Talk:Global War

Much of this content is inherently subjective. Thought about putting up on votes for deletion, but I think that the list of global wars is good, well-thought out, and encyclopedic. Contacting original author, then making changes. Niceguyjoey 00:09, Nov 7, 2004 (UTC)

I can see where the content can be subjective. I had 3 catagories I went by to label a war a world war. 1. alliances, 2 more than 1 continent, and 3. large numbers of deaths. I thank everyone for cleaning this up for me. Its my first article. If we can maybe make it neutral, and if others can think up other things that make a Global war and add them here, I think this will be a very good article. Thanks to all who have edited this. Time Travler.

Great Britain vs United Kingdom vs British Empire vs...
The country currently known as the United Kingdom has gone by a large number of different terms over the years. Could someone please make sure the right one is used for each war? --Carnildo 03:40, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

British Empire
Good suggestion, I went back and gave the correct name for the UK in each war. The first World War, the country was England and from 1701 it was Great Britian onward. British Empire is the name given in World War 1 list I used for the countries that fought then. That was a big colonial era so I suppose the name also refered to all its colonies. By World War 2 many of those colonies were now commonwealth members and independent, and the country was back to being called Great Britain.

Numbers??
Could someone check and see what I did to cause the numbers by the various topics to vanish. All I did was change a country name in about 3 spots and include an explaination in world war 1. Thanks.


 * Many people have topic auto-numbering set in their preferences under "Misc. settings". I removed your manual numbering a few edits ago because the double-numbering that results looks odd. --Carnildo 22:27, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Thank you Carnildo, It looks great.

I appreciate everyone's help on making this article better

Global wars, also called World Wars, have happened several times in history. Many consider the The Great War of 1914-1918 (World War I) to be the first. However, many previous wars have spanned the globe and involved numerous countries, qualifying them as "global wars" in the eyes of some historians.

What is a global war?
The specific qualities that make up a global war are open to debate, however, the following are a reasonable set of criteria:

Alliances
Normally, there are groups of nations on each side in two alliances or distinct groups.

In the American Revolutionary War, the sides were aligned between the United States, France, Spain and the Netherlands against Great Britain and minor German States. The Great War of 1914-1918, the sides were aligned between Japan, China, Brazil, Cuba, United States, British Empire, France, Arabian Empire and the Russian Empire against the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.

Happened on more than one continent
The Great War of 1914-1918 was fought in China, The Pacific Ocean, Arabia, Africa and the North Atlantic as well as Europe. The Seven Years War was fought in India, and North America as well as Europe. The Second World War of 1931-1945 was fought first in China, and then later in Greenland, Alaska, off the coast of Argentina, and in Africa, Arabia and North America as well as Europe and the Pacific Ocean.

Great numbers of deaths
Some of the early wars may not have the totals of deaths as the last world war did, but compared to the number of people in the world during the early world wars, the numbers were large.

Wars not considered global wars
Some large wars that are not global wars, but do have some of the elements of the three above&#8230;

American Civil War
There were almost 600,000 deaths in that war and the two navies did fight in European Waters but this was an internal conflict. No other nations were involved militarily. Britain and France did think of sending troops but did not do so. Russia showed strong support for the Union but also did not send military support.

The Cold War
Alliances were involved, as were multiple continents. However, this did not involve conflict other than through proxy wars such as the Vietnam War and the Afghanistan War. The Soviet Union and the US did not declare war on each other.

War of the League of Augsburg (1688-1697)
Fought by Palatinate, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Spain, Sweden, United Provinces, and England against France, and to a degree the Ottoman Empire. The war was fought in North America and Europe.

War of the Spanish Succession(1701-1714)
Fought by Great Britain, Spain, German and Italian States against France.

Again this war was fought in Europe and North America.

War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748)
Fought by Prussia, Great Britain Austria, Sardinia, Sweden and the Netherlands against France, Russia, Bavaria, Spain and Saxony.

The war was fought in India and North America as well as Europe.

Seven Years' War (1754-1763)
Fought by Great Britain, Prussia, Portugal and Hanover against France, Sweden, Spain, Austria, Saxony The Netherlands and Russia.

Churchill, in his history, called this the First World War.

Fighting occurred in India, the Philippines, North America, Africa and the Caribbean as well as Europe. This global war was also the first to not start in Europe. It started in the Ohio River Valley in present day United States.

American Revolutionary War (1775-1784)
Fought by Great Britain, Madras, and minor German States against France, Kingdom of Mysore, The Netherlands, Spain, Sardinia and the United States of America.

Fighting occurred in India, The Caribbean, Europe, and North America.

French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802)
Fought by France and the Batavian Republic against Naples, Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, Sardinia, Portugal, The Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Russian Empire and Ottoman Empire.

This World War was fought in Africa and Europe.

Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815)
Fought by France and the United States (non-allied with France) against the Great Britain, Spain, Austria, the German states of the Holy Roman Empire, Sweden, The Netherlands, Saxony, Prussia, Russian Empire and Piedmont.

The United States of America did not support France at all, but the War of 1812 between it and the United Kingdom is considered part of the fighting of the greater war.

The war was fought in North America, Europe, Africa, South-East Asia, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Indian Ocean.

This war was a series of wars, allied nations came in and out and not all remained for the duration of this global war. Many consider Battle of Waterloo to be the last battle of this war.

The Great War (World War I) (1914-1918)
Fought by China, Japan, Brazil, Cuba, Belgium, Portugal, the British Empire, France, Italy, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Panama, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Siam(Thailand), Greece, Russian Empire, and the United States of America against Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, Austro-Hungary, and the German Empire.

The war was fought in China, the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Africa, Arabia and Europe.

The British Empire was the common term for Great Britain at this time. The term refers to the colonies it controlled, and the British Dominions - former colonies which were self-governing in most respects but whose foreign policy was controlled by London; Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

World War II (1931-1945)
Fought by Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, the Soviet Union, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Syria, Turkey, the United States Uruguay, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia against Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, and Romania. Finland's position was more complicated (see Winter War). However, only the allied nations of the United States, Great Britain, France, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, the Soviet Union, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Poland and India sent troops. The rest of the allied nations provided material and monetary support.

The Second World War was fought in Greenland, Alaska, China, South East Asia, The Pacific Ocean, The Indian Ocean, Arabia, Africa, The South Atlantic, The North Atlantic and Europe.

Note: Italy declared war on Germany in 1943 and switched sides.

Also note: Some Historians consider the Japanese attack on China in 1931 to be the beginning of World War 2. The Traditional start of the war is September 3, 1939.