Introduction to War and Peace

While opposition to war is not a modern phenomenon, this chapter focuses on anti-war protest in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Beginning in the twentieth century, advancements in transportation and communication permitted larger planned gatherings and brought home commentary on war policy and images of protest.

When World War I erupted in Europe in 1914, the United States wrestled with whether to enter the war. For three years, the United States proclaimed neutrality in the conflict, but when the United States entered the war against the German and Austrian empires, some citizens opposed the shift in policy and the revival of the draft. Opponents of the war included socialists, anarchists, German-Americans and many women's and religious groups. In response to anti-war protests, the government passed new Sedition Acts, criminalizing some public acts and speech in opposition to the government war policy. This chapter features articles on the World War I peace and anti-conscription movements, as well as the "Bonus Army" mass veterans' protest for promised benefits.

World War II was marked by relatively little anti-war protest. The citizens of the nations fighting Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan for the most part supported war as the only way to stop brutal and aggressive regimes.

Many sources in this chapter chronicle the peace movement in the United States during the Vietnam War era. The confluence of the counterculture movement and peace activism among the nation's youth sparked mass protests against the conflict in Vietnam and produced many of the last century's iconic images of antiwar protest. As reinstatement of the draft heightened antiwar sentiment, radical protesters marched, and burned flags and draft cards. When protestors and police or National Guardsmen met, the results could be tragic, such as at Kent State in 1970. The Vietnam War had its supporters as well, who turned out to counterprotest and, at least according to President Nixon, constituted the "great silent majority" of Americans.

The fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq has sparked a new round of demonstrations in the twenty-first century, with anti-war protestors and counterprotestors taking to the streets. Featured in this chapter are articles on antiwar protests in Europe and the United States, including those led by controversial activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in combat in Iraq. Also highlighted here are efforts to reduce the influence of military recruiters in schools and a rally in support of U.S. troops in Iraq.