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Historic Encyclopedias on Pacifism
The Den Haag ("The Hague") Peace Conferences


Korean Minjok Leadership Academy
International Program
Song, Ji Hye
Term Paper, AP European History Class, June 2009



Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Selection
II.1 Encyclopedia Selection
II.2 Article Selection
III. The Hague Peace Conferences described by three encyclopedias
III.1 Organizer
III.2 Purpose
III.3 Date and Place
III.4 States
III.4.1 States which Participated
III.4.1.1 First Conference, 1899
III.4.1.2 Second Conference, 1907
III.4.2 South and Central American Republics
III.5 Conventions and Resolutions
III.5.1 Conventions of the First Conference, 1899
III.5.2 Resolutions of the First Conference, 1899
III.5.3 Conventions of the Second Conference, 1907
III.6 Court of Arbitration
IV. Coverage of Articles
V. Comments on the Hague Conferences
V.1 Negative Comments
V.1.1 Meyers Konversationslexikon 1902-1909
V.1.2 Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 edition
V.1.3 Catholic Encyclopedia 1907-1914 edition
V.2 Positive Comments
V.2.1 Meyers Konversationslexikon 1902-1909
V.2.2 Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 edition
V.2.3 Catholic Encyclopedia 1907-1914 edition
VI. Summary and Analysis by Encyclopaedia
VI.1 Meyers Konversationslexikon 1902-1909
VI.2 Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 edition
VI.3 Catholic Encyclopedia 1907-1914 edition
VII. Conclusion
Notes
Bbliography



I. Introduction
            Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes or gaining advantages. (1) Because most historic encyclopedias do not deal with pacifism alone, I had to narrow my research to the event which is deeply related to pacifism and its definition: the Hague Peace Conferences in 1889 and 1907. This paper will compare three articles about the conferences in historic encyclopedias (Meyers Konversationslexikon 1902-1909, Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911, Catholic Encyclopedia 1907-1914), and try to analyze the varying characteristic of each encyclopedia's description on the same event and its general view on pacifistic value and movement. First section of this paper will explain several standards used to select encyclopedias and articles. Second section will divide the event called the Hague Peace Conferences into several subtopics and compare the explanations from the three encyclopedias under each subtopic. Third section will demonstrate a chart which shows each encyclopedia's coverage of each subtopic. Fourth section will analyze the negative comments and positive comments of each article on the Hague Peace Conferences. And lastly the fifth section will provide a final summary and analysis on each encyclopedia.

II. Selection

II.1 Encyclopedia Selection
            To select encyclopedias among many nineteenth century encyclopedias posted by Alexander Ganse on his webpage WHKMLA (1a), I set up only one standard: published dates. Because the Hague Peace Conferences took place in 1899 and 1907, any encyclopedias published before those years do not contain articles regarding the events. However, there were too few encyclopedias which include explanations on both conferences. So I included those which have explanation only on the first peace conference in my selection. According to the standard suggested, seven encyclopedias were selected: Encyclopaedia Britannica 1902 edition, Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 edition, Catholic Encyclopedia 1907-1914 edition, Jewish Encyclopedia 1901-1906 edition, Meyers Konversationslexikon 1902-1909 edition using search option "Only in Meyers-1905", Nordisk Familje-Bok second edition (1904-1926), and Salmonsens Konversationslexikon 1915-1930 edition. However, while selecting articles by the standards explained in II.2., several encyclopedias were automatically excluded leaving three for this research: Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 edition, Catholic Encyclopedia 1907-1914 edition, and Meyers Konversationslexicon 1902-1909 edition using search option "Only in Meyers-1905".

