In nineteen hundred and fourteen
At the tail end of July
A Serbian hothead killed a duke
Of Austria and his wife
Small states had allies great
A-spoiling for a fight
By August’s end all Europe
Was plunged in darkest night

They called it the war to end all war
But this was plainly lying
A cynical phrase to justify
The killing and the dying

The assassination lit a fire
But the fuel was decades mounting
In the minds of xenophobes
And men their profits counting
They armed themselves to the teeth
Their empires defending
Calculated marks and pounds
While ten million lives were ending

They called it the war to end all war
But this was plainly lying
A cynical phrase to justify
The killing and the dying

Most of the victims were just boys
Young girls bore the cost
Their fondest hopes and precious dreams
Forever they were lost
Decades on, the world denied
Their elder moderation,
Fell again into the abyss
Of death and devastation

They called it the war to end all war
But this was plainly lying
A cynical phrase to justify
The killing and the dying

While sacrifice is made in blood
The killing will not cease
For the only peace that war can bring
Is a peace that ends all peace
The greatest cause of war is war
And we must reject the glory
With our hearts and with our minds
To write a truthful story

They called it the war to end all war
But this was plainly lying
A cynical phrase to justify
The killing and the dying

A former academic, Tony Smith has written extensively on a wide range of subjects as diverse as folk music and foreign policy issues in the Australian Review of Public Affairs, the Journal of Australian Studies Review of Books, Overland, the Australian Quarterly, Eureka Street, Online Opinion and Unleashed.