sarily a world-war.

" The term "world war" is used by Karl Marx and his associate, Friedrich
Engels,[2] in a series of articles published around 1850 called The Class Struggles in France.
Rasmus B. Anderson in 1889 described an episode in Teutonic mythology as a "world war"
(Swedish: världskrig), justifying this description by a line in an Old Norse epic poem, "Völuspá:
folcvig fyrst i heimi" ("The first great war in the world".)[3] German writer August Wilhelm Otto
Niemann had 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 as The
Coming Conquest of England.

In English, the term "First World War" had been used by 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.[4]

The term "World War I" was coined by Time magazine on page 28b 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.[5] 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."[6]

Speculative fiction authors had been noting the concept of a Second World War in 1919 and
1920, when Milo Hastings wrote his dystopian novel, City of Endless Night.

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, and in Russian:
мировая война (mirovaya voyna.)

First World War

Main article: World War I

World War I occurred from 1914 to 1918. In terms of human technological history, the scale of
World War I was enabled by the technological advances of the second industrial revolution and
the resulting globalization that allowed global power projection and mass production of military
hardware. It had been recognized that the complex system of opposing military alliances (the
German and Austro-Hungarian Empires against the British, Russian, and French Empires) was
likely to lead to a worldwide conflict if a war broke out. Due to this fact, a very minute conflict
between two countries had the potential to set off a domino effect of alliances, triggering a world
war. The fact that the powers involved had large overseas empires virtually 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 of pre-Columbian times.
War crimes were perpetrated in World War I. Chemical weapons were used in the First World
War despite the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 having outlawed the use of such weapons
in warfare. The Ottoman Empire was responsible for the Armenian genocide—the murder of
more than 1,000,000 Armenians during the First World War—and the other late Ottoman
genocides.

Second World War

Main article: World War II

The Second World War occurred from 1939 to 1945 and is the only conflict in which nuclear
weapons have been used. Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in Japan, were devastated by atomic bombs
dropped by the United States. Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, was responsible for genocides,
most notably the Holocaust, the killing of 6,000,000 Jews and 11,000,000 others persecuted by
the Nazis. The United States, the Soviet Union, and Canada deported and interned minority
groups within their own borders, and largely because of the conflict, many ethnic Germans were
later expelled from Eastern Europe. Japan was responsible for attacking neutral nations without a
declaration of war, such as the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It is also known for its brutal treatment
and killing of Allied prisoners of war and the inhabitants of Asia. It also used Asians as forced
laborers and was responsible for the Nanking massacre where 250,000 civilians in the city were
brutally murdered by Japanese troops. Non-combatants suffered at least as badly as or worse
than combatants, and the distinction between combatants and non-combatants was often blurred
by belligerents of total war in both conflicts.[7]

The outcome of World War II had a profound effect on the course of world history. The old
European empires either collapsed or were dismantled as a direct result of the wars' crushing
costs and, in some cases, their fall was due to the defeat of imperial powers. The United States
became firmly established as the dominant global superpower, along with its ideological foe, the
Soviet Union, in close competition. 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
wars.[8]

Institutions such as the United Nations were 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 in jet aircraft, penicillin, nuclear energy, and
electronic computers.[9]

Third World War

Main article: World War III

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. The Third World War is generally considered a successor to the Second World War[10]
and is often suggested to become a nuclear war at some point during the course of said Third
World War, devastating in nature and likely much more violent than both the First and Second
World Wars; in 1947, Albert Einstein commented that "I know not with what weapons World
War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."[11][12] It has
been anticipated and planned for by military and civil authorities and has been explored in fiction
in many countries. Concepts have ranged from purely-conventional scenarios, to limited use of
nuclear weapons, to the complete destruction of the planet's surface.

Other global conflicts

See also: American Revolutionary War, Cold War, War on Terror, Second Congo War, Syrian
Civil War, Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017), and Second Cold War

Various former government officials, politicians, authors, and military leaders (including James
Woolsey,[13] Alexandre de Marenches,[14] Eliot Cohen,[15] and Subcomandante Marcos[16]) have
attempted to apply the labels of the "Third World War" and "Fourth World War" to various past
and present global wars since the closing of the Second World War, for example, the Cold War
and the War on Terror, respectively. Among these are former American, French, and Mexican
government officials, military leaders, politicians, and authors. Despite their efforts, none of
these wars are commonly deemed world wars.

