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PEACE WITH HONOUR
214 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1934
About the author
A.A. Milne
1,845 books3,749 followersAlan Alexander Milne (pronounced /ˈmɪln/) was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems.
A. A. Milne was born in Kilburn, London, to parents Vince Milne and Sarah Marie Milne (née Heginbotham) and grew up at Henley House School, 6/7 Mortimer Road (now Crescent), Kilburn, a small public school run by his father. One of his teachers was H. G. Wells who taught there in 1889–90. Milne attended Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied on a mathematics scholarship. While there, he edited and wrote for Granta, a student magazine. He collaborated with his brother Kenneth and their articles appeared over the initials AKM. Milne's work came to the attention of the leading British humour magazine Punch, where Milne was to become a contributor and later an assistant editor.
Milne joined the British Army in World War I and served as an officer in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and later, after a debilitating illness, the Royal Corps of Signals. He was discharged on February 14, 1919.
After the war, he wrote a denunciation of war titled Peace with Honour (1934), which he retracted somewhat with 1940's War with Honour. During World War II, Milne was one of the most prominent critics of English writer P. G. Wodehouse, who was captured at his country home in France by the Nazis and imprisoned for a year. Wodehouse made radio broadcasts about his internment, which were broadcast from Berlin. Although the light-hearted broadcasts made fun of the Germans, Milne accused Wodehouse of committing an act of near treason by cooperating with his country's enemy. Wodehouse got some revenge on his former friend by creating fatuous parodies of the Christopher Robin poems in some of his later stories, and claiming that Milne "was probably jealous of all other writers.... But I loved his stuff."
He married Dorothy "Daphne" de Sélincourt in 1913, and their only son, Christopher Robin Milne, was born in 1920. In 1925, A. A. Milne bought a country home, Cotchford Farm, in Hartfield, East Sussex. During World War II, A. A. Milne was Captain of the Home Guard in Hartfield & Forest Row, insisting on being plain 'Mr. Milne' to the members of his platoon. He retired to the farm after a stroke and brain surgery in 1952 left him an invalid and by August 1953 "he seemed very old and disenchanted".
He was 74 years old when he passed away in 1956.
A. A. Milne was born in Kilburn, London, to parents Vince Milne and Sarah Marie Milne (née Heginbotham) and grew up at Henley House School, 6/7 Mortimer Road (now Crescent), Kilburn, a small public school run by his father. One of his teachers was H. G. Wells who taught there in 1889–90. Milne attended Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied on a mathematics scholarship. While there, he edited and wrote for Granta, a student magazine. He collaborated with his brother Kenneth and their articles appeared over the initials AKM. Milne's work came to the attention of the leading British humour magazine Punch, where Milne was to become a contributor and later an assistant editor.
Milne joined the British Army in World War I and served as an officer in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and later, after a debilitating illness, the Royal Corps of Signals. He was discharged on February 14, 1919.
After the war, he wrote a denunciation of war titled Peace with Honour (1934), which he retracted somewhat with 1940's War with Honour. During World War II, Milne was one of the most prominent critics of English writer P. G. Wodehouse, who was captured at his country home in France by the Nazis and imprisoned for a year. Wodehouse made radio broadcasts about his internment, which were broadcast from Berlin. Although the light-hearted broadcasts made fun of the Germans, Milne accused Wodehouse of committing an act of near treason by cooperating with his country's enemy. Wodehouse got some revenge on his former friend by creating fatuous parodies of the Christopher Robin poems in some of his later stories, and claiming that Milne "was probably jealous of all other writers.... But I loved his stuff."
He married Dorothy "Daphne" de Sélincourt in 1913, and their only son, Christopher Robin Milne, was born in 1920. In 1925, A. A. Milne bought a country home, Cotchford Farm, in Hartfield, East Sussex. During World War II, A. A. Milne was Captain of the Home Guard in Hartfield & Forest Row, insisting on being plain 'Mr. Milne' to the members of his platoon. He retired to the farm after a stroke and brain surgery in 1952 left him an invalid and by August 1953 "he seemed very old and disenchanted".
He was 74 years old when he passed away in 1956.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 5, 2022
I loved A. A. Milne as a kid and loved him even more when I became a parent, but I only learned of his pacifism and his writings for adults through the movie “Goodbye, Christopher Robin.” I tend toward pacifism myself, so I was deeply intrigued by this discovery of his mature work.
Milne was a veteran of World War I, and according to the movie, he suffered from PTSD flashbacks. World War I was definitely a foolish war, and as Milne wisely puts it: does it make sense to sacrifice thousands of lives all because of the assassination of two? The book continues to make many more sensible arguments about the senselessness of war, but then you have to consider that it was written in 1934. Hitler had just come to power, and Milne could see what a danger he was, but his book, and his approach to peace in general, was appeasement. We all know how well that worked out, but I don’t think we can use Hitler and the Sudetenland as proof that appeasement never works. It didn’t work with him because there was no United Nations or international court of law to watch and control him. The only way to respond to his aggression was with war. As Milne puts it, he opposes war, but not police, and the difference is that when police use force, they’re not supposed to act as judge, jury, and executioner also (and yes, I know they sometimes do.) War does that. Nations sacrifice their citizens’ lives to protect their interests, and then, if they win, they dictate the terms instead of some independent third party, like a court.
