Born: 9 June 1843, Czechia
Died: 21 June 1914
Country most active: Austria
Also known as: Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicita von Suttner, Countess Kinsky von Chinic und Tettau
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women founder Allison Tyra’s book The View from the Hill: Women Who Made Their Mark After 40.
Baroness Bertha von Suttner was born a countess in 1843, the daughter of one military officer and granddaughter of another, “the product of an aristocratic society whose militaristic traditions she accepted without question for the first half of her life and vigorously opposed for the last half.” She was not only the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1905, but is credited as a key influence in convincing Alfred Nobel to establish the prize in the first place. “Inform me, convince me, and then I will do something great for the movement,” he reputedly told her.
Although von Suttner produced a variety of writing, including many novels and the philosophical musings of Inventarium einer Seele (Inventory of a Soul), her most influential work was 1889’s Die Waffen nieder (Lay Down Your Arms). It was not until her 40s that von Suttner and her husband became involved in the international peace movement. She incorporated ideas of the movement into Das Maschinenzeitalter (The Machine Age), published earlier in 1889 to much intellectual and critical interest. It was one of the earliest books of its time to predict the results of extreme nationalism and ever-advancing weaponry. Believing her writing was the most effective way to support the movement, she published Die Waffen nieder later that year. Its heroine suffers the many horrors of war, and von Suttner’s compelling and realistic portrayal was immensely impactful on public sentiment.
In the 1890s, von Suttner began engaging in more direct activism: attending meetings and international conferences, helping organize peace groups, recruiting members, delivering lectures, fundraising, and corresponding with people around the globe to promote different peace projects. She founded the Austrian Peace Society and served for years as its president, as well as starting a fund to establish the Bern Peace Bureau. She co-founded the peace journal Die Waffen Nieder, drawing on the popularity of the book, in 1892, editing it until it was replaced by a different publication in 1899. She was a regular contributor to the replacement, Friedenswarte, for the rest of her life. She continued her speaking tours though her 60s. She was already suffering from the illness that would kill her—suspected to have been cancer—when she spoke at the International Peace Congress at The Hague in 1913, where she was acclaimed, perhaps a bit ironically, as the “generalissimo” of peace. She died in 1914, mere months before the First World War broke out. Awarded the Nobel “for her audacity to oppose the horrors of war,” her warnings about things like the need for Europe to unite to avoid global catastrophe and predicting the use of new aviation technology for war would prove tragically prescient.
The following is excerpted from Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company
Bertha von Suttner, an Austrian novelist, especially known for her efforts to promote peace. In 1891 she founded the Austrian Society of Peace Lovers, and as its president took a prominent part in various European peace congresses.
In 1905 she received the Nobel peace prize of £5,000. She wrote a number of novels, but her most important work is Die Waffen neider! (Lay Down Your Arms!), which has been translated into many languages.
Her Memoiren, full of interesting autobiographical matter, were published in 1908.
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Bertha von Suttner, born at Prague, came from an aristocratic family, her father being Field Marshal, Count Kinsky. This nobility in her blood forbad her marrying the man she loved, Freiherr von Suttner. In 1876, casting aside tradition, she married the man of her choice, and for nine years thereafter the couple were forced to live abroad with no income. From the beginning Bertha von Suttner showed her love of human service. Her first book, Down With Weapons, exploiting what was nearest and dearest to her heart, caused the same reactions in Europe as did Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin in America.
Bertha Suttner experienced the trying times that prevailed during the Russian Turkish War. They increased her aversion of war. She wrote for the Press and was the mainstay in the reorganization of the Pacifists into the “Friedenwarte.” To the nickname created for her by her antagonists, “Die Friedensbertha,” and to their warning that she cease playing with fire, she was quite unmindful, continued actuated by her love of humanity to
promulgate her pacifist theories. To arbitrate international misunderstandings was her goal, and after the death of her husband, in 1902, her entire life was devoted to this work. She was a charming lecturer and travelled through America, bringing her message to thousands in speech and writing. She died June 21, 1914. Among her works are Memoirs, Machine Age, Humanity’s Highroads , most of which were published after her death in Zurich in 1917.