From Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) to War on Terrorism 10 wars that can be considered "World Wars"

Updated Today : 31/05/2021

Traditionally, we believe that in history, the human species witnessed just two world wars that took place in the 20th century in my opinion that is wrong

But what defines "World War"?

A World War involves many of the states and the populations of the planet and is being deployed across multiple continents with many fronts of war.

Well, if it's to be taken by definition, it would mean that there were several world wars throughout history, most of them unfolding just before the industrial age, in early modernity.


1. The 30-year War (1618-1648) - the First European War
combatant

• Sweden-Gustav Adolf II
• France-Ludovic XIII
• Denmark
• United States Provinces
• England and Scotland
• Saxony
• The Ottoman Empire
• Russia
• Transylvania
• The Spanish-Philip III / Philip IV Empire
• The Holy Roman Empire
• Poland

Readings in the Military History of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648)  International History

Thirty Years' War - History.com

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia, whose staunch Catholicism and diligent opposition to Protestantism source: Wikipedia

It is estimated that 11 million people were killed because of religious rivalries (of which 8 million were civilians ... I believe that until WW1, there was no such devastating war and yet, the 30-year War not too it's covered ... why?)



2. The War of Succession of Spain (1701-1712) - has unfolded in Europe, North America and South America.

combatants:

• The Spanish Loyalists of King Carol
• The Holy Roman Empire: Austria, Prussia, Hanover
• England and Scotland (Great Britain after 1707) - Duke of Marlborough
• United States Provinces
• Savoia-Eugen de Savoia
• Portugal
• The Spanish Loyalists of King Philip
• France - Ludovic XIV
• Bavaria

War of the Spanish Succession - Wikipedia

Almansa, April 1707; Bourbon victory was a serious setback for the Allies in Spain. source: Wikipedia

At the same time, in the northern, central and eastern Europe, between 1700 and 1719, the Great Northern War between Sweden and Carol II was carried out between Russia and Russia, with Poland, Lithuania, the Ottoman Empire, the United Provinces, Great Britain, Denmark, Saxony, Moldova, Hanover and Prussia. After the war, only 175,000 Swedish civilians died of hunger, not counting the tens of thousands of soldiers killed in battles.


3. The War of Austrian Succession (1741-1748): conducted in Europe, India and North America
combatant

Almansa, April 1707; Bourbon victory was a serious setback for the Allies in Spain. source: Wikipedia

• France-Ludovic XV
• Prussia-Great Frederick II the Great
• Spain
• Sweden
• The Italian States
• Bavaria
• Great Britain- George I
• Austria -Maria Tereza
• Saxony
• Russia
• United States Provinces

4. The Seven Years War (1756-1763) - depicted in North America, South America, Europe, India and Africa
combatants:

• Great Britain - George II / George III
• Prussia - Frederic the Great
• Hanover
• Confederation of the Iroquois
• Portugal
• Other German states
• Abenaki
• Mogul Empire
• Franta-Ludovic XV
• Austria-Maria Tereza
• Sweden
• Saxony
• Spain
• Russia

Seven Years' War  Definition, Causes, Maps, & Effects   Britannica

Seven Years' War Collage based on these files: Lord Clive meeting with Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, 23 June 1757 The Victory of Montcalm's Troops at Carillon, 6-8 July 1758 Frederick the Great at the battle of Zorndorf, 25 August 1758 General von Laudon at the battle of Kunersdorf, 12 August 1759 source: Wikipedia

It is estimated that 1,400,000 were killed


5. The American Independence War (1775-1784) - not only in North America, but also in India, the Caribbean, Sumatra, the North Seacombatants:

The Fourth of July and the Martial Spirit Law & Liberty  

A collection of public domain images of the American Revolutionary War, together in a montage.

source: Wikipedia

• United States of America - George Washington
• Spain
• Franta-Ludovic XVI
• Mysore
• Netherlands
• American Indians
• Great Britain-George III
• Hanover
• American Indians

6. Napoleon Wars (1796-1815) - deployed in Europe, Egypt, the Middle East, the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea, North America, Caucasus, French Guiana
combatants:

Coat of arms source: Wikipedia

• The French Empire-Napoleon I
• Coalition anti-Napoleon
• Great Britain-George III
• Austria- Francis I
• Russia-Alexander II
• Prussia-Frederick William III
• The Ottoman Empire
• Spain
• Portugal
• Sweden
• Netherlands
• The Italian and German states
• Switzerland
• Norway, Denmark
• Persia

Many of these states joined Napoleon Bonaparte


It is estimated that 6 million people were killed just because Napoleon wanted to venture.



7. World War I - (1914-1918) - Europe, Africa, Atlantic Ocean, Middle East, the coasts of American continents, Pacific, China
combatant

• Entente
• France-Poincaire / Clemenceau
• The British Empire and its colonies - Asquith, Lloyd George
• Italy-Vittorio Orlando
• USA-Woodrow Wilson
• Russia-Nicholas II
• Japan
• Portugal
• Belgium
• Romania
• Greece
• serbia
• And I have
• Hejaz
• Montenegro
• Central Powers
• Germany-Wilhelm I
• The Ottoman Empire - Mehmed V
• Austro-Hungary-Franz Jospeh / Karl I
• Bulgaria

Montage for WWI article. Top: Trenches - Image:The_badly_shelled_main_road_to_Bapaume.jpg (Trenches on the Western Front) Left Upper: Image:AlbatDIII.jpg (German Albatros D.III biplane fighters of Jasta 11 at Douai, France) Left Lower source: Wikipedia

It is estimated that 17 million people were killed (including 7 million civilians) and 20 million were injured.


