CHAT: War Names: was The American Revolution = World War II? (was Re: CHAT:"have a Canadian day")

I wrote a long message on "the naming of wars" (getting
this back closer to topic) but Windows 2000 ate it!

So only a few comments.

"Thomas R. Wier" wrote:
>
> Robert Hailman wrote:
>
> > "Thomas R. Wier" wrote:
> > >
> > > Robert Hailman wrote:
> > >
> > > > Nik Taylor wrote:
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> > > > I admit it is a pretty stupid name, how about the North American War?
> > >
> > > Because it wasn't fought in just North America.  What North Americans
> > > call the "War of 1812" was in fact probably more of an extension of the
> > > third worldwar, the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), after the Seven Years' War
> > > (1756-1763) and the War of American Independence (1775-1783), the
> > > first and second worldwars, respectively.
Every participant in a war has the tendency to give it
a name. This will vary. The two sides, even allies, may
want to name it differently. For example, the Soviets
called WWII "The Great Fatherland War." They has no incentive
to make it part of a series with WWI, which Russia had
opted out of (and which was clasified as an "imperialist
war" in the Marxist system.)

> > Please explain to me how the War of American Independence is a world
> > war, I'm not aware of any fighting in far off lands.
>
> Well, what do you want to call a worldwar? It depends on your definition.
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And on domestic political considerations in each
nation concerned.

Leo Moser