How far into the world wars did people start to refer to them as world wars?

by 162425012014

Were they know as world wars during the conflict or is this a label history has given them?

panzerkampfwagen

Pretty much right away.

The famous German biologist Ernst Haeckel referred to the war as the First World War in September 1914.

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=w5-GR-qtgXsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Yale+book+of+quotations&hl=en#v=onepage&q=The%20Yale%20book%20of%20quotations&f=false

In 1920 Charles à Court Repington a former British officer and then a war correspondent published a book called "The first world war, 1914-1918" which is the earliest book I've heard of to use the term.

https://archive.org/details/firstworldwar19100repi

QI did a bit on it and discussed that he referred to the war as the First World War in 1918 not long before it ended when talking to an American officer.