Peace Movements Preceding World War I

World War I was, at the time, greeted fairly enthusiastically by most of the countries involved – but even then, peace groups were pointing out that this kind of war was simply the use of the working class of the twentieth century to achieve benefits for the ruling and elite classes.

In 1915, the precursor to the United Nations was formed as the League of Nations (it also had a sister organization the League to Enforce Peace).
It may not have prevented war (and neither did the efforts of the famous activist and entrepreneur – Henry Ford, but the stage was set for better days.

The Peace Pledge Union was formed between wars but sadly, the peace itself did not hold political leaders acting on behalf of the allies who had created conditions that guaranteed a new war effort emerging in Germany.

The Paris Peace Conference of 1919–1920 imposed settlements on the defeated powers. Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany lost significant territories, was disarmed, and was required to pay large war reparations to the Allies. The dissolution of the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires redrew national boundaries and resulted in the creation of new independent states including Poland, Finland, the Baltic states, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. The League of Nations was established to maintain world peace, but its failure to manage instability during the interwar period contributed to the outbreak of World War II in 1939.