Troubled by the armaments race between Germany and Britain, in 1906 Anglo-German Sir Max Waechter presented a manifesto to King Edward VII which put forward the idea of a united Europe which prioritised preventing war and advancing prosperity. This manifesto grew into the European Unity League. Here, Ulrich Tiedau reconstructs and reassesses the full significance of this organization for the first time.

Examining the intellectual origins, political actions and visionary legacy of the European Unity League, this timely study rectifies the notion that the organization was merely a fringe group of eclectic and elite pro-European enthusiasts and instead reveals the lasting impact of the movement on European ideals and modern international relations. While the league was ultimately a failure in that it neither prevented war nor gave rise to a federation, Ulrich Tiedau shows that the organization did earn sizeable popularity among the British public and Waechter was widely regarded as the early head of the Pan-European movement. The European Unity League, Tiedau adroitly concludes, thus set an important precedent for bringing about unity and peace across Europe.

Based on previously unexplored archival sources and highlighting the British roots in the early European movement, this important book connects the history of pacifism with the history of the European idea. As such, this book will be of vital importance for all scholars of 20th-century European history, international relations and peace studies.