland, leader of NATO so to say, would rather side with the enemy, the butcher in the Kremlin, rather than his country’s friends, which he punishes with high tariffs, while embracing Putin
H.G. Wells attacked Churchill https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... calling him a flag waver, afraid that the Bolsheviks would win and would make those like Winston irrelevant
Orwell exposes the fallacies of Wells, take the worshipping of science, which is at its peak in Germany, order, industry, but all serving ideas fit for ‘the stone age’, indeed the essays are so overwhelming and this one is no exception
Geroge Orwell makes the prediction that if Hitler wins, he would have four casts, like in India, the rulers would be the Nazi party, then the German overlords, the occupied Europeans and last would-be African peoples
The latter would work as slaves, Hitler called them ‘half monkeys’, Orange Woland referred to African states as ‘shit hole countries’ https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
George Orwell is fair, judicious, he says that Wells had been like a prophet, with his predictions, the airplane, but there are some aspects that are absurd, he placed in opposition science, and what it represents with
- Religion and…horses
I cannot understand what Wells had against horses, except writing helps one see from a different angle, just as I put down the incomprehension, I realized that the animal was a symbol of the old, science brought the age of the automobile and the dismissal of Equus
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews