Fighting for Peace

In 1917, as the First World War engulfs Europe, American diplomat Henry Van Dyke watches from the improbable calm of the Netherlands, a nation somehow remaining at peace while surrounded by war. This is his eyewitness account of the diplomatic chaos leading to America's entrance into the conflict, drawn from his post as U.S. Minister in The Hague. Van Dyke movingly recounts the impossible position of peacemakers: advocating for negotiations while armies march, seeking justice while empires collapse. He offers intimate portraits of Queen Wilhelmina and other figures navigating the same treacherous waters, and paints vivid scenes of Dutch tranquility contrasted against the ominous militarization consuming the continent. Written with literary grace despite, or perhaps because of, the desperate circumstances, this memoir captures a world transitioning from hopeful diplomacy to bitter reality. For readers interested in primary sources from history's darkest hours, Van Dyke's account poses a question that still haunts us: what does it mean to fight for peace when the world has chosen war?