<P> "The war to end war" (sometimes called "The war to end all wars") was a term for the First World War of 1914--1918 . Originally idealistic, it is now used mainly sardonically . </P> <P> 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 . Wells blamed the Central Powers for the coming of the war and argued that only the defeat of German militarism could bring about an end to war . Wells used the shorter form of the phrase, "the war to end war", in In the Fourth Year (1918), in which he noted that the phrase had "got into circulation" in the second half of 1914 . In fact, it had become one of the most common catchphrases of the First World War . </P> <P> In later years, the term became associated with Woodrow Wilson, despite the fact that Wilson used the phrase only once . Along with the phrase "make the world safe for democracy", it embodied Wilson's conviction that America's entry into the war was necessary to preserve human freedom . </P>

Who coined the phrase war to end all wars