Star Trek: 8 Things You Didn't Know About The Eugenics Wars

4. Casualties Were In The Millions

Khan Project Star Trek Picard TOS Augments
Wikipedia

How the Eugenics Wars began is unknown. As Spock pointed out in Space Seed, by the 23rd century records from the 20th century had become sketchy. The aggressive and ambitious Augments may have begun fighting among themselves or ordinary humans may have risen against them.

However the Wars started, governments around the world were soon drawn into the conflict. By the time the tyrants were defeated entire populations had been erased from existence through genocidal massacres and mass bombardments. The official death toll was 30 million. However, other estimates ranged between 35 and 37 million.

Whatever the true total number of deaths was, another major but less obvious casualty was the human psyche. The human fear of genetically engineered beings lasted well into the 24th century. Bans on genetic engineering shaped everything from medical research to human interactions with other societies. They even jeopardized the careers of people associated with benign forms of genetic medicine.

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Frank Chavez is a freelance writer, playwright, and screenwriter from the San Francisco Bay Area. They live in the Census Designated Place outside the small city, outside of Oakland with their wife and numerous cats.