Some anti-war songs lament aspects of wars, while others satirize war. Most promote peace in some form, while others sing out against specific armed conflicts. Still others depict the physical and psychological destruction that warfare causes to soldiers, innocent civilians, and humanity as a whole. Many of these songs are considered protest songs, and some have been embraced by war-weary people, various peace movements, and

peace activists This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated diplomatic, philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usually work wi ...

General pacifist and anti-war songs

American Civil War

American Indian Wars

World War I

Spanish Civil War

World War II

Cold War and nuclear annihilation

Korean War

Vietnam War

Dominican Civil War

Soviet-Afghan War

The Troubles of Northern Ireland

Falklands War

Contras, Latin America

Yugoslav Wars

Gulf Wars, Iraq, 9/11, and the War on Terror

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Anti-draft

Traditional music

Apart from the various genres of modern music, some traditional and contemporary folk songs reflect the futile efforts of war and the attitudes of objectors prior to the major wars of the 20th century. Some of these include: * " Ain't Gonna Study War No More" also known as "Down by the Riverside", and with a similar tune as "Hand Me down My Walking Cane" – African-American traditional anti-war song recorded by The Weavers and many others. * "

Arthur McBride "Arthur McBride" (also called "The Recruiting Sergeant" or "Arthur McBride and the Sergeant") is a folk song ( Roud 2355) probably of Irish origin, also found in England, Scotland, Australia, and North America. Describing a violent altercation wi ...

" – While first curated in the 19th century, this song likely came into existence during the 17th century in response to the War of the Grand Alliance, or especially the

Williamite War in Ireland The Williamite War in Ireland (1688–1691; ga, Cogadh an Dá Rí, "war of the two kings"), was a conflict between Jacobite supporters of deposed monarch James II and Williamite supporters of his successor, William III. It is also called the ...

, after which the Irish

Jacobite Jacobite means follower of Jacob or James. Jacobite may refer to: Religion * Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Churches in the Jacobite tradition and sometimes called Jacobite include: ** Syriac Orthodox Church, sometimes ...

army was sent to France as agreed in the Treaty of Limerick on 3 October 1691. * "The Cruel War" – Made famous in its current form by Pete Seeger and Peter Paul and Mary, this anti-war song has roots at least as far back as the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

, and can probably be traced to an older English song. * "

Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" (Roud 3137), also known as "Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye" or "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya", is a popular traditional song, sung to the same tune as "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". First published in London in 1867 and writte ...

" – Irish traditional anti-war and anti-recruiting song that was the basis for the song " When Johnny Comes Marching Home", and recorded as "Fighting for Strangers" by

Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...

. * " Join the British Army" – Irish rebel song, recorded by

Ewan MacColl James Henry Miller (25 January 1915 – 22 October 1989), better known by his stage name Ewan MacColl, was a folk singer-songwriter, folk song collector, labour activist and actor. Born in England to Scottish parents, he is known as one of the ...

and

The Dubliners The Dubliners were an Folk music of Ireland, Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personn ...

. * " Kannoneer Jabůrek" – popular Czech song mocking war heroism, referring to the events of the 1866

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

* "Lincoln's Army" – The Irish Rovers * "

Lowlands of Holland The Lowlands of Holland (Roud 484) is a Scottish folk song in which a young woman sings about her husband, who was conscripted or "pressed" by the English into an Anglo-Dutch conflict in Europe or the West Indies. In 1741 James Oswald published ...

" – traditional recorded by

Martin Carthy Martin Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and later artists such ...

* "

Mrs. McGrath "Mrs. McGrath" (also known as "Mrs. McGraw", "My Son Ted", "My Son John", and "The Sergeant and Mrs. McGrath") is an Irish folk song set during the Peninsular War of the early 19th century. The song tells the story of a woman whose son enters the ...

" – an Irish song describing a young man named Ted who enters the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

and returns seven years later having lost his legs to a cannonball while fighting against Napoleon presumably at the

Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro In the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro (3–5 May 1811), the British–Portuguese Army under Wellington checked an attempt by the French Army of Portugal under Marshal André Masséna to relieve the besieged city of Almeida. A bloody stale ...

(fought between 3 and 5 May 1811).

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

recorded a version of this song on his 2006 album '' We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions'', and it appears on the subsequent live 2007 album '' Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band: Live in Dublin''

Musicals

Concept albums

Notes

References

External links

Anti-war Songs
a website collecting thousands of antiwar songs from all over the world
Folk&More: Songbook & Tabs
a growing collection of chords, tabs, and lyrics of anti-war songs from Bob Dylan to Bob Marley
Vietnam War Song Project
a collection of over 5000 Vietnam War songs, including hundreds containing anti-war / peace sentiment. {{anti-war Anti-war songs

Anti-war An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to pa ...