I don't know. The World Government went kind of overkill on the preparations to fight against a 72 year old man on life support. Whitebeard wasn't just feared for his combat strength though. He legit possessed the ability to destroy the World, which is why people on the other side of the planet were terrified in just knowing the WG pissed Whitebeard off, and were going to War with him. Realistically they should have had no worries being thousands of miles away from the battlefield, but they were shitting themselves of what Whitebeard might do during the War.