# When was the term "World War I" coined?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 29, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236 "2013-03-29T02:35:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236/1 "2013-03-29T02:35:02Z")
And for that matter, when was the term “World War II” coined? I suspect that they were coined more-or-less simultaneously, but I also have the sense that it didn’t happen on the day Hitler invaded Poland.
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### Author:  [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236/2 "2013-03-29T02:53:12Z")
“First World War” dates to 1918 IIRC. 1919 at the very latest. That might seem odd, but the term
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### Author:  [@ombre12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ombre12)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236/3 "2013-03-29T02:56:26Z")
It was called the Great War…Until WW2 came along.
And thus the Great War became just a number.
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### Author:  [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2013, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236/4 "2013-03-29T02:57:29Z")
“First World War” dates to 1918 IIRC. 1919 at the very latest. That might seem odd, but the term means “The first war involving the entire world”. It doesn’t mean, as is commonly thought, “The first of a series of World Wars”. So there was no reason \*not \*to use it as soon as the war expanded to encompass the Americas.
I’m not sure of the date of “Second World War”, but I would expect that it was in use by 1942 at the very latest.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2013, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236/5 "2013-03-29T03:02:26Z")
Nm
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236/6 "2013-03-29T03:05:28Z")
There have many many threads on this. I think the best one is [this one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=409708) from 2007.
For those too lazy to click over. The use of WWI and WWII started in 1939 to describe the looming conflict in Europe. Obviously, however, people had the concept much earlier. There is a 1920 book called The First World War: 1914-1918. There were many references to a possible second world war between 1920 and 1939. It was in the air, and just codified in print in 1939 before the actual shooting started.
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### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2013, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236/7 "2013-03-29T03:16:16Z")
Speaking about that book, the “elves” at QI (nickname that the researchers of the BBC show have) report that:
> **[QI: Series I, Episode 2 - International - British Comedy Guide](https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/qi/episodes/9/2/)**
>
> A guide to International, Episode 2 from Series I of QI.
> [@](#):
>
> - The First World War was first named as such in 1918. Lt. Col. Charles à Court Repington wrote in his diary on 19th September 1918 that he met with a Major Johnstone of Harvard University to discuss what the war should be called. Rejected names included “The War” (would not last) and “The German War” (giving too much credit to the Germans). Then Repington suggested “The World War”, and they mutually agreed to call it “The First World War”, ‘in order to prevent the millennium folk from forgetting that the history of the world is the history of war.’ In 1920 Repington published a book called The First World War: 1914-18. It had also been known as “The Great War”, but before that the other Great War was the Napoleonic War. (Forfeit: 1939; After the Second World War; During the Second World War)
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### Author:  [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236/8 "2013-03-29T03:35:22Z")
Google’s Ngram will give you a good idea as to when the term “World War I” became popular:
> **[Google Books Ngram Viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=World%2BWar%2BI&year_start=1900&year_end=2000&corpus=0&smoothing=3&share=)**
>
> Google Books Ngram Viewer
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2013, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236/9 "2013-03-29T03:52:07Z")
> [@Blake](#):
>
> “First World War” dates to 1918 IIRC. 1919 at the very latest. That might seem odd, but the term means “The first war involving the entire world”. It doesn’t mean, as is commonly thought, “The first of a series of World Wars”. So there was no reason \*not \*to use it as soon as the war expanded to encompass the Americas.
>
> I’m not sure of the date of “Second World War”, but I would expect that it was in use by 1942 at the very latest.
The “first world war” was actually the [Seven Years’ War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Years%27_War).
I’ve read later historians lumping WWI and WWII together as one wider war with an armistice in between. It’s just that naturally no one during the between time understood the situation.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2013, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236/10 "2013-03-29T04:05:09Z")
Thanks for the many answers!
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2013, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236/11 "2013-03-29T06:20:20Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> I’ve read later historians lumping WWI and WWII together as one wider war with an armistice in between. It’s just that naturally no one during the between time understood the situation.
The notion that the inter-war period was nothing more than an armistice goes all the way back to the Treaty of Versailles, at which time some parties felt that the peace terms were too easy on Germany, possibly allowing Germany to re-arm. These parties felt that much harsher terms were needed, to prevent that from _ever_ happening again.
In particular, the French general, [General Ferdinand Foch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Foch), famously said “This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years” during (or soon after) the Versailles Conference, when he commented on the peace terms.
> [@Wikipedia article on Ferdinand Foch](#):
>
> On 11 November 1918, Foch accepted the German request for an armistice. Foch advocated peace terms that would make Germany unable to pose a threat to France ever again. His words after the Treaty of Versailles, “This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years” would prove prophetic; the Second World War started twenty years and sixty-five days later.
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### Author:  [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2013, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236/12 "2013-03-30T12:40:20Z")
Maybe it should be called “The World War, part 1”.
Because it was always unfinished business.
EG UK enterring the part 2, started with a famous speach which
stipulated that they won’t stop short of Berlin… they were going to finish the job 2nd time around !
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### Author:  [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2013, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236/13 "2013-03-30T14:11:47Z")
I was under the impression that if I bought, say, a sofa from a store in Connecticut, but lived in NY, that there wouldn’t be any sales tax, as the sofa would be delivered to the NY address. Is that not correct? Now, I know that if the store has a presence in NY, then I’d have to pay, but if it’s a sole store, do I? The merchant is telling me yes, but others are telling me no. What’s the deal?
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### Author:  [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-term-world-war-i-coined/654236/14 "2013-03-30T14:13:41Z")
Oops. Must have posted in this thread, which I was reading, instead of beginning a new thread. Can a Mod delete? I’ll repost in the appropriate place. Sorry.