[SPOILER] Engineer's last speech

[blackdawg47]

Can someone please clarify some events that the engineer is referring to?

I have stood knee deep in mud and bone, and filled my lungs with mustard gas. - Probably something about Hitler.

I have seen two brothers fall. - Which brothers?

I have lain with holy wars and copulated with the autumnal fallout. - The crusades?

I have dug trenches for the refugees; - World Wars I think..

I have murdered dissidents where the ground never thaws, and starved the masses into faith. - Religious oppression?

A child's shadow burnt into the brickwork. - What child?

A house of skulls in the jungle. - Aztec massacre?

The innocent, the innocent, Mandus, trod and bled and gassed and starved and beaten and murdered and enslaved. This is your coming century! They will eat them Mandus, they will make pigs of you all and they will bury their snouts into your ribs and they will eat your hearts!

[Froge]

I have stood knee deep in mud and bone, and filled my lungs with mustard gas.

WW1 soldiers fought in trenches and were frequently exposed to mustard gas, a deadly chemical that formed blisters on skin and lungs.

I have seen two brothers fall. - Which brothers?

Definitely just referring to Mandus' sons.

I have lain with holy wars and copulated with the autumnal fallout. - The crusades?

Just holy wars in general from past, present, and future. Those are still going on in our world.

I have dug trenches for the refugees

Digging trenches for the refugees means the refugees are probably going to die. During Operation Barbarossa in WW2, German soldiers frequently lined up Russian civilians in front of trenches and then shot them in the back of the head so that they would automatically fall in.

I have murdered dissidents where the ground never thaws, and starved the masses into faith. - Religious oppression?

Pretty much.

A child's shadow burnt into the brickwork. - What child?

Any child that died a horrible, fiery death would do. And those were pretty common in gruesome 20th century.

A house of skulls in the jungle. - Aztec massacre?

Pol Pot or Vietnam war. One of the many massacres that took place in Southeast Asia.

[Newsman Waterpaper]

I have murdered dissidents where the ground never thaws, and starved the masses into faith. - Religious oppression?

Pretty much.

For the murdering dissidents where the ground never thaws could be referring to the conentration camps in Siberia?

[i3670]

Pretty sure the "autumnal fallout" refers to the atomic bombs.

[Potato]

A child's shadow burnt into the brickwork. - What child?

Probably referring to Hiroshima or Nagasaki; some people were literally imprinted onto the ground, at least the ones who weren't vaporized instantly.

Spoiler below!

A house of skulls in the jungle. - Aztec massacre?

Could possibly be referring to Cambodia and the Killing Fields memorial, where there's literally, a house of skulls. Not sure if it existed then though.

Spoiler below!

[Alardem]

I've seen a couple of other people taking the 'house of skulls' to mean a reference to Aztec sacrifices, which raises the interesting possibility of the Machine/Engineer's long-term view of time. He juxtaposes the carnage brought about through the scientific achievement of the atomic bomb with the ancient practices of the Aztecs, indicating little has changed about the human capacity for violence.

[Macgyverthehero]

The Mayans did sacrifices too.

[Alardem]

The Mayans did sacrifices too.

So did the Vikings, but they were not in Mexico.

[GrAVit]

I have seen two brothers fall. - Which brothers?

9/11, the fall of the WTC?

Then again, it happened in the 21st century, which is not the "upcoming century".

[i3670]

I have seen two brothers fall. - Which brothers?

9/11, the fall of the WTC?

Then again, it happened in the 21st century, which is not the "upcoming century".

It'd also be too small of a catastrophe. Some 3000 died in the WTC-attack whilst millions died in the other catastrophes mentioned.