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"The war to end war" (also "The war to end all wars";^[1] originally from the 1914 book The War That Will End War by H. G. Wells) is a term for the First World War of 1914–1918. Originally an idealistic slogan, it is now mainly used sardonically,^[2] since not only was the First World War not history's final war, but its aftermath also indirectly contributed to the outbreak of the even more devastating Second World War.

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.^[3] He blamed the Central Powers for starting the war and argued that only the defeat of German militarism could bring about an end.^[4] 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.^[5] It became one of the most common catchphrases of the First World War.^[4]

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 and viceroy of India, said despondently of the Paris Peace Conference, "After the 'war to end war', they seem to have been pretty successful in Paris at making the 'Peace to end Peace'."^[6] Wells himself used the phrase in an ironic way in the novel The Bulpington of Blup (1932).^[7] Walter Lippmann in 1967 noted, "The delusion is that whatever war we are fighting is the war to end war", while U.S. President Richard Nixon in his "Silent Majority" speech (1969) said, "I do not tell you that the war in Vietnam is the war to end wars".^[2]

Since at least the last third of the 20th century, the alternative wording "the war to end all wars" has increasingly become popular. "The War to End All Wars" has been used by authors such as Edward M. Coffman (1968), Russell Freedman (2010) and Adam Hochschild (2011).^[8]^[9]^[10]

References

^ The war to end all wars BBC News 10 November 1998.
^ ^a ^b Safire, William (2008). Safire's Political Dictionary. Oxford University Press US. pp. 792–3. ISBN 978-0-19-534334-2. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
^ Wagar, W. Warren (2004). H.G. Wells: Traversing Time. Wesleyan University Press. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-8195-6725-3. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
^ ^a ^b Rempel, Richard A., ed. (2003). The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell. Routledge. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-415-10463-0. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
^ Wells, H. G. (2008). Short Works of Herbert George Wells. BiblioBazaar, LLC. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-1-4375-2652-3. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
^ Pagden, Anthony (2008). Worlds at War: The 2,500-year Struggle between East and West. Oxford University Press US. p. 407. ISBN 978-0-19-923743-2. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
^ Wells, H. G. (1932). The Bulpington of Blup. pp. 161, 163, 173. ISBN 9781409725664. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
^ Coffman, Edward M. (1968). The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
^ Freedman, Russell (2010). The War to End All Wars: World War I. Clarion Books. ISBN 978-0547026862. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
^ Hochschild, Adam (2011). To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918. Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt. ISBN 978-0547549217. Retrieved 8 December 2018.

External links

H. G. Wells, The War That Will End War on the Internet Archive

[1] The war to end all wars BBC News 10 November 1998.

[Safire-2] Safire, William (2008). Safire's Political Dictionary. Oxford University Press US. pp. 792–3. ISBN 978-0-19-534334-2. Retrieved 2010-08-24.

[3] Wagar, W. Warren (2004). H.G. Wells: Traversing Time. Wesleyan University Press. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-8195-6725-3. Retrieved 2010-08-24.

[Russell-4] Rempel, Richard A., ed. (2003). The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell. Routledge. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-415-10463-0. Retrieved 2010-08-24.

[5] Wells, H. G. (2008). Short Works of Herbert George Wells. BiblioBazaar, LLC. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-1-4375-2652-3. Retrieved 2010-08-24.

[6] Pagden, Anthony (2008). Worlds at War: The 2,500-year Struggle between East and West. Oxford University Press US. p. 407. ISBN 978-0-19-923743-2. Retrieved 2010-08-24.

[7] Wells, H. G. (1932). The Bulpington of Blup. pp. 161, 163, 173. ISBN 9781409725664. Retrieved 2010-08-24.

[8] Coffman, Edward M. (1968). The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 8 December 2018.

[9] Freedman, Russell (2010). The War to End All Wars: World War I. Clarion Books. ISBN 978-0547026862. Retrieved 8 December 2018.

[10] Hochschild, Adam (2011). To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918. Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt. ISBN 978-0547549217. Retrieved 8 December 2018.

