Why isn't the Seven Years' War called WWI?

[Dachs]

Shifting the focus a bit, what was Japan's role in WWI? From the very little I have read on the subject, it seems they grabbed some vulnerable German colonies in the Pacific and then sort of did nothing. How wrong am I?

This linked post from a thread on a totally different topic is relevant.

 

[ParkCungHee]

I'd heard of the Tyrone Rebellion and the War of the Grand Alliance, but never heard of anything called the Nine Years' War. Please, enlighten this humble seeker of knowledge.

"Tyrone's Rebellion" is usually referred to in specialist literature as The Nine Years War, a direct translation from it's name in Irish. This is both because it de-emphasizes Tyrone's role (Tyrconnell played an equally important part) and the fact that the Earl of Tyrone never rebelled.

Shifting the focus a bit, what was Japan's role in WWI? From the very little I have read on the subject, it seems they grabbed some vulnerable German colonies in the Pacific and then sort of did nothing. How wrong am I?

Considering the sorry state of naval power in Hong Kong at the time, Japan saved Britain a serious black eye in the opening stages of the war, at the very least.

 

[Ajidica]

This linked post from a thread on a totally different topic is relevant.

Thanks. It seems to me that a more accurate name for WWI might just be 'The Great War' rather than WWII given that Japan (which is the Asian power needed for it to become a world war) was operating more or less inedpendently of the Entente and only became an ally because Britain managed to foul things up.

 

[Dachs]

Thanks. It seems to me that a more accurate name for WWI might just be 'The Great War' rather than WWII given that Japan (which is the Asian power needed for it to become a world war) was operating more or less inedpendently of the Entente and only became an ally because Britain managed to foul things up.

You don't think that the involvement of the Ottoman Empire, the Turco-German efforts at global jihad and warfare in the Entente powers' colonies, and the war in Iran and Afghanistan qualify?

 

[Ajidica]

It has been my understanding that the center of WWI was in Europe. How much of an impact did those colonial wars have on the primary theaters? The only 'colonial' war that could have had a large effect that could have occured would have been an Ottoman conquest of the Suez Canal-and even that was a long shot.

 

[Dachs]

It has been my understanding that the center of WWI was in Europe. How much of an impact did those colonial wars have on the primary theaters? The only 'colonial' war that could have had a large effect that could have occured would have been an Ottoman conquest of the Suez Canal-and even that was a long shot.

You seem to be inconsistent on what a "global war" entails; why does Japanese belligerency matter any more than Ottoman belligerency?

This "primary theater" stuff is garbage. That's like denying that the First World War was a European war at all because it started over some damn fool thing in the Balkans; the Western Front was clearly a secondary effort.

 

[Lord Baal]

It has been my understanding that the center of WWI was in Europe. How much of an impact did those colonial wars have on the primary theaters? The only 'colonial' war that could have had a large effect that could have occured would have been an Ottoman conquest of the Suez Canal-and even that was a long shot.

The Mesopotamian and Arabian fronts had no effect on the war in Europe? News to me, considering the disproportionate success of Turkish arms against the British - though they didn't perform that well against the Russians - and the fact that it was an internal rebellion that really put the Ottomans out of commission, freeing up resources for use against the Germans at a time when those resources were quite desperately needed, after Russia's withdrawal from the war.

 

[Louis XXIV]

I suppose one way to distinguish WWI from previous global conflicts is it is the first war where independent states outside of Europe (I'm really counting all the Mediterranean as Europe so we can avoid random things like the Punic Wars) fought in the European theater as opposed to just their respective areas.

Of course, I'm not sure why that would be important. Most of the fighting, like the fighting in Africa and Asia, were colonial fights and not really all that different from the Seven Years War. And, in WWII, most powers were limited to their spheres. Really, the only thing different is that the United States, as an independent power, fought in Europe. I'm not sure if that really should matter.