During World War 2, did people call it "World War 2?" If not, what did they call it, and how did they understand the war they were fighting?

by Cookiemobsta

Also, if it was not referred to as "world war 2" during the actual war, when was that name agreed on?

Kerbologna

It would appear that people were calling it "world war 2" from the outset.

The first large image on this page shows the front page of a newspaper from September 1939

http://www.archives.com/genealogy/newspapers-world-war-2.html

vigil11

Russians called it the Great Patriotic War.