as the war progressed, a number of groups & individuals attempted to arrange a peace. they all...

Peace Movements• As the war progressed, a number of groups & individuals attempted to arrange a peace. They all failed.

• Apr 1915: Women’s Peace Conference in The Hague with representatives from 150 countries passed 20 peace resolutions, some similar to what would become Wilson’s Fourteen Points.

• In GBR, former Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald (Dec 1916) & Lord Lansdowne (Nov 1917) both vilified for calling for peace.

Peace Movements• International socialist conferences (Sept 1915, Apr 1916) express opposition to war.

• Pope Benedict XV had called for peace in Nov 1914 & Jul 1915. In Aug 1917, he proposed a 7 point peace plan. The Central Powers were interested but FRA & GBR were not. The USA (previously happy for a ‘peace without victory’) eventually replied that the Kaiser would have to go before peace could occur.

Peace Movements• Sept 1917: Stockholm Peace Conference abandoned when FRA/GBR refused to attend.

• Experience of WWI changed attitudes towards war. Whilst war could not be avoided, it were no longer looked forward to.

• A strong anti-war/pacifist response was evident in post-war literature & art.