The Peace Movement In The Late 19th Century

In 1914 Europe found itself erupting into the first World War. Although nobody really had a reason for fighting, everyone was excited and proud to fight and win for their country. Europe consisted of mostly aggressive, imperialistic countries who all had the same idea of a war that would only last a couple months, but this is a war that wound up lasting a total of four years. Because this was a European War, America did not intervene until three years into the war.

Although the fighting was taking place in Europe, most Americans felt very involved. America at this time had a large population of immigrants with family and heritage dating back to mostly Germany and Ireland, while nearly all of the rest of the population had felt like we should be supporting Britain and France. America was able to easily keep themselves informed and up to date on the events occurring due to newspapers, however it was not uncommon to to read false propaganda. Despite
The peace movement primarily consisted of people who opposed the preparedness movement. These people were progressives, social reformers, and former populists. Women were another big candidate and were highly active. Even members of congress considered themselves as a part of this movement.

The Candidates for peace understood that the war would require lots of money, firepower, and men. The transportation due to the geography alone would cost a lot. The War had no effect on America at all and we had little reason to get involved. We had established economic ties and we did not want to break them.

America stayed out of this War for three years, but unfortunately got involved after Germany began sinking our ships for no apparent reason at all. This caused us to ally with France and Britain, eventually fighting alongside them for a year until the war came to a close. This war led to many innovations in technology and modern warfare was changed