Peace Movements, History of

Abstract

The history of peace movements started with peace societies in the USA and in England between 1814 and 1816. France and Switzerland followed in 1821 and 1830 respectively with the majority of European countries only after 1850. In the nineteenth century, pacifist motivation sprang either from a Christian position or from a rationalistic impetus thus expressing the emancipatory drive of the bourgeoisie society. Contemporary continental European peace movements regarded those wars fought for national unity to be legitimate. The last two decades of the century saw the uprising of new organizations whose demands for arbitration and disarmament reflected the overall crisis of the international system in the age of imperialism. As World War I rendered pacifist efforts illusionary the balance shifted towards radical demands like conscientious objection. New peace movements evolving in the interwar years were socially less homogenous in structure. Two positions coexisted, i.e., a radical one in favor of conscientious objection and mass strike, and a moderate one opting for the support of the League of Nations and its essential transformation into an instrument to secure peace. Dealing with dictatorial regimes peace movements in their massive support of appeasement policy proved again to be ineffective. After World War II the nuclear threat produced pacifist mass movements embedded in the ‘new’ social movements.