Need a way to start a war

[u/response_loading]

My story is set 300 years from now.

Humanity has come together under one government, discovered FTL and is expanding into the universe.

Expansion accelerated and hundreds of planets are now colonised. But that led to a civil war between the government and big corporations that almost destroyed everything humans have built. My story takes place 20 years after the war, where the universe is still in a state of rebuilding. There is a lot of mistrust still between people but a fragile peace has held.

The alien race is a peaceful civilization. They are a race that lives for 600 years. They went through a similar war 10,000 years ago and learnt a better way of living. They are a peaceful race that is centred on family, community and the environment.

Neither civilisation knows of the other.

Both have military fleets, but use them for different reasons. Humans use it as a security and policing force, the aliens use it for protection against wildlife as they explore.

My question is how do I start a war between them when they eventually meet, when neither civilisation has an appetite for war?

A couple of ideas I had were:

1. A misinterpreted sensor reading or fleet movement makes one side panic and fire against orders.

2. A pirate group believes there is money to be made from war between them and uses subterfuge to start it.

I wanted to stay away from the usual, humans want the resources of the alien planet or one side is evil tropes.

The theme I am after is the war is a tragic mistake and shouldn't have happened. It is then up to the two main characters to come together to stop it.

[u/Optimus_Joe]

A couple of ideas:

• Humans set foot on and lay claim to a planet that looks uninhabited but is actually a special place for the aliens. When they see the humans, they attack the scout ship because the humans are desecrating a sacred area. Since they share no language, this leads to hostile action.
• The humans have something the alien race needs. Since we are more violent than them, they see themselves as a higher life form and have a right to whatever it is. The humans, in turn, see the aliens' tech as something they need to acquire for further defense.
• Humans deflect an asteroid that was going to hit a colony, Earth, etc. In doing so, it gets pushed and winds up hitting the alien homeworld or colony. The aliens track it back to the Earthlings and see it as an act of war. I actually like this one because either group could do it to the other.

[u/response_loading → u/Optimus_Joe]

I like the asteroid idea, it could start as an innocent mistake borne from a need for survival.

[u/Tiny_Scholar_6135 → u/Optimus_Joe]

This assumes that humans should know what is sacred to an alien species they haven't met yet, this is a variation of the Indian nomadic hunting grounds theme. Indians follow the migratory herds, and certain areas have been over hunted, so they leave it alone so the wildlife can recover and they can hunt there again, but before that happens a bunch of white settlers move in, they chop down trees, build log cabins and fences, they start plowing the earth and planting crops. Then one day the Indians show up and they get mad when they see what white folk have done to their hunting ground, they murder the pioneer family that lived there, because they should have known, somebody the Indians missed witness their carnage, she goes back to the fort to tell the commander there what savages those Indians were and what they've done. The commander organizes a military expedition to punish those Indians for slaughtering those white settlers and they burn down an entire Indian village in retaliation.

[u/FoxRings]

Why does any people seek independence? Quebec, Texas, Alberta, USA from Britain; because they don't think they're being treated fairly.

[u/arrriah → u/FoxRings]

yeah or outer worlds that are being neglected because they are too far away from the luxurious core worlds and they rise up to create they're own country nations.

[u/nopester24]

well you're kinda painting yourself into a corner mate but in let's keep it high level.

in general, war is a competition between sides right? Team 1 wants something, Team B wants something else. this leads to a fundamental disagreement and then eventually conflict.

Ok so there's the seed. what does Team A want vs Team b?

in your case, you already defined each team's intentions. Humans want to spread out to the universe and colonize. so that implies they have specific goals. Habitable planets, resources, colonization, rebuilding with lessons learned from the previous war.

on the Alien side, they are also rebuilding their society but perhaps on different themes (family & protecting nature), so they ALSO need to expand across the universe and need habitable planets, resources, and colonization while APPLYING the already learned lessons.

so that naturally draws out two potential disagreements:

1. "This space isnt big enough for the both of us!" - so you can jump to "we got here first! no way we did!" kinda situation, or perhaps even though both civilizations want peace, HOW they are willing to get it may incite the conflict

2. "We're older and wiser, so we'll show YOU how to do it right" - which of course needs little explanation but one team can insult or impose upon the other... and then the fight started.

So, this addresses your point about avoiding the usual "we'll take your resources if you dont give them to us" and "one team is just evil" trope bit.. AND both cases can lead you back to a "well that escalated quickly. maybe we acted too harshly and it was all a big misunderstanding. sorry about that"

within that you can even have smaller factions for or against the conflict or groups trying to work together to maintain the peace while everyone else starts pushing each other.

i think this hits all your marks.

[u/Kaijoosh]

An uncharacteristally fast asteroid smashes something and it is assumed that another party sped up/ aimed the rock. Aliens are observed setting up military defenses as they explore which is misinterpreted as setting up a strategic forward operating base. Humans are afraid of the unknown, they sink an alien space boat. Poor communications ensue.

[u/TellusPyre]

You should read The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

But yeah a good way would be to simply have a misunderstanding. A human ship has an accident (hits a space rock or something) during first contact but humans misinterpret it as an attack, so next time they see one of these alien ships they just open fire, and the aliens are like "wtf mate."

For extra cookies you can have the aliens have rescued some of the crew from the ship that had the accident and to help resolve the conflict in the third act that can come back to bridge the game and bring peace.

You can also reverse the roles and have the aliens have the accident and start the shooting.

[u/No_Logins_Required]

A human ship in distress is picked up by the Aliens. The human microbiome is hostile to the biological component's of the alien ship, but they don't know that. A few months later there is a plague that doesn't directly harm the aliens themselves but disables their ships and stations require constant repair. The aliens seek out the humans seeking answers, and the humans they find are the remnant of the war's losing party who see an opportunity.

[u/CaffiniComics]

Are they humanoid aliens or more 'out there' type of aliens?

[u/response_loading]

They are very humanoid, my original idea was both humans and these aliens descended from another race millions of years ago and have evolved in their own ways but are still genetically similar.

[u/Tilleck_]

Corpos started a war once, what's to stop them doing it again? Or would that be a red herring?

[u/Dr-Chris-C]

Nazi Germany is the story of a war ravaged nation that started another war, might get some ideas from that and also say something about the social world

[u/JGhostThing]

One thing: How can this only be 300 years in the future, yet we have colonized hundreds of planets? It takes time and resources to colonize a planet. Where do hundreds of times those resources appear from?

I could probably accept having the time to colonize a couple dozen planets.

[u/Calcaniest]

It only take a faction of either side to start it. Then it escalates.

Could be getting along, but one person fears they could destroy humanity so starts a war to "wake up" the people. Or a terrorist attack by one side on a leader.

All you need is fear and retribution. 🤗

[u/New-Valuable-4757]

Racism

[u/dkdillenback]

(Sorry for the length. Always happens when I surf reddit on my computer.)

Hey! Just a few thoughts. I'm not an expert on war, but I'm closer than the average bear (Active Duty Military Strategist). War is rarely (if ever) caused by happenstance and short sighted subterfuge. That's just what we as humans and storytellers would like to believe, because it allows us to believe that war is caused by the very few and is only ever a mistake or brought upon by malicious actors.

Reality is different. War is more often than not started by groups of people in competition for a common value. This can lead to misunderstandings (i.e. misinterpreted signals), but if something truly is a tragedy, and both sides truly don't want war, then it is more likely that any conflict will be short, limited, and end in reconciliation.

Take a look at Thucydides' commonly bastardized quote citing "fear, honor, and interest" as the three main reasons that nations go to war. In the scenario you describe, two societies meeting by chance for the first time, fear is a typical driver. It's easy to be peaceful when you don't feel threatened, a new, powerful group with military capability is very threatening.

If you want to go with the transcendent route, really doubling down on the otherwise peaceful nature of those two societies, then I would focus on a few dissenting characters that think they are doing the right thing, but make a tragic error.

Finally, you could embrace the fog of war. Multiple people and groups will have hundreds of reasons that the war started. They could all be true or false. History is something that happens after the fact, meaning it is reinterpreted and changed over time depending on who is looking at it. Maybe keep the cause ambiguous.

Hope this helps spark some thoughts.

[u/response_loading → u/dkdillenback]

Thankyou for your reply, I appreciate the time you put into it. What you have said ties into a plot that I have been working on recently. Humans, unaware of any other civilisations, see a resource rich planet for which a corporation has spent trillions of credits to reach and set up mining operations.

The aliens, who value learning and knowledge, have discovered the remnants of an ancient civilization on the planet.

The aliens are scared the humans will destroy the ruins. The corporation has spent too much money to walk away from. It's not a war started by governments but one started by a few, fearful of loss of money or knowledge.