Very well, in terms of literal global spread of conflict, the 7YW was undeniably closer to being "the first true world war" but I argue that this is secondary t

Very well, in terms of literal global spread of conflict, the 7YW was undeniably closer to being "the first true world war" but I argue that this is secondary to impact and destructiveness if we're measuring these pre-World War candidates for World War. If global involvement is a candidate, why not also include the American Revolutionary War. It too involved multiple belligerent states and conflict scattered across most of the globe. The 30YW was on the other hand both fantastically destructive even by modern standards and of huge impact to the whole world even up to the present day. True, it was by no means a literally global conflict and couldn't be claimed as one, but the political systems that it led to were also a crucial factor in both the 7YW happening, and the rise of French power which partly made the latter global: The 30 Years' War was one of the factors that led to the ascendant France which later partly forced the English-Prussian alliance in the 7YW. France could have perhaps only with difficulty have become such a global colonial and dominant European power had the earlier conflict not slowed the formation of centralized authority in the German-speaking states for decades. The ramifications of Westphalia still reverberate today, the ramifications of the 7YW less so.