American Revolutionary War During the
American Revolutionary War, substantial opposition to British war intervention in America led the
British House of Commons on 27 February 1783 to
vote against further war in America, paving the way for the
Second Rockingham ministry and the
Peace of Paris.
Antebellum United States Substantial antiwar sentiment developed in the United States roughly between the end of the
War of 1812 and the commencement of the Civil War in what is called the
Antebellum era. A similar movement developed in England during the same period. The movement reflected both strict
pacifist and more moderate
non-interventionist positions. Many prominent intellectuals of the time, including
Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Henry David Thoreau (
see Civil Disobedience) and
William Ellery Channing contributed literary works against war. Other names associated with the movement include
William Ladd,
Noah Worcester,
Thomas Cogswell Upham, and
Asa Mahan. Many peace societies were formed throughout the United States, the most prominent of which being the
American Peace Society. Numerous periodicals (such as
The Advocate of Peace) and books were also produced. A recurring theme in this movement was the call for the establishment of an international court to adjudicate disputes between nations. Another distinct feature of antebellum antiwar literature was the emphasis on how war contributed to a moral decline and brutalization of society in general.
American Civil War A key event in the early history of the modern anti-war stance in
literature and
society was the
American Civil War, where it culminated in the candidacy of
George B. McClellan for
US president as a
Peace Democrat against incumbent President
Abraham Lincoln. The outlines of the antiwar stance are seen: the argument of the costs of maintaining the present conflict not being worth the gains that can be made, the appeal to end the horrors of war, and the argument of war being waged for the profit of particular interests. During the war, the
New York Draft Riots were started as violent protests against Lincoln's
Enrollment Act of Conscription to draft men to fight in the war. The outrage over conscription was augmented by the ability to "buy" one's way out, which could be afforded only by the wealthy. After the war,
The Red Badge of Courage described the chaos and sense of death which resulted from the changing style of combat: away from the set engagement, and towards two armies engaging in continuous battle over a wide area.
Second Boer War William Thomas Stead formed an organization against the
Second Boer War, the
Stop the War Committee.
World War I ,
The Masses, 1916 In Britain, in 1914, the
Public Schools Officers' Training Corps annual camp was held at
Tidworth Camp, near
Salisbury Plain. Head of the British Army
Lord Kitchener was to review the
cadets, but the imminence of the war prevented him. General
Horace Smith-Dorrien was sent instead. He surprised the two-or-three thousand cadets by declaring (in the words of Donald Christopher Smith, a
Bermudian cadet who was present) "that war should be avoided at almost any cost, that war would solve nothing, that the whole of Europe and more besides would be reduced to ruin, and that the loss of life would be so large that whole populations would be decimated. In our ignorance I, and many of us, felt almost ashamed of a British General who uttered such depressing and unpatriotic sentiments, but during the next four years, those of us who survived the holocaust-probably not more than one-quarter of us – learned how right the General's prognosis was and how courageous he had been to utter it." Having voiced these sentiments did not hinder Smith-Dorrien's career, or prevent him from carrying out his duty in the First World War to the best of his abilities. With the increasing mechanization of war, opposition to its horrors grew, particularly in the wake of the First World War. European
avant-garde cultural movements such as
Dada were explicitly anti-war. The
Espionage Act of 1917 and the
Sedition Act of 1918 gave the American authorities the right to close newspapers and jail individuals for having anti-war views. On 16 June 1918, American socialist
Eugene V. Debs made an anti-war speech and was arrested under the Espionage Act of 1917. He was convicted, sentenced to serve ten years in prison, but President
Warren G. Harding commuted his sentence on 25 December 1921.
Between the World Wars Many WWI
veterans, including US General
Smedley Butler, spoke out against wars and
war profiteering on their return to civilian life. In 1924,
Ernst Friedrich published
Krieg dem Krieg! (
War Against War!): an album of photographs drawn from German military and medical archives from the first world war. In
Regarding the Pain of Others,
Sontag describes the book as "photography as shock therapy" that was designed to "horrify and demoralize". It was in the 1930s that the Western anti-war movement took shape, to which the political and organizational roots of most of the existing movement can be traced. Characteristics of the anti-war movement included opposition to the corporate interests perceived as benefiting from war, to the
status quo which was trading the lives of the young for the comforts of those who are older, the concept that those who were drafted were from poor families and would be fighting a war in place of privileged individuals who were able to avoid the draft and military service, and to the lack of input in decision making that those who would die in the conflict would have in deciding to engage in it. In 1933, the
Oxford Union resolved in its
Oxford Pledge, "That this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country." Veterans were still extremely cynical about the
motivations for entering World War I, but many were willing to fight later in the
Spanish Civil War, indicating that
pacifism was not always the motivation. These trends were depicted in novels such as
All Quiet on the Western Front,
For Whom the Bell Tolls and
Johnny Got His Gun.
World War II Opposition to
World War II was most vocal during its early period, and stronger still before it started while
appeasement and
isolationism were considered viable diplomatic options. Communist-led organizations, including veterans of the Spanish Civil War, opposed the war during the period starting with the
Molotov–Ribbentrop pact but then turned into hawks after Germany
invaded the Soviet Union. The war seemed, for a time, to set anti-war movements at a distinct social disadvantage; very few, mostly ardent
pacifists, continued to argue against the war and its results at the time. However, the
Cold War followed with the
post-war realignment, and the opposition resumed. The grim realities of modern combat, and the nature of mechanized society ensured that the anti-war viewpoint found presentation in
Catch-22,
Slaughterhouse-Five and
The Tin Drum. This sentiment grew in strength as the Cold War seemed to present the situation of an unending series of conflicts, which were fought at terrible cost to the younger generations.
Vietnam War Organized opposition to U.S. involvement in the
Vietnam War began slowly and in small numbers in 1964 on various college campuses in the United States and quickly as the war grew deadlier. In 1967 a coalition of anti-war activists formed the
National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam which organized several large anti-war demonstrations between the late 1960s and 1972. Counter-cultural songs, organizations, plays and other literary works encouraged a spirit of nonconformism, peace, and anti-establishmentarianism. This anti-war sentiment developed during a time of unprecedented
student activism and right on the heels of the
Civil Rights Movement, and was reinforced in numbers by the demographically significant
baby boomers. It quickly grew to include a wide and varied cross-section of Americans from all walks of life. The anti-Vietnam war movement is often considered to have been a major factor affecting America's involvement in the war itself. Many
Vietnam veterans, including future
Secretary of State and U.S. Senator
John Kerry and disabled veteran
Ron Kovic, spoke out against the Vietnam War on their return to the United States.
Mrs. Ngo Ba Thanh, a Vietnamese peace activist, aligned her
Vietnamese Women's Movement for the Right to Live with international activists of the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and
Women Strike for Peace. Her imprisonment and publications about the war brought international attention to the social and economic issues created by the war and fostered international opposition to it. Her arrest and lack of a trial sparked
Bella Abzug and WILPF members to write to the United States Congress and petition President
Richard Nixon to appeal to South Vietnamese officials for her release, Campaigns opposing the war and conscription also took place in Australia.
South African Border War Opposition to the
South African Border War spread to a general resistance to the
apartheid military. Organizations such as the
End Conscription Campaign and Committee on South African War Resisters, were set up. Many opposed the war at this time.
Yugoslav Wars performing at the
anti-war concert as part of
Rimtutituki Following the rise of
nationalism and
political tensions after
Slobodan Milošević came to power, as well as the outbreaks of the
Yugoslav Wars, numerous anti-war movements developed in
Serbia. The
anti-war protests in
Belgrade were held mostly because of opposition the
Battle of Vukovar,
Siege of Dubrovnik and
Siege of Sarajevo, More than 50,000 people participated in many protests, and more than 150,000 people took part in the most massive protest called "
The Black Ribbon March" in solidarity with people in
Sarajevo. The most famous associations and NGOs who marked the anti-war ideas and movements in Serbia were the
Center for Antiwar Action,
Women in Black,
Humanitarian Law Center and
Belgrade Circle.
