Today in History - 17th August
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Today in History - 17th August17th August 1945 - George Orwell's Animal Farm published80 years ago today, Animal Farm, the world-renowned satirical novel by English author George Orwell, was published. The book tells of a fictional farm, where the animals overthrow the farmer and unsuccessfully attempt to establish a utopian, egalitarian society. The story is often interpreted as an attack on communism, in particular Stalin's Soviet Union. Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair, in British India, in June 1903, into an upper-middle class English family. His father worked in the Indian Civil Service, and when he was one-year-old, Orwell, his mother, and older sister, moved to Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. In 1917, Orwell won a scholarship to Eton College, the most prestigious school in England, which he attended until 1921. After leaving Eton aged 18, Orwell returned to South Asia and joined the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, in which he served until 1927. He then returned to Europe, living a life of relative poverty in London and Paris. This time greatly impacted his political views, and in 1933 he published his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London. The following year he published Burmese Days, in which he wrote about his imperial career and criticised British colonialism. In 1936, Orwell traveled to Spain to fight on the Republican side of the country's Civil War. Whilst he had initially signed up to oppose fascism, the experience also turned him greatly against communism, as he witnessed the oppressive and violent way the Soviet-backed factions of the Republican side treated civilians and other factions of the cause. Orwell's time in Spain directly inspired 3 of his books; his 1938 memoir Homage to Catalonia, and his 2 most famous works; Animal Farm and 1984, both of which use allegory to strongly criticise Stalin's Soviet Union, and authoritarianism more widely. Since being published, Animal Farm has sold more than 11 million copies, whilst 1984 has sold roughly 30 million worldwide, and Orwell is widely regarded as one of the best and most impactful writers of the 20th century. Follow our Instagram - @historic.jokes |
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