II.2 Article Selection
            When selecting articles, I used following standards:
            1. length of the article: more than four paragraphs dealing with Hague peace conferences
            2. whether or not the article deals with the subtopics presented: organizer, purpose, date and place, states which participated, South and Central American republics, conventions from the first conference, resolutions from the first conference, conventions from the second conference, court of arbitration. I excluded articles which has deals less than eight subtopics
            By standard 1, Encyclopaedia Britannica 1902 edition, Jewish Encyclopedia 1901-1906, and Nordisk Familje-Bok second edition (1904-1926) were excluded from the selection list. And by standard 2, Salmonsens Konversationslexikon 1915-1930 edition was also excluded. And three articles each from the rest three encyclopedias were finally selected: "Peace Conferences" in Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 edition, "Peace Congresses-Latest Development" in Catholic Encyclopedia, and "Friedenskonferenz" (translation: peace conference) in Meyers Konversationslexikon 1902-1909 edition using search option "Only in Meyers-1905". The last article was translated from German to English using Google Translation Engine; a portion of the translation is provided in appendix. And to notify in advance, the excerpts from Meyers Konversationslexicon provided below are the results of the translation.

III. The Hague Peace Conferences Described by Three Encyclopedias

III.1 Organizer
            Both Meyers Konversationslexikon and Encyclopaedia Britannica wrote 'emperor Nicholas II of Russia' as an organizer. Catholic Encyclopedia wrote 'the emperor of Russia', not mentioning exactly who. However, only Encyclopaedia Britannica mentioned that emperor Nicholas II was the organizer of both the First and Second Hague Peace Conferences; the Catholic Encyclopedia mentioned nothing about the organizer of the Second Hague Conference and Meyers Konversationslexikon did not comment on the Second Conference at all. Also there was another difference: each encyclopedia used different expressions about the emperor's organizing action. Meyers Konversationslexikon wrote "(peace conference) called an initiative of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia", Encyclopaedia Britannica wrote "both were organized at the instance of the emperor Nicholas II of Russia", and Catholic Encyclopedia wrote "the Emperor of Russia proposed to all governments." From their word choices such as "initiative" or "organized", we can see that the first two encyclopedias emphasized the emperor's role in organizing the conferences while Catholic Encyclopedia delivered it rather weakly by choosing a verb "proposed."

III.2 Purpose
            As the title of conference shows, the purpose of Hague conferences was ultimately pursuing peace among nations. However, three encyclopedias explained the purpose in different ways. In the Catholic Encyclopedia, the purpose was mentioned very simply. It only mentioned the basic concept of preserving peace among nations :
            the holding of a conference to consider the problem of the preservation of peace among nations.
            Encyclopaedia Britannica explained the purpose in detail, quoting to the note of Count Mouraviev, Russian minister of foreign affairs at that time:
            The chief object of the first conference, as set out in the note of Count Mouraviev, the Russian minister of foreign affairs. (Jan. II, 1899), was to arrive at an "understanding not to increase for a fixed period the present effectives of the armed military and naval forces, and at the same time not to increase the budgets pertaining thereto; and a preliminary examination of the means by which even a reduction. might be effected in future in the forces and budgets above 3 The Map of Life, 1902, pp. 92-97. [[Peach, C. W. Y]] 7 mentioned."
            Lastly, in Meyers Konversationslexikon, the purpose was described rather briefly but still mentioned the significant subtopic 'disarmament':
            international conference, which started disarmament conference was called because the Emperor Nicholas it insonderheit a general disarmament would happen.
            However, no encyclopedia dealt with the purpose of the second conference specifically.

III.3 Date and Place
            Both the First and Second Hague Peace Conference were held in Den Haag ("The Hague"): the first one from the 18th of May to the 29th of July 1899, the second one from the 15th of June to 18th of October 1907. Even though date and place of the conferences are very basic facts, each encyclopedia differed slightly in mentioning them. First, Encyclopaedia Britannica mentioned the years and place of both conferences at the beginning of the first paragraph and notified specific dates of both conferences while explaining. Also the dates and the place were also exactly mentioned. However, Catholic Encyclopedia mentioned the specific date (12 August, 1898) when the Emperor of Russia addressed circular letters to the representatives of different nations in order to propose the peace conference (3), but did not mention the specific dates when the first Hague Conference was held. It only briefly and even wrongly mentioned as following:
            During the summer of 1900 the conference assembled at The Hague
            Strangely, although it did not mention the specific dates of the first conference, Catholic Encyclopedia did mention the exact date when the formal notification of the ratification of the convention for the pacific settlement of international disputes was given by 26 states: 4 September, 1900. This enables us to speculate that Catholic Encyclopedia was more interested in the result of the conference rather than the conference itself. However, it did mention specifically the dates of the second peace conference. Lastly, Meyers Konversationslexikon wrote exact dates and place when and where the first conference was held, but lacked information about the second conference. To point out one more about this subtopic, all three encyclopedias did not explain more specifically about 'Hague' itself, because they all had independent page about Hague.

