History Main / TheWarJustBefore

If a writer needs an easy way to designate heroes and villains, he can place a war in his world's recent backstory, usually within a generation or two. Those on the main characters' side of the recent conflict are the heroes, with old adversaries becoming villains. The peace that the characters enjoy at the beginning of the story is oftentimes tentative at best, as both sides of the old conflict begin straining at their bits, itching to start fighting again, and when war breaks out again, the main characters are swept in a continuation of a conflict their parents were likely a part of.

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* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', Basic D&D module [=CM4=] ''Earthshaker''. In recent years the country of Stamtral has raided the {{PC}}'s country Vyolstagrad several times, but the two nations are currently in an uneasy peace. If the {{PC}}s don't play their cards right another war could break out as a result of their actions.

[[AC: VideoGames]]

* In the original ''Franchise/MassEffect'' trilogy, humanity has two of these: the First Contact War of 2157 against turians and the Skyllian Blitz of 2176 (against batarians). The first game is set in 2183, so the memories of the First Contact War are still fresh: humans are viewed as aggressive, but [[HumansAreWarriors surprisingly efficient]] upstarts, and tensions between humans and turians are still high, especially since the veterans of that war (such as David Anderson and Steven Hackett) now occupy many command positions. The Skyllian Blitz is even fresher in memory, as even Commander Shepard (the trilogy protagonist) is a veteran of that campaign (in two our of three [[MultipleChoicePast possible backgrounds]]), and humans are still not on speaking terms with batarians.

* ''Fanfic/IWokeUpAsADungeonNowWhat'': About forty years before the story starts, Magnyl the Wise, Last True Emperor, died with no heir. As a result, his empire was wracked by an apocalyptic civil war, with the [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil Khannite]] districts of the north and the [[FinalSolution Velthian]] districts of the south clashing over the Central District. After twenty years (during which the invading armies looted all but one of Central's dungeons to death), the war eventually ended with the debilitated ruins of Central left as a kind of buffer zone between the two empires.

** Jasper and several other villains were created on Earth to fight against the rebellion.

* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'': In ''Civilization V'', a common warmonger strategy in single-player games is, to accept a peace treaty offered by an AI opponent, and then to use the time of guaranteed peace to rebuild and upgrade the military. Once the peace treaty expires, injured units have healed, new units have been built, and the player is ready to roll out for another war.

* ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves, Film/RobinHood2010'', and ''Film/RobinHood2018'' all feature the Third Crusade as an explanation for Robin Hood's skill, how he gained some of his Merry Men, and as part of the villains' EvilPlan.

** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': The war between the Nova Empire and the Kree Empire has just ended before the beginning of the film. However, Ronan has other ideas, being a racial extremist.

-->-- Albert Genette, ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar''

* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'': The Rikti War provided context for the game's initial release. Most of Paragon City's heroes had died in the war, and you played as a new hero in the city, just joining the good fight. The War Walls, which divided up the city into districts, were explained as megastructures built to keep the alien Rikti at bay. The prevalence of criminal gangs, organized crime, demonic cults, and supervillainy in the city was {{Justified}} as having risen up to fill the void the dead heroes had left behind.

* ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves, Film/RobinHood2010'', and ''Film/RobinHood2018'' all feature the Third Crusade as an explanation for Robin Hood's skill and how he gained some of his Merry Men.

** The Dilgar War took place about thirty years before the series and established the Earth Alliance as a major power in the galaxy for the first time, through their joining the fight on the side of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds against the genocidal Dilgar. Garibaldi's and Franklin's fathers both fought in that conflict, and an escaped war criminal from that war, the Dilgar Warmaster Jha'dur, appears in the episode "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E09Deathwalker Deathwalker]]".

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' is set 21 years after the Great War between the Tamerilic Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion, which cost The Empire the province of Hammerfell, and forced the ban on the worship of Talos throughout the empire. It's still fresh in many character's minds, and everyone knows the current peace isn't going to last.

* ''WebComic/GirlGenius'': The war between Baron Wulfenbach and the Other provides a backdrop for much of the story and influences most of the main characters' actions. Just the ''idea'' that the Other might use Agatha to resurface and that his son Gil ''might'' be under her control is enough for the Baron to mobilize armies from across Europa and to make use of technology even the [[MadScientist Heterodyne]] [[EvilGenius family]] thought was too dangerous to meddle with, just to stop her.