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 {{short description|Term used to refer to World War I}}
-{{For|the 2000 album|War to End All Wars (album)}}
+{{about||the 2000 album by Y. Malmsteen|War to End All Wars (album)|the 2022 album by Sabaton|The War to End All Wars (album)}}
 [[File:The War That Will End War - Wells.djvu|thumb|upright|Title page of ''The War That Will End War'' by [[H. G. Wells]]|page=7]]
+"'''The war to end war'''" (also "'''The war to end all wars'''";<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/10/98/world_war_i/198172.stm The war to end all wars] ''BBC News'' 10 November 1998.</ref> originally from the 1914 book ''[[The War That Will End War]]'' by [[H. G. Wells]]) is a term for the [[World War I|First World War]] of 1914–1918. Originally an [[Ideal (ethics)|idealistic]] slogan, it is now mainly used [[sardonically]],<ref name="Safire">{{cite book |title=Safire's Political Dictionary |last=Safire |first=William |year=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press US |isbn=978-0-19-534334-2 |pages=792–3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jK-0NPoMiYoC&pg=PA792 |access-date=2010-08-24 }}</ref> since not only was the First World War not history's final war, but its aftermath also [[Causes of World War II#Legacies of World War I|indirectly contributed]] to the outbreak of the even more devastating [[World War II|Second World War]].
-[[File:WWilson.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Woodrow Wilson]], the [[U.S. President]], with whom the phrase is often associated]]
-"'''The war to end war'''" (also called "'''The war to end all wars'''";<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/10/98/world_war_i/198172.stm The war to end all wars] ''BBC News'' 10 November 1998</ref> originally from the 1914 book ''[[The War That Will End War]]'' by [[H. G. Wells]]) is a term for the [[First World War]] of 1914–1918. Originally an [[Ideal (ethics)|idealistic]] slogan, it is now mainly used [[sardonically]],<ref name="Safire">{{cite book |title=Safire's Political Dictionary |last=Safire |first=William |year=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press US |isbn=978-0-19-534334-2 |pages=792–3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jK-0NPoMiYoC&pg=PA792 |access-date=2010-08-24 }}</ref> since not only was WW1 not history's final war, but its aftermath also directly contributed to the outbreak of the even-more-devastating [[World War II|Second World War]].
 ==Origin==
-During August 1914, immediately after the outbreak of the war, British 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''.<ref>{{cite book |title=H.G. Wells: Traversing Time |last=Wagar |first=W. Warren |year=2004 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=978-0-8195-6725-3 |page=147 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HExGaHDhVbUC&pg=PA148 |access-date=2010-08-24 }}</ref> He blamed the [[Central Powers]] for starting the war and argued that only the defeat of German [[militarism]] could bring about an end.<ref name="Russell">{{cite book |title=The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell |editor-last=Rempel |editor-first=Richard A. |year=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-10463-0 |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h9vF8W1dW48C&pg=PA10 |access-date=2010-08-24 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |title=Short Works of Herbert George Wells |last=Wells |first=H. G. |author-link=H. G. Wells |year=2008 |publisher=BiblioBazaar, LLC |isbn=978-1-4375-2652-3 |pages=13–14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MkguSdsC3xYC&pg=PA13 |access-date=2010-08-24 }}</ref> It became one of the most common [[catchphrase]]s of the First World War.<ref name="Russell"/>
+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''.<ref>{{cite book |title=H.G. Wells: Traversing Time |last=Wagar |first=W. Warren |year=2004 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=978-0-8195-6725-3 |page=147 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HExGaHDhVbUC&pg=PA148 |access-date=2010-08-24 }}</ref> He blamed the [[Central Powers]] for starting the war and argued that only the defeat of German [[militarism]] could bring about an end.<ref name="Russell">{{cite book |title=The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell |editor-last=Rempel |editor-first=Richard A. |year=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-10463-0 |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h9vF8W1dW48C&pg=PA10 |access-date=2010-08-24 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |title=Short Works of Herbert George Wells |last=Wells |first=H. G. |author-link=H. G. Wells |year=2008 |publisher=BiblioBazaar, LLC |isbn=978-1-4375-2652-3 |pages=13–14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MkguSdsC3xYC&pg=PA13 |access-date=2010-08-24 }}</ref> It became one of the most common [[catchphrase]]s of the First World War.<ref name="Russell"/>
