How Significant Has Anti-War Protest Been In The Past

100 Years
Over the past 100 years, protest has become apparent to many through media and the
internet. In the First World War, there was little anti-war protest because all media as
censored, resulting in the public holding a very patriotic view. Anyone who did object
to the conflict, would be arrested and put in prison, and their neighbours would regard
them as cowards, showing that this protest had little significance on the war.
However, in the later years of the Vietnam War and throughout the Iraq War, the
media has given people the bigger picture. The television and the newspapers can
portray their own opinion about conflict, persuading a lot more people to protest,
therefore leaving a minority of the public to be nationalistic, and therefore causing
more people to protest, making it more significant.

Numbers and statistics portray how successful something has been, and how things
have improved over time. In the First World War there were very few protesters,
reflecting the little effect they had on the government and the conflict. These
protesters were called Conscientious Objectors. They were men, who did not wish to
fight in the war after being drafted by the government, and so they protested, but the
majority did not prevail. Protesters who objected on moral grounds were usually not
exempt from war because their own belief was disregarded, because every other man
was going to fight. The political objectors were ignored completely because they were
protesting against the government’s view. There were religious pacifists too who were
anti-war because of their faith; and these were more likely to be exempt from war as
you cannot change religious beliefs.

The small number of Conscientious Objectors, around 16,000, were clearly affected
greatly by the war and conflict in general, but the war did not affect the rest of the
British public who went to war. They were willing to fight for their country because
of patriotism and so they could contribute to Britain’s success. Another sign that
shows people were affected deeply is that some of the soldiers wrote poems about the
terrors of conflict, the awful conditions and the experiences they have been put
through, however these were only published after the war protest only took place after
the conflict. This shows that the protests before the war were insignificant because the
rest of the country was so nationalistic.

In the Vietnam War, there were a lot more objectors, but most only started protesting
6 years after the war started, when the war was being explicitly shown on television,
and also when drafting was introduced. There were reporters on the front lines in
Vietnam showing the nation what was really happening, and this was the first time
war was truthfully portrayed to the public. Conscription was introduced in 1965 and
this caused uproar because the Americans believed they were fighting an unwinnable
war, and therefore they protested-100,000 gathered in New York and many more in
San Francisco. This is a dramatic increase compared to the first two World Wars, and
furthermore America pulled out of Vietnam several years later, showing that the
protesters made a difference. After 1965, celebrities began to object too: famous
musicians like Abbie Hoffmann, Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg were among
them and this caused even more people to protest. The amount of protesters at these
marches signifies that the American public were affected profoundly; the media had
revealed the terrible truth openly to the public, allowing people to hold this view. The
Mai Lai massacre was an event that completely turned people’s opinions around also:
the nation knew the full story within a few days due to media coverage, and when
people knew of the killing of innocent citizens in Vietnam, more and more began to
protest. This made the protest more and more significant and pressurising to the
American government.

However in the Iraq War, even though there were a lot of protesters before the war,
there were little during the war because family and friends were fighting and risking
their lives, and also because they felt that the government was not listening to them.
36 million people took part in 3,000 protests around the world in the two months
before the war began, but this did not stop the war from happening. A prominent
reason why there were so many protesters is because people were aware of the other
wars in recent history and they were scared the Iraq War would become as deadly as
previous wars .Furthermore, because a factor of the war was based on religious
differences, they were worried that other Islamic countries would become involved.
This protest was insignificant however; the war continued; the government did not
listen, and the war ended by achieving an aim, not by listening to the public. The
British public had doubts about the Iraq War and debates about whether there should
have been a war are still being held now, after the war has ended. The numbers
portray how sincerely people felt about the war-3 million people including children
gathered to protest and students came out of school and university to perform their
own march too, and this day was called Day X. This wide section of society shows
how deeply affected the public were and how dedicated they were to anti-war,
however the government did not respond, showing that the objection was irrelevant.

The men who fought in these wars have been remembered, even from the First World
War, coming close to 100 years ago. In the more recent wars people have been more
reluctant to fight because they do not believe or trust the government anymore, due to
lies, such as when the government announced the war would be over by Christmas,
before the First World War. Before the First World War, the public trusted the
government and believed that the war would be over by Christmas, as said by Herbert
Henry Asquith, the Prime Minister of Britain at the time. Nowadays, people are a lot
more sceptical of the government and do not trust them; they are frightened of a
repeat of the First World War, consequently making them protest. This is another
reason why the number of protesters has increased, making it more significant. The
Iraq war did not bring as many casualties as the First World War and the Vietnam
War, but it still affects people today. The Stop the War Coalition is an organisation
that is still protesting against the Iraq War as well as the Afghanistan conflict which is
happening currently. The Stop the War Coalition is the largest anti-war organisation
in England and people are still joining because of the Iraq War, due to media coverage
creating a negative view of the conflict.

The Vietnam War affected people for a very long time because it was the only major
conflict America has ever lost; so many Americans were fearful about the Iraq War
because of the loss in Vietnam which increased the protest numbers in America. Films
about the war have been produced to educate and inform about it, such as Forrest
Gump, and television documentaries are still being created now to tell people about it,
illustrating that people are concerned and are fearful of a repeat. This shows that
protesters have made an impact because their view of the war is now being portrayed
through media many years after the conflict took place.

The First World War is remembered the most because of the amount of deaths and
casualties. There were almost 60,000 British casualties on one day at the Battle of the
Somme, and this thought still causes grief among the British population today. On the
11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month every year British people remember all
those that died for Britain, and this creates an anti-war view because of the numbers
that died. A lot of anti-war poems have been written and anti-war art has been created
too, both to remember the people that died, but also to show how evil war is.
Although once again, this does not show protest during or before the First World War
because this was after it had ended, showing how protest has built up over time. This
persuades more people to protest making the protest for the Iraq and Afghanistan
conflicts more momentous.

In the First World War, the protest did not achieve its aim because the war continued
and was won, and the Conscientious Objectors made little difference, and were known
as cowards. Also for the Iraq War, the protest did not achieve its aim. The war
continued and was not stopped by protest, however the protesters did make a
difference: the number of protesters concerned about conflict is continuously
increasing and so they will impact on government decisions on future conflicts. In the
Vietnam War, the protest did achieve its aim because there had been great media
coverage over it, which was a factor for America pulling out of Vietnam in 1975.

In conclusion, anti-war protest has become more and more significant throughout the
past 100 years. The understanding of previous wars has increased the number of
protesters and celebrities have influenced the public’s decision too, creating a bigger
impact on government’s decision. The continuous increase in anti-war protesters
shows that eventually they will be able to make a difference to the government’s view
also. No war has stopped just because of anti-war protest in the past 100 years but the
protest in recent wars is greater than in previous wars and it builds up every time as
people do not want another war as bad as the previous one.