I have read that most people expected a short and honourable war, but there must have been some domestic opposition to war from one country to the next. How did this opposition manifest itself? Were there any cross-border efforts to sow the seeds of peace before Armistice Day?
Edit: ^ ?
There were a couple of Socialists and Anarchists who did not fight, but they were almost without exclusion thought to be unpatriotic. I only mention it because one of these men was Vladimir Lenin and when the war became hugely unpopular it made him very popular indeed with the Russian people. However, we should note that he and his comrades were highly unusual and he was denounced by other Russian Socialists for not supporting the war.
The other groups that springs to mind were groups such as the Quakers. They won the right to not be forced to fight since they are traditionally pacifist. However, they did have to perform some other type of service, such as farming, or being a stretcher bearer, ambulance driver or similar. I assume there were other groups such as the Quakers, but I can't give you specifics.
Apart from that I can't really think of any other groups because at the beginning of the war there was nearly no war sentiment at all. Not only did the people expect a quick honourable war Imperialism and Nationalism was at it's very height. It was a quite unique mix of Jingoism mixed with mass education mixed with the ability to make industrial warfare on a previously unheard of scale. Hope this goes some way to answer your question.
Hi, Regarding Canada, I just thought I'd leave this post here. It's actually about quebec Independence movement, but there is also something about the conscription and it shows how Canada was divided. Guess what, the French Canadians were not eager to save the Queen.