Interstellar war

An interstellar war is a war between combatants from different planetary systems. It is a popular plot device in science fiction, especially in the space opera sub-genre. An intergalactic war refers to war between combatants from different galaxies; Interplanetary war refers to war between combatants from different planets of the same solar system.

Interplanetary war in fiction can reveal contemporary mores. In general, older fiction relates to the colonial systems of politics and economics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; mid-20th century depictions are often heavily influenced by the Cold War and are barely concealed allegories of the conflict between the "free world" and the Communist states, with humans (personified by 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 deal with interplanetary, not interstellar war (e.g. H. G. Wells' 1898 novel 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. Writers such as Larry Niven have developed plausible interplanetary conflict based on human colonization of the asteroid belt and outer planets by means of technologies utilizing the laws of physics as currently understood.

Examples of interstellar war in fiction include:

• the various conflicts and wars depicted in Babylon 5
• the alien invasion of Earth in Battle Los Angeles
• the Earth-Romulan War in Star Trek
• the alien invasion of Earth in the film Skyline
• the Dominion War in Star Trek
• the Galactic Civil War in Star Wars
• the Clone Wars in Star Wars
• the war between the Helghast and ISA in Killzone
• the Tau'ri-Goa'uld War in Stargate SG-1
• the Ori Crusade and Jaffa Rebellion in Stargate SG-1
• the Lantean-Wraith War and the Tau'ri-Wraith War in Stargate Atlantis
• the Tau'ri-Lucian Alliance War in Stargate Universe
• the Bug War in Starship Troopers
• the human invasion of Pandora in Avatar (2009)
• the Cylon Wars in Battlestar Galactica
• the Human and S'pht Sacking of the Pfhor System in the Marathon Trilogy
• the Pfhor-S'pht war in the Marathon Trilogy
• the Flood-Forerunner war in Halo series
• the Human-Covenant War in the Halo series
• the Human-Formic war in Orson Scott Card's Ender series
• the reptilian invasion depicted in the TV mini-series V.
• the Psychlo invasion of Earth in Battlefield Earth
• the Seven Hour War in Half-Life 2
• the Human-Zoktura War in the novella Dark Frontier (novel)
• the alien invasion in the 1996 film Independence Day
• the Human-Drac War in the film Enemy Mine
• the Andalite-Yeerk war in Animorphs
• the alien invasion depicted in The X-Files
• the Alien Invasion in the film Signs
• the Insectoid invasion of Earth in Alien Apocalypse
• the Human-Tauran War in The Forever War
• the Human-Draconian War in Doctor Who
• the Sontaran-Rutan war in Doctor Who
• the Time War in Doctor Who
• the invasion of the Zerg in StarCraft
• the Ant War in John Steakly's Armor
• the First Contact War, Rachni Wars, Krogan Rebellions and Reaper War in Mass Effect
• the Avatari Invasion in the Clone Series
• the Space War I/the First Robotech War in Macross/Robotech
• the continuing Kree/Skrull hostilities in the Marvel Universe
• the Chig War in Space: Above and Beyond
• the Ur-Quan Slave War in Star Control

See also

• Diplomacy
• Doctor Who
• Military science fiction
• Space battle
• Star Trek
• Star Wars