Romain Rolland's Pacifist Stance

Romain Rolland

A French writer, playwright, essayist, musicologist, and historian. He gained international acclaim for his masterwork "Jean-Christophe" and was awarded the 1915 Nobel Prize in Literature. During the First World War, he advocated anti-war and pacifist views from neutral Switzerland, sparking international debate surrounding the war with his work "Au-dessus de la mêlée" (Above the Battle). In addition to literature, he is known for his writings on and relationships with figures such as Beethoven, Michelangelo, Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Rabindranath Tagore. From the 1920s onward, he deepened his interest in Indian philosophy and nonviolent movements, and in the 1930s became involved in anti-fascist movements and support for the Soviet Union. During the Second World War, he refrained from open political activity in German-occupied France and spent his final years in Vézelay.

Timeline

Category
Element

Year	Romain Rolland
1866	Birth of Romain Rolland (Period: January 29, 1866, Location: Clamecy (Nièvre, France))
1886	Matriculation at École Normale Supérieure (Romain Rolland, Age: 19 years old, Period: 1886–1889, Location: Paris, France)
1889	Research at the French School of Rome (Age: 22 years old, Period: 1889–1891, Location: Rome, Italy)
1892	Marriage (Romain Rolland, Clotilde Bréal, Age: 26 years old, Period: October 31, 1892, Location: Paris, France)
1895	Obtaining Doctorate in Letters (Romain Rolland, Age: 28 years old, Period: 1895, Location: Paris, France)
1903	Publication of "The People's Theater" (Age: 36 years old, Period: 1903, Location: Paris, France) Publication of "Life of Beethoven" (Age: 36 years old, Period: 1903, Location: France)
1904	Writing and Publication of "Jean-Christophe" (Age: 37 years old, Period: 1904–1912, Location: France, Switzerland, etc.)
1912	Resignation from the Sorbonne (Age: 45 years old, Period: 1912, Location: Paris, France)
1914	World War I (Age: 47 years old, Period: 1914–1918, Location: Europe, Middle East, and Africa) Controversy over "Above the Mêlée (Au-dessus de la mêlée)" (Age: 47 years old, Period: 1914–1915, Location: Geneva, Switzerland and France) Outbreak of the First World War and Anti-War Declaration (Age: 48 years old, Period: August 1914 – October 1914, Location: Geneva, Switzerland) International Prisoner-of-War Relief Activities (Age: 48 years old, Period: October 1914 – July 1915, Location: Geneva, Switzerland) Relocation to Geneva, Switzerland (Romain Rolland, Age: 48 years old, Period: October 1914, Location: Geneva, Switzerland)
1915	Decision for 1915 Nobel Prize in Literature (Romain Rolland, Age: 48 years old, Period: 1915–1916, Location: Stockholm, Sweden) Publication of "Above the Mêlée" (Age: 48 years old, Period: 1915, Location: Geneva, Switzerland)
1916	Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (Romain Rolland, Age: 49 years old, Period: Decided 1915, Awarded 1916, Location: Stockholm, Sweden)
1919	Publication of "Colas Breugnon" (Age: 52 years old, Period: 1919, Location: France)
1920	Interactions with Mahatma Gandhi (Age: 53 years old, Period: 1920s–1930s, Location: International Intellectual Exchange related to Switzerland and India) Tours Congress and the Split between Socialism and Communism (Age: 54 years old, Period: December 1920, Location: Tours, France)
1922	Relocation to Villa Olga in Villeneuve (Romain Rolland, Age: 55 years old, Period: 1922, Location: Villeneuve, Switzerland)
1932	World Congress Against Imperialist War (Age: 66 years old, Period: August 1932, Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands)
1933	Opposition to the Hitler Regime (Age: 66 years old, Period: 1933 onward, Location: France and Switzerland)
1934	Marriage (Romain Rolland, Marie Kudacheva, Age: 68 years old, Period: April 28, 1934, Location: Villeneuve, Switzerland)
1935	Visit to the Soviet Union and Meeting with Joseph Stalin (Age: 69 years old, Period: June 1935 – July 1935, Location: Moscow, Soviet Union)
1936	Spanish Civil War (Age: 69 years old, Period: 1936–1939, Location: Spain) Support for the Spanish Republic (Age: 69 years old, Period: 1936–1939, Location: France and Spain)
1937	Settling in Vézelay (Romain Rolland, Age: 70 years old, Period: 1937–1938, Location: Vézelay, France)
1938	Protest against the Munich Agreement (Age: 72 years old, Period: September 1938 – October 1938, Location: Vézelay, France)
1939	World War II (Age: 72 years old, Period: 1939–1945, Location: UK, France, Atlantic, North Africa, Mediterranean, and Europe) Backlash against the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (Age: 73 years old, Period: September 1939 – August 1939, Location: France)
1944	Death of Romain Rolland (Age: 78 years old, Period: December 30, 1944)

Map

Category
Element

Europe World

Group	List
French Politics	Raymond Poincaré Georges Clemenceau René Viviani Alexandre Millerand Aristide Briand Joseph Caillaux
British Politics	Herbert Henry Asquith David Lloyd George Horatio Herbert Kitchener Andrew Bonar Law Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill Andrew Bonar Law
Poet and Writer	Wilfred Owen Siegfried Sassoon Rupert Brooke Isaac Rosenberg Robert Graves Henri Barbusse Romain Rolland
Science and Medicine	Marie Curie Ernest Rutherford Paul Langevin Charles de Lorme Alexis Carrel

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Romain Rolland's Pacifist Stance

Romain Rolland

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