When did the 1914-18 War become "World War I"?

[Fred Shapiro]

On Mon, 8 Oct 2001, FRITZ JUENGLING wrote:

> was a World War II, people wouldn't have known the Great War of 1914-1918 was
> going to be just the first of at least two, and wouldn't have called it World
> War I.
>
> Well, people were smarter then than we give them credit.  A few months
> ago I was browsing in the military section of a used bookstore and
> came across a book called "The First World War"--published in the
> EARLY 1930's.  Unfortunately, I do not remember the exact year nor the
> author. Fritz Juengling

The term "First World War" or "World War I" did NOT need a second war
before it could come into being.  One could envision future wars, or one
could talk of the FIRST world war as one would say that Rickey Henderson
is the first member of the 1000-stolen base club, without any need of
there being a second one.

In reality, "First World War" was around as early as 1918.
Lieutenant Colonel Charles A'court Repington wrote this in his
diary on September 10, 1918: "We discussed the right name for
the war. I said that we called it now The War, but that this could
not last. The Napoleonic War was The Great War. To call it the
German War was too much flattery for the Boche. I suggested The
World War as a shade better title, and finally we agreed to call it
The First World War.""

See Repington's book, The First World War, 1914-1918, published in 1920.

Fred Shapiro


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