The first world war started here in Butler County, Pennsylvania. At least one prominent historian makes the case that it did.

It’s an idea that county tourism officials might exploit to the county’s advantage — beginning with securing a federal designation commemorating the county’s significance in history.

World War I was not the first world war, says Fred Anderson, a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder. In his best-selling book, “Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766,” Anderson argues that the first world war was the French and Indian War, nearly 170 years earlier — and it started with a 21-year-old George Washington in present-day Butler County, taking a message to the French command at Fort LeBoeuf: Get off of British territory.

What made it a world war?

According to Anderson, this was the first instance of nations attacking each other’s colonies instead of their homelands in a fight for imperial domination.

Why is that significant?

First, it changes the way we regard history. The war and its outcome had global implications.

For more than a decade, the imperial superpowers of their day — France and England — battled for control of the Ohio territory west of the Allegheny Mountains. It complicated matters that two of the British colonies — Virginia and Pennsylvania — claimed the region. Washington did not work for the sons of William Penn. He worked for Virginia’s colonial governor, Robert Dinwiddie.

Second, it started here.

Washington’s route across western Butler County is now known as Washington Trail 1753. It stretches from the Laurel Highlands south of Pittsburgh to Waterford in Erie County.

Last month, four representatives from the National Park Service toured several Butler County sites along Washington’s Trail 1753, escorted by Jack Cohen, Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau president, to determine the trail’s historical significance and to consider it as a National Historic Trail.

To receive the designation, certain criteria must be met — in this case, that Washington actually followed this route; that his presence gave the trail historical and national significance; that there’s documented proof the trail had a direct effect on American history; and it must have potential for recreational use to promote public awareness and appreciation.

The National Park Service representatives’ visit could lead to an eventual vote by Congress on the national designation. The process could take up to five years to complete.

We have a duty to preserve our past — particularly when we view our past through a global perspective like Professor Anderson’s, that the first struggle for imperial domination began in our front yard. Preservation is a good thing.

And If it presents an opportunity to enhance our growing array of tourist attractions, that’s even better.