I’ve been thinking about it and as far as I know WW1 was essentially just a war between European great powers and their overseas colonies, where almost all of the war was in Europe and in a smaller amount in the middle east. Some independent countries in other continents declared war on the central powers but most didn’t really do anything else. Why is it considered a world war?
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OP: The European and their colonies made up the vast majority of the world
[https://www.thoughtco.com/countries-involved-in-world-war-1-1222074](https://www.thoughtco.com/countries-involved-in-world-war-1-1222074)
Basically everywhere but south america was fully engulfed in the war. Some countries were ‘bigger participants’ than others. Until this point wars were more localized even ‘wide reaching ones’ (the crusades) were still mostly regionally focused with local ‘outsiders’ having a slight trickle in. Maybe there were some mercenaries (The Varangian Guard) from outside the major war zone
WW1 was a mess that involved pretty much everyone everywhere. Most of the major battles occurred in Europe but wherever you lived you were involved even if only because your king swore to send troops to the Allied Power half the world away. This occurred because alliances became silly at that point. Practically any regional power being upset with any other regional power could have been the ‘straw that broke the camels back’ and started the fire
For a nerdy video game example look to shogun 2 when the realm divide triggers. Instead of everyone fighting back and forth and having minor disputes instantly lines are drawn 1 mass force against the other
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