Why were World War I and II known as 'world wars'?

This is the map of the nations involved in the First World War. Green being the Allied Powers and orange being the Central Powers. Hard to believe the Central Powers lost. This map shows the nations involved in the Second World War. read more

So they were world wars. Calling them WWI and WWII can be argued to be debatable. Some would argue the first world wars were in the colonial era, wars between France, Britain, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands that were de facto world wars fought from India to the coast of Africa to the Americas to Europe. read more

The term"World War I" was coined by Time magazine on page 28b of its June 12, 1939 issue. In the same article, on page 32, the term"World War II" was first used speculatively to describe the upcoming war. The first use for the actual war came in its issue of September 11, 1939. read more

World War II (often abbreviated to WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. read more