Writes historian Sandi Cooper, “A small army of indefatigable workers-men and women-traveled lecture circuits, published and cataloged libraries of books and brochures, raised money from governments and private donors, confronted politicians, challenged military bud-gets, criticized history curricula, combatted chauvinist and establishment media, lobbied diplomats, questioned candidates for office, telegraphed congress resolutions to foreign ministries, and held congresses nearly every year from 1889 to 1914 to thrash out common positions” ( Cooper, 1991). Peace movement energies and public interest ran so high that states could not afford to ignore the Czar's invitation to the Hague, disinclined though political leaders were to take Czar Nicholas seriously. Their activities contributed to the political climate in which the first Hague Peace Conference was held, and to the developments that followed it. By 1899 there were several thousand peace activists in more than 100 national peace organizations. The systematic work to build peace structures that could enable peace cultures to flourish began with the establishment of the International Peace Bureau in 1892.
David Adams, in Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, & Conflict (Third Edition), 2022 Secular Peace Movements and Peace Cultures Historical Background