war to end all wars

WWI's hopeful label

A phrase applied to World War I, expressing the hope that its unprecedented devastation would make future large-scale conflicts unthinkable.

The phrase is now used ironically, since that war was followed by an even deadlier one: They called it the war to end all wars, but it settled nothing.

Related

peace · veterans · remembrance · truce · conflict · memorials · poppy fields · Versailles Treaty · Woodrow Wilson · Paris Peace Conference · sacrifice · fallen soldiers · treaties · hostilities · no man's land · shell shock · home front · war reparations

Opposites
idealistic promise vs cynical reality

war to end all warshollow promise

finality vs continuation

war to end all warsWorld War II

Second global military conflict

unfinished business · Treaty of Versailles · armistice

utopian aspiration vs perpetual conflict

war to end all warsworld peace

Global absence of conflict

Pax Romana · Pax Americana · collective security · League of Nations · United Nations

Family

wars, warring, warred, warrior, warriors, warlike, warfare, wartime, ends

Familiarity
Top 200,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Timeless · Negative · Everyday, not technical · Rated PG