Peace Movements

Albert Einstein famously warned, “So long as there are men, there will be wars.” It might be added that as long as there are wars, there will be antiwar sentiments. Indeed, individuals and groups have protested war and war making for centuries. Although the most visible antiwar movements took place in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, modern antiwar movements have their origin in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was then that antiwar sentiments and ideas coalesced into specific organizations devoted to the promotion of peace. Since that time, antiwar movements have varied across regions and time—sometimes coalescing into huge, international peace movements and other times remaining small, isolated events.

So, too, the rationales, tactics, and goals of peace movements differed. At ...