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{{Short description|Austrian novelist and pacifist (1843–1914)}}
{{Infobox person
 | name             = Bertha von Suttner
 | image            = Bertha von Suttner nobel.jpg
 | image_size       = 
 | caption          = Suttner {{circa|1906}}
 | birth_name       = Bertha Sophie Felicitas Gräfin Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau
 | birth_date       = {{birth date|1843|6|9|df=y}} 
 | birth_place      = [[Prague]], [[Kingdom of Bohemia]],<br />[[Austrian Empire]]
 | death_date       = {{death date and age|1914|6|21|1843|6|9|df=y}}
 | death_place      = [[Vienna]], [[Austria-Hungary]]
 | occupation       = [[Pacifism|Pacifist]], [[novelist]]
 | spouse           = Arthur Gundaccar von Suttner
 | awards           = [[Nobel Peace Prize]], 1905
 | signature        = Bertha von Suttner signature.png
}}

'''Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicitas von Suttner''' ({{IPA|de-AT|ˈbɛrtaː fɔn ˈzʊtnɐ|lang}}; {{née}} '''Countess Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau''';<ref>{{langx|de|Gräfin Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau}}</ref> 9 June 1843{{snd}}21 June 1914) was an [[Bohemian nobility|Austro-Bohemian noblewoman]], [[Pacifism|pacifist]] and [[novelist]]. In 1905, she became the second female [[Nobel laureate]] (after [[Marie Curie]] in 1903),<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/lists/women.html |title=List of female recipients of the Nobel Prize}}</ref> the first woman to be awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]], and the first Austrian and Czech laureate.

== Early life ==
[[File:Bertha von Suttner 1860s.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Photograph of Countess  Bertha Sophie Felicitas Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau in her youth (1873)]]

Bertha Kinský was born on 9 June 1843 at [[Kinský Palace (Prague)|Kinský Palace]] in the Obecní dvůr [[:cz:Obecní dvůr|(cz)]] district of [[Prague]].<ref>Hamann, p. 1</ref> Her parents were the Austrian [[Lieutenant general]] ({{langx|de|Feldmarschall-Leutnant}}) Franz Michael de Paula Josef [[Graf]] Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau (1769–1843), who died before Bertha was born at the age of 75, and Sophie Wilhelmine von [[Körner]] (1815–1884), who was more than 45 years younger than her husband.<ref name="Hamann, p. 2">Hamann, p. 2</ref><ref>{{cite web |author1=Smith, Digby |author2=Kudrna, Leopold |title=Biographical Dictionary of All Austrian Generals During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1792–1815: Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau, Franz de Paula Joseph Graf |publisher=napoleon-series.org |year=2008 |url=http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/biographies/Austria/AustrianGenerals/c_AustrianGeneralsK.html#K29 |author1-link=Digby Smith}}</ref>

Her father was a member of the ancient and illustrious [[House of Kinsky]] via descent from [[Vilém Kinský|Count Wilhelm Kinsky]] (1574–1634), being the younger son of Count Franz Ferdinand Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau (1738–1806) and Princess Maria Christina Anna von und zu [[House of Liechtenstein|Liechtenstein]] (1741–1819), youngest but one daughter of [[Prince Emanuel of Liechtenstein (1700–1771)|Prince Emanuel of Liechtenstein]]. Bertha's mother came from a family that belonged to an [[gentry|untitled nobility]] of significantly [[Briefadel|lower status]]. She was the daughter of Joseph von Körner, a [[captain]] of the [[cavalry]] in the Habsburg [[Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor|Imperial Army]], and a distant relative of the poet [[Theodor Körner (author)|Theodor Körner]]. Through her mother, Bertha was also related to [[Theodor Körner (president)|Theodor Körner, Edler von Siegringen]], namesake and great-nephew of the poet, who later served as the 4th [[President of Austria]].<ref>Kempf, pp. 7–8.</ref>

Bertha faced exclusion from the Austrian [[Uradel#Hochadel (High Nobility)|high nobility]] due to her "mixed" descent; for instance, only those with an unblemished aristocratic pedigree going back to their great-great-grandparents were eligible for presentation at the imperial court. She was additionally disadvantaged because her father, as a third son, had no great estates or other financial resources to bequeath. Bertha was baptised at Prague's [[Church of Our Lady of the Snows (Prague)|Church of Our Lady of the Snows]] – not a traditional choice for the aristocracy.<ref name="Hamann, p. 2"/>

