• NotACIAPlant@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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    9 months ago

    No, not really. Previous large scale wars were civil wars, or, wars of imperialism to carve up other countries for the imperialist powers.

    There is some exceptions, but WW1/WW2 is really the first major war between imperialist powers “inter-imperialist war”. WW1 and WW2 are human atrocities that are not comparable to any other war.

      • plyth@feddit.orgBanned from community
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        9 months ago

        A bit strange to ask, but should the Holy Roman Empire be considered an empire at that time?

        • Djehngo@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          I am not sure tbh, I know it was Italy and Germany and dissolved during the Napoleonic wars, but beyond that my knowledge of its history is thin.

          I guess it also depends how and for what purpose you are defining it as an empire or not.

          Wikipedia calls the holy Roman empire a polity, but refers to the first french empire under Napoleon as an empire for whatever that’s worth?

          Possibly the naming was aspirational, or a throwback to the Roman empire that controlled most of Europe?