Wars described by some historians as "World War Zero" include the Seven Years' War[17] and
the onset of the Late Bronze Age collapse.[18]

The Second Congo War (1998–2003) involved nine nations and led to ongoing low-intensity
warfare despite an official peace and the first democratic elections in 2006. It has often been
referred to as "Africa's World War".[19] During the early-21st century the Syrian Civil War and
the Iraqi Civil War and their worldwide spillovers are sometimes described as proxy wars waged
between the United States and Russia,[20][21][22][23] which led some commentators to characterize
the situation as a "proto-world war" with nearly a dozen countries embroiled in two overlapping
conflicts.[24]

Wars with higher death tolls than the First World War

See also: List of wars by death toll and World War I casualties

The two world wars of the 20th century had caused unprecedented casualties and destruction
across the theaters of conflict.[25] There have been several wars that occurred with as many or
more deaths than in the First World War (16,563,868–40,000,000), including:

Estimated death tolls. Log. mean calculated using simple power law.
Lowest Highest Duration
Event Location From To
estimate estimate (years)
[26] [27]
Three Kingdoms 36,000,000 40,000,000 China 184 280 96
 Estimated death tolls. Log. mean calculated using simple power law.
Lowest Highest Duration
Event Location From To
estimate estimate (years)
[28] [29]
An Lushan Rebellion 13,000,000 36,000,000 China 755 763 9
[30] [28]
Mongol conquests 30,000,000 40,000,000 Eurasia 1206 1324 118
[31] [31]
Conquests of Timur 15,000,000 20,000,000 Asia 1369 1405 37
Qing dynasty conquest
25,000,000[32] 25,000,000 China 1616 1662 47
of the Ming dynasty
Taiping Rebellion 20,000,000[33] 100,000,000[34][35][36] China 1851 1864 14
[37] [38]
World War II 40,000,000 85,000,000 Global 1939 1945 6
Cold War 22,345,162 +94,000,000 Global 1947 1991 44

Wars spanning multiple continents

'World War 0' redirects here.

There have been numerous wars spanning two or more continents throughout history, including:

Estimated death tolls. Log. mean calculated using simple power law.
Lowest Highest Duration
Event Location From To
estimate estimate (years)
Egypt, Anatolia, Syria,
Late Bronze 1200s 1150s
Canaan, Cyprus, 40–50
Age collapse BCE BCE
Greece, Mesopotamia
Greece, Thrace,
Greco-Persian 499 449
Aegean Islands, Asia 50
Wars BCE BCE
Minor, Cyprus, Egypt
Peloponnesian Greece, Asia Minor, 431 404
27
War Sicily BCE BCE
Thrace, Illyria, Greece,
Wars of Asia Minor, Syria,
335 323
Alexander the Babylonia, Persia, 12
BCE BCE
Great Afghanistan, Sogdiana,
India
Macedon, Greece,
Wars of the Thrace, Anatolia, 322 275
47
Diadochi Levant, Egypt, BCE BCE
Babylonia, Persia
Mediterranean Sea,
285,000 264 241
First Punic War [citation needed] 400,000[28] Sicily, Sardinia, North 23
BCE BCE
Africa
 Estimated death tolls. Log. mean calculated using simple power law.
Lowest Highest Duration
Event Location From To
estimate estimate (years)
Italy, Sicily, Hispania,
Second Punic 616,000 Cisalpine Gaul, 218 201
[citation needed] 770,000[28] 17
War Transalpine Gaul, BCE BCE
North Africa, Greece
Roman– 192 188
Greece, Asia Minor 4
Seleucid War BCE BCE
Mesopotamia, Syria,
Levant, Egypt,
Roman–Persian 92 629
Transcaucasus, 721
Wars BCE CE
Atropatene, Asia
Minor, Balkans
First Asia Minor, Achaea, 89 85
4
Mithridatic War Aegean Sea BCE BCE
Great Roman Hispania, Italy, Greece, 49 45
4
Civil War Illyria, Egypt, Africa BCE BCE
Caucasus, Asia Minor,
Byzantine– 502 628
Egypt, Levant, 126
Sassanid wars CE CE
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia,
Caucasus, Persia,
Muslim Levant, The Maghreb,
622 1258 636
conquests Anatolia, Iberia, Gaul,
Khorasan, Sindh,
Transoxania
Levant, Syria, Egypt,
Arab–Byzantine
North Africa, Anatolia, 629 1050 421
wars
Crete, Sicily, Italy
Iberian peninsula, Near
Crusades 1,000,000[39] 3,000,000[40] East, Anatolia, the 1095 1291 197
Levant, Egypt.
Mongol
30,000,000[30] 40,000,000[28] Eurasia 1206 1324 118
conquests
Byzantine–
Asia Minor, Balkans 1265 1479 214
Ottoman Wars
European
colonization of 2,000,000[41] 100,000,000[42] Americas 1492 1900 408
the Americas
Ottoman– Hungary,
1526 1791 265
Habsburg wars Mediterranean,
 Estimated death tolls. Log. mean calculated using simple power law.
Lowest Highest Duration
Event Location From To
estimate estimate (years)
Balkans, North Africa,
Malta
Atlantic Ocean, English
Channel, Low
Countries, Spain,
First Anglo-
Spanish Main, 1585 1604 19
Spanish War
Portugal, Cornwall,
Ireland, Americas,
Azores, Canary islands
Atlantic Ocean, Brazil,
West Africa, Southern
Dutch–
Africa, Indian Ocean, 1602 1663 61
Portuguese War
India, East Indies,
Indochina, China
Thirty Years'
3,000,000
War