Soon after Bertha's birth, her mother moved to live in [[Brno]] near Bertha's guardian, [[Landgrave]] Friedrich Michael zu [[Fürstenberg-Taikowitz]] (1793–1866). Bertha's older brother, Count Arthur Franz Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau (1827–1906), was sent to a military school at the age of six and subsequently had little contact with the family. In 1855, Bertha's maternal aunt Charlotte (Lotte) Büschel, ''née'' von Körner (also a widow), and her daughter Elvira joined the household.<ref>Playne, p. 16</ref> Elviras father had been a private scholar and her official guardian, after the death of her father, became {{ill|Johann Carl Huyn|de|Johann Carl Huyn|lt=Count Johann Carl August von Huyn (1812-1889)}}. She was of a similar age as Bertha and interested in intellectual pursuits, introducing her cousin to literature and philosophy.<ref>Hamann p. 5</ref> In addition to such studies, Bertha gained proficiency in French, Italian and English as an adolescent under the supervision of a succession of private tutors. She also became an accomplished amateur pianist and singer.<ref name="Hamann pp. 9-10">Hamann pp. 9–10</ref>

Bertha's mother and aunt, regarding themselves as clairvoyant, went to gamble at [[Wiesbaden]] in the summer of 1856, hoping to return with a fortune. Their losses proved so heavy that they were forced to move to [[Vienna]]. During this trip, Bertha received a marriage proposal from Prince Philipp zu [[Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg]] (1836–1858), third son of Prince {{ill|August Ludwig zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg|de}}, [[Minister of State]] of the [[Duchy of Nassau]] and Franziska (1802–1878), which was declined due to Bertha's young age.<ref>Hamann pp. 5–6</ref> The family once again returned to Wiesbaden in 1859. The second trip proved similarly unsuccessful, and they had to relocate to a small property in [[Klosterneuburg]]. Shortly afterwards, Bertha wrote her first published work, the novella ''Erdenträume im Monde'', which appeared in ''Die Deutsche Frau''. Continuing poor financial circumstances led Bertha to a brief engagement to the wealthy [[Gustav Heine von Geldern|Gustav, Baron Heine von Geldern]], 31 years her senior and a member of the banking family Heine, whom she came to find unattractive and finally rejected. Her memoirs record her disgusted response to the older man's attempt to kiss her.<ref name="Hamann pp. 9-10"/>

In 1864, the family spent the summer at [[Bad Homburg]], a fashionable gambling destination among the aristocracy of the era. Bertha befriended the [[Georgians|Georgian]] aristocrat [[Ekaterine Dadiani, Princess of Mingrelia]] and met [[Alexander III of Russia|Tsar Alexander II]], to whom she was very distantly related.<ref>Hamann p. 11</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.genealogics.org/relationship.php?altprimarypersonID=I00364947&savedpersonID=&secondpersonID=I00006398&maxrels=1&disallowspouses=1&generations=8&tree=LEO&primarypersonID=I00364947 |title=Bertha - Gräfin Kinská z Vchynic a Tetova |website=genealogics.org}}</ref> Seeking a career as an opera singer as an alternative to marrying into money, she undertook an intensive course of lessons, working on her voice for over four hours a day. Despite tuition from the eminent [[Gilbert Duprez]] in Paris in 1867 and from [[Pauline Viardot]] in Baden-Baden in 1868, she never secured a professional engagement. She suffered from [[stage fright]] and was unable to project well in performance.<ref>Playne, p. 29</ref><ref>Kemf, p. 9</ref><ref>Hamann, p. 13</ref> In the summer of 1872, she became engaged to Prince Adolf zu [[Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein]] (1839–1872), son of [[:File:Alexander_zu_Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein.jpg|Prince Alexander zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein]] (1801–1874) and Countess Amalie Luise von [[Bentheim-Tecklenburg-Rheda]] (1802–1887). However, Prince Adolf died at sea that October while travelling to America to escape his debts.<ref>Hamann, p. 15</ref>

== Tutor in the Suttner household, life in Georgia ==
[[File:2013.07.28 Berta v. Suttner Schloss Harmannsdorf.jpg|thumb|Schloss Harmannsdorf, [[Austria]] (2013)]]

In 1866 both Landgrave Fürstenberg (Bertha's guardian) and Elvira died, and Bertha (now at age 23, above the typical age of marriage) felt increasingly constrained by her mother's eccentricity and the family's poor financial circumstances.<ref>Playne, p. 28</ref> 

In 1873, she found employment as a tutor at the house of Karl Gundaccar [[Freiherr]] von Suttner (1819–1898) and his wife, Karola Knolz (b. 1822). They had seven children, including four girls (all then aged 15 to 20). The Suttner family {{ill|House of Suttner|de|Suttner (Adelsgeschlecht)}} lived in the [[Innere Stadt]] of Vienna three seasons of the year, and spent the summer at {{ill|Castle Harmannsdorf|de|Schloss Harmannsdorf}} in [[Lower Austria]], at that time part of the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]]. 

