Bertha von Suttner

Biography

Baroness Bertha von Suttner (1843–1914) was an Austrian-Bohemian pacifist and novelist who became the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (1905). Born Countess Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau, she briefly worked as Alfred Nobel's secretary before marrying Baron Arthur von Suttner. Her anti-war novel Lay Down Your Arms (1889) became an international sensation and a rallying point for the peace movement. Von Suttner was instrumental in persuading Nobel to establish the Peace Prize and spent decades organizing peace conferences and advocating for international arbitration. She died just before the outbreak of World War I.