War Brides (1916)

Joan is loved by a young man of the village and they are married In a few weeks the husband a soldier is sent to the warfront along with his three brothers Word is received that her husband has been killed in battle and Joans first impulse is suicide by she is pregnant and her prospective motherhood makes her realize her new responsibility The military authorities start a movement to get the young women of the country to marry departing soldiers so that the empire may have another generation of fighting men Word is received that the King is to pass through their village and Joan organizes the women in a general protest against the war She leads them all dressed in black in a long procession to meet the Monarch The soldiers threaten to shoot her unless she turns the women back buy Joan comes facetoface with the ruler and kills herself as her message from the women that they refuse to make another generation victims of a ruthless militarism