NATO bombing of Yugoslavia during the
Kosovo War triggered debates over the
legitimacy of the intervention. About 2,000
Serbian Americans and anti-war activists protested in New York City against NATO airstrikes, while more than 7,000 people protested in
Sydney. The most massive protests
were held in
Greece, and demonstrations were also held in
American cities,
French cities,
Italian cities,
London,
Moscow,
Brussels,
Amsterdam,
Toronto,
Madrid,
Berlin,
Stuttgart,
Salzburg and
Skopje.
Iraq War , 15 March 2003 on the
White House Peace Vigil The anti-war position gained renewed support and attention in the buildup to the
2003 invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and its allies. Millions of people staged
mass protests across the world in the immediate prelude to the invasion, and demonstrations and other forms of anti-war
activism have continued throughout the occupation. The primary opposition within the U.S. to the continued occupation of Iraq has come from the
grassroots.
Opposition to the conflict, how it had been fought, and complications during the aftermath period divided public sentiment in the U.S., resulting in majority public opinion turning against the war for the first time in the spring of 2004, a turn which has held since. The American country music band
Dixie Chicks' opposition to the war caused many radio stations to stop playing their records, but they were supported in their anti-war stance by the equally anti-war country music star
Merle Haggard, who in the summer of 2003 released a song critical of US media coverage of the Iraq War. Anti-war groups protested during both the Democratic National Convention and
2008 Republican National Convention protests held in
Saint Paul, Minnesota, in September 2008.
2014 Russo-Ukrainian war , 21 September 2014 A series of demonstrations were held opposing the
Russian military intervention in Ukraine that took place in
Russia in 2014. Protesters held two anti-war protest rallies on 2 and 15 March 2014. The latter, known as the March of Peace (,
Marsh Mira), took place in
Moscow a day before the
Crimean referendum. The protests have been the largest in Russia since the
2011–2013 Russian protests by the
Russian opposition against the alleged
electoral fraud committed by
United Russia during the
2011 Russian legislative election. Reuters reported that around 20,000 people participated in the 15 March demonstrations.
Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen n-led intervention in
Yemen, New York City, 2017
2021 Israel–Palestine crisis In May 2021, protests broke out following a
flare-up of the
Israel–Palestine conflict. In the U.S., thousands gathered in at least seven major cities across the country in solidarity with Palestinians. The 2021 conflict lasted from 6 May until 21 May when a ceasefire was signed. The following day, an estimated 180,000 protestors gathered in
Hyde Park, England, in what may have been the largest pro-Palestine demonstration in British history. Speeches were made by anti-war campaigners and trade union members including demands that the UK government
disinvest and sanction Israel. Messages such as "free Palestine" and "stop the war" were displayed on banners and placards and chanted by protesters. Despite the ceasefire, protests continued into June, with, for example, protestors in
Oakland, California, attempting to block an Israeli cargo ship from entering the
Port of Oakland on 4 June.
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine s with signs are demonstrating in
Helsinki, Finland after
Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Beginning in 2022, the anti-war movement was renewed following tensions between
Russia and
Ukraine. Protests escalated in Russia on 24 February 2022, after Russia
invaded Ukraine. Russian President
Vladimir Putin introduced
prison sentences of up to 15 years for publishing "fake news" about Russian military operations. As of December 2022, more than 4,000 people, including Russian opposition politicians and journalists, had been prosecuted under Russia's "fake news" laws for criticizing the war in Ukraine.
2023 Israel–Gaza war Multiple protests against the war took place around the world since the start of the
Gaza war, mostly in support of Palestine.
Possible Venezuela War Following the capture of
Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026 by US forces, there were small protests in
Los Angeles and
Las Vegas. ==Arts and culture==