<P> The citizens of the World State use a calendar which takes the year 1908 AD ("0 AF"--"After Ford") as its epoch, as this was the first year in which the Model T automobile was produced by the Ford Motor Company . According to the novel, the "Nine Years' War" broke out in Year 141 AF (2049 AD of the Gregorian calendar). Very little is revealed of the Nine Years' War, but it can be inferred that the conflict broke out in Europe, affected most of the planet, and caused massive physical damage . It is repeatedly stated that chemical and biological weapons were heavily used during the war, particularly in mass air - raids against cities, similar to the portrayal of World War III . Following the war, which seems to have petered out rather than been ended by a decisive victory, the global economy collapsed and created an unprecedented worldwide economic crisis . To deal with the two catastrophes of the Nine Years' War and the Great Economic Collapse, the new world leaders tried to forcibly impose their new ideologies on Earth's populations . This met with widespread resistance, including large - scale riots at Golders Green and a massacre at the British Museum . Realising that they could not force people to adopt the new lifestyle, the World Controllers instead united the planet into the One World State and began a peaceful campaign of change . This campaign included the closing of museums, the suppression of almost all literature published before 150 AF (2058 AD), and the destruction of the few historical world monuments that had survived the Nine Years' War . By the time the novel is set, the World State is fully established and almost all the people of Earth are citizens . </P> <P> At the time of the novel, the entire planet is united as the World State, governed by ten World Controllers, headquartered in various key cities . Prospective World Controllers are recruited from social outcasts who display unconventional thoughts . A few isolated areas have been left as "savage reservations", including parts of New Mexico, Samoa, and a small group of islands off the coast of New Guinea . Toward the end of the novel, a conversation between John and Western Europe's World Controller, Mustapha Mond, reveals further details of the World State's political geography . Mond explains that certain areas which have very few resources or languish in unpleasant climates are not "civilised" by the government, as it would be uneconomical . Subsequently, these areas are left as reservations, and local life continues--albeit under constant surveillance by the World State . Small islands across the planet, such as the Falkland Islands, Iceland, and the Marquesas Islands, are reserved for citizens of the World State who do not wish to live in, or do not fit into the normal society . </P> <P> The citizens of the World State constitute a eusocial consumer society whose individuals are produced in hatcheries by application of "Bokanovsky's" and other techniques to the hatchery line to produce the five classes or castes named after letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and epsilon, respectively . Society is controlled by Alphas and their subordinates, Betas . Below them, in descending order of intelligence and physique, are Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons . Each caste is further subdivided into Plus and Minus (with Epsilons having the additional classifications of regular or semi-moron), and are distinguished by colour - coded work clothes . Epsilons are dressed in black, Deltas in khaki, Gammas in leaf green, Betas in mulberry, and Alphas in grey . At the very pinnacle of society sit Alpha Double - Plus, who serve as the future scientists and top administrators of the world . Citizens in the World State of all castes are not born to a mother, but instead created in laboratories through a process of artificial insemination . They are then grown to' birth' in bottles, the bottles being treated in a manner similar to a production line . Fetuses are pre-determined to be born into specific caste and' lower' castes such as Deltas or Epsilons are interfered with during development in order to restrict their mental and physical development (for example by adding alcohol to their bottle). People in different castes are conditioned to be happy in their own way; they do not feel resentment towards other castes, but rather feel a slight contempt for people not members of their own caste . At the same time, however, all members of society are repeatedly taught that everyone is equally important to society . </P> <P> Citizens of the World State enjoy racial, social and economic harmony across the planet . Although England is seen to be mostly populated with Caucasians, the population also contains substantial ethnic proportions, and across the planet, people of different racial heritage live alongside one another in harmony . When visiting an electrical products factory in London, John witnesses Caucasians and black Senegalese working together . The only "feely" (see below) in the novel features a black antagonist with a white heroine . An official at the Central London Hatchery explains that Negro fetuses are slightly easier to grow than Caucasians or Asians . Although all the World State hatcheries attempt to refine the limits of the production process, the Mombasa hatchery is a few hundred ahead of the others in the number of embryos produced from a single ovary (London: 16,012, Singapore: approx 16,500, Mombasa: approx 17,000). </P>

What happened to the only society of alphas