ABSTRACT
The period covered by this volume is full of wars, which were progressively more destructive of life and property, for the development of science put into the hands of combatants means of destruction greater with each generation. It is also a period with long spells of peace between the Great Powers: 1815 to 1854 and 1871 to 1914 (or 1905 to keep within the bounds of the volume) are long. Efforts to avoid war and to link together the nations of Europe and the world were more serious and more conscious of the goal than anything that the world had previously seen. They also penetrated deeper down the social scale. The peace movement began outside the Governments soon after 1815 when peace societies were established in several countries. The first World Peace Congress met in London in 1843. The separate peace societies were federated in 1848 and a programme with clear and realistic aims adopted. The International Peace Bureau in Berne had decided to summon the twenty-first World Peace Congress in Vienna for September 1914, but was foiled by the outbreak of war in August.
