Seven of the Most Common Misconceptions About the First World War

Like many historical events, there exist a number of misconceptions about World War I. Some of these misconceptions are relatively unimportant or debatable while others interfere seriously with an understanding of some of the most important events of the 20th century. This article discusses seven some of the most common mistaken beliefs about World War I as well as the truth about them.

It was the first World War

Although most people realize that World War I was not called World War I until after the Second World War, many do not realize that World War I may not have actually been the first world war. It depends largely on how you define world war. If you say that world wars are those that involve fighting on multiple continents or involve the leading superpowers of the world, then you might be forced to classify several other wars as world wars. Indeed, historian Thomas Bailey says that there were at least nine world wars in history of which World War I was actually the eighth.

The other wars that one might consider world wars are the War of the League of Augsburg, the War of Spanish Succession, the War of Austrian Succession, the Seven Year’s War, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars. Perhaps the only way to define a “world war” that would not include some of those previous conflicts would be to say that a world war is one that involves at least one country from every inhabited continent. As we well know, however, the involvement of South American countries in both World Wars was negligible.

It was the first war in which airplanes were used

It is popularly believed that World War I was the first war in which airplanes were used, but that it not accurate. The first airplane to be flown during a war was used by the rebels for bombing missions during the Mexican Revolution in 1912. WWI may have marked the first widespread use of airplanes in warfare, but it was was not the first time they had been used.

It was the first war in which chemical weapons were used

Similarly, many believe that WWI was the first time that chemical weapons were used in warfare. This misconception is probably fueled by the prominence of gas masks in many WWI photographs. WWI was not the first time that chemical weapons were used in war, however. The Spanish were using smoke bombs in the 1600s and the Macedonian armies of Alexander the Great used lime to make their enemies itch and burn as early as 4th century BC. Like the airplane, however, the First World War did see the first widespread use of chemical weapons along with a sharp increase in their technological sophistication and deadliness.