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Bertha von Suttner (1843–1914)

1905 Peace

For her activities in favor of peace, both for her writings and her active presence in peace societies and international conferences.

Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicita von Suttner, born Countess Kinsky von Chinic und Tettau, always said that Alfred Nobel, an intimate friend, wanted her to be the first person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. This was not to be the case, however; the first female peace activist of the modern age had to wait four years, until 1905, while seeing her male friends and fellow pacifists receive the award.

A native of Prague, at the time Austrian territory, von Suttner was educated by her mother in accordance with aristocratic perceptions and traditions she accepted for the first half of her life. These early years were very difficult for her. At the age of 30 she accept a position of teacher-companion to a Mr. Suttner’s four daughters. It was then, however, that she fell in love with her pupils’ brother.

His parents opposed the marriage, refusing to accept her as a daughter-in-law, but the marriage went ahead in secret. The newlyweds were forced to move to the Caucasus, where they lived in precarious circumstances, surviving by writing and giving music and language lessons. Only after nine years did the Suttners accept their daughter-in-law and invite the couple to live in the family castle in Austria, where days were filled with parties, writing and studying.

In the winter of 1886, Bertha von Suttner became deeply interested in the new International Arbitration and Peace Association. This organization was established in England and was working to establish a court of international arbitration, the headquarters of which would act as a stage for nations to air and resolve their differences. Suttner’s emergence on the global stage started with the publication in 1889 of her book Die Waffen nieder (Lay Down Your Arms), in which she showed the true horror of war. She reached the pinnacle of her fame during the Hague Peace Conference in 1899.

The much sought-after Nobel Prize was awarded to her for her activities in the name of peace as well as for her writings and active presence in peace societies. She was the second woman to receive a Nobel Prize, but, unlike Marie Curie, Bertha von Suttner did not share the honor. Her newspaper articles were also important in preserving peace, and von Suttner was recognized as the first woman to write political journalism of exceptional quality.

Two months before the outbreak of World War I, Bertha von Suttner, now a Baroness, died in Vienna, apparently of cancer; she was thus spared witnessing the beginning of a war she had so tirelessly fought against.