Throughout history, music has been as central to wars as combat has. For centuries, armies used marches to motivate soldiers as well as propaganda songs to create a sense of national pride and rally support for the war effort from citizens. However, over time, wartime music has evolved and in recent conflicts, protest music has become as integral to military history as marching and propaganda songs have. This website is dedicated to preserving wartime music, be that marching tunes, propaganda songs, or protest songs.
I hope that the list of songs on this website can help people understand how music was used in wartime, provide perspective into multiple sides of a conflict, and show how wartime songs evolved over time.
I am compiling a list of songs that are popular or commonly associated with the following wars:
American Revolutionary War (1775-1783)
US Civil War (1861-1865)
World War II (1939-1945)
Vietnam War (1955-1975)
Some songs on this website were originally written in languages other than English. For those songs, the titles of their pages will be in their original languages, and lyrics will be provided in their original languages, though English translations will be listed for both. Please keep this in mind when looking for non-English songs.
Some songs on this website have controversial histories. These songs are included solely for historical analysis of wartime music and are not meant to endorse the views or the ideologies associated with them.