diff --git a/src/wesnoth.cpp b/src/wesnoth.cpp
index 216931c0e0c4..9d6318009c18 100644
--- a/src/wesnoth.cpp
+++ b/src/wesnoth.cpp
@@ -870,6 +870,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
 		// some compilers will simply terminate without calling destructors if
 		// the exception isn't caught.)
 		std::cerr << "Caught unspecified general exception. Terminating." << std::endl;
+		return 1;
 #endif
 	}