An adaptable type of newt is discovered in the East Indies and is put to work by humans; as they become more and more intelligent, they begin to resent their exploitation. The war in question begins when the newts arm themselves with explosives. This novel, one of the great political sci-fi classics of modern times, was published in 1936 when the Nazis were a growing threat, and many of Capek`s comments on greed, exploitation, and armaments had a specific resonance in the Europe of the time.