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

Robert Hailman wrote:

> "Thomas R. Wier" wrote:
> >
> > Robert Hailman wrote:
> >
> > > Nik Taylor wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Robert Hailman wrote:
> > > > > I should have said that was the main reason for the invasion of Canada,
> > > > > the war of course had other reasons. One can't doubt that at the time
> > > > > the Americans had an eye to rule Canada.
> > > >
> > > > Don't forget that during the Revolution, Benjamin Franklin was sent to
> > > > Quebec to try to convince them to join in the Revolution.  So, that
> > > > desire certainly wasn't new with the War of 1812 [which has to be the
> > > > worst name ever for a war, IMHO; why not, say, the Anglo-American War?]
> > > >
> > >
> > > No, it certainly wasn't a new idea, but it had become more popular by
> > > the time 1812 rolled around.
> > >
> > > 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.
>
> 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.
As soon as France, Spain and the Netherlands became involved in the fighting
against Britain(after Saratoga, 1777 or so), all of their colonial armies began
fighting against Britain, too.  A lot of the battles were located in or near India:

Ushant -- off Britany
Praia -- in the Cape Verde Islands
Dogger Bank -- North Sea
Second battle of Minorca
3rd Battle of Madras
1st battle of Trincomalee -- off Sri-Lanka
Les Saintes -- Caribbean
1st battle of Cuddalore (the siege) -- south of Madras
2nd battle of Trincomalee
2nd battle of Cuddalore (the naval battle to resupply the siege)
Siege of Gibraltar

Possible definitions for what exactly constitutes a "worldwar" include, but
are not limited to: involving  X percentage of the world's sovereign states, or
X percentage of sovereign states plus dependencies, or X percentage of the total
population of the world, or X percentage of the developed world's total population...
you can see where this is going.  In reality, those wars I mentioned satisfied only
some of the possible criteria; the more a conflict satisfies them, the more it
probably deserves the title "worldwar".  By this reckoning, the term "Cold War"
could become quite apt, not so metaphorical as we are wont to think.

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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: trwier
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."
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