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World war

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United States Armyinfantrysupported by aM18 tank destroyeradvancing through an enemy-occupied town duringWorld War II,the most recent conflict to widely be considered a "world war"
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Aworld waris an internationalconflictthat involves most or all of the world'smajor powers.[1]Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century,World War I(1914–1918) andWorld War II(1939–1945), although some historians have also characterised other global conflicts as world wars, such as theNine Years' War,theWar of the Spanish Succession,theSeven Years' War,theFrench Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars,theCold War,and theWar on Terror.

Etymology

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TheOxford English Dictionarycited the first known usage in theEnglish languageto aScottishnewspaper,The People's Journal,in 1848: "A war among the great powers is now necessarily a world-war." The term "world war" is used byKarl Marxand his associate,Friedrich Engels,[2]in a series of articles published around 1850 calledThe Class Struggles in France.Rasmus B. Andersonin 1889 described an episode inTeutonic mythologyas a "world war" (Swedish:världskrig), justifying this description by a line in anOld Norseepic poem, "Völuspá:folcvig fyrst I heimi "(" The first great war in the world ").[3]German writer August Wilhelm Otto Niemann used the term "world war" in the title of his anti-British novel,Der Weltkrieg: Deutsche Träume(The World War: German Dreams) in 1904, published in English asThe Coming Conquest of England.

The term "first world war" was first used in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopherErnst Haeckel,who claimed that "there is no doubt that the course and character of the feared 'European War'... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word",[4]citing a wire service report in theIndianapolis Staron 20 September 1914. In English, the term "First World War" had been used by Lieutenant ColonelCharles à Court Repington,as a title for his memoirs (published in 1920); he had noted his discussion on the matter with a Major Johnstone ofHarvard Universityin his diary entry of September 10, 1918.[5][6]

The term "World War I" was coined byTimemagazine on page 28 of its June 12, 1939, issue. In the same article, on page 32, the term "World WarII "was first used speculatively to describe the upcoming war. The first use for the actual war came in its issue of September 11, 1939.[7]One week earlier, on September 4, the day after France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany, the Danish newspaperKristeligt Dagbladused the term on its front page, saying "The Second World War broke out yesterday at 11 a.m."[8]

Speculative fictionauthors had been noting the concept of a Second World War in 1919 and 1920, whenMilo Hastingswrote hisdystopiannovel,City of Endless Night.

Other languages have also adopted the "world war" terminology; for example, inFrench,"world war" is translated asguerre mondiale;inGerman,Weltkrieg(which, prior to the war, had been used in the more abstract meaning of a global conflict); inItalian,guerra mondiale;inSpanishandPortuguese,guerra mundial;inDanishandNorwegian,verdenskrig;inRussian,мировая война(mirovaya voyna); and inFinnish,maailmansota.

History

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First World War

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Main article:World War I
French Armysoldiers holding a position in the ruins of a church during theSecond Battle of the Marne,part of World War I

The First World War occurred from 1914 to 1918. In terms of humantechnological history,the scale of World WarI was enabled by the technological advances of theSecond Industrial Revolutionand the resultingglobalizationthat allowed global power projection andmass productionof military hardware. It had been recognized that the complex system of opposingmilitary alliances(theGermanandAustro-HungarianEmpires against theBritish,Italian,Russian,andFrenchEmpires) was likely, if war broke out, to lead to a worldwide conflict. That caused a very minute conflict between two countries to have the potential to set off adomino effectof alliances, triggering a world war. The fact that the powers involved had largeoverseas empiresvirtually guaranteed that such a war would be worldwide, as the colonies' resources would be a crucial strategic factor. The same strategic considerations also ensured that the combatants would strike at each other's colonies, thus spreading the wars far more widely than those ofpre-Columbiantimes.[further explanation needed]

War crimeswere perpetrated in World War I.Chemical weaponswere used in the war despite theHague Conventions of 1899 and 1907having outlawed the use of such weapons in warfare. TheOttoman Empirewas responsible for theArmenian genocide,during the First World War, as well as other war crimes.

Second World War

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Main article:World War II
ABritish Armymechanized infantryChurchilltank passing a destroyedWehrmachtPanzer IVtank duringOperation Overlord,part of World War II

The Second World War occurred from 1939 to 1945 and is the only conflict in whichnuclear weaponshave been used; bothHiroshimaandNagasaki,in theJapanese Empire,weredevastatedby atomic bombs dropped by the United States.Nazi Germany,led byAdolf Hitler,was responsible forgenocides,most notablythe Holocaust,which murdered demographics consideredUntermenschby the Nazis. These included about six millionJewsand about five million others, such asSlavs,Roma,homosexuals,and the physically and mentally disabled.[9]TheUnited States,theSoviet Union,andCanadadeported andinternedminority groups within their own borders and, largely because of the conflict, many ethnicGermanswere later expelled fromEastern Europe.Japan was responsible for attackingneutral nationswithout adeclaration of war,such as theattack on Pearl Harbor.It is also known for its brutal treatment and killing of Alliedprisoners of warand the inhabitants ofAsia.It also used Asians asforced laborersand was responsible for theNanjing Massacrein which 250,000 civilians were brutally murdered by Japanese troops.Noncombatantssuffered at least as badly as or worse thancombatants,and the distinction between combatants and noncombatants was often blurred by the belligerents oftotal warin both conflicts.[10]

The outcome of the war had a profound effect on the course ofworld history.The old European empires collapsed or they were dismantled as a direct result of the crushing costs of the war and in some cases, their fall was caused by the defeat of imperial powers. TheUnited Statesbecame firmly established as the dominant globalsuperpower,along with its close competitor and ideological foe, theSoviet Union.The two superpowers exerted political influence over most of the world'snation-statesfor decades after the end of the Second World War. The modern international security, economic, and diplomatic system was created in the aftermath of the war.[10]

Institutions such as theUnited Nationswere established to collectivize international affairs, with the explicit goal of preventing another outbreak of general war. The wars had also greatly changed the course of daily life. Technologies developed during wartime had a profound effect on peacetime life as well, such as by advances injet aircraft,penicillin,nuclear energy,andelectronic computers.[10]

Potential third world war

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Main article:World War III
US Army paratroopers landing in a field inWest GermanyduringExercise Reforger 1984,a Cold War-eraNATOmilitary exerciseused to prepare for potential conventional warfare against theWarsaw Pact;such a conflict was expected to be World War III.

Since theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasakiduring the Second World War, there has been a widespread and prolonged fear of a potential third world war between nuclear-armed powers.[11][12]It is often suggested that it would become anuclear war,and be more devastating and violent than both the First and Second World Wars.Albert Einsteinis often quoted as having said in 1947 that "I know not with what weapons World WarIII will be fought, but World WarIV will be fought with sticks and stones. "[13][14][15][16]It has been anticipated and planned for by military and civil authorities, and it has also beenexplored in fiction.Scenarios have ranged from conventional warfare to limited or total nuclear warfare.[citation needed]

Various former government officials, politicians, authors, and military leaders (includingJames Woolsey,[citation needed]Alexandre de Marenches,[17]Eliot Cohen,[18]andSubcomandante Marcos[19]) have attempted to apply the labels of the "Third World War" and the "Fourth World War" to various past and present global wars since the end of the Second World War, such as theCold Warand thewar on terrorrespectively.

During the early 21st century, thewar in Afghanistan(2001–2021), theArab Spring(2010–2012), theSyrian civil war(2011–present), theIraq War(2003–2011), theRusso-Ukrainian War(2014–present), theYemeni civil war(2014–present), and their worldwide spillovers are sometimes described asproxy warswaged by the United States and Russia,[20][21][22][23]which led some commentators[who?]to characterize the situation as a "proto-world war", with many countries embroiled in overlapping conflicts.[24]

Other global conflicts

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An artist's depiction of thePrussian Armyclashing with theImperial Russian Armyat theBattle of Zorndorf,part of the Seven Years' War, which some historians consider to be an early world war

TheSeven Years' War(1754/56–1763) was fought across all of North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. Most of the great powers of the era participated, notably including theBritish EmpireandFrench Empire,but polities from many continents played important roles. Some historians call it "World War Zero" as a result.[25]

Historians Richard F. Hamilton andHolger H. Herwigcreated a list of eight world wars, including the two generally agreed-upon world wars, the Seven Years' War, and five others: theNine Years' War(1689–1697), theWar of the Spanish Succession(1701–1714), theWar of the Austrian Succession(1740–1748), theFrench Revolutionary Wars(1792–1802), and theNapoleonic Wars(1803–1815).[26]British historian John Robert Seeley dubbed all of those wars between France and Great Britain (later the UK) between 1689 and 1815 (including theAmerican Revolutionary Warfrom 1775 to 1783) as theSecond Hundred Years' War,echoing an earlier period of conflict between France and England known as theHundred Years' War(1337–1453).[27]Some writers have referred to the American Revolutionary War alone as a world war.[27]

