Pacifism is opposition to
war,
militarism or
violence. The word
pacifism was coined by the French peace campaigner
Émile Arnaud (1864–1921) and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in
Glasgow in 1901. A related term is
ahimsa (to do no harm), which is a core philosophy in
Buddhism,
Jainism, and
Hinduism. While modern connotations are recent, having been explicated since the 19th century, ancient references abound.