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 !


Other articles on the same theme:

• 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?

• China vs United States - From Cold War to Commercial War - Does Donald Trump have a chance of winning this war?

Alan Mathison Turing, the mathematical genius and father of the computer that deciphered the famous Enigma code. A conviction for 'crime' of being gay brought death to 42 years.

How very sad it is when the prejudices of a society result in the promulgation of harsh laws within a system of justice which results in persons being treated most unjustly. Often the sentence imposed for the “crime” had widespread ramifications of devastating proportions. Just so is the tale of a renowned mathematician, the man often called the father of the modern computer, Alan Mathison Turing.


Turing was born on 23rd June 1912 of parents who, fairly typical of the time, travelled between England and India for most of his early life. He thus lived mostly with foster parents and at various boarding schools so he did not experience an ordinary family life. He was not much of a scholar but interested in science and mathematics, which was an embarrassment to his parents – for gentlemen of the time were required to study the classics and languages. It was only when he went to Kings College that he finally found the comfort of being accepted and experienced a sense of belonging.

Passport photo of Alan Turing at aged 16.

Turing was usually casually dressed and often looked rather scruffy. He chewed his nails and tended to stutter although those who knew him well noted that it seemed he used to think carefully before he spoke. At college, he enjoyed rowing and sailing.

He became a very good marathon runner and won a number of races. At one of the marathons he ran in 1948, he clocked a time just 11 minutes short of the Olympic winning runners – not a result to be sneezed at. He often used to run the 10 or so miles between his two places of work and explained that “I have such a stressful job that the only way I can get it out of my head is by running hard”

While having a brilliant mathematical mind, and furthering his studies in various areas of physics, biology, chemistry and even neurology, he was also fascinated by Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. However, by far his most far-reaching works were with regard to computer science. He created the universal Turing machine which was the basis of the first computer.

His exceptional expertise at being able to think “out of the box” and his ability to come up with ideas that had not been considered by more logical thinkers, were utilised during the WWII, at Bletchley Park. This secretive centre worked ceaselessly at breaking enemy codes.


Turing was instrumental in the cracking of, amongst others, one of the Nazi’s most damaging encryption codes, the Enigma. This enabled Britain to decode important, strategic German messages, thereby saving thousands of lives, in Europe and of those who were at sea. It is thought to have shortened the war by at least two years.

A complete and working replica of a bombe at the National Codes Centre at Bletchley Park. Photo Credit.

By 1950, his work, much of which was aimed at how machines can ‘think’, resulted in the development of a test for artificial intelligence which is still used today. Soon afterwards, he broke new ground in the area of morphogenesis which introduced another field of study – one of mathematical biology. He was an unusually brilliant man.

Then came personal disaster. While Turing had not kept his homosexuality a secret from his close friends and workmates, it was strictly against the law and governed by the Criminal Law amendment Act of 1885. He was arrested in 1952 and charged with indecency, for which he was subsequently convicted, having himself admitted to the charges while insisting that it shouldn’t be against the law.


The sentence imposed was one of chemical castration whereby a series of injections were administered which would cause him to become impotent. It was dreadful enough to be submitted to public humiliation but even worse was to come. Turin, now a convicted homosexual was deemed a security risk and so his Security Clearance was revoked, essentially cutting him off from the passion of his life – his work. It would seem that these two blows were just too much for him to deal with and were probably the reason for his suicide on 7th June 1954, at the age of 42.

Turing by Stephen Kettle at Bletchley Park, commissioned by Sidney Frank, built from half a million pieces of Welsh slate. Photo Credit.

Society has changed radically from that time and resultantly a number of very old and unjust laws have been changed. “The fact that it was common practice for decades reflected the intolerance of the times … but it does not make it any less wrong and we should apologize for it,” was what Robert Hannigan ( Head of Britain’s digital espionage agency) said in a speech at the conference organised in support of all gays and of their rights.

He apologised for the tremendous damage caused to homosexuals by such policies. In his speech he paid particular tribute to Turing as — “a problem-solver who was not afraid to think differently and radically.”

Turing’s story, as told in the film about him called ‘The Imitation Game’, shows today’s generation just what a genius he was. His Turing Machine has been described as the “foundation of the modern theory of computation and computability. “

Turing was granted a posthumous pardon by Queen Elizabeth II, under the “Royal Prerogative of Mercy,” after the request was submitted by Justice Secretary Chris Greyling.   One cannot turn back the clock but one should be glad the Turing memory has been so “cleansed”, even though more than 60 years later.


One wonders, however, what Alan Turing would have achieved and what legacy he would have left the world, had the times been more forgiving and had he lived his life to a ripe old age.

Other articles on the same theme:

• Quantum computer simulates hydrogen molecule

• New Particle zoo in a quantum computer First experimental quantum simulation of particle physics phenomena

• New Solar System Internet Technology Debuts on the International Space Station

• Scientists convert carbon dioxide to create electricity

Story source: 

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Warhistoryonline . Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.