'WORLD War One was a catastrophe that should never have happened. We need to learn from the past to create a better future' —is the passionate message from the Tavistock Peace Action Group. It's particularly pertinent during a week that the British Government sanctioned airstrikes against IS in Iraq. The group held the first of a fascinating and thought-provoking exhibition at Kingdon House, Tavistock, entitled 'The Challenging Road to Peace since the First World War — is war a reasonable way to conduct international relations?' The First World War, which this year commemorates 100 years since the conflict began in 1914, resulted in the deaths of more than 9,000,000 million combatants and 7,000,000 million civilians, including 700,000 British servicemen by the time 'peace' was declared four years later in 1918. Poignantly, a list of those men from the Tavistock area who were killed in the First World War is on one of the boards. The peace group points out that lessons from the industrial-scale carnage and the devastating impact it had on the individuals and countries that participated in the slaughter were not learned, and just over 20 years later, between 1939 and1945, the world was once more locked in an international conflict — one that claimed millions more victims. The ramifications and legacy of the war still cast shadows on the shape of political and economic of the world today. This exhibition by the Tavistock Peace Action Group has been 18 months in the planning and been supported by the Devon Quakers and Tavistock Quakers, professionally designed by Graphic Words of Peter Tavy and its boards made up by Tavy Signs. The exhibition outlines questions such as 'What contributed to the 1914 war?' — citing reasons such as the building up of the arms race, economic interest and colonisation, cultural attitudes and the grip of nationalism. Cornish woman Emily Hobhouse, who was exposed to the horrors of the concentration camps erected by the British in the Boer War in 1901, said in August 1914, on the outbreak of the First World War: 'Few English people have seen war in its nakedness . . . they know nothing of the poverty, destruction, disease, pain, misery and mortality, which follows in its train.' The Austrian general's daughter Bertha von Stutter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who founded the Austrian Peace Society, warned as early as 1905 that international tensions and rivalries were going to culminate in war, when she said: 'Fortresses are being erected, submarines built, whole areas mined, airships tested for use in war; and all this with such zeal — as if to attack one's neighbour were the most inevitable and important function of the state.' The exhibition is armed with facts and figures, pictures and posters of the time and quotes from participants, high and low, from private to Prime Minister, from conscientious objector to field commander, from poet to peacemaker. One particular quote perhaps sums up the essence and spirit of the display. It is from Captain Thomas Kettle, who had been a barrister, an MP and economics professor in Dublin. He wrote on September, 8, 1916; 'If I live, I mean to spend the rest of my life working for perpetual peace.' He was killed in action the next day, age 32. Harry Patch, who fought in the trenches at Passchendaele, was wounded, invalided out of the forces, was the last British living known former 'Tommy' before he died in 2009. Reflecting on his experiences, he said: 'When the war ended, I don't know if I was more relieved that we'd won or that I didn't have to go back. 'Passchendaele was a disastrous battle — thousands and thousands of young lives were lost. 'It made me angry. I went back to Ypres to shake the hand of Herr Kuentz, Germany's only surviving veteran from the war. It was emotional. He was 107. 'We've had 87 years to think what war is. 'To me, it's a licence to go out and murder. Why should the British government call me up and take me out to a battlefield to shoot a man I never knew, whose language I couldn't speak? Now where is the sense in that? 'War is the calculated and condoned slaughter of human beings.' Perhaps unlike other contemporary exhibitions to be found on the subject, the Tavistock Action Peace Group proffers thoughts on some of its boards on what would help the keep a peaceful world today. It highlights more international co-operation, respect for law, understanding and tolerance of other cultures, progressive disarmament as possible steps to a more peaceful future for mankind. Bomb or negotiate! Reaction to the event has been positive to those visited the display. Tavistock Peace Action Group's Marlene Harris from Albaston told the Times: 'People have said it's absolutely amazing and have been very impressed on how professionally it's done. Fellow group member Ginny Davies, from Tavistock, said: 'We need to understand where the world is today politically, and ask ourselves the question — is war a reasonable way to conduct international relations?' One visitor to the exhibition was Janet Trethowan from Launceston. She told the Times: 'I definitely think we should put the First World War behind us and move on. 'We don't seem able to have learn the lessons of history. I certainly feel we don't hear enough from the side of the Conscientious Objectors and others who were against the war.' With wars currently being fought in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Europe divided over the Ukraine crisis, the exhibition advocates finding ways to defuse future conflicts between nations and religious and cultural groups before they explode into violence. The following are some of the comments written about the Kingdon House exhibition: Margaret Quinn: 'Excellent exhibition which not only explains the First World War and factors which make war more likely, but also the ways to build peace. Judith Thompson: 'No one who sees this exhibition can say any longer — "I don't know." 'Work for peace is an imperative.' Monica Evans: 'An excellent reminder of the sacrifice of so many.' Ronnie Plagusa: 'A work of scholarship and of passion. It needs to be shown widely and the materials published. The wealth of approaches to the subject of war is staggering and deserves recognition.' Whatever your views, be they anti-war or a belief in war if a justified cause, this thought-provoking exhibition is well worth a visit. Organisers plan to take the exhibition out into the community, schools and colleges. It will also be displayed in Tavistock Museum in April, 2015 for six months. The Tavistock Peace Action Group is happy to lent the exhibition, free of charge, to interested community groups. The peace group meets at 7.30pm on the first Tuesday of every month at the Friends Meeting House, Bedford Car Park, Tavistock. For more details see their website http://www.tavypeace.org.uk">www.tavypeace.org.uk or call 01822 615960.