III.4 States

III.4.1 States which Participated

III.4.1.1 First Conference
            The mentioning about states which participated in the first and second peace conferences is also different in three encyclopedias. Under this subtopic 'states which participated', I would like to divide the first and second conference and compare three encyclopedias under each category. Firstly to talk about the first peace conference, Encyclopedia Britannica mentioned only the number of states who participated at the conference: 26. On the contrary, in Meyers Konversationslexikon, every one of the 26 states was listed as follows :
            Participated in the conference 26 countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Denmark, the German Empire, England, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, Austria - Hungary, Persia, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sweden -- Norway, Switzerland, Serbia, Siam, Spain, Turkey, the United States of America and the United States of Mexico.
            Also, Meyers Konversationslexikon added more information about the participants. First, it explained why the pope was absent at the conference:
            The pope was due to the opposition in Italy is not represented.
            Second, it provides additional information about German representatives:
            Germany was represented by its ambassador Munster-Dermburg and three have passed him commissioners, Major v. Schwarzhoff, the Munich University Professor Freiherr v. Stengel and the G?ttingen professor and constitutional law teacher Anger.
            The last one, Catholic Encyclopedia's description about the states was unusual compared to that of any other encyclopedias. It wrote,
            ... formal notification of the ratification of the convention for the pacific settlement of international disputes was given by the United States, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Persia, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, Siam, Spain, Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands, and subsequently by Japan.
            The number of states listed above is 18, which is far less than the reported number of two other encyclopedias. However, it is not right to judge that Catholic Encyclopedia listed inaccurate information, because it did not mention that the list above was the list of states who 'participated' in the conference. Rather, it wrote that it listed the states who gave "formal notification of the ratification of the convention for the pacific settlement of international disputes." From the information provided by Meyers Konversationslexikon - "Unfortunately, the conventions and declarations, not all countries signed." -we can see that Catholic Encyclopedia reported the correct but only different information. However, the fact that Catholic Encyclopedia listed the states according to the standard of whether they gave formal notification or not provides another steady background for the surmise that it focused more on the result of the conference than the conference itself.

III.4.1.2 Second Conference
            Secondly, regarding the second conference, Encyclopaedia Britannica again mentioned only the number of the states who participated: 44. Meyers Konversationslexikon reported nothing about the second conference as usual. And Catholic Encyclopedia wrote the number of the states and instead of listing all the names of the states explained very briefly about the locations of those nations:
            Forty-four States were represented, including the principal nations of Europe, North and South America, and Asia

III.4.2 South and Central American Republics
            Catholic Encyclopedia dealt very specifically with South and Central American republics which were not represented at the First Hague Peace Conference. However, it did not specifically mention whether those republics were not invited or invited but not participated. It devoted one paragraph among total four paragraphs describing first and second Hague conferences to explain the second International Conference of American States in which those South and Central American republics participated. It provided general information about the International Conference of American States such as date, organizer, countries who did not sign the protocol, and pecuniary arbitration which was one of the most important result of the conference. However, this explanation is very significant because only Catholic Encyclopedia dealt with South and Central American republics and their own peace conference while two other encyclopedias did not even mention about the absence of those republics at the First Hague Conference. Considering that Catholic Encyclopedia was designed to give its readers full and authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrines[2], it can be speculated that the fact that South and Central American republics are mostly catholic nations affected Catholic Encyclopedia's selection of information regarding Hague conferences.