Milne also calls for disarmament. When one nation stockpiles weapons, it guarantees that its neighbors, especially the smaller ones, will do so also, and so war becomes a perpetual cycle. It makes perfect sense, except that I wouldn’t want to see vulnerable Israel disarm when their neighbors aren’t. But was Iran really complying with the United Nations watching them? Many experts say yes. It’s true that Iran had to be appeased to agree to the deal, but there was a neutral force to police it. Perhaps it was exactly the scenario Milne was talking about. And to those parts of the deal that were distasteful, Milne would argue that peace comes with sacrifice – but not with the sacrifice of human life.
Though I like most of what Milne had to say, I can see the holes in his argument. He has a follow-up book called War With Honour, written in 1940 when England was already in the war, so I really must get hold of that and see how his thinking evolved. I certainly don’t have the answers, and I don’t know that I believe that any single person does, but it surely has been interesting to discover this side of the beloved father of Christopher Robin and creator of Winnie the Pooh.
Milne was a veteran of World War I, and according to the movie, he suffered from PTSD flashbacks. World War I was definitely a foolish war, and as Milne wisely puts it: does it make sense to sacrifice thousands of lives all because of the assassination of two? The book continues to make many more sensible arguments about the senselessness of war, but then you have to consider that it was written in 1934. Hitler had just come to power, and Milne could see what a danger he was, but his book, and his approach to peace in general, was appeasement. We all know how well that worked out, but I don’t think we can use Hitler and the Sudetenland as proof that appeasement never works. It didn’t work with him because there was no United Nations or international court of law to watch and control him. The only way to respond to his aggression was with war. As Milne puts it, he opposes war, but not police, and the difference is that when police use force, they’re not supposed to act as judge, jury, and executioner also (and yes, I know they sometimes do.) War does that. Nations sacrifice their citizens’ lives to protect their interests, and then, if they win, they dictate the terms instead of some independent third party, like a court.
Milne also calls for disarmament. When one nation stockpiles weapons, it guarantees that its neighbors, especially the smaller ones, will do so also, and so war becomes a perpetual cycle. It makes perfect sense, except that I wouldn’t want to see vulnerable Israel disarm when their neighbors aren’t. But was Iran really complying with the United Nations watching them? Many experts say yes. It’s true that Iran had to be appeased to agree to the deal, but there was a neutral force to police it. Perhaps it was exactly the scenario Milne was talking about. And to those parts of the deal that were distasteful, Milne would argue that peace comes with sacrifice – but not with the sacrifice of human life.
Though I like most of what Milne had to say, I can see the holes in his argument. He has a follow-up book called War With Honour, written in 1940 when England was already in the war, so I really must get hold of that and see how his thinking evolved. I certainly don’t have the answers, and I don’t know that I believe that any single person does, but it surely has been interesting to discover this side of the beloved father of Christopher Robin and creator of Winnie the Pooh.
September 6, 2008
In his book, Peace With Honour, A.A. Milne challenges his readers to look at War for what it is. Wrong.
This book was written in 1934, between WW1 and WW2. During this time there was a shaky peace between the European countries and Milne cries out to the Leaders of the European nations for a true action of peace. He reiterates through his entire book that the only true way for peace to occur in Europe and essentially in the world, is for people to put aside their preconceived notions of conventional War and to look at War for what it truly is. An abomination that must be renounced for the sake of the continuance of civilization. Gone are the days where War is fought on some distant battle field with hand to hand combat by professional soldiers. Now not only do soldiers pay the ultimate price for their country, death, but so do innocent women and children. For now War is something far more unspeakable.. where we conceive of bigger and better ways to obliterate our enemies from the face of the earth... with the push of a button. Now more than ever before, we need to renounce war. As A.A. Milne says in his book,
"War is something of man's own fostering, and if all mankind renounces it, then it is no longer there." - pg. 15
This book was written in 1934, between WW1 and WW2. During this time there was a shaky peace between the European countries and Milne cries out to the Leaders of the European nations for a true action of peace. He reiterates through his entire book that the only true way for peace to occur in Europe and essentially in the world, is for people to put aside their preconceived notions of conventional War and to look at War for what it truly is. An abomination that must be renounced for the sake of the continuance of civilization. Gone are the days where War is fought on some distant battle field with hand to hand combat by professional soldiers. Now not only do soldiers pay the ultimate price for their country, death, but so do innocent women and children. For now War is something far more unspeakable.. where we conceive of bigger and better ways to obliterate our enemies from the face of the earth... with the push of a button. Now more than ever before, we need to renounce war. As A.A. Milne says in his book,
"War is something of man's own fostering, and if all mankind renounces it, then it is no longer there." - pg. 15
March 29, 2017
If everybody read this, there would be no war. If everyone had read this in 1935 when he wrote it, there would have been no WWII.
