Space warfare is a main theme and central setting ofscience fiction that can trace its roots back to classical times, and to the "future war" novels of the 19th century. With the modern age, directly with franchises asStar Wars andStar Trek, it is considered one of the most popular general sub-genres and themes of science fiction.[1] An interplanetary, or more often aninterstellar or intergalactic war, has become a stapleplot device. Space warfare has a predominant role, it is a central theme and at the same time it is considered parent, overlapping genre ofspace opera andspace Western.[2]
Usually, lasers and otherdirected-energy weapons are used rather than bullets. Science writer andspaceflight popularizerWilly Ley claimed in 1939 that bullets would be a more effective weapon in a real space battle.[3] Other weapons include torpedoes and other ordnance that is described as employing particles or radiation known to current sub-atomic physics, such as the proton torpedo and photon torpedo from theStar Wars andStar Trek universes, respectively. Conversely, weapons in science fiction often employ fictional materials and kinds of radiation. Often, the radiation or material is specific to the fictional universe in question. For example, the spacewarships in theStargate television series do battle withdirected-energy weapons that are described as being powered by a fictional metal, called naquadah.
Destruction of planets and stars has been a frequently used aspect of interstellar warfare since theLensman series.[4][better source needed] It has been calculated that a force on the order of 1032joules of energy, or roughly the total output of thesun in a week, would be required to overcome the gravity that holds together an Earth-sized planet.[citation needed] The destruction ofAlderaan inStar Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope is estimated to require 1.0 × 1038joules of energy, millions of times more than would be necessary to break the planet apart at a slower rate.[5]
Fictional space warfare tends to borrow elements fromnaval warfare, often calling space forces asspacenavies or simplynavies.David Weber'sHonorverse series of novels portrays several of such space navies such as the Royal Manticoran Navy, which imitate themes fromNapoleonic-era naval warfare.[6] TheFederation Starfleet (Star Trek),Imperial Navy (Star Wars), Systems Alliance Navy (Mass Effect), UNSC ("Halo") andEarthforce (Babylon 5) also use a naval-style rank-structure and hierarchy.[citation needed] The former is based on theUnited States Navy and theRoyal Navy.[7] TheUnited Nations Space Command inHalo fully echoes all ranks of theUnited States Armed Forces, eventhe pay-grade system.[citation needed]
Some fictional universes have different implementations. TheColonial Fleet inBattlestar Galactica uses a mixture of army and navy ranks, and theStargate universe has military spacecraft under the control of modernair forces, and uses air-force ranks.[citation needed] In theHalo universe, many of the ranks of the current-dayUnited States Armed Forces are used in lieu of fictional ranks.[citation needed] In theAndromeda universe, officers of Systems Commonwealth ships follow naval ranking, but Lancers (soldiers analogous to Marines) use army ranks.[citation needed]
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Though the details do differ between various science fictionintellectual properties (IPs for short), classes of ships are most commonly based on those ofWorld War II.Battleships,dreadnoughts andbattlecruisers are generally among the largest types of ships, though the three terms are often used interchangeably. Dedicatedcarriers are rare in science fiction, though not non-existent, featuring prominently in few IPs, such asWing Commander. Instead,battlecarriers, ships which combine elements of battleships and carriers, are very common, with prominent examples including theStar Destroyer fromStar Wars and the titular starship fromBattlestar Galactica.Cruisers also make appearances, with some IPs featuring them as the largest and most powerful ships. Prominent example is theStarship Enterprise fromStar Trek, occasionally referred to as a heavy cruiser.Destroyers andfrigates are often seen as among the smaller ships of the fleet, though in many IPs, both classifications are not used.Corvettes are often the smallest ships in science fiction navies, though some do feature even smallerfast attack craft.
Many science-fiction series prominently feature starfighters operating together with larger ships. Prominent examples include theX-wing fromStar Wars, theColonial Viper fromBattlestar Galactica and theStarfury fromBabylon 5. While most fighters, like the aforementioned ones, tend to bemultirole fighters, more specialized fighters do exist as well. The terminterceptor, which in reality refers to fast fighters optimized to attack approaching long rangeheavy bombers, is instead primarily used to refer to fighters designed first and foremost to attack other fighters, generally at the expense of a capability to attack larger warships.Bombers are the opposite of interceptors and are primarily meant to attack enemy warships.
Some IPs also feature super-battleship vessels, which are massive warships several kilometers in length, dwarfing even battleships.
In his second-century satireTrue History,Lucian of Samosata depicts an imperial war between the king of the Sun and the king of the Moon over the right to colonise theMorning Star. It is the earliest known work of fiction to address the concept.[8]
The first "future war" story wasGeorge T. Chesney's "The Battle of Dorking," a story about a British defeat after a German invasion of Britain, published in 1871 inBlackwood's Magazine. Many such stories were written prior to the outbreak ofWorld War I.George Griffith'sThe Angel of the Revolution (1893) featured self-styled "Terrorists" armed with then-nonexistent arms and armour such as airships, submarines, and high explosives. The inclusion of yet-nonexistent technology became a standard part of the genre. Griffith's last "future war" story wasThe Lord of Labour, written in 1906 and published in 1911, which included such technology asdisintegrator rays and missiles.[9]
H. G. Wells' novelThe War of the Worlds inspired many other writers to write stories ofalien incursions and wars between Earth and other planets, and encouraged writers of "future war" fiction to employ wider settings than had been available for "naturalistic" fiction. Wells' several other "future war" stories included the atomic war novelThe World Set Free (1914)[9] and "The Land Ironclads," which featured a prophetic description of thetank, albeit of an unfeasibly large scale.[10]
More recent depictions of space warfare departed from thejingoism of thepulp science fiction of the 1930s and 1940s.Joe Haldeman'sThe Forever War, was partly a response to or a rebuttal ofRobert A. Heinlein'sStarship Troopers, wherein space warfare involved the effects oftime dilation and resulted in the alienation of the protagonists from the human civilization on whose behalf they were fighting.[11][12][clarification needed] Both novels have in the past been required reading at theUnited States Military Academy.[citation needed]
Science fiction writers from the end ofWorld War II onwards have examined the morality and consequences of space warfare. With Heinlein'sStarship Troopers areA. E. van Vogt's "War against the Rull" (1959) andFredric Brown's "Arena" (1944). Opposing them areMurray Leinster's "First Contact" (1945),Barry Longyear's "Enemy Mine,"Kim Stanley Robinson's "The Lucky Strike,"Connie Willis' "Schwarzchild Radius," andJohn Kessel's "Invaders."[12][clarification needed] InOrson Scott Card'sEnder's Game, the protagonist wages war remotely, with no realization that he is doing so.
Several writers in the 1980s were accused of writing fiction as part of a propaganda campaign in favour of theStrategic Defense Initiative.Ben Bova's 1985 novelPrivateers has been given as an example.[12][13]
The modern form of space warfare in science fiction, in which mobile spaceships battle both planets and one another with destructive superweapons, appeared with the advent ofspace opera. Garrett P. Serviss' 1898 newspaper serial "Edison's Conquest of Mars" was inspired by Wells and intended as a sequel to "Fighters from Mars," an un-authorized and heavily alteredEdisonade version ofThe War of the Worlds[14][full citation needed] in which the human race, led byThomas Edison, pursues the invading Martians back to their home planet.David Pringle considers Serviss' story to be the first space opera, although the work most widely regarded as the first space opera isE. E. "Doc" Smith'sThe Skylark of Space. It and its three successor novels exemplify the present form of space warfare in science fiction, as giant spaceships employ great ray guns that send bolts of energy across space to shatter planets in a war between humans and alien species.[15][16]
David Weber'sHonorverse novels present a view of space warfare that simply transplants the naval warfare ofHoratio Nelson andHoratio Hornblower into space. Thespace navy battle tactics in the Honorverse are much like those of Nelson, with the simple addition of a third dimension.[17]
Several subsets of military science fiction overlap withspace opera, concentrating on large-scale space battles with futuristic weapons. At one extreme, the genre is used to speculate about future wars involving space travel, or the effects of such a war on humans; at the other, it consists of the use of military fiction plots with some superficial science-fiction trappings. The term "military space opera" is occasionally used to denote this subgenre, as used for example by critic Sylvia Kelso when describingLois McMaster Bujold'sVorkosigan Saga.[18] Other examples of military space opera are theBattlestar Galactica franchise andRobert A. Heinlein's 1959 novelStarship Troopers.The key distinction of military science fiction from space opera is that the principal characters in a space opera are not military personnel, but civilians orparamilitary. Military science fiction also does not necessarily always include an outer space or multi-planetary setting like space opera.[19]
Westerns influenced early science-fictionpulp magazines. Writers would submit stories in both genres,[20] and science-fiction magazines sometimes mimicked Western cover art to showcase parallels.[21] In the 1930s,C. L. Moore created one of the first space Western heroes,Northwest Smith.[21]Buck Rogers andFlash Gordon were also early influences.[22] Aftersuperhero comics declined in popularity in 1940s United States,Western comics andhorror comics replaced them. When horror comics became untenable with theComics Code Authority in the mid-1950s, science-fiction themes and space Westerns grew more popular.[21]: 10 By the mid-1960s, classic Western films fell out of favor andRevisionist Westerns supplanted them. Science-fiction series such asLost in Space[23] andStar Trek presented a new frontier to be explored, and films likeWestworld rejuvenated Westerns by updating them with science-fiction themes.Peter Hyams, director ofOutland, said that studio heads in the 1980s were unwilling to finance a Western, so he made a space Western instead.[24] Space operas such as theStar Wars film series also took strong cues from Westerns;Boba Fett,Han Solo and theMos Eisley cantina, in particular, were based on Western themes. These science fiction-films and television series offered the themes and morals that Westerns previously did.[25]
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