World war

The term "first world war" was first used in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopher Ernst 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 the Indianapolis Star on 20 September 1914. In English, the term "First World War" had been used by Lieutenant Colonel Charles à Court Repington, as a title for his memoirs (published in 1920); he had noted his discussion on the matter with a Major Johnstone of Harvard University in his diary entry of September 10, 1918.^[5][6]

The term "World War I" was coined by Time magazine on page 28 of its June 12, 1939, issue. In the same article, on page 32, the term "World War II" 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 newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad used the term on its front page, saying "The Second World War broke out yesterday at 11 a.m."^[8]

Other languages have also adopted the "world war" terminology; for example, in French, "world war" is translated as guerre mondiale; in German, Weltkrieg (which, prior to the war, had been used in the more abstract meaning of a global conflict); in Italian, guerra mondiale; in Spanish and Portuguese, guerra mundial; in Danish and Norwegian, verdenskrig; in Polish wojna światowa; in Russian, мировая война (mirovaya voyna); and in Finnish, maailmansota.

The First World War occurred from 1914 to 1918. In terms of human

The Second World War occurred from 1939 to 1945 and is the only conflict in which

The outcome of the war had a profound effect on the course of world 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. The United States became firmly established as the dominant global superpower, along with its close competitor and ideological foe, the Soviet Union. The two superpowers exerted political influence over most of the world's nation-states for 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.^[11]

Institutions such as the

Since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War, there has been a widespread and prolonged fear of a potential third world war between nuclear-armed powers.^[12][13] It is often suggested that it would become a nuclear war, and be more devastating and violent than both the First and Second World Wars. Albert Einstein is often quoted as having said in 1947 "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."^{[14][15][16][17]} It has been anticipated and planned for by military and civil authorities, and it has also been explored 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 (including

The Seven 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 the British Empire and French Empire, but polities from many continents played important roles. Some historians call it "World War 0" as a result.^[26][27]

Historians like Richard F. Hamilton and

Other historians suggest even earlier conflicts to be world wars. For example, Russian ethnologist L. N. Gumilyov called the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 "the World War of the 7th century" because it evolved into a war between the fourfold alliance of the Chinese Empire, the Western Turkic Khaganate, the Khazars, and the Byzantine Empire against a triple union of the Sasanian Empire, the Avars, and the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, with proxy conflicts in Afro-Eurasia (like the Aksumite–Persian wars) and across the Old World.^[33]

Others consider that the

Event	Casualties lowest estimate	Casualties highest estimate	Location	From	To	Duration (years)
Nine Years' War[28][45][46][47]	680,000[28]		Europe, North America, South America, Asia	1688	1697	9
War of the Spanish Succession[28][46]	700,000[48]	1,251,000[49]	Europe, North America, South America, Africa	1701	1714	13
War of the Austrian Succession[28][50]	359,000[28]		Europe, North America, South America, Asia	1740	1748	8
Seven Years' War[51][52]	992,000[28]	1,500,000[53]	Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia	1754	1763	9
American Revolutionary War[29]	217,000	262,000	North America, Gibraltar, Balearic Islands, Asia, Africa, Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean	1775	1783	8
French Revolutionary Wars[28]	663,000[28]		Europe, Egypt, Middle East, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, Indian Ocean	1792	1802	9
Napoleonic Wars[51][54]	1,800,000[28]	7,000,000[55]	Europe, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, Río de la Plata, French Guiana, West Indies, Indian Ocean, North America, South Caucasus	1803	1815	13
World War I	15,000,000[56]	65,000,000[57]	Global	1914	1918	4
World War II	40,000,000[58]	85,000,000[59]	Global	1939	1945	6
Cold War			Global	1947	1991	47
War on terror	4,500,000[60]	4,600,000[60]	Global	2001	present

See also

• Interwar period
• Post-war
• Post-Cold War era
• List of largest empires
• List of military conflicts spanning multiple wars
• List of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel
• List of ongoing armed conflicts
• Military history