A talk by Dr Rupert Gude of Tavistock, curator of the acclaimed exhibition The Challenging Road to Peace since the First World War. At the end of July 1914 Britain saw no reason why it should be involved in a European war resulting from yet another dispute in the Balkans. A week later Britain declared war on Germany to protect her honour and strategic interest. Over one million British and Empire combatants died and Britain was saddled with crippling debts that took a hundred years to pay off.

This talk will look at those in Britain who opposed the outbreak of war and those who continued to strive to stop the war and seek peace. The nation was not unified as portrayed by the newspapers. Amongst others, Sylvia Pankhurst campaigned in the East End of London, Bertrand Russell lectured with biting logic and Helen Crawford spoke out, supporting the poor in Glasgow. The Union for Democratic Control and the No Conscription Fellowship rallied support. Some, like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, fought but expressed their opposition in poetry or, like Paul Nash, in painting.

The opposition had lasting effects that helped shape the next hundred years.
All welcome.