JF Ptak Science Books Post 2890
This is an unusual work to my experience as the author was looking at the post-WWII scenario for the globe at such an early time in the war--November 1939--that the war as written here was known as the "1939 war", a pre-"World War Two/II/etc designation. World War I wasn't really known as such until there was a World War II to differentiate it, and lo! they both came into existence at about the same time, in September, 1939. This publication is dated November 1939, though perhaps it was set into type too late in September to accommodate the new terminology. In any event, I thought it was worth making a note about.
I don't know much about E.J. Housden except that he may have published material in the nineteen-aughts, and that one of his pamphlets (Democracy is Fake) turns up in a census of George Orwell's pamphlet collection. He writes about one world government, a New League of Nations, a universal army, the rollback of sovereignty, one-language, and that sort. It was a pretty long vision for the end of the war, since there were still about 1,780 days of fighting yet to come, and that the USA, USSR, and Japan were not in it all of the way, yet. Still. the effort is commendable, and someone needed to do thinking like this at least to establish some sort of dialog about the future.
While we're at it, here's a bit from the Oxford English Dictionary regarding the first appearances of "World War" terminology:
"World War I n. (also World War One, World War No.1) = First World War n. at first adj., adv., and n.2 Special uses 2b. Abbreviated WWI.
1939 Time 18 Sept. 10/2 Exports of arms, munitions and related materials in World War I amounted..to only 25% of total exports to the Allies.
1947 Time & Tide 29 Nov. 1269/2 The despair and cynicism that followed what it has now become fashionable to call World War One.
First World War n. the war which began on 28 July 1914 with hostilities between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, and ultimately involved the majority of the nations of the world, suspended by armistice on 11 Nov. 1918.Earlier called the Great War.
1889 R. B. Anderson tr. V. Rydberg Teutonic Mythol. 399 The giant-maids..took part in the first world-war on the side hostile to Odin.
1914 E. Haeckel in Indianapolis Star 27 Sept. 37/1 There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared ‘European war’..will become the first world war in the full sense of the word.]
World War II n. (also World War Two; occasionally World War No. 2, World War Deuce) = Second World War n.
1919 Manch. Guardian 18 Feb. 10/1 (heading) World War No. 2.
1939 Time 11 Sept. 38/1 Some of the diplomatic juggling which last week ended in World War II was old-fashioned international jockeying for power.
Second World War n. the war which began with the German invasion of Poland on 1 Sept. 1939 and ultimately involved the majority of the nations of the world; hostilities ceased in Europe on 7 May 1945 and in the Far East on 12 Sept. 1945. [1930 H. G. Wells Autocracy Mr. Parham 257 (heading) Book the Fourth: The Second World War.]
1942 Polit. Sci. Q. Sept. 321 The economic developments associated with the second World War have restored to American railroads a volume of traffic comparable to that which they handled before the great depression.
World War III n. (also World War Three, World War No. 3) = Third World War n. at third adj.and n. Special uses 2.
1945 Duke of Bedford Let. 16 Apr. in B. Russell Autobiogr. (1969) III. i. 44 You will have to postpone your visit until the brief interlude between this war & world-war no 3."
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