George Orwell: 3 Ways This Author Changed History Forever

Born	25th of June, 1903
Died	21st of January, 1950
Famous Quote	“In times of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
Known For	Publishing books that challenge totalitarianism, Reinforcing freedom of speech, Bolstering democratic principles
Region of World	England/Europe, 20th century

Of all the writers in the 20th century few have impacted history as much as George Orwell. Over the course of his short 46 year long life Orwell would publish groundbreaking political satire books such as Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.

There are 3 ways that George Orwell has changed history. First, George Orwell’s written work challenges a strong central government. Second, George Orwell’s work demonstrated how valuable the freedom of speech is to an effective government. Third, Orwell’s work directly helped support the rise of Democracy in the world.

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Without further ado, here are the 3 ways that George Orwell changed history forever.

George Orwell’s Work Challenges Strong Central Governments

One of the major ways George Orwell changed history was due to all of his work being written in critique of strong central governments.

To George Orwell nothing presented a bigger danger to society than large nation states who were built around one ideology. He would spend his entire life writing novels, letters, and articles presenting stories that sought to subtly demonstrate this.

There are two Orwell books that stand out in his stance against strong central governments; Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Both of these novels present a fictional world where the inhabitants are faced with an oppressive omnipresent force. In Animal Farm this force is the Human farmer who lords over a farm of animals. Each of the animals are different but they all serve the farmer.

These animals overthrow their human lord and instead elect to have a society based around equality. However, one member of this group, the pig Napoleon, ends up becoming the next master.

In Nineteen Eighty-Four this omnipresent force is the “Big Brother” state that completely suppresses all freedoms normally enjoyed by free citizens. This suppression is of course done in the name of the state and a cult of personality develops around the new states leader “Big Brother” who promises to help the people out of their troubles.

Both of these novels forever changed history. The reason was because George Orwell combined witty prose along with poetry and personification to provide a satire on where he observed the world to be leading.

Both of these novels became best sellers and forever changed how the average person viewed the role of government in their one life and history as a whole.

Today George Orwell is often quoted in response to actions taken by large government entities across the world. As such he forever changed history.

George Orwell’s Books Demonstrate How Important Freedom Of Speech Is

Another way that George Orwell forever changed history was his stance on freedom of speech. While George Orwell did not bring the freedom of open speech to the west he did advance it significantly.

George Orwell was known to constantly start arguments to demonstrate how important freedom of speech is. Even during these arguments however Orwell would recount how vital it was that the other person could speak their mind.

Because of this all of his written works are centered around demonstrating how vital the freedom of speech is to a functioning government. In Animal Farm the animals come to fear the new master and are afraid to speak against him. The same thing happens in Nineteen Eighty-Four.

History was forever changed by Orwell’s writings due to the demonstration of how important freedom of speech is. Even today people use many of the worlds that Orwell invented to describe high levels of censorship. These are words such as “Big Brother”, “Thought Police”, and “thoughtcrime.”

To George Orwell nothing was more dangerous than a censorship office. Over time this would change the culture and traditions of an area and prevent any sort of challenge from appearing.

As a result Orwell would routinely go on radio shows such as the BBC to speak out against censorship. Oftentimes these public broadcasts would be controversial for a traditional public.

As a result of this nonstop bolstering of the right to freedom of speech George Orwell has forever changed history. His influence continues to grow to this day and we are starting to see a revival in “Orwellian” ideology.

George Orwell’s Work Supported The Rise Of Democracy

George Orwell’s work has been a driving influence on the growing rise of democracy throughout the world. For this he has forever changed history.

We need to remember the time period in which George Orwell was born. He would see the rise of dictatorships across the world and the future of the world government was uncertain.

Today we live in a world of democracy. However, during the time of Orwell it was unsure which way the future of government would go.

George Orwell saw this happening first hand and wrote critiques of these government bodies. Today we can look back through history and read how Orwell worked nearly nonstop to protect world peace.

That is why he is one of the most cited authors before the United Nations. A prime example of this can be seen in a proposed right to peace law put before the UN in 2012.

George Orwell offers a cautionary tale of what happens when basic civil liberties are eroded over time. For Orwell this was a scary phenomenon that history demonstrates leads to strong central governments.

Today George Orwell’s work has forever changed history and the way we view the powers of government as a whole. He remains one of the most cited authors and his influence only has been growing with time.

Conclusion

There you have it; an entire article on the 3 ways that George Orwell changed history forever.

George Orwell would die from complications caused by tuberculosis on January 21st, 1950. Today he is remembered for his literary prowess and dedicated efforts to bring about world peace.

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Further, you can check out some of the other articles below. 

Sincerely,

Nick