"The war to end war" (also "The war to end all wars"; originally from the 1914 book ''

The War That Will End War H. G. Wells was a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction. His writing career spanned more than sixty years, and his early science fiction novels earned him the title (along with Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback) of "The Father of Scienc ...

'' by H. G. Wells) is a term for the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

of 1914–1918. Originally an

idealistic In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to id ...

slogan, it is now mainly used

sardonically To be sardonic is to be disdainfully or cynically humorous, or scornfully mocking. A form of wit or humour, being sardonic often involves expressing an uncomfortable truth in a clever and not necessarily malicious way, often with a degree of sk ...

, since not only was the First World War not

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

's final war, but its aftermath also indirectly contributed to the outbreak of the even more devastating

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Origin

During August 1914, immediately after the outbreak of the war, English author and social commentator H. G. Wells published a number of articles in London newspapers that subsequently appeared as a book entitled ''The War That Will End War''. He blamed the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...

for starting the war and argued that only the defeat of German

militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

could bring about an end. He used the shorter form, "the war to end war", for ''In the Fourth Year'' (1918), in which he noted that the phrase "got into circulation" in the second half of 1914. It became one of the most common catchphrases of the First World War.

Later use

During the First World War, the phrase met with some degree of skepticism. As it became apparent that the war had not succeeded in ending war, the phrase took on a more cynical tone. The British staff officer Archibald Wavell, a future

field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered a ...

and viceroy of India, said despondently of the

Paris Peace Conference Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include: Listed by name Paris Accords may refer to: * Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...

, "After the 'war to end war', they seem to have been pretty successful in Paris at making the 'Peace to end Peace'." Wells himself used the phrase in an ironic way in the novel ''

The Bulpington of Blup ''The Bulpington of Blup'' is a 1932 novel by H. G. Wells. It is a character study analyzing the psychological sources of resistance to Wellsian ideology, and was influenced by Wells's acquaintance with Carl Gustav Jung and his ideas. The inner ...

'' (1932).

Walter Lippmann Walter Lippmann (September 23, 1889 – December 14, 1974) was an American writer, reporter and political commentator. With a career spanning 60 years, he is famous for being among the first to introduce the concept of Cold War, coining the t ...

1967, "The delusion is that whatever war we are fighting is the war to end war", while U.S. President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

, in his "Silent Majority" speech (1969), said, "I do not tell you that the war in Vietnam is the war to end wars". The 1976

Eric Bogle Eric Bogle (born 23 September 1944) is a Scottish-born Australian folk singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Scotland, he emigrated to Australia at the age of 25, to settle near Adelaide, South Australia. Bogle's songs have covered a variety of ...

song " No Man's Land" ("The Green Fields of France"), addressed to the grave of a 19-year-old soldier in a First World War Cemetery, contains the lyric "Did you really believe that this war would end wars?". Since at least the last third of the 20th century, the alternative wording "the war to end all wars" has become more popular. ''The War to End War'' was the title of Laurence Stallings's 1959 book on the war. It was also a title of a chapter of the American high school history textbook '' The American Pageant'' (first published 1956), and remained so up to its 15th edition in 2013. However, "The War to End All Wars" was used by later authors such as

Edward M. Coffman Edward M. Coffman (January 27, 1929 – September 16, 2020) was a military historian and University of Wisconsin-Madison professor emeritus. Early life He was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and earned his BA, MA, and PhD at the University of Kent ...

(1968), Russell Freedman (2010) and

Adam Hochschild Adam Hochschild (; born October 5, 1942) is an American author, journalist, historian and lecturer. His best-known works include ''King Leopold's Ghost'' (1998), '' To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914–1918'' (2011), '' Bu ...

(2011).

References

External links

* H. G. Wells
The War That Will End War
on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:War to end all wars, The H. G. Wells Political catchphrases World War I

Origin

Later use

See also

References

External links