III.5 Conventions and Resolutions

III.5.1 Conventions of the First Conference
            The descriptions of the conventions differed according to encyclopedias. First, at the conference, the subject of excessive armaments was abandoned and was not included in the conventions. Encyclopaedia Britannica, while explaining the abandonment of the subject, pointed out that German military delegate was responsible for it:
            When the subject of excessive armaments came up for discussion, the objections of the German military delegate led to its abandonment.
            On the contrary, Meyers Konversationslexicon did mention about the abandonment but did not designated Germany to be responsible. Rather, it wrote that the abandonment was something possibly predicted:
            The results of the idea of disarmament, which triggered the whole conferences were found, as predicted, no attainment,
            And Catholic Encyclopedia mentioned nothing about this.
            However, when explaining three conventions decided at the first conference, two encyclopedias except for Catholic Encyclopedia had many things in common. They both wrote the following three conventions correctly:
            1. A convention for pacific settlement of international disputes
            2. A convention relating to the laws and customs of war by land
            3. A convention for the adaptation to maritime warfare of the principles of Geneva Convention
            i. prohibition of the launching of projectiles and explosives from balloons or by other similar new method
            ii. prohibition of the use of projectiles the only object of which is the diffusion of asphyxiating or deleterious gases
            iii. prohibition of the use of bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as bullets with a hard envelope, of which the envelope does not entirely cover the core, or is pierced with incisions.
            Although the expression and word choices were different a bit, those differences were not that significant and reflected nothing special about each encyclopedia. Catholic Encyclopedia, however, did not mention any details about the conventions. It only wrote which states signed up for the conventions decided. Catholic Encyclopedia was generally poor in explaining the specific results of the first conference.

III.5.2 Resolutions of the First Conference
            Resolutions or reservations for the next conference were decided at the first conference. Both Encyclopaedia Britannica and Catholic Encyclopedia listed following six reservations correctly:
            1. the revision of the Geneva Convention,
            2. the determination of the rights and obligations of neutrals,
            3. the question of the introduction of certain types of naval guns and rifles,
            4. any agreements on the reduction of the budget and the war restriction of the country and naval forces
            5. the matter after the inviolability of private property,
            6. the bombardment of open ports and villages by naval forces.
            Although Encyclopaedia Britannica was more lengthy, adding phrases such as "this conference expresses the wish that", the difference between the expressions of two encyclopedias were ignorable. Catholic Encyclopedia again had nothing explained about the resolutions.

III.5.3 Conventions of the Second Conference
            Because Meyers Konversationslexikon only dealt with the first peace conference, it did not contain any explanation regarding the conventions from the second conference. The rest two encyclopedias including Encyclopaedia Britannica and Catholic Encyclopedia listed thirteen conventions correctly
            Conventions respecting
            1. pacific settlement of international disputes
            2. the limitation of the employment of force for the recovery of contract debts relative to the opening of hostilities
            3. the laws and customs of war on land;
            4. the rights and duties of neutral powers and persons in case of war on land;
            5. the status of enemy merchant-ships at the outbreak of hostilities;
            6. the conversion of merchant-ships into war-ships
            7. the laying of automatic submarine contact mines;
            8. bombardment by naval forces in time of war;
            9. for the adaptation to naval war of the principles of the Geneva convention;
            10. certain restrictions with regard to the exercise of the right of capture in naval war;
            11. the creation of an International Prize Court;
            12. the rights and duties of neutral powers in naval war;
            13. a declaration prohibiting the discharge of projectiles and explosives from balloons.
            Although Encyclopaedia Britannica was lengthy and detailed, their differences in expressions were able to be neglected.

III.6 Court of Arbitration
            While other encyclopedias briefly mentioned about the court of arbitration in the conventions from the second peace conference, Catholic Encyclopedia used more than half a paragraph among total four paragraphs:
            A permanent court of arbitration was established at The Hague, composed representatives of each of the signatory powers appointed for a term of six years. Arbitrators called upon to form a competent tribunal may be chosen from a general list of the members of the court when any of the signatory powers desire to have recourse to the court for a settlement of any difference between them.
            Also, it added more explanations about the court of arbitration's development at the last part of the article:
            The movement towards the settlement of international difficulties by arbitration has made great advances, as will be seen by the foregoing summary. None, however, have attempted to settle by such methods any questions which may touch upon "the vital interests, the independence or the honour" of the different States.