Bertha became companion to the four girls and had an affectionate relationship with her four young students, who nicknamed her "Boulotte" (fatty) due to her size, a name she would later adopt as a literary pseudonym in the form "B. Oulot".<ref>Hamann, pp. 18–19</ref><ref name="Playne, p. 45">Playne, p. 45</ref>

She soon fell in love with the youngest son of Karl, seven years her junior, [[Baron]] {{ill|Arthur Gundaccar von Suttner|de}} (1850–1902). They were engaged but unable to marry due to his parents' disapproval. In 1876, with the encouragement of her employers, she answered a newspaper advertisement which led to her briefly becoming secretary and housekeeper to [[Alfred Nobel]] in [[Paris]].<ref>Hamann, p. 24</ref> In the few weeks of her employment, she and Nobel developed a friendship, and Nobel may have made romantic overtures.<ref>Hamann, p. 26</ref> However, she remained committed to Arthur and returned shortly to Vienna to marry him in secrecy, in the church of St. Aegyd in [[Gumpendorf]].<ref>Hamann, p. 27</ref> As a consequence Arthur von Suttner was desinherited by his family and lost the title of Freiherr.

The newlywed couple eloped to [[Principality of Mingrelia|Mingrelia]] in western Georgia, [[Russian Empire]], near the Black Sea, where she hoped to make use of her connection to the former ruling [[House of Dadiani]] and Ekaterine, who had once invited her to visit. On their arrival, they were entertained by [[Niko I Dadiani|Prince Niko]]. The couple settled in [[Kutaisi]], where they found work teaching languages and music to the children of the local aristocracy. However, they experienced considerable hardship despite their social connections, living in a simple three-roomed wooden house.<ref name="Playne, p. 45"/><ref>Hamann, pp. 30–31</ref> Their situation worsened in 1877 on the outbreak of the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–78)|Russo-Turkish War]], although Arthur worked as a reporter on the conflict for the ''[[Neue Freie Presse]]''.<ref>Hamann, pp. 32–33</ref> Suttner also wrote frequently for the Austrian press in this period and worked on her early novels, including ''Es Löwos'', a romanticised account of her life with Arthur. In the aftermath of the war, Arthur attempted to set up a timber business, but it was unsuccessful.<ref>Hamann, pp. 34–37</ref>

== Arthur and Bertha von Suttner ==
Arthur and Bertha von Suttner were largely socially isolated in Georgia; their poverty restricted their engagement with high society, and neither ever became fluent speakers of [[Mingrelian language|Mingrelian]] or [[Georgian language|Georgian]]. To support themselves, both began writing as a career. While Arthur's writing during this period is dominated by local themes, Suttner's was not similarly influenced by Georgian culture.<ref>Hamann, p. 37</ref>

In August 1882, Ekaterine Dadiani died. Soon afterwards, the couple decided to leave Mingrelia and move to [[Tbilisi]]. There, Arthur took whatever work he could (in accounting, construction and wallpaper design), while Suttner largely concentrated on her writing. She became a correspondent of the German writer and philosopher [[Michael Georg Conrad]], she eventually contributed an article to the 1885 edition of his publication ''[[Die Gesellschaft]]''. The piece, entitled "Truth and Lies", is a polemic in favour of the naturalism of [[Émile Zola]].<ref>Kempf, pp. 15–16</ref><ref>Hamann, pp. 40–41</ref> Her first significant political work, ''Inventarium einer Seele'' ("Inventory of the Soul"), was published in [[Leipzig]] in 1883. In this work, Suttner takes a pro-disarmament, progressive stance, arguing for the inevitability of world peace due to technological advancement; a possibility also considered by her friend Nobel due to the increasingly deterrent effect of more powerful weapons.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

In 1884, Suttner's mother died, leaving the couple with further debts.<ref name="Hamann, pp. 42-43">Hamann, pp. 42–43</ref> Arthur had befriended a Georgian journalist in Tbilisi only known as "M"{{efn|Suttner could not recall the journalist's full name when writing her memoirs, and his identity remains unknown.}} and the couple agreed to collaborate with him on a translation of the Georgian epic ''[[The Knight in the Panther Skin]]''. Suttner was to improve M.'s literal translation of the Georgian to French, and Arthur to translate the French to German.<ref name="Hamann, pp. 42-43"/> This method proved arduous, and they worked only for few hours each day. Arthur published several articles on the work in the Georgian press, and [[Mihály Zichy]] prepared some illustrations for the publication,<ref name="Hamann, pp. 42-43"/> but M. failed to make the expected payment, and after the [[Bulgarian Crisis (1885–88)|Bulgarian Crisis]] began in 1885 the couple felt increasingly unsafe in Georgian society, which was becoming more hostile to Austrians due to Russian influence. They finally reconciled with Arthur's family and in May 1885 could return to Austria, where the couple lived at [[Burgschleinitz-Kühnring|Harmannsdorf]] Castle in [[Lower Austria]].<ref>Hamann, p. 45</ref>

Bertha found refuge in her marriage with Arthur, of which she remarked that "the third field of my feelings and moods lay within our married happiness. In this was my peculiarly inalienable home, my refuge for all possible conditions of life, […] and so the leaves of my diary are full not only of political domestic records of all kinds, but also of memoranda of our gay little jokes, our confidential enjoyable walks, our uplifting reading, our hours of music together, and our evening games of chess. To us personally nothing could happen. We had each other – that was everything."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Memoirs of Bertha Von Suttner: The Records of an Eventful Life |last=von Suttner |first=Bertha |publisher=Nabu Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1147075816 |location=Charleston |page=340}}</ref>

==Peace activism==
[[File:Suttner's house (Tbilissi).jpg|thumb|Suttner's residence in Tbilisi]]
[[File:Bertha von Suttner.png|thumb|left|Suttner in 1896]]
[[File:Imaginative_drawing_by_Marguerite_Martyn_and_a_photo_of_Bertha_von_Suttner,_1912.jpg|thumb|right|Imaginative drawing by [[Marguerite Martyn]] and a photo of Bertha von Suttner, 1912, with a victorious Suttner holding a scroll labeled "International Peace Treaty / England / France / America." In the corner cowers a representation of a defeated warrior labelled "WAR." A broken sword and shield is on the ground. A tangle of broken warships is at the left side. At top are newspaper headlines from the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' of 20 October 1912.]]

After their return to Austria, Suttner continued her journalism and concentrated on peace and war issues, corresponding with the French philosopher [[Ernest Renan]] and influenced by the [[International Arbitration and Peace Association]] founded by [[Hodgson Pratt]] in 1880.

In 1889, Suttner became a leading figure in the peace movement with the publication of her pacifist novel, ''[[Die Waffen nieder!]]'' (''Lay Down Your Arms!''), which made her one of the leading figures of the Austrian [[peace movement]]. The book was published in 37 editions and translated into 15 languages. She witnessed the foundation of the [[Inter-Parliamentary Union]] and called for the establishment of the Austrian ''Gesellschaft der Friedensfreunde'' pacifist organisation in an 1891 ''[[Die Presse|Neue Freie Presse]]'' editorial. Suttner became chairwoman and also founded the [[German Peace Society]] the next year. She became known internationally as the editor of the international pacifist journal ''Die Waffen nieder!'', named after her book, from 1892 to 1899. In 1897, she presented Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria]] with a list of signatures urging the establishment of an [[International Court of Justice]] and took part in the First [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907|Hague Convention]] in 1899 with the help of [[Theodor Herzl]], who paid for her trip as a correspondent of the [[Zionist]] newspaper, ''[[Die Welt (Herzl)|Die Welt]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/13531049408576037 |volume=15 |issue=2 |title=Theodor Herzl and bertha von Suttner: Criticism, collaboration and utopianism |year=1994 |journal=Journal of Israeli History |pages=213–222 |last1=Levenson |first1=Alan T.}}</ref>

Upon her husband's death in 1902, Suttner had to sell Harmannsdorf Castle and moved back to Vienna. In 1904 she addressed the [[International Congress of Women]] in [[Berlin]] and for seven months travelled around the United States, attending a universal [[peace congress]] in [[Boston]] and meeting President [[Theodore Roosevelt]].

Though her personal contact with [[Alfred Nobel]] had been brief, she corresponded with him until his death in 1896, and it is believed that Von Suttner was a major influence on his decision to include a peace prize among those prizes provided in his will.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bertha von Suttner - Facts |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1905/suttner/facts |access-date=August 6, 2025}}</ref> Bertha von Suttner was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 10 December 1905. The presentation took place on 18 April 1906 in Kristiania, what is now [[Oslo]], Norway.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Nobel Peace Prize 1905 - Introduction |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1905/ceremony-speech/ |access-date=August 6, 2025}}</ref>

In 1907, Von Suttner was the only woman to attend the [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907|Second Hague Peace Conference]], which mainly pertained to the [[law of war]]. Von Suttner was actually highly critical of the 1907 conference and warned of a war to come. When she accepted her [[Nobel Peace Prize|Nobel Peace prize]] a year earlier, she had said: "(…) whether our Europe will become a showpiece of ruins and failure, or whether we can avoid this danger and so enter sooner the coming era of secure peace and law in which a civilisation of unimagined glory will develop. The many aspects of this question are what the second Hague Conference should be discussing rather than the proposed topics concerning the laws and practices of war at sea, the bombardment of ports, towns, and villages, the laying of mines, and so on. The contents of this agenda demonstrate that, although the supporters of the existing structure of society, which accepts war, come to a peace conference prepared to modify the nature of war, they are basically trying to keep the present system intact".<ref name="asser">{{Cite web |url=https://www.asser.nl/about-the-asser-institute/news/international-women-s-day-janne-nijman-puts-the-spotlight-on-peace-activist-bertha-von-suttner-1843-1914|title=International Women's Day: Janne Nijman puts the spotlight on peace activist Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914) |date=8 March 2019 |website=Asser Institute |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240503103422/https://www.asser.nl/about-the-asser-institute/news/international-women-s-day-janne-nijman-puts-the-spotlight-on-peace-activist-bertha-von-suttner-1843-1914/ |archive-date=May 3, 2024}}</ref>

Around this time, she also crossed paths with [[Anna B. Eckstein|Anna Bernhardine Eckstein]], another German champion of [[world peace]], who influenced the agenda of the Second Hague Peace Conference. A year later she attended the International Peace Congress in London, where she first met [[Caroline Playne]], an English anti-war activist who would later write the first biography of Suttner.<ref name="dnb">{{cite ODNB |author=Sybil Oldfield |title=Playne, Caroline Elizabeth (1857–1948) |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/38530 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/38530}}</ref>

In the run-up to [[World War I]], Suttner continued to campaign against international armament. In 1911 she became a member of the advisory council of the [[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace|Carnegie Peace Foundation]].<ref>{{EB1922 |inline=1 |title=Suttner, Bertha |volume=32 |page=628 |url=https://archive.org/stream/encyclopdiabri32newyrich#page/628/mode/1up}}</ref> In the last months of her life, while suffering from [[cancer]], she helped organise the next Peace Conference, intended to take place in September 1914. However, the conference never took place, as she died of cancer on 21 June 1914, and seven days later the heir to her nation's throne, [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|Franz Ferdinand]] was killed, triggering World War I.

Suttner's [[pacifism]] was influenced by the writings of [[Immanuel Kant]], [[Henry Thomas Buckle]], [[Herbert Spencer]], [[Charles Darwin]] and [[Leo Tolstoy]] (Tolstoy praised ''Die Waffen nieder!'')<ref name="weop">''Bertha von Suttner'' by [[Irwin Adams]], ''The World Encyclopedia of Peace'', Edited by [[Ervin László]], [[Linus Pauling]] and [[Jong Youl Yoo]], Oxford: Pergamon, 1986 {{ISBN|0-08-032685-4}}, (vol. 3, pp. 201–204).</ref> conceiving [[peace]] as a natural state impaired by the human aberrances of [[war]] and [[militarism]]. As a result, she argued that a right to peace could be demanded under international law and was necessary in the context of an evolutionary [[Darwinism|Darwinist]] conception of history. Suttner was a respected journalist, with one historian describing her as "a most perceptive and adept political commentator".<ref name="weop" />

== Writing ==
To promote her writing career and ideals, she used her connections in aristocracy and friendships with wealthy individuals, such as Alfred Nobel, to gain access to international heads of state, and also to gain popularity for her writing. To increase the financial success of her writing, she used a male pseudonym early in her career. In addition, Suttner often worked as a journalist to publicise her message or promote her own books, events, and causes.

As Tolstoy noted and others have since agreed, there is a strong similarity between Suttner and [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]]. Both Beecher Stowe and Suttner "were neither simply writers of popular entertainment nor authors of tendentious propaganda.... [They] used entertainment for idealistic purposes."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Braker |first=Regina |date=January 1991 |title=Bertha von Suttner as Author: The Harriet Beecher Stowe of the Peace Movement |journal=Peace & Change |volume=16 |pages=74–96 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0130.1991.tb00566.x}}</ref> For Suttner, peace and acceptance of all individuals and all peoples was the greatest ideal and theme.

Suttner also wrote about other issues and ideals. Two common issues in her work, apart from pacifism, are religion and gender equality.

=== Religion ===
There are two main issues with religion that Suttner often wrote about. She had a disdain for the spectacle and pomp of some religious practices. In a scene in ''Lay Down Your Arms'' she highlighted the odd theatricality of some religious practices. In the scene, the emperor and empress are washing the feet of normal citizens to show they are as humble as Jesus, but they invite everyone to witness their show of humility and enter the hall in a dramatic fashion. The protagonist Martha remarks that it was "indeed a sham washing."<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=Lay Down Your Arms |last=von Suttner |first=Bertha |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |year=2015 |isbn=978-1514744314 |pages=95–96}}</ref>

Another issue prominent in much of her writing is the idea that war is righteously for [[God]], and leaders often use religion as a pretext for war. Suttner criticised this reasoning on the grounds that it placed the state as the important entity to God rather than the individual, thereby making dying in battle more glorious than other forms of death or surviving a war. Much of ''Lay Down Your Arms'' discusses this topic.

This type of religious thinking also leads to segregation and fighting based on religious differences, which Bertha and Arthur von Suttner refused to accept. As a devout [[Christian]], Arthur founded the League Against Anti-Semitism in response to the pogroms in Eastern Europe and the growing [[antisemitism]] across Europe.<ref>{{Cite book |title=All her Paths were Peace: The Life of Bertha von Suttner |last=Longyel |first=Emile |publisher=Thomas Nelson Publishers |year=1975 |isbn=978-0840764508 |location=Scotland}}</ref> The Suttner family called for acceptance of all people and all faiths, with Suttner writing in her memoirs that "religion was neighbourly love, not neighbourly hatred. Any kind of hatred, against other nations or against other creeds, detracted from the humaneness of humanity."<ref name=":0" />

=== Gender equality ===
Suttner is often considered a leader in the women's liberation movement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Braker |first=Regina |date=1995 |title=Bertha von suttner's spiritual daughters: the feminist pacifism of Anita Augspurg, Lida Gustava Heymann, and Helene Stöcker at the International Congress of Women at The Hague, 1915 |journal=Women's Studies International Forum |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=103–111 |doi=10.1016/0277-5395(95)80047-s |issn=0277-5395}}</ref>

Von Suttner broke through sex barriers by her work as a writer and activist. She was an outspoken leader in a society in which women were to be seen, not be heard. But she did not actively participate in the movements for women's suffrage, for instance, which she explained due to a lack of time. She instead focused on reaching out to other women in the international peace movement, though she kept close contact to the women's [[suffrage movement]]. As a sign of joint solidarity, for instance, Von Suttner was a prominent participant of the 1904 "[[Second Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance|International Women's Conference]]" ("Internationale Frauen-Kongress") in Berlin. Von Suttner knew, though, that conflict can only be avoided if both men and women together struggle for peace, which required an absolute belief in [[sex equality]]. "The tasks involved in mankind's continuing ennoblement are such that they can only be fulfilled through fair and equal cooperation between the sexes", she wrote.<ref name="asser"/>

In ''[[Die Waffen nieder!|Lay Down Your Arms]]'', the protagonist Martha often clashes with her father on this issue. Martha does not want her son to play with toy soldiers and be indoctrinated to the masculine ideas of war. Martha's father attempts to put Martha back in the female sexed box by suggesting that the son will not need to ask for approval from a woman, and also states that Martha should marry again because women her age should not be alone.<ref name=":1" />

This was not simply because she insisted that women are equal to men, but that she was able to tease out how sexism affects both men and women. Like Martha being placed in a female structured sex box, the character of Tilling is also placed in the male stereotyped box and affected by that. The character even discusses it, saying, "we men have to repress the instinct of self-preservation. Soldiers have also to repress the compassion, the sympathy for the gigantic trouble which invades both friend and foe; for next to cowardice, what is most disgraceful to us is all sentimentality, all that is emotional."<ref name=":1" />

== Legacy ==
Suttner's work proved very influential for those involved in the peace movement.
* She was awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in 1905
She has also been commemorated on several coins and stamps:
* She was selected as a main motif for a high value collectors' coin: the [[Euro gold and silver commemorative coins (Austria)#2008 Europe Taler|2008 Europe Taler]], which featured important people in the history of Europe. Also depicted in the coin are [[Martin Luther]], [[Antonio Vivaldi]], and [[James Watt (inventor)|James Watt]].
* A commemorative silver 10 euro coin was issued in Germany in honor of the centennial of her Nobel Prize.<ref name="Stamps Sieger">{{cite web |url=https://www.stamps-sieger.com/100-years-of-the-nobel-prize-awarded-to-bertha-von-suttner-10-euro-silver-coin-2005-proof/ |access-date=4 July 2022 |title=100 years of the Nobel Prize awarded to Bertha von Suttner, 10 Euro silver coin 2005, Proof}}</ref>
* She is depicted on the [[Austrian euro coins|Austrian 2 euro coin]], and was pictured on the old Austrian 1,000 schilling bank note.
* She was commemorated on a 1965 Austrian postage stamp, a 2005 German postage stamp and a 2013 Czech postage stamp.
* On 10 December 2019, [[Google]] celebrated her with a [[Google Doodle]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://doodles.google/doodle/celebrating-bertha-von-suttner/|title=Celebrating Bertha von Suttner|website=Google|date=10 December 2019}}</ref>
* There is a statue in her honor in Vienna and one in Graz.

In 2025, the [[European Central Bank]] announced two themes for a [[Euro banknotes#New series and plans for a redesign|future redesign]] of Euro banknotes: "European culture" and "Rivers and birds". They also announced that von Suttner had been selected to appear on the obverse of [[200 euro note|200 euro banknotes]] if the "European culture" theme is selected.<ref>{{Cite press release|url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr250131~611055a567.en.html|title=ECB selects motifs for future euro banknotes|date=31 January 2025|publisher=[[European Central Bank]]|access-date=31 January 2025}}</ref>

== On film ==
* ''Die Waffen nieder'', by Holger Madsen and Carl Theodor Dreyer. Released by Nordisk Films Kompagni in 1914.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kelly |first1=A. |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0130.1991.tb00567.x |title=Film As Antiwar Propaganda |journal=Peace & Change |volume=16 |pages=97–112 |year=1991}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0004387/ |title=Ned med Vaabnene |date=September 18, 1915 |via=IMDb}}</ref>
* ''[[No Greater Love (1952 film)|No Greater Love]]'' ({{langx|de|Herz der Welt}}), a 1952 film<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043635/ |title=Herz der Welt |date=February 29, 1952 |via=IMDb}}</ref> has Bertha as the main character.

=== Television ===
* ''{{Ill|Madame Nobel|de|Eine Liebe für den Frieden – Bertha von Suttner und Alfred Nobel}}'' (''Eine Liebe für den Frieden – Bertha von Suttner und Alfred Nobel''), TV [[biopic]], [[ORF (broadcaster)|ORF]]/[[ARD (broadcaster)|Degeto]]/[[Bayerischer Rundfunk|BR]] 2014, after the play ''Mr. & Mrs. Nobel'' by [[Esther Vilar]].

== Works translated into English ==
[[File:Front Covers of "The Barbarization of the Sky" by Bertha von Suttner.png|thumb|The front covers of Suttner's 1912 essay "[[The Barbarization of the Sky (Die Barbarisierung der Luft)|Die Barbarisierung der Luft]]" and its English Translation, published in 2016 by The Bertha von Suttner Project.]]

* {{cite book |date=1910 |title=Memoirs of Bertha von Suttner: The Records of an Eventful Life |url= https://archive.org/details/memoirsberthavo03suttgoog/page/n9 |volume=1 |location=Boston; London |publisher=Published for the International School of Peace by Ginn and Co. |oclc=1000449}}
* {{cite book |date=1910 |title=Memoirs of Bertha von Suttner: The Records of an Eventful Life |url=https://archive.org/details/memoirsberthavo02suttgoog/page/n8 |volume=2 |location=Boston; London |publisher=Published for the International School of Peace by Ginn and Co. |oclc=1000449}}
* {{cite book |date=1914 |title=When Thoughts Will Soar: a romance of the immediate future |url= https://archive.org/details/whenthoughtswill00suttiala/page/n6 |location=Boston; New York |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |oclc=975993521}}
* {{cite book |translator-last=Holmes |translator-first=T. |date=1914 |orig-year=First published 1906 |title=Lay Down Your Arms: The autobiography of Martha von Tilling |url=https://archive.org/details/laydownyourarms01holmgoog/page/n7 |edition=2nd |location=New York |publisher=Longmans, Green & Co. |oclc=944424434}}
* {{cite book |date=2016 |title=The Barbarization of the Sky |url= https://www.peacepalacelibrary.nl/2017/06/the-barbarization-of-the-sky/ |location=Mount Pleasant, Michigan (USA) |publisher=The Bertha von Suttner Project |oclc=993005782 |access-date=2020-06-27 |archive-date= 2021-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517165216/https://www.peacepalacelibrary.nl/2017/06/the-barbarization-of-the-sky/ |url-status=dead}}

== See also ==
{{portal|Novels}}
* [[Pacifism]]
* [[List of peace activists]]
* [[List of Austrians]]
* [[List of Austrian writers]]
* [[List of female Nobel laureates]]

== Notes and references ==
{{Notelist}}
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Suttner, Bertha, Baroness von|volume=26|page=171}}
* {{cite book |last=Playne, Caroline Elizabeth |author-link=Caroline Playne |title=Bertha von Suttner and the World War |publisher=George Allen Unwin |year=1936}}
* Irwin Abrams: "Bertha von Suttner and the Nobel Peace Prize". In ''Journal of Central European Affairs'', Bd. 22, 1962, S. 286–307.
* {{cite book |last=Kemf |first=Beatrix |title=Suffragette for Peace: Life of Bertha Von Suttner |publisher=Oswald Wolff |isbn=978-0854962556 |year=1972 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/suffragetteforpe0000kemp}}
* Laurence,  Richard R. "Bertha von Suttner and the peace movement in Austria to World War I", ''Austrian History Yearbook'', 23 (1992), 181-201.
* {{cite book |last=Lengyel |first=Emil |title=And All Her Paths Were Peace: The Life of Bertha von Suttner |publisher=Thomas Nelson, Inc. |isbn=978-0840764508 |year=1975}}
* {{cite book |last=Hamann |first=Brigitte |title=Bertha von Suttner – a life for peace |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0815603764 |year=1996 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/berthavonsuttner0000hama}}
* [[Brigitte Hamann]]: ''Bertha von Suttner - Ein Leben für den Frieden'', Piper, München 2002 {{ISBN|3-492-23784-3}}.
* Laurie R. Cohen (Hrsg.): ''"Gerade weil Sie eine Frau sind…" - Erkundungen über Bertha von Suttner, die unbekannte Friedensnobelpreisträgerin'', Braumüller, Wien 2005 {{ISBN|3-7003-1522-8}}.
* Maria Enichlmair: ''Abenteurerin Bertha von Suttner: Die unbekannten Georgien-Jahre 1876 bis 1885'', Ed. Roesner, Maria Enzersdorf 2005 {{ISBN|3-902300-18-3}}.
* Beatrix Müller-Kampel (Hrsg.): ''"Krieg ist der Mord auf Kommando". Bürgerliche und anarchistische Friedenskonzepte. Bertha von Suttner und [[Pierre Ramus]]'', Graswurzelrevolution, Nettersheim 2005 {{ISBN|3-9806353-7-6}}.
* Beatrix Kempf: "Bertha von Suttner und die « bürgerliche » Friedensbewegung", In ''Friede – Fortschritt – Frauen. Friedensnobelpreisträgerin Bertha von Suttner auf Schloss Harmannsdorf'', LIT-Verlag, Wien 2007, S. 45 ff.
* Valentin Belentschikow: ''Bertha von Suttner und Russland'' (= ''Vergleichende Studien zu den slavischen Sprachen und Literaturen.''). Lang, Frankfurt am Main u.a. 2012 {{ISBN|978-3-631-63598-8}}.
* Simone Peter: "Bertha von Suttner (1843–1914)". In Bardo Fassbender, Anne Peters (eds.): ''The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law'', Oxford University Press, Oxford 2012, S. 1142–1145 [https://books.google.com/books?id=PI9nw2tQu4IC&pg=PA1142 (Vorschau)].
* Stefan Frankenberger (ed.): ''Der unbekannte Soldat – Zum Andenken an Bertha von Suttner'', Mono, Wien 2014 {{ISBN|978-3-902727-52-7}}.

== External links ==
'''Biographic information'''
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture, April 18, 1906 ''The Evolution of the Peace Movement''
* [http://www.nobel-winners.com/Peace/suttner_bertha.html Bertha Freifrau (Baroness) von Suttner] on nobel-winners.com
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070630102119/http://www.ppl.nl/books/ebooks/EU_EESC_EESC-2006-06-EN.pdf Another biography on Suttner]

'''Digital editions'''
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/bertha-von-suttner}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=7643|name=Bertha von Suttner}}
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Bertha von Suttner}}
* {{Librivox author}}
* {{OL author}}
* {{cite book |title=Memoirs of Bertha Von Suttner |author=Bertha von Suttner |year=1910 |publisher=Ginn & co. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G1UUAAAAIAAJ&q=antisemitic+party&pg=PA70}}
* [https://archive.org/details/laydownyourarmsa00suttuoft Online text of "Lay down Your Arms"], archive.org
* Bertha von Suttner, "[http://ringmar.net/politicaltheoryfornomads/index.php/bertha-von-suttner-memoirs-of-bertha-von-suttner-the-records-of-an-eventful-life-vol-1-2-vols-boston-ginn-co-1910/ Visit to Alfred Nobel] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109021807/http://ringmar.net/politicaltheoryfornomads/index.php/bertha-von-suttner-memoirs-of-bertha-von-suttner-the-records-of-an-eventful-life-vol-1-2-vols-boston-ginn-co-1910/ |date=2017-01-09}}" in ''Memoirs of Bertha von Suttner: The Records of an Eventful Life'', Vol. 1, 2 vols, Boston: Ginn & Co., 1910
* [http://www.berthavonsuttner.com The Bertha Von Suttner Project] (repository of print and multimedia resources in English)

'''Other links'''
* {{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/02/05/archives/baroness-bertha-von-suttner-author-of-lay-down-your-arms-and-winner.html|title=Baroness Bertha von Suttner; Author of "Lay Down Your Arms" and Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize|date=February 5, 1911|work=New York Times Review of Books|pages=BR61}} [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/02/05/105020772.pdf (PDF of full review of ''Memoirs'')]
* {{BBKL|s/s4/suttner_s_f|band=24|autor=Claus Bernet|spalten=1435–1471}}
* [http://www.berthavonsuttner2005.info/ 2005 – the Bertha von Suttner Year]

{{Commons category|Bertha von Suttner}}
{{Nobel Peace Prize Laureates 1901-1925}}
{{1905 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{German literature}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suttner, Bertha Von}}
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