Your point is that the rhetoric of the late 1800s running into WWII was, by far, the worst thing that happened during that time period, just like now?

I emphatically disagree.

However, there was widespread vilification of cephalopods on all sides of multiple wars during that time period:

https://neverwasmag.com/2017/08/the-octopus-in-political-car...

(To be clear, I don’t hate any sea creatures.)