History Main / TheWarToEndAllWars

* ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' ends with the resolution of what is meant to be a final war, but if ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' is any indication, the Crisis events will function as they did before, but won't have Crisis in the title.

* ''Film/IndependenceDay'': the War of 1996 is this, as the following time-line goes into an alternate 20 years where the world avoids any major war or genocide, after avoiding extinction from an invading alien race. Only the aliens' return sparks a new war, [[Film/IndependenceDayResurgence the War of 2016.]]
* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'' has Steve Trevor drop the trope name when telling the Amazons about the TropeNamer. Diana/Wonder Woman sets out with him to make the name true, but finds out that humanity is far too complicated and aggressive to halt all war simply by ending one conflict.

* ''Creator/TomClancy's VideoGame/EndWar'', true to its name has this going for it.
* ''VideoGame/Battlefield1'', which takes place during the TropeNamer period, even lampshades the ironic nature of its name in the opening narration, used as the quote above.

-> ''More than 60 million soldiers fought in "The War to End All Wars." \\

-->--''{{VideoGame/Battlefield 1}},'' '''Opening narration'''

The TropeNamer was UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, as noted in the RealLife section. [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Which wasn't]], so they called it World War I instead.

* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}''

* The war of Zaibach vs. everyone in ''Anime/VisionOfEscaflowne'' is meant to end all war by securing for [[MadScientist Dornkirk]] certain {{macguffin}}s necessary to build a machine that will grant everyone on the planet their deepest desires. Unfortunately, it turns out that some people ''really'' desire war.

** Tobi's plan, [[spoiler: he started the next "world war" with the goal of trapping the entire world in a LotusEaterMachine of world peace and dead loved ones brought back to life]].

* In ''LightNovel/CrestOfTheStars'', the Abh have declared that should they win the galaxy-spanning war the series depicts, it will be the ''last'' war humanity ever fights... at least with itself. Because if the Abh win, the entire human race will be unified under their government, which admittedly has done a pretty good job maintaining peace within its borders for nearly a thousand years. As the series continues, it remains to be seen who will eventually win the war.

* There has been one war between the Great Powers since UsefulNotes/WorldWarII -- or, more accurately between a Superpower and a Great Power. The UsefulNotes/KoreanWar pitted primarily American forces[[note]]small contingents of soldiers from many other nations, including the Great Powers of France and Britain[[/note]] against the newly formed People's Republic of China. By the end, 40,000 UN[[note]]mostly American[[/note]] and 400,000 Chinese soldiers were dead- as well as millions of Korean soldiers and civilians from both sides[[note]]but, of course, neither North nor South Korea were Great Powers[[/note]]. Notably though, this took place entirely on the Korean Peninsula, so although the soldiers were from all over the world, the conflict was not. This is subverted by InsistentTerminology in case of the Korean War. It was not a " war," but "police action," United States and its allies fought in it only as part of the United Nations force, [[BlatantLies Russian pilots simply did not fight in this war at all, and all Chinese soldiers were technically "volunteers."]] In fact, adding the fact that neither Korea saw the other as a legitimate entity, [[MindScrew no "country" fought in Korea at all]], to paraphrase Russian scholar Andrei Lankov.

* UsefulNotes/WorldWarI was said to be this by some. The phrase was originally coined by Creator/HGWells as early as August 1914 in a series of newspaper articles that were collected into the brochure ''The War That Will End War''. It then became "The War to End War" and "The War to End All Wars" and later became associated with UsefulNotes/WoodrowWilson, who actually only used it once in a speech. But some soon took a more cynical point of view. The future Field Marshal Earl Wavell commented about the 1919 Peace Conference: "After the 'war to end war', they seem to have been in Paris at making the 'Peace to end Peace'", a sentiment that was also echoed by the exiled Kaiser in the Netherlands, foreseeing the later events. Originally an idealistic slogan, it is now mainly used sardonically, 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 WorldWarII.

* UsefulNotes/WorldWarI was said to be this by some. The phrase was originally coined by Creator/HGWells as early as August 1914 in a series of newspaper articles that were collected into the brochure ''The War That Will End War''. It then became "The War to End War" and "The War to End All Wars" and later became associated with UsefulNotes/WoodrowWilson, who actually only used it once in a speech. But some soon took a more cynical point of view. The future Field Marshal Earl Wavell commented about the 1919 Peace Conference: "After the 'war to end war', they seem to have been in Paris at making the 'Peace to end Peace'", a sentiment that was also echoed by the exiled Kaiser in the Netherlands.

* ''{{TabletopGame/Eberron}}'': The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting has this as part of its {{Backstory}}, known as "The Last War". Around a century ago, the rulers of the Five Nations of Khorvaire waged war against one another in a SuccessionCrisis for the throne of Galifar, only for the war to end with a peace treaty when one of the aforementioned nations, Cyre, was destroyed by a mysterious FantasticNuke.

* In ''Series/{{MASH}}'', Colonel Potter at one point bitterly toasts the last of his friends to die with the toast ' Here's to you, boys. To Ryan, who died in WWI: the War to End All Wars. To Gianelli, who died in the war after that.

** In ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', Master Asia refers to the Gundam Fight by calling it "the ideal war" during his battle with Domon (although he's not implying the Gundam Fight is in effect this, but rather bitterly asking Domon "why call (the Gundam Fight) an ideal war" — he's LampshadeHanging [[VillainHasAPoint how futile it was in preventing destruction to Earth]]. In this series, the Gundam Fight was a tournament (fought by HumongousMecha no less) held by the nations of the world to decide which one of them would rule Earth until the next Gundam Fight. While this competition prevented armed conflict between the various nations, it could not avoid the devastation brought to Earth by the continued fighting of the Gundam battles.

** In ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', Master Asia refers to the Gundam Fight by calling it "the ideal war" during his battle with Domon. In this series, the Gundam Fight was a tournament (fought by HumongousMecha no less) held by the nations of the world to decide which one of them would rule Earth until the next Gundam Fight. While this competition prevented armed conflict between the various nations, it could not avoid the devastation brought to Earth by the continued fighting of the Gundam battles.