The History of Peace: Concept and Organizations from the Late Middle Ages to the 1870s

Abstract

The study deals with the changes in the concept of peace, limited to Europe and the period between the 14th and 19th centuries. It concludes that the changes in the context and character of eras basically modify the various peace concepts. In late medieval times the concept of peace was identical to the slogan of collaboration within the Christian world, to achieve `Christian peace' against attacks by the `infidels'. According to Dubois, only the Pope could head a Christian state/federation, while Dante believed that only a secular authority could make Christian peace acceptable. In the eras of the Renaissance and the Reformation peace acquired more universal features. Later concepts of peace became increasingly secular. The English bourgeois revolution regarded peace as the basis for utility, and the protector of property, while the French concept regards peace as the victory of Reason, to the benefit of humanity, in the name of justice. Kant synthetized the peace conceptions of his age. The formation of national states has gradually developed the idea of federation between nations and of international arbitrage systems. As wars started to mobilize the masses the idea of peace successively became of mass concern. In the early 19th century the first peace societies organized their first major international meetings and organizations. A new approach developed within the framework of the workers' movement, on the basis that peace can be achieved only through a basic transformation of society. Thus at the end of the period under study the `bourgeois' and `workers' peace aspirations develop along different tracks.