Xuenou > Movies > Strange New Worlds Solves Star Trek’s World War III Mystery
Strange New Worlds Solves Star Trek’s World War III Mystery
World War III is largely a mystery in Star Trek but Strange New Worlds gave the biggest info download on what happened in the 21st-century global war.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1, Episode 1 – “Strange New Worlds”

Little is known about World War III in Star Trek history but Star Trek: Strange New Worlds finally shed light on the devastating global conflict. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is set in 2259 and picks up months after Star Trek: Discovery season 2’s ending when the USS Discovery vanished on a one-way trip to the 32nd century. Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) leads the USS Enterprise on a five-year mission of exploration but their first assignment is a rescue effort on Kiley 279, a planet that is, itself, on the verge of a world war.

It’s easy to assume that Earth’s history in Star Trek is the same as the real world before Vulcans made First Contact with humanity in 2063 but there are numerous unique divergences. Star Trek: The Original Series established that a devastating global conflict called the Eugenics Wars gripped the Earth in the 1990s, which was followed by World War III in the 21st century. TOS and Star Trek: Enterprise episodes touched upon aspects of World War III, which led to 600-million deaths and the capitals of every major country on Earth destroyed. Star Trek: First Contact showed the aftermath of World War III as the human race was still picking up the pieces a decade after the war ended. Further, the Star Trek: Discovery season 2 episode “New Eden” revealed that the Red Angel (Sonja Sohn) transported a group of World War III survivors to a planet in the Beta Quadrant.

After Captain Pike realized that Kiley 279 reverse-engineered Starfleet’s warp technology to build a warp bomb to use against each other in their civil war, he broke General Order One and used Earth’s World War III history as a cautionary parable in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ premiere. In perhaps the most significant download of information about past wars in Star Trek, Pike revealed that the United States of America actually had a second Civil War at some point in the late 20th century, which erupted over freedoms and rights. The second Civil War was soon followed by the Eugenics Wars in the 1990s when genetic engineering created Augments who became global warlords, chief among them Khan Noonien-Singh (Ricardo Montalbán). After the Augments were defeated, there was a period of peace as seen in Star Trek: Picard season 2 before World War III erupted in 2026 and lasted for thirty years.

Pike further revealed that World War III was a nuclear holocaust that resulted in the death of 30% of the Earth’s population. In addition, 600-million lifeforms were lost on the planet, which consists of untold flora and fauna. In order to preserve nature that would be lost on a planet irradiated by nuclear weapons, scientists launched seedpods into space that eventually grew in orbit. Amazingly, when the human race became a spacefaring society, Starfleet built Starbase One around the seed pods, which explains the domed forests surrounding the space station. Thankfully, Pike’s Earth history lesson had the desired effect on Kiley 279’s leadership and population. The Enterprise’s Captain brokered peace on Kiley 279 so that they didn’t repeat the Terran homeworld’s tragic mistakes.

The greater emphasis on Star Trek’s 21st century in Star Trek: Picard and Strange New Worlds has been illuminating. A greater understanding of how many devastating wars took place in Star Trek’s 20th and 21st century, enhances how miraculous it is that the human race was able to not only recover but eradicate war, disease, hunger, and a reliance on money only 50 years after making First Contact with the Vulcans in 2063. World War III brought Earth to the brink of extinction but Star Trek: Strange New Worlds highlights just how much humans evolved in such a short period of time so that the tragic wars of the past were not repeated on Earth.