Völkerschlacht [English translation]

[Verse 1]

Near Leipzig there lies perhaps many a mothers child

Yonder are still circling ravens, where they have fallen

What are you asking, companions in death, you who lie below?

What help was there in spilling so much of that red blood?

Of that red blood

[Chorus]

In the Battle of Nations (In the Battle of Nations)1

And marching in the distance is the grand army (In the Battle of Nations)

And whether we will ever see our loved ones again (In the Battle of Nations, In the Battle of Nations)

And blazing burns the firmament in the Battle of Nations

[Verse 2]

Who will tell you the answer? What changes the suffering

At it that you are slain, that you are slain?

Are thousandfold deaths the price for barren land?

When nations turn into murderers with bloody iron fist2

With iron fist

[Chorus]

In the Battle of Nations (In the Battle of Nations)

And marching in the distance is the grand army (In the Battle of Nations)

And whether we will ever see our loved ones again (In the Battle of Nations, In the Battle of Nations)

And blazing burns the firmament in the Battle of Nations

[Post-Chorus]

In the Battle of Nations

In the Battle of Nations

In the Battle of Nations

[Verse 3]

And the wheel of war is turning and turning evermore

Then there is no victor bar the grim reaper3

And the wheel of war is turning and turning evermore

Then there is no victor bar the grim reaper

[Chorus]

In the Battle of Nations (In the Battle of Nations)

And marching in the distance is the grand army (In the Battle of Nations)

And whether we will ever see our loved ones again (In the Battle of Nations, In the Battle of Nations)

And blazing burns the firmament in the Battle of Nations

1. This song deals with the actual historical event of the Battle of Leipzig, I've chosen the seemingly lesser know term, Battle of Nations in the lyrics here, because it's the more literal one2. The German expression here is literally "iron hand", but I believe iron fist to be the English equivalent3. The literal translation here would be "Godfather Death" who is the German version of the grim reaper