Other historians suggest even earlier conflicts to be world wars. For example, Russian ethnologistL. N. Gumilyovcalled theByzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628"the World War of the 7th century" because it evolved into a war between the fourfold alliance of theChinese Empire,theWestern Turkic Khaganate,theKhazars,and theByzantine Empireagainst a triple union of theSasanian Empire,theAvars,and theEastern Turkic Khaganate,with proxy conflicts inAfro-Eurasia(like theAksumite–Persian wars) and across theOld World.[28]Others consider that theOttoman–Portuguese confrontationsandOttoman–Habsburg warscan be considered as world conflicts, prototypes of the "Great Game"inEurasiaand theScramble for Africa,but between two main power-projecting and religious blocs, that being theOttomans,as holders of theMuslimCaliphtitle, and theHabsburgs,asemperorsofChristendom.[29][30]

However, theAmericasandOceaniawere not involved in those conflicts, in which case, other historians consider theThirty Years' WarandEighty Years' Waras the first global conflict, pitting theSpanishandPortuguese Empiresagainst theFrench,Dutch,andBritish Empiresand their allies (mostlyProtestants) across the five continents.[31][32][33][34]

Another possible example is theSecond Congo War(1998–2003) even though it was only waged on one continent. It involved nine nations and led to ongoinglow-intensity warfaredespite an official peace and the first democratic elections in 2006. It has been referred to as "Africa's World War".[35]

Event Casualties lowest estimate Casualties highest estimate Location From To Duration (years)
NineYearsWar.png
Nine Years' War[26][36][37][38] 		680,000[26] Europe,North America,South America,Asia 1688 1697 9
WaroftheSpanishSuccession.png
War of the Spanish Succession[26][37] 		700,000[39] 1,251,000[40] Europe,North America,South America,Africa 1701 1714 13
WaroftheAustrianSuccession.png
War of the Austrian Succession[26][41] 		359,000[26] Europe,North America,South America,Asia 1740 1748 8
SevenYearsWar.png
Seven Years' War[42][43] 		992,000[26] 1,500,000[44] Europe,North America,South America,Africa,Asia 1754 1763 9
AmericanRevolutionaryWar.png
American Revolutionary War[27] 		217,000 262,000 North America,Gibraltar,Balearic Islands,Asia,Africa,Caribbean Sea,Atlantic Ocean,Indian Ocean 1775 1783 8
FrenchRevolutionaryWars.png
French Revolutionary Wars[26] 		663,000[26] Europe,Egypt,Middle East,Atlantic Ocean,Caribbean,Indian Ocean 1792 1802 9
NapoleonicWars.png
Napoleonic Wars[42][45] 		1,800,000[26] 7,000,000[46] Europe,Atlantic Ocean,Mediterranean Sea,North Sea,Río de la Plata,French Guiana,West Indies,Indian Ocean,North America,South Caucasus 1803 1815 13
WWI-re.png
World War I 		15,000,000[47] 65,000,000[48] Global 1914 1918 4
Map of participants in World War II.svg
World War II 		40,000,000[49] 85,000,000[50] Global 1939 1945 6
Cold War Map 1980.svg
Cold War 		Global 1947 1991 47
Battlefields in The Global War on Terror.svg
War on terror 		4,500,000[51] 4,600,000[51] Global 2001 Present 22

See also

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References

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  2. ^Engels, Frederick."Introduction to Borkheim".Archivedfrom the original on 2018-07-16.Retrieved2015-03-01.
  3. ^Rasmus Björn Anderson(translator:Viktor Rydberg),Teutonic Mythology,vol. 1,p. 139Archived2020-01-26 at theWayback Machine,London: S. Sonnenschein & Co., 1889OCLC626839.
  4. ^Shapiro & Epstein 2006,p. 329.
  5. ^Proffitt, Michael (2014-06-13)."Chief Editor's notes June 2014".Oxford English Dictionary's blog.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-04-15.Retrieved2022-04-25.
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  8. ^"Den anden Verdenskrig udbrød i Gaar Middags Kl. 11",Kristeligt Dagblad,September 4, 1939, Extra edition.
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  51. ^ab

Bibliography

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