May 16, 2019
Milne makes every possible rational argument against war. It's all still relevant because the irrational people keep starting wars. This book will probably be relevant until humans have finally become extinct.
March 18, 2018
Great arguments, hopeless cause. Imagine a world...
History is merely a script for the next generation of corrupt leaders. Poor Christopher Robin, all for naught.
History is merely a script for the next generation of corrupt leaders. Poor Christopher Robin, all for naught.
August 23, 2020
Truly one of the best books I have ever read in my life. Milne is angry, sarcastic, funny and very serious about how war is wrong. Loved it!
December 10, 2024
Peace With Honour:
To describe how important this book is seems a difficult task. There are a select few books that I would shove into someone's hands whenever asked the question about recommendations. Most of those are Fiction, so fewer of those fall into this category (Nonfiction). I also couldn't describe how influential this book may have been for those reading in the 1930s-1940s. Today, we probably take this position for granted; most, if not all people express their goal to stop war and promote Peace; this was probably true in Milne's day as well. But for the modern reader, the sentiment feels so close to home with the Russo-Ukranian War and Isreal-Palestine Conflict in our minds. But in other ways, Milne's words are influential too. I was raised as military brat; there's no getting around it. And to my benefit and detriment, the military discipline code was their model for who they wanted me to be. They wanted me to be ready to love on my own. I will not deny how what I have learned has taught me, but I will still deny that war is necessary or beneficial for anyone. No one can convince me of that. Milne's words are a comfort and affirmation of this and I think we need the reminder that war is NEVER the solution. It's also just cool that the same man that wrote Winnie the Pooh also wrote a book about war.
To describe how important this book is seems a difficult task. There are a select few books that I would shove into someone's hands whenever asked the question about recommendations. Most of those are Fiction, so fewer of those fall into this category (Nonfiction). I also couldn't describe how influential this book may have been for those reading in the 1930s-1940s. Today, we probably take this position for granted; most, if not all people express their goal to stop war and promote Peace; this was probably true in Milne's day as well. But for the modern reader, the sentiment feels so close to home with the Russo-Ukranian War and Isreal-Palestine Conflict in our minds. But in other ways, Milne's words are influential too. I was raised as military brat; there's no getting around it. And to my benefit and detriment, the military discipline code was their model for who they wanted me to be. They wanted me to be ready to love on my own. I will not deny how what I have learned has taught me, but I will still deny that war is necessary or beneficial for anyone. No one can convince me of that. Milne's words are a comfort and affirmation of this and I think we need the reminder that war is NEVER the solution. It's also just cool that the same man that wrote Winnie the Pooh also wrote a book about war.
December 9, 2019
Throughout the time I worked on my novella, I am a Veteran!, I constantly had these questions in mind: Why war? Why was war the only solution?
I tried to convey the experiences and feelings my grandfather had while on the battlefield (I imagined most of them for I was far too young for him to tell me about them, and he was not that talkative – especially, when it came to war) in my novella. I only had a few sentences to work upon (and those overheard by mistake), but I truly wanted to make people think about the uselessness of war and its atrocities.
I was really glad to discover this book. It gives me great comfort to know that people will read this book and ponder upon the idea of war and its implications. It does not matter if you’re a pacifist or not, what matters is that ideas as those presented in this book must be read and shared with others. So that people (and by people here I mean leaders) could try and solve matters of the state without risking the lives of innocent citizens.
I particularly liked the Christian argument against war. But then again, all arguments presented in this book are well structured, decent and consider the wellbeing of humanity.
Do read this book! And by all means, stop buying war-toys to little boys.
I tried to convey the experiences and feelings my grandfather had while on the battlefield (I imagined most of them for I was far too young for him to tell me about them, and he was not that talkative – especially, when it came to war) in my novella. I only had a few sentences to work upon (and those overheard by mistake), but I truly wanted to make people think about the uselessness of war and its atrocities.
I was really glad to discover this book. It gives me great comfort to know that people will read this book and ponder upon the idea of war and its implications. It does not matter if you’re a pacifist or not, what matters is that ideas as those presented in this book must be read and shared with others. So that people (and by people here I mean leaders) could try and solve matters of the state without risking the lives of innocent citizens.
I particularly liked the Christian argument against war. But then again, all arguments presented in this book are well structured, decent and consider the wellbeing of humanity.
Do read this book! And by all means, stop buying war-toys to little boys.
May 26, 2023
Milne argues against war during a period we know today as the “interwar period.” Less of a memoir and more of a tome of political and social theory, Milne advocates for pacifism by reconsidering the notions of national honour, national prestige, and other justifications for war.
EDIT for reread: came back to this after exactly three years because I was thinking about it and couldn’t find a good digital version that wasn’t missing pages or difficult to get through. Pretty sure I got the exact same copy through the library, and I really enjoyed getting through this again after a few years of getting older.
EDIT for reread: came back to this after exactly three years because I was thinking about it and couldn’t find a good digital version that wasn’t missing pages or difficult to get through. Pretty sure I got the exact same copy through the library, and I really enjoyed getting through this again after a few years of getting older.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews