Born Countess Kinsky in 1843, von Suttner enjoyed the finer things in life: traveling, studying languages and music and reading. A voracious reader, von Suttner would use this as a tool, often writing about the things she had read.
Upon turning thirty, Kinsky felt the call of freedom and no longer wished to impose upon her mother’s dwindling finances. She took a position as a tutor and companion to four daughters of the Suttner household. There, she struck up a relationship with the youngest son of the Suttner household, Baron Arthur Gundaccar von Suttner.
Due to the family’s disapproval of this romance, Kinsky left for Paris where she briefly worked for Alfred Nobel as his secretary. It wasn’t long, however, before her heartstrings returned her to Austria to marry von Suttner against his family’s wishes.
The young couple moved to the Caucasus region to live a more simple life of giving lessons in music and languages. It was here that von Suttner began her writing career with her first book Inventarium einer Seele (Inventory of a Soul). In it, von Suttner evaluated her thoughts and ideas on what she had been reading. Among her reading was information on the concept of society achieving progress through achieving peace.
After nine years of marriage, the Suttner family finally welcomed the couple home with open arms. The couple returned to Austria where, through a friend, they learned about peace organizations throughout Europe. The von Suttners had long accepted peace as an ideal, now it was time to begin working towards that ideal to make it a reality.
Writing About Peace
Von Suttner’s second book, Das Maschinenzeitalter (The Machine Age) took issue with nationalism and armaments. Published in early 1889, it elaborated upon her vision of a unified, social Europe. The book was a subject of many social discussions and reviews.
The late 1889 publication of von Suttner’s “Die Waffen nieder” (Lay Down Your Arms, English translation “Lay Down Your Arms: the Autobiography of Martha von Tilling, by Mayo Press, 2008), was the pivotal point in von Suttner’s own life. She had written the fictitious novel in an effort to be of service to the Peace League, carefully researching the horrors of war. The material was so realistic, the novel had quite an impact on the reading public. From that point on, von Suttner became a central peace activist.
Becoming a Peace Activist
Von Suttner helped formed a Venetian peace group and initiated the Austrian Peace Society. She began attending peace conferences while acting as president of the Austrian Peace Society. She started a fund to establish the Bern Peace Bureau.
She was editor of “Die Waffen Nieder” a peace journal she began with A. H. Fried. When it was replaced the “Friedenswarte” she continued contributing articles until her death.
Von Suttner devoted her writing and energy to the cause of peace. She gave lectures, formed committees, arranged public meetings and wrote about peace at every opportunity. Among her writing was continuous correspondence with Nobel, keeping him informed of her actions and the progress of the peace movement. Nobel sent von Suttner a letter in 1893 informing her of his intention to create a peace prize.
The von Suttners worked diligently to gain support for the Hague Peace Conference of 1899. It was von Suttner herself who sent reports of the conference to newspapers and continued to write articles to gain support for the idea of the Permanent Court of Arbitration set up as a result of the conference.
Baron von Suttner died in 1902, but Baroness von Suttner continued her relentless work towards peace in his memory, continuing speaking tours and writing.
Von Suttner attended the International Peace Congress in Boston in 1904 and followed it with a lecture tour throughout the United States.
Receiving the Nobel Peace Prize
Von Suttner was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905, the second woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize and the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Still, von Suttner continued working for peace. She was an integral part of the Anglo-German Friendship Committee in 1905. She warned against the dangers of militarizing China and using aviation for military purposes. She spoke at the 1908 Peace Congress in London. She believed that a united Europe was the only way to prevent an upcoming war.
At almost seventy years of age, von Suttner did a second lecture tour in the United States.
Von Suttner began showing signs of illness in 1913, but still managed to speak at the International Peace Congress at The Hague. In May of 1914, von Suttner planned on attending the 21st Peace Congress at Vienna in September. She died June 21, 1914 only two months before the world war broke out which she had struggled so hard to prevent.
Von Suttner’s image appears on a collectors’ coin, the 2008 Europe Taler. She is also depicted on an Austrian 2 euro coin and was pictured on the old Austrian 1000 schilling bank note. She was commemorated in 2005 on a German postage stamp.
Of Interest about Alfred Nobel
Alfred Nobel was the inventor of dynamite and an armaments manufacturer. An obituary in a French newspaper, printed erroneously and a number of years prior to his death, referred to Nobel as the “merchant of death.” After learning of this, Nobel set aside 31,225,000 Swedish kronor (approximately 250 million U.S. dollars in 2008) to fund the Nobel prizes.
Though he died in 1896, no doubt he remembered the young von Suttner with whom he was allegedly stricken during her brief stay in Paris. It is believed that her continued correspondence - as well as his premature obituary - influenced Nobel to include a peace prize among the prizes given annually.
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