IV. Coverage of Articles
            In order to check the coverage of three articles, I set up marking standards as follow:
            A: mentioned and explained in very details in more than two sentences about the subtopic
            B: mentioned and explained sufficiently with one or two sentences about the subtopic
            C: mentioned briefly about the subtopic
            D: not mentioned about the subtopic
            And I evaluated each encyclopedia under categories of ten different subtopics.

Evaluation Chart
Subtopic Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 Meyers Konversationslexikon 1902-1909 Catholic Encyclopedia 1907-1914
1. Organizer B C C
2. Purpose A B C
3. Date and Place B B C
4.1.1 Participants First Conf. C A D
4.1.2 Participants Second Conf. C none B
4.2 South American Republics D D A
5.1 Conventions, First Conf. A A D
5.2 Resolutions, First Conf. A A D
5.3 Conventions, Second Conf. A none A
6. Court of Arbitration C C A
total A : 4, B : 2, => 60 %
C : 3, D : 1 => 40 % 		A : 3, B : 2 => 62.5 %
C : 2, D : 1 => 37.5 % 		A : 3, B : 1 => 40 %
C : 3, D : 3 => 60 %


            Meyers Konversationslexikon was evaluated concerning the fact that it was published before the second peace conference. For example, if Meyer Konversationslexikon is 'A' in a subtopic, it is 'A' regarding only the first conference. It was never downgraded for that it did not include the information about 1907 conference.
            From the evaluation chart, we can see that general quality of the article is good in following order; Meyers Konversationslexikon, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Catholic Encyclopedia.

V. Comments on the Hague Conferences
            Although encyclopedias should be objective when delivering information regarding certain events, these three selected nineteenth century encyclopedias demonstrate their subjectivity in the seeming-objective explanations. I sorted out negative and positive comments of each encyclopedia article and listed them.

V.1 Negative comments

V.1.1 Meyers Konversationslexikon 1902-1909
            There was one representative sentence which commented negatively on the peace conferences.
            The results of the idea of disarmament, which triggered the whole conferences were found, as predicted no attainment,
            Especially the phrase ¡°as predicted no attainment¡° delivers a negative meaning and ables us to speculate that Meyers Konversationslexikon had had a negative view at least on a certain aspect of the peace conferences: the idea of disarmament.

V.1.2 Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911
            Many expressions in Encyclopaedia Britannica delivered negative comments on the peace conferences.
            Again, in spite of the resolution and vcieux on armaments handed down from the Conference of 1899 this subject was waived
            By writing the resolutions and subjects from 1899 peace conference were ¡®waived', Encyclopaedia Britannica directly delivers its critical view on the result of the peace conference. Moreover, by inserting a word ¡®again' at the beginning of the sentence, it doubles the negative and critical meaning of the comment.
            In order to attain this object the Conference considered that it "would bvery desirable that, some two years before the probable date of the meeting, a preparatory committee should be charged by the overnments with the task of collecting the various proposals to be submitted to the Conference, of ascertaining what subjects. re ripe for embodiment in an international regulation, and of preparing a programme which the governments should decide upon in sufficient time to enable it to be carefully examined by the untries interested," and that this committee should further se entrusted with the task of proposing a system of organization and procedure for the Conference itself.
            Also, by writing a paragraph listing the requirements for the next conference, Encyclopaedia Britannica indirectly tells the readers the lack points of Hague peace conferences. Considering that encyclopedia's selection of the facts to explain in the article indirectly reflects its views on the event and that Encyclopaedia Britannica is the only encyclopedia among the three selected encyclopedia who devotes one paragraph to explain these requirements, it is persuasive enough to judge that Encyclopaedia Britannica has considerably critical view on Hague peace conferences.

V.1.3 Catholic Encyclopedia 1907-1914
            There was no negative comment on Hague peace conferences in Catholic Encyclopedia.

V.2 Positive comments

V.2.1 Meyers Konversationslexikon 1902-1909
            At the last section of the article, it wrote,
            If the well has not achieved what some have hoped it has, it means they are undoubtedly a great advance in the field of international laws
            By analyzing this sentence, we can see that Meyers Konversationslexikon values Hague peace conferences positively in that they contributed a lot to the field of international laws.

