The British Peace Movement 1870-1914 (Oxford Historical Monographs)

This is the first detailed scholarly study of the late Victorian and Edwardian peace movement, the campaigns of which made a significant impact on political debate, especially during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1), the Bulgarian Atrocities campaign (1876-8), Britain's conflict in Egypt (1882), the South African War (1899-1902), and the intensifying international crisis before 1914. The movement's activists included Richard Cobden, Herbert Spencer, Keir Hardie, J. A. Hobson, and Norman Angell. Among the first to benefit from the opening of the Peace Society Archive, the book focuses on the specialized associations at the heart of the peace movement. Paul Laity identifies the existence of different programmes for the achievement of a just, permanent peace, and offers a new interpretation of the reaction of peace campaigners to war in 1914. At the same time, his book makes an important and original contribution to the history of popular politics and political ideas in Britain.