Pacifism in Britain can be traced back to the Quakers as early as 1661. It did not hit it's peak however until the interwar period of 1918-1945. For the purposes of this research, pacifism will be defined as the "absolute renunciation of military force." Pacifism was just one of many pro-peace groups active in Britain in the interwar period. Their belief was that war is never necessary or justified. Just as many other groups have divisions within them, so to did the pacifists. These divisions both had separate schools of thought that varied greatly from one another. It should be noted however that pacifism not be confused with pacificism. Pacificism is the belief that war should be prevented whenever possible, but that sometimes it is necessary, in such cases as defending your country from outside aggression. The main organization that pacifists voiced their opinions through was the Peace Pledge Union. The members of this group were totally devoted to the eradicat!
ion of all wars. The peace movement in Britain, including the pacifists "was the most influential in the world."
The two main divisions within the pacifists group were the moralists, and the utilitarianists.4 The moralist approach is based on the assumption that one human killing another is wrong, no matter what the circumstance. They believed that war was all about which side could kill more people, and that this was totally unjustifiable. The moralist also believed that wars caused nations to lie to their citizens. They did this in order to garner civilian support for the war, which many believed was necessary for a clear victory. The author Arthur Ponsonby can best sum up the moralist approach.
"Is further proof needed that international war is a monster born of hypocrisy, fed on falsehood, fattened on humbug, kept alive by superstition, directed to the death and torture of millions, succeeding in no high purpos...