V.2.2 Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 edition
            No special comment which delivers positive view was found in the article.

V.2.3 Catholic Encyclopedia 1907-1914
            There were many sentences delivering the positive view of Catholic Encyclopedias on Hague peace conferences in the article. When mentioning the court of arbitration for the second time, it wrote
            The movement towards the settlement of international difficulties by arbitration has made great advances.
            The fact that Catholic Encyclopedia wrote the progress of the court of arbitration, when no other encyclopedias mentioned it, well represents its positive attitude towards the peace conferences. Also the adjective ¡®great' emphasizes such attitude and view
            Moreover, the last comment of the article is very significant to observe Catholic Encyclopedia's general attitudes towards the events:
            The public sentiment of the world upon this subject is crystallizing, and another decade may witness results perhaps even more far-reaching than those that have been already attained.
            Here, Catholic Encyclopedia writes hope for the better future of this peace conference and the public's general sentiment regarding the pacifistic topic. From this, we can see the encyclopedia's hopeful and positive attitudes towards not only Hague peace conferences but also the pacifistic movement itself.

VI. Summary and Analysis by Encyclopedia

VI.1 Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 edition
            1. It provided very detailed explanations about Hague Peace Conferences. Especially, the conventions, resolutions, and declarations from the first and second conferences were well described with sufficient explanations. However, strangely, it was poor on listing the name of nations which participated
            2. It provided the most fact-based article among the three selected encyclopedias. The article used many quotations when describing the event. For example, it quoted Russian minister of foreign affairs, Count Mouraviev's words in order to provide information about the purpose of the conferences.
            3. Although Encyclopaedia Britannica provided detailed, fact-based information, it was not very objective regarding Hague Peace Conferences. It had the most critical view on the events among all three encyclopedias. The number of positive comment, which is zero, and the amount and intensity of negative comments and related selections well demonstrate how biased and negative attitudes the encyclopedia tried to deliver to its readers. From its generally critical attitudes toward Hague peace conferences, it is highly speculated that it might provide generally negative views on pacifistic movements.
            Encyclopaedia Britannica had a lot of typing errors.

VI.2 Catholic Encyclopedia 1907-1914
            1. Its focus on Hague peace conferences was different from other encyclopedias. For example, it provided specific dates of when the convention was finally signed rather than that of when the conference was held. Also when other encyclopedias listed the states who participated at the conference, Catholic Encyclopedia listed those who agreed and signed the resulted conventions of the conference. Moreover, while no other encyclopedia mentioned about South and Central American republics, it provided very detailed information about their own conference and its results. And while others only briefly mentioned about the permanent court of arbitration, it devoted a lot of space for describing the court of arbitration. Considering that Catholic Encyclopedia focused more on catholic related nations and peace related topics, it is understandable why it devoted more pages for explaining the conference's pacifistic effect and results rather than the conference itself
            2. It is not very organized. Because it chose to write more about South and Central American republics which are catholic nations rather than other nations who actually participated at the conference and more about the results of the conference than the conference itself, Catholic Encyclopedia is poor in describing and organizing the general facts about the conferences. To get sufficient information about Hague peace conferences, reading only the article from Catholic Encyclopedia will not be enough.
            3. It provided the most positive view on not only Hague peace conferences but also the pacifistic value and movements. Zero negative comment and abundant positive comments well demonstrate its positive attitudes. Moreover, the article wrote the hopeful future of this pacifistic movement.

VI.3 Meyers Konversationslexikon 1902-1909
            1. It provided the most balanced view on Hague peace conferences. Its number and intensity of both negative and positive comments were similar, balancing one another. Although it was not that objective, at least it did not lead readers to be biased about the peace conferences.
            2. It provided very detailed information in most subtopics presented above. This is proved from the evaluation chart: 62.5% of the article's coverage of subtopics is sufficiently explained.
            3. Because it was published before 1907 Hague peace conference, it did not contain information about the second conference.

