Interstellar war

In fiction, an interstellar war is a war between combatants whose respective headquarters lie in different star systems. It is a popular plot device in science fiction, especially in the space opera subgenre. An intergalactic war refers to war between combatants of different galaxies. Interplanetary war refers to war between combatants on different planets of the same system.

The literature on interplanetary war is often revealing of contemporary mores at the time it was written. In general, older fiction relates to the colonial systems of politics and economics of the late 19th/early 20th centuries; mid-20th century depictions are often heavily influenced by the Cold War and are often barely-concealed analogies of the conflict between the "free world" and the Communist states, with Earth (personified in 1950s-style American archetypes) as the "good guys" and aliens as the "bad guys". Modern fiction often uses the conflict to explore known failings in the human (especially Western) perspective.

Interplanetary war in fiction

The earliest fictional references appear to be to interplanetary, not interstellar war (e.g. H. G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds"). Now that the other planets of the solar system are believed to be devoid of intelligent life sci-fi writers generally posit some form of faster-than-light drive in order to facilitate interstellar war, but writers such as Larry Niven have developed plausible interplanetary conflict based on human colonisation of the asteroid belt and outer planets using only technologies explicable using the laws of physics as currently understood.

Interstellar war in fiction

Below are a few well known examples of Interstellar War in fiction.

* The Tau'ri (Earth humans), Tok'ra and Asgard versus the Goa'uld, Ori, Wraith, Asurans, and Lucian Alliance in both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis.
* The alien invasion depicted in the some adaptations of the War of the Worlds
* The Independence Day (film) where many of the major cities (on both sides) are obliterated. ("Note: this is technically" not "an interstellar war during the course of the movie, as the aliens state that they move their entire civilization in order to attack planets; thus, the headquarters - the mother ship - is in Earth orbit, making the combatants inhabitants of the" same "star system during the movie. However, the movement is implied to have been from other star systems.")
* The Human-Dracs War in Enemy Mine
* The Borg vs Starfleet in Star Trek
* The Klingons vs the Cardassians in Star Trek
* Earth-Romulan War in Star Trek
* Dominion War in Star Trek
* The Time Lords vs the Daleks (the Last Great Time War) in "Doctor Who" (which is both an interstellar and intertemporal war), as well as the Sontaran vs Rutan war. Many others are referenced.
* Many interstellar wars in "Babylon 5", notably the Earth-Minbari War and the Shadow War.
* Idiran-Culture War (Culture)
* The Clone Wars ("Star Wars")
* Galactic Civil War ("Star Wars")
* Yuuzhan Vong War ("Star Wars)
* The Cylon War in which the Twelve Colonies of man fight against the Cylons in "Battlestar Galactica" universe.
* Boskone versus the Galactic Patrol in E.E. "Doc" Smith's "Lensman" series
* Multiple interestallar conflicts between the races of the "Warhammer 40,000" universe.
* Formic Wars in "Ender's Game".
* The Helghast-ISA War from Killzone, , and Killzone 2 series by Guerilla Games.
* The Human-Covenant War from , Halo 2 and Halo 3 series by Bungie.
* The Forerunner-Flood War from , Halo 2 and Halo 3 series by Bungie.
* The Sangheilli-San'Shyuum War from The Halo Series by Bungie.
* Men-Taurans conflict in "Joe Haldeman"'s sci-fi novel "The Forever War"
* The Interstellar Wars period of conflict between the First (Vilani) Imperium and the Terran Confederation in the Traveller role-playing game. As well as at least five wars between the Zhodoni and the third Imperium.As well as the civil war following the assisination of Strephen.
*Humankind Empire Abh and the Four Nations Alliance in "Crest of the Stars"
*Man-Kzin Wars (an anthology series set in Larry Niven's "Known Space", but mainly written by other authors)
* The surprise relativistic attack in "The Killing Star" by Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski
* The Andalites vs the Yeerks in Animorphs
* The War between the Kushan and Taiidan in Homeworld
* The War between the Terrans, United Earth Directorate, Zergs and Protoss in Starcraft
* The Arachnid-Human war in Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein
* The "Ant"-Human war in Armor (novel), by John Steakley.
* The interstellar war between Maians and Skedars in Perfect Dark
* The Xeelee-Human wars in the Xeelee Sequence novels and short stories by Stephen Baxter.
* The Succession Wars Set in the BattleTech Universe
* The Psychlo invasion of Earth in Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubard
* The Havenite Wars in the Honor Harrington Series by David Weber
* The Kilrathi vs Terrans in the Wing Commander game series.
* The Human-Zoktura War in Dark Frontier (novel)
* The conflict in S.M. Sterling's "Drakon (book)", part of the Draka series. The combat is on Earth in an alternative history, but one side had fled Earth before the conflict (due to an earlier war) and was in another star system.
* The "Worldwar" series, written by Harry Turtledove, between "The Race" and humans.
* The hostile alien takeover depicted in the Half-Life video game series, though this is more accurately an interdimensional war.
* The long war between the Colonial Navy and the League of Free Worlds in the Colony Wars video game series. (Even though both factions originated in the Solar System, their capitols are based in different star systems due to hundreds of years of conflict and the total depletion of most if not all resources in Sol).
*The Asgard-Replicator war in the series.

See also

* Diplomacy
* Doctor Who
* Star Trek
* Star Wars
* Military science fiction
* Space warfare