 ==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, 1st Earl Wavell|Archibald Wavell]], a future [[field marshal]] and [[viceroy of India]], said despondently of the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]], "After the 'war to end war', they seem to have been pretty successful in Paris at making the 'Peace to end Peace'."<ref>{{cite book |title=Worlds at War: The 2,500-year Struggle between East and West |last=Pagden |first=Anthony |year=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press US |isbn=978-0-19-923743-2 |page=407 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m80kwkt8YW4C&pg=PA407 |access-date=2010-08-24 }}</ref>  Wells himself used the phrase in an ironic way in the novel ''[[The Bulpington of Blup]]'' (1932).<ref>{{cite book |title=''The Bulpington of Blup |last=Wells |first=H. G. |year=1932 |isbn= 9781409725664|pages=161, 163, 173 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XtPlMpq6YkkC&pg=PA173|access-date=2010-08-24 }}</ref> [[Walter Lippmann]] wrote in ''[[Newsweek]]'' in 1967, "The delusion is that whatever war we are fighting is the war to end war", while U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]], in his "Silent Majority" speech (1969), said, "I do not tell you that the war in Vietnam is the war to end wars".<ref name="Safire"/> The 1976 [[Eric Bogle]] song "[[No Man's Land (Eric Bogle 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?".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Walsh |first1=Michael J. K. |title=Eric Bogle, Music and the Great War: 'An Old Man's Tears' |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1351764483 |page=92 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eBFFDwAAQBAJ |access-date=9 May 2019}}</ref>
+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, 1st Earl Wavell|Archibald Wavell]], a future [[field marshal]] and [[viceroy of India]], said despondently of the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]], "After the 'war to end war', they seem to have been pretty successful in Paris at making the 'Peace to end Peace'."<ref>{{cite book |title=Worlds at War: The 2,500-year Struggle between East and West |last=Pagden |first=Anthony |year=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press US |isbn=978-0-19-923743-2 |page=407 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m80kwkt8YW4C&pg=PA407 |access-date=2010-08-24 }}</ref> Wells himself used the phrase in an ironic way in the novel ''[[The Bulpington of Blup]]'' (1932).<ref>{{cite book |title=The Bulpington of Blup |last=Wells |first=H. G. |year=1932 |isbn= 9781409725664|pages=161, 163, 173 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XtPlMpq6YkkC&pg=PA173|access-date=2010-08-24 }}</ref> [[Walter Lippmann]] in 1967 noted, "The delusion is that whatever war we are fighting is the war to end war", while U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]] in his "Silent Majority" speech (1969) said, "I do not tell you that the war in Vietnam is the war to end wars".<ref name="Safire"/>
-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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stallings |first1=Laurence |title=The War to End War |date=1959 |publisher=American Heritage Publishing Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5o80twAACAAJ |access-date=8 December 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=The American Pageant - 15th Edition |url=https://www.apnotes.net/ap-15e.html |website=APNotes.net |access-date=8 December 2018}}</ref> However, "The War to End All Wars" was used by later authors such as [[Edward M. Coffman]] (1968), [[Russell Freedman]] (2010) and [[Adam Hochschild]] (2011).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Coffman |first1=Edward M. |title=The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I |date=1968 |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/wartoendallwars00coff |url-access=registration |access-date=8 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Freedman |first1=Russell |title=The War to End All Wars: World War I |date=2010 |publisher=Clarion Books |isbn=978-0547026862 |url=https://archive.org/details/wartoendallwarsw0000free |url-access=registration |access-date=8 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hochschild |first1=Adam |title=To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 |date=2011 |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt |isbn=978-0547549217 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780618758289 |url-access=registration |access-date=8 December 2018}}</ref>
+Since at least the last third of the 20th century, the alternative wording "the war to end all wars" has increasingly become popular. "The War to End All Wars" has been used by authors such as [[Edward M. Coffman]] (1968), [[Russell Freedman]] (2010) and [[Adam Hochschild]] (2011).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Coffman |first1=Edward M. |title=The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I |date=1968 |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/wartoendallwars00coff |url-access=registration |access-date=8 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Freedman |first1=Russell |title=The War to End All Wars: World War I |date=2010 |publisher=Clarion Books |isbn=978-0547026862 |url=https://archive.org/details/wartoendallwarsw0000free |url-access=registration |access-date=8 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hochschild |first1=Adam |title=To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 |date=2011 |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt |isbn=978-0547549217 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780618758289 |url-access=registration |access-date=8 December 2018}}</ref>
 ==See also==
@@ Line 29: / Line 28: @@
 [[Category:Political catchphrases]]
 [[Category:World War I]]
+[[Category:Quotations from literature]]
+[[Category:1914 quotations]]
+[[Category:Quotations from military]]