YMMV / Lay Down Your Arms

• Fridge Horror: Little Friedrich, who is introduced in the epilogue as Martha’s little grandson, would be in his twenties during World War 1 – the probability is high that he will, besides all actions of his grandmother, die young along millions of other young men in the “War to End All Wars”.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The fairly optimistic ending looks like this when you know that the described era of peace in Europe would end only weeks after Suttner’s death in 1914 with the outbreak of the First World War. An obituary for her reads something along the lines of: "Those loved by the gods are given an early death. It may not always be early, but more like, the ones who the gods love are given a well-timed death."
• Values Resonance: While most people would call themselves pacifists today, and many honest attempts were and are made, politicians stay as dumb as in Cesar’s day and age, making this 19th century book as resonant as back then. Michael Sommer of the German literature Youtube channel "Sommers Weltliteratur to go" commented on this in his video about the book, made in the direct aftermath of the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine.