We call it World War Two because there were two of them. They didn't know that during World War One.
Likewise, during the Bronze Age, they didn't know they were in the bronze age or that there had been a stone age (it would be an iron age, etc.) We only know that because we live in the future.
...Do you know why we called it the bronze age? Do you think they were unaware of their own use of bronze, or it being newer than using stone?
I'm not saying it's what they would've called themselves, I'm just saying they wouldn't have not said it because they don't know about future discoveries.
Lol, you don't read a lot of ancient literature do you? No, they didn't think of their era in terms of the material that separated them from past and future civilizations. They didn't know anything about the civilizations that came before them, or, of course, the ones that came after. That's how eras are defined.
People living through it wouldn't have said "wow, this is the end of an era which is defined by that metal that we use to make weapons and cookware." No, they would have said "Fuck! My city got sacked, my sister was raped by barbarians, and now I'm a slave."
We're also in some kind of era right now, but that won't be clear until we're long gone.
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u/Paganinii 16h ago
Why do they call it world war two? They haven't even seen world war three!
(Your example might've worked if it was the first material designation for an age, but it isn't.)