A reoccuring theme embelished by literature and the Final Fantasy games has been that of the conflict that takes place in war. It is one of the oldest and most bloody vices of mankind repeated time and time again across span of recorded history. Groups have become nations, and nations have become empires all from war. Empires have been ravaged and reformed because of it, and many have died in making it and spreading it. Wars have shaped the political and cultural landscape we see today, while leaving a undeniable crimson stain of death upon the human race.

War is conflict. War begins as a desire by one group of people or a political ruler backed by a force of armed soldiers and weaponry to gain control over another group of people or land. War can also stem from an inability to accept the beliefs, lifestyle, and actions of an opposed race or culture. Sometimes wars begin with words spoken against a way of thinking or a way of living between two groups, while other times they begin with misunderstanding of overinflated circumstances. War is a tool of power. Many leaders of nations have used it to flex the prowess of that nation and conquer peoples less able to resist their oppression. War is a double-edged sword. Throughout history war has been used to not only destroy but remake and resist an oppressing force with the end result being a more productive and enjoyable lifestyle for people who had prior been under a tyranny.

War is all about weapons and materiel. The weapons of war have been both varied and ingenious with the end result being the death of human beings in one form or another. Throughout history efforts have been made to make these weapons more efficient and deadly. Early weapons were fashioned out of wood and stone to make crude stabbing impliments like spears, knives, and axes that not only were used for hunting but also to kill rivals who attemted to invade lands and territories of various tribes and groups as well. When communities, tribes, and factions joined together to form nations their ability to wage warfare increased substantially and led to the creation of armies of soldiers of varying heirarchy whose sole duty, whether bound by command or religious edict, was to be the hand of those who planned their fate. Those armies in turn themselves became weapons wielded by rulers and despots to shape the perceived collective will of the nation and what was believed to be divine oversight. Over time soldiers were outfitted with more destructive devices, such as bows and arrows, iron swords, and impliments of mobilization such as horses and chariots to expand the ability to wage warfare and invade foriegn lands. Soon after the explosive properies of gun powder were discovered, the gun was invented, a device that forever changed the face of warfare and battlefield enguagements to come. Early Muskets and wheel-lock pistols allowed soldiers to damage enemies from a distance and large cannons were used to destory fortifications, castles, and naval vessels. The industrial revolution allowed for the mass production of guns, ammunition, and artillery, broadening the ability of budding independant nations to defend their liberty. The twentieth century brought the most sweeping changes in warfare technology and saw the most destructive and catastrophically violent conflicts ever set upon by human beings. No longer did soldiers, and civilians for that matter, have to be aware of just bullets and mortars, but also toxic gases like VX, tanks, mines, and grenades. Submarines became a mechanized agent of destruction used to cause havoc at sea and immobilize sea faring craft. The invention of the aeroplane not only freed humankind's ties to the ground, it became a formidably destructive tool of aerial warfare and harