Peace: 1921

1) Branting, Karl Hjalmar, pronounced YAHL mahr, (1860-1925), a leading Swedish socialist and pacifist, was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace in 1921 for promoting social reform in Sweden and for his activities in the League of Nations, an international association that promoted world peace. Branting believed that disputes between countries were better resolved through discussion with a third party acting as judge, rather than through war.

Branting was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He studied at Uppsala University for five years, concentrating on mathematics and astronomy before becoming an assistant to the director of the Stockholm Astronomical Society in 1882. In 1883, Branting traveled around Europe attending lectures and developing his own theories in discussion both with social philosophers and ordinary working people.

Branting worked for socialist newspapers and played a large part in the founding of the Swedish Social Democratic Labor Party in 1889. In 1896, he became the first Social Democrat to be elected to the lower chamber of Sweden's parliament, the Riksdag. He remained the only Social Democrat member for several years, fighting for workers' rights and universal suffrage (right to vote). In 1905, Branting supported a peaceful settlement with Norway when Norway withdrew from union with Sweden. The Swedish Social Democratic Labor Party finally came to power in Sweden in 1920 with Branting as prime minister. He served as prime minister twice more, from 1921 to 1923 and again in 1924 and 1925.

Branting was a supporter of Swedish neutrality in World War I (1914-1918). In 1919, he was Sweden's representative at the Paris Peace Conference to draft the Treaty of Versailles at the end of the war. At this conference, he called on all countries to adopt the Covenant of the League of Nations. Branting brought Sweden into the League in 1923, became Sweden's first delegate to the organization, and was appointed to its council. While serving at the League, he was involved in work on disarmament and in drafting the Geneva Protocol, a system of international security that proposed that disputes between nations be judged by one or more impartial persons whose decision should be binding.

2) Lange, Christian Lous (1869-1938), a Norwegian pacifist, was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace in 1921 for his contribution as secretary-general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an organization working for international peace and cooperation. He shared the prize with Karl Branting of Sweden. Lange also became the Norwegian delegate to the League of Nations, where he concentrated particularly on matters of disarmament.

In 1909, Lange was made secretary-general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a post he held until 1933. During World War I (1914-1918), the Inter-Parliamentary Union was one of the few such organizations that continued to exist, thanks largely to Lange's efforts, which included moving its office to his home in Oslo.

Lange's first volume of Histoire de l'internationalisme (History of Internationalism), was published in 1919. A history of pacifism--he preferred the term "internationalism" to "pacifism"--the book was intended to cover the period from antiquity to the beginning of World War I in 1914. The second and third volumes were completed and published after his death, in 1954 and 1963 respectively.

Lange was born in Stavanger, Norway. He graduated from the University of Oslo in 1893 with a degree in history, French, and English. In 1919, he received a doctorate for a thesis on the history of internationalism.