IV. Conclusion
            While reading and analyzing three different nineteenth century encyclopedias articles on the same topic ¡®Hague peace conferences', I learned why I should look up various encyclopedias to get more accurate information about a topic.
            1. It is because the main focus of each encyclopedia differs a lot. Like Catholic Encyclopedia focused on catholic and peace-related aspects of the conferences and other encyclopedias focused on accurately describing general facts of the conferences, each encyclopedia provides different amount, depth, and aspect of information. So by reading various encyclopedias, we can establish the most accurate picture of a topic.
            2. It is because each encyclopedia provides different views on one same subject. Although the three selected encyclopedias articles were dealing with the same topic, Hague peace conferences, Catholic Encyclopedia provided the most positive view on the event, Encyclopaedia Britannica demonstrated the most critical attitude towards the event, and Meyers Konversationslexikon provided the most balanced view on the same topic. So in order not to be biased about a topic, it is necessary to experience various views of encyclopedias on the same topic
            Also through this research, I learned courage not to fear encyclopedias in unfamiliar languages and also the value of those ¡®unfamiliar' encyclopedias
            Lastly, to conclude the whole research, I would like to mention that nineteenth century encyclopedias were not that hostile toward pacifistic movement such as Hague peace conferences. The sufficient amount and quality of information about Hague peace conferences demonstrate the considerable interest of the encyclopedias. Also many encyclopedias commented positively on the peace conferences and its conventions


Appendix: Example of article segment translations
           

            Friedenskonferenz, meist Haager Konferenz genannt, eine auf Veranlassung Kaiser Nikolaus' II. von Ru©¬land (vgl. Friede, S. 106) vom 18. Mai bis 29. Juli 1899 im Haag tagende internationale Konferenz, die anfangs Abrüstungskonferenz hiess, da Kaiser Nikolaus durch sie insonderheit eine allgemeine Abrüstung herbeiführen wollte. Beteiligt waren an der Konferenz 26 Staaten: Belgien, Bulgarien, China, Dänemark, das Deutsche Reich, England, Frankreich, Griechenland, Italien, Japan, Luxemburg, Montenegro, Niederlande, Österreich-Ungarn, Persien, Portugal, Rumänien, Russland, Schweden-Norwegen, Schweiz, Serbien, Siam, Spanien, T?rkei, die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika und die Vereinigten Staaten von Mexiko. Der Papst war infolge des Widerspruchs Italiens nicht vertreten. Die Konferenz war in drei Kommissionen geteilt.
           
            peace conference, mostly HCCH called an initiative of Emperor Nicholas' II of Russia (see Peace, p. 106), 18 May to 29 July in 1899 in Hague, meeting international conference, which started disarmament conference was called because the Emperor Nicholas it insonderheit a general disarmament would happen. Participated in the conference 26 countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Denmark, the German Empire, England, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, Austria - Hungary, Persia, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sweden -- Norway, Switzerland, Serbia, Siam, Spain, Turkey, the United States of America and the United States from Mexico. The pope was due to the opposition in Italy is not represented. The conference was divided into three commissions divided.

Notes

(1)      Pacifism, Wikipedia
(1a)      At WHKMLA
(2)      Catholic Encyclopedia, Wikipedia
(3)      Article: Peace Congresses, Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907, in New Advent


Bibliography

Note : websites quoted below were visited in June and July 2009.
1.      Article: Peace Congresses, Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907, from New Advent http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11596a.htm
2.      Article: Peace Conferences, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911, from 1911encyclopedia http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Peace_Conferences
3.      Article: Friedenskonferenz, Meyers Konversationslexikon, 1905, from Zeno.org http://www.zeno.org/Meyers-1905/A/Friedenskonferenz
4.      Article: Pacifism, from Wikipedia. Last revised on 2 July 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacifism 5.      Article: Catholic Encyclopedia, from Wikipedia, last revised on 8 June 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia
6.      Term Paper Topics, 12th Wavers, May 2009 : Historic Encyclopedias, on WHKMLA http://www.zum.de/whkmla/sp/0910/termpaper12thwaves2009may.html#he

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