Bertha von Suttner was an Austrian novelist and peace activist, widely regarded as the leading figure of the international peace movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was born on June 9, 1843, in Prague, Austrian Empire (now Czech Republic), and died on June 21, 1914, in Vienna, Austria.

Von Suttner was awarded the 1905 Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first woman to receive the honor. She was recognized for her courageous opposition to the horrors of war and her dedicated, lifelong effort to promote peace and disarmament. Her enduring friendship and correspondence with Alfred Nobel are widely credited with inspiring him to include a peace prize among the awards stipulated in his will.

Her most significant and famous work is the 1889 anti-war novel, Die Waffen nieder! (Lay Down Your Arms!). The book was a searing, personal critique of militarism, told from the perspective of a noblewoman whose life is repeatedly devastated by war. It became an international sensation, was translated into numerous languages, and its immense popular success established Von Suttner as the preeminent voice of the pacifist movement.

She used her global fame to organize the movement, helping to found the Austrian Peace Society in 1891 and serving as a key figure in the International Peace Bureau. Throughout her later life, she was a tireless advocate for the use of international arbitration to resolve conflicts and campaigned persistently against the escalating arms race in Europe. Tragically, she died just two months before the start of World War I, the devastating conflict she had spent her life trying to prevent.