World war 3, world war 3, what world war 3???

[Tim Cornelis]

Why are there so many people talking about being on the brink of world war 3 with the Russia and Ukraine thing? Are they so 'Western-centric' that they think 'the world' is just the West, Europe and North America?

How is a war that would be fought entirely in some parts of Eastern Europe a third world war?

[GiantMonkeyMan]

Either way, the day will be saved by some teenage american football players who become a small guerilla army and fight against those dastardly invading commies.

[Lord Testicles]

Why are there so many people talking about being on the brink of world war 3 with the Russia and Ukraine thing? Are they so 'Western-centric' that they think 'the world' is just the West, Europe and North America?

How is a war that would be fought entirely in some parts of Eastern Europe a third world war?

If people are talking about world war 3 then I think they are envisioning some kind of American intervention on behalf of Ukraine against Russia. In which case, I don't think it would be confined to some parts of eastern Europe.

Besides, hasn't the idea of a "world war" been pretty "western-centric" so far already? World war 1 was fought mostly in Europe and World war 2 is generally held to have started in 1939 with the German invasion of Poland but war had been raging in the east since 1931. How does someone define a world war and at what point does your average war become a world war?

[The Intransigent Faction]

Hm. Whenever I hear that, it's usually someone assuming one state will be reckless enough to use nuclear weapons.

[Tim Cornelis]

Besides, hasn't the idea of a "world war" been pretty "western-centric" so far already? World war 1 was fought mostly in Europe and World war 2 is generally held to have started in 1939 with the German invasion of Poland but war had been raging in the east since 1931. How does someone define a world war and at what point does your average war become a world war?

Wha'?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_theatre_of_World_War_I

The fighting in 1931 was not a world war yet.

[Lord Testicles]

Wha'?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_theatre_of_World_War_I


That's why I said "mostly".



The fighting in 1931 was not a world war yet.

At what point does a war become a world war?

[Blake's Baby]

When more than 2 European countries get involved, obviously.

Especially if, like Britain and France, you owned about half the planet.

[PhoenixAsh]

Except that they are called world wars because of the global involvement of countries within that war and not because of the theater of war. Maybe that is why they are called WW...

WWI fighting and military actions were also not confined to Europe....same as WWII. Participating counties in that war were located on all continents. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participants_in_World_War_I
Naturally WWII saw fighting on three continents and skirmished on several others and basically declarations of war all over the globe on all continents.


And the reason why they say there will be a WW3 is because the expectation is of nations involved will be globally located....yet again.

[Lord Testicles]

So it's officially a world war when it involves a country from every continent?

[Comrade Samuel]

So it's officially a world war when it involves a country from every continent?

It's gonna be hard to take down those penguins in Antarctica. They're some badass motherfuckers.

I think the phrase "World War III" is just generally used every time someone wants to make a situation more scary than it actually is. Don't get me wrong, this whole crisis in Ukraine (and also everything involving ISIL too) is some really messed up stuff that has potential to grow bigger but until major powers directly engage one another I am hesitant to even hint at there being another world war any time soon.

[Blake's Baby]

I think the point about 'major power involvement' is probably important. WWI included the British Empire, France, German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, and later Ottoman Empire, Italy, USA and Japan. That was a lot of important countries/empires. There were also other countries involved of course but those 9 were probably the biggest players. Can't think of which major states/empires I left out there. Certainly in terms of 'great powers', the British, French, Germans, Russians, Ottomans, Americans and Austro-Hungarians I think all count, with maybe Italy and Japan as second-tier powers. There were engagements in Europe, in Asia, across the Atlantic shipping lanes, in East Africa, and in the Pacific.

WWII included the Third Reich, France, British Empire, Netherlands, and later USSR and USA. Five 'great powers' (even if Britain and France were on their way out) and the Netherlands, which still had a significant colonial empire but wasn't a 'great power' in the same way Britain or France was - maybe Italy should go here as well. When the alliance between Germany and Japan meant that the enemies of Japan lined up with the enemies of Germany, that brought China and the USA onto the same side as the British and Dutch Empires, and the great power confrontation ranged from the South Pacific to the Arctic Circle, North Africa to Hawaii.

So it's the involvement of 'great powers' as well as the world-wide scope I think that make it a 'world war'. In a post-WWII but pre-1991 world, that would mean a direct confrontation between the USA and USSR (the two superpowers). It almost happened in Korea, but not quite. US/Vietnam war? Doesn't count. USSR/Afghan war? Doesn't count. Sino-Soviet Split and shooting over the Amur River? Doesn't count.

Post-1991, it would mean a war involving some of the new 'great powers' - Russia I think still being able to claim a seat at the table, China also, possibly also India. So if some combination of Britain, France, USA, Russia, Germany, India and China went to war with each other, then I think it would be approaching what could reasonavbly be called a 'world war'. But going to war with others? No, the Gulf Wars (any of them) were not 'world wars' even if Britain, USA and France were involved; the Balkans Wars in the 1990s were not 'world wars', even though it came close to a shooting war when NATO and Russia both occupied Kosovo.

If NATO stations troops in Western Ukraine, and Russia stations troops in Eastern Ukraine, and then NATO and Russian troops shoot at each other, and then the conflict that develops moves beyond Ukraine, and other states back thte main sets of protagonists and then start fighting each other and the original players, then yes, it's a world war. But that's four steps from here (military intervention; direct confrontation; escalation to other theatres; commitment of alliances).

[Lord Testicles]

Could it be argued that the Napoleonic wars were a world war?

[Redistribute the Rep]

Could it be argued that the Napoleonic wars were a world war?

My history textbook called the Seven Years War a world war.

[PhoenixAsh]

Not really...eventhough the theater of war stretched the globe, the major powers were involved in it...there still lacked the participation of nations from different continents.

[Blake's Baby]

Could it be argued that the Napoleonic wars were a world war?

It was known as 'the Great War', a hundred years before the First World War was similarly named, because of its scope. And in answer to the question about the Seven Years War, I'd say so. The great powers took part and there were battles across the world. As for the involvement of 'countries from different continents', many of those countries were the new colonial possessions of France, Spain and Britain. Battles in Africa, India, North America, South America, East Asia and Europe I think count as a 'world war'.