An interstellar war is a hypothetical space war between combatants from different planetary systems.[1] The concept provides a common plot device in science fiction, especially in the space opera subgenre. In contrast, the term intergalactic war refers to war between combatants from different galaxies, and interplanetary war refers to war between combatants from different planets of the same planetary system.[2]

Likelihood

Michael H. Hart argued that if humans ever spread to other planetary systems, the actual likelihood of interstellar war would be low due to the immense distances (and hence travel times involved)—interstellar war would require a vastly greater investment of time and resources than present-day intraplanetary wars involve.[3] By contrast, Robert Freitas argued that the energy expenditure required for interstellar war would be trivial from the viewpoint of a Type II or Type III civilisation on the Kardashev scale.[4]

Interstellar war in fiction

Main article: Fictional space warfare

The earliest fictional references appear to deal with interplanetary, not interstellar war (e.g. H. G. Wells' 1898 novel The War of the Worlds).[5] 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 utilising the laws of physics as currently understood. However, 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.

In the 1980's Ace Books published a 3-volume science fiction anthology called The Future at War, edited by Reginald Bretnor. The first volume, Thor's Hammer, contained stories about wars on Earth and in near-Earth space. The second volume, The Spear of Mars, had stories depicting interplanetary war. And the third volume, Orion's Sword, treated interstellar war.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Siegel, Ethan (7 August 2018). "Is Humanity About To Accidentally Declare Interstellar War On Alien Civilizations?". forbes. Retrieved 23 August 2022. But there are three huge problems with this plan, and combined, they could be tantamount to a declaration of interstellar war. It could be the first shot fired in a catastrophic interstellar war.
  2. ^ Sedacca, Matthew (22 December 2016). "What Military Theory Tells Us About Future Space Warfare". nautil.us. Nautilus. Retrieved 23 August 2022. But the other two strategies are more common historically and would probably guide the course of an interplanetary war.
  3. ^ Hart, Michael H. (1986). "Interstellar Migration, the Biological Revolution, and the Future of the Galaxy". In Finney, Ben R.; Jones, Eric M. (eds.). Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience. University of California Press. pp. 278–292. ISBN 0-520-05898-4. ...interstellar wars will be extremely rare, much rarer than warfare has been on Earth. This will be a consequence of the enormous distances between the stars and large travel times between civilizations... a typical civilization might be involved in a major war only once in 50,000 years, perhaps much longer.
  4. ^ Freitas, Robert A. (March 1980). "Interstellar Probes: A New Approach to SETI". Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. 33: 95–100. Bibcode:1980JBIS...33...95F. Archived from the original on 18 December 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  5. ^ Anderson, Hephzibah (21 June 2019). "The fiction that predicted space travel". bbc.com. BBC. Retrieved 23 August 2022. As a scientist, many of Arthur C Clarke's predictions for the future came true. Terminology aside, Clarke arguably did more than any other author since HG Wells and Jules Verne to catapult his mind into the future, taking a vast global readership along with him for the invariably wild ride.
  6. ^ The Future at War series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
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