When did we start referring to the two great wars of the 20th ce as WWI and WWII?

Question

I know WWI was originally called "The War to End all Wars." But when did we come up with the I & II terms?

Answer 1

WWI was originally called "The Great War", or the "World War".

The term "First World War" was originally used in 1920 - perhaps anticipating others, but not necessarily so.

WWII was first used in 1938, anticipating a second global war.

Truman officially designated the war (for official US military histories) as "World War II" in September 1945, after the end of hostilities, although the term had been used in the media and legal documents through the course of the war.

Answer 2

Good question. In France, they call WWI the War of 1914. and they call World War II the War of 1939-1945. Most likely it was labeled a World War by the newspapers during that time. The newspapers of that era thrived on sensationalism.

Answer 3

You are right, WWI was the War of 1914, or the War to End All Wars, right up until 1939.That's when another world conflict broke out and it was dubbed WW2, and the first conflict was thereafter referred to as WW1.
Let's pray we never have to contemplate a WW3!

Answer 4

we referred to WWI as world war one when the second one started. before that WWI was know as the Great European War. we called WWII, WWII when it started!