Peace and War in the 20th Century
Random Highlights
One of McMaster’s few holdings of German archival material, the letters of Otto and Ada Hartmann extend over a period of less than a year, between the spring and fall of 1915. Despite the relatively small size of the collection, amounting to some two dozen letters, it nevertheless provides valuable insight into military operations and attitudes in the German rearguard and into the daily life of a German soldier’s wife during this important first full year of international warfare.
Dora Russell (1894-1986) was much more than the second of Bertrand Russell’s series of four wives. A liberated young woman, with advanced views on women’s rights and an unconventional approach to sexuality, throughout her long life she worked tirelessly for the cause of greater human understanding and peace.
Widespread popular protest against war did not emerge for the first time in the 1960s. Active opposition to the First World War was mobilized in England by the No-Conscription Fellowship. Bertrand Russell’s involvement with the group cost him first his furniture and then his freedom.