8. World War II (1939-1945) - Europe, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the Mediterranean Sea and Africa
allies

Chinese forces in the Battle of Wanjialing Australian 25-pounder guns during the First Battle of El Alamein German Stuka dive bombers on the Eastern Front in December 1943 American naval force in the Lingayen Gulf Wilhelm Keitel signing the German Instrument of Surrender Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad

• 
  China-Kai-Shek
• US-F.D. Roosevelt
• Great Britain-Churchill
• USSR Stalin
• France-Charles de Gaulle
• New Zealand
• Canada
• Australia
• Finland
• Netherlands
• Belgium
• Greece
• Turkey
• Yugoslavia
• Axis
• Japan, Hirohito
• Germany-Hitler
• Italy-Mussolini
• Romania
• Hungary
• Bulgaria
• Thailand

not to mention alliance changes

It is estimated that 85 million were killed (of which -55 million civilians)


9. Cold War (1947-1991) - an ideological, economic, technological, diplomatic planetary war faded in the northern hemisphere, but ignited in local wars in the third world + space rivalry.
combatants:

• Free world
• US
• NATO & CE
• South America
• Australia
• Japan
• South Korea
• The totalitarian world
• USSR
• Warsaw Pact & CAER
• North Korea
• China
• Cuba

Mushroom cloud of the Ivy Mike nuclear test, 1952; one of more than a thousand such tests conducted by the US between 1945 and 1992 source: Wikipedia

It is estimated that 10 million people were killed in the wars in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.


10. War on Terrorism (2001-present) - is the first unconventional war that takes place on a global scale, even though the main wars are the Middle East. It is also the first global cyberwar.
Simultaneously, we have an economic rivalry between the US / EU vs BRICS, where the US carries a cold war with Russia and an economic one with China.
FIGHTING:

Clockwise from top left: Aftermath of the September 11 attacks; American infantry in Afghanistan; an American soldier and Afghan interpreter in Zabul Province, Afghanistan; explosion of an Iraqi car bomb in Baghdad source: Wikipedia

• NATO member states
• Non-NATO states: Russia, China and the rest
• Terrorist group

• ISIS
• al-Qaeda
• At the moment,  a few hundred thousand people died in the wars of Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

Theoretically, we would have about 10 world wars in history. I hope you enjoyed my article !


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• 1 December Died George H.W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States, died at the age of 94. Homage from Trump and Obama

• All Military History of the United States: From Colonial wars (1620–1774) to War on Terrorism (2001–present)

• The War in Iraq (2003-2011) Was it really necessary to send 700,000 US soldiers in Iraq?

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The War in Iraq (2003-2011) Was it really necessary to send 700,000 US soldiers in Iraq?

source: cnn 

1991 Gulf War was necessary - Saddam Hussein, Iraqi baathist dictator who was previously backed by Americans in the war against Iran, invaded Kuwait and committed many horrific atrocities in the region. US President George H.W. Bush and the defense Secretary Dick Cheney and Collin Powell, in collaboration with British Prime Minister John Major, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and French President Francois Mitterand, made up the largest coalition of NATO member states since the Second World War. Kuwait's support, America's strategic ally and one of the oil importers.

pinterest

Bush initiated Operation Desert Storm after Saddam refused to withdraw troops despite sanctions. The operation began with 42-day air bombardment, sending 700,000 US soldiers on Iraq. The war was won, Iraq withdrew its troops and entered a long period of economic collapse. What's interesting is that this war was broadcast live on TV, especially on CNN. The victory was gained, the American troops returned home, the Americans were healing Vietnam, but Iraq was left in peace under Saddam's dictator Saddam, Bush knowing that his removal would have led to serious insurgencies. Saddam no longer represented a threat to America's strategic partners in the region, and it was just a parody of caricatures frequently in movies and cartoons like South Park.

Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Followed the Second Gulf War in 2003.

After the 9/11 attacks and intervention in Afghanistan, George H.W. Bush, then president, George W. Bush jr, and all the same presidential characters - Colin Powell, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, in collaboration with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, have decided to start a new war in Iraq

President George W. Bush meets with his war council in the Situation Room of the White House source: cnn

The reason ? Saddam had chemical weapons, collaborated with al-Qaeda terrorists, even participated in the 9/11 plot, and was accused of crimes against humanity and human rights violations. But the most arguable reason was that of chemical weapons as reported by UN inspectors. It's a problem.

Saddam Hussein has indeed used chemical weapons and committed bloody crimes, especially in the war with Iran in 1980-1989. More than 20,000 Iranians were killed by mustard, taboo and irritating gas under Saddam's command. I would say that Saddam deserves the well-deserved punishment. But the problem is that in 2003 he had no chemical weapons at all, as it would later prove.

Saddam Hussein source: cnn

And he did not even work with al-Qaida terrorists who were Sunni, or Saddam was not even religious , but a secular and militarist nationalist. He even hated the terrorists and was always starving. He was conducting Iraq with an iron hand, and rarely Islamic fanatics riding on the beck. Even the largest anti-war demonstrations were organized around the globe, and France refused to take part in Bush's military intervention.

source: cnn

After the end of Bush's ending in asking Saddam to quit power, on March 20, 2003, the US military headquarters headed by Tommy Franks, alongside the UK-based coalition, Poland, Australia, launched the air bombardment with the code name operation Liberation of Iraq. In addition to airborne bombing, land troops and amphibious armored vehicles were brought to the peninsula to secure oilfields with naval support. Targets such as regime removal, chemical weapons search and destruction, capture and annihilation of Iraqi terrorists, and gathering information on global terrorist networks, providing humanitarian aid to Iraqi civilians and securing oil resources and fields, and then democratization.

I remember that night, as a child in the second grade, when I watched my parents on TV and saw the air bombardment of Baghdad's Soc and Terror tactics at night, devastated by fires and shrouded with smoke, explosions in the background, an image that remained behind the twin towers of 9/11. We were all glad when we saw the American tanks crossing under the monument of victory, the demolition of the dictator's statue and the capture of Saddam, found hidden in a ravine like a rat by the end of the year. Everyone believed that when he was hung up he was right. In 2004, Bush held a speech on victory and the end of the war in Iraq, announcing a new era of prosperity and freedom for Iraq. In fact, it would start long agony because the insurgents were beginning to rebel against the American occupation.

So began the War on Insurgency.

After the combat planes, now it seems that it was the turn of the terrestrial troops to begin their work. Coalition forces, especially the US, have sent over 100,000 soldiers to secure Iraq and ensure the transition to democracy and free elections. More than 4,000 young American soldiers would die in the next 8 years. The war that had to end terrorism has only made it even worse. 

source: cnn

Everyday suicide attempts with tens and hundreds of deaths took place, thousands of coalition soldiers died unexpectedly in ambushes organized by terrorist groups and insurgents with lower military techniques. Presidential Administration and Military Headquarters have proposed new strategies, sent other American troops, other billions for reconstruction and supply, still for nothing! General David Petraeus, who was forced to make many insurgent concessions to save the lives of as many American soldiers, was then sent. And chemical weapons have never been found.

Practically, America has shaken its image again, making Iraq a new Vietnam. Sunni insurgents, al-Qaeda terrorists and Ba athists loyalists steadily bombed American troops, crushing their morale for eight years. 

source: cnn

The next US Democratic president, Barack Obama, has been deported and withdrew US troops from Iraq.

The Iraqi democratic government led by Nouri al-Maliki was unable to cope with Sunni insurgents allied with al-Qaeda and formed new terrorist groups, such as ISIS. One head (Abu Musab al-Zarqawi) was cut off and another sprang back into place (Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi). 

In 2014, ISIS flew Iraqi government troops and conquered northwest Iraq and eastern Syria, forming the Islamic State and proclaiming the Caliphate. Meanwhile, the Kurds have begun claiming their territorial rights. ISIS terrorists turned out to be more outrageous than al-Qaida terrorists because of the brutal executions they even committed through recorded or LIVE broadcasts.

So, on June 13, 2014, America formed a new coalition from most of the European NATO member states, Australia and Canada, and intervened again, with only a few inferior ground forces, and more with military and aviation, starting the anti-ISIS .

War is still ongoing.

Statistics are frightening!

It is estimated that the military intervention started in 2003 led to the death of 600,000-1,2 million people (most Iraqis, hundreds of thousands of them being civilians, either killed by US troops, or killed by insurgents and terrorists) and other millions of injured and mutilated for life.

At Fallujah, those who were fighting against mass destruction weapons, used dirty bombs with radioactive waste, and since then many Iraqi civilians have been affected, but also American soldiers alike, and the new generation of Iraqi children was born with maltformations.

More than 4 million Iraqi refugees are currently estimated, with 200,000 in Europe.

The US intervention and many European states in the Orient have enraged the Muslim world, and so various clandestine terrorists associated with al-Qaeda and ISIS, infiltrated among immigrants and refugees, have been attacked in major capitals of Europe - Paris, Madrid, London, Berlin , Brussels, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Stockholm, resulting in hundreds of deaths in total since 2015.

For US taxpayers, the Iraq war cost over 1 trillion dollars, and damages in Iraq amount to over $ 2-3 trillion. It will hardly rebuild this country in the distant future.

The war does not seem to stop, and it will continue for several decades, at least until Sunni, Shiite, and loyalist insurgents will reach a consensus and Islamic terrorists will be annihilated from the region.

Conclusion - Bush did not do a good job as opposed to tacs.

After all, what was the motivation of this war?

Was this war necessary?

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• All Military History of the United States: From Colonial wars (1620–1774) to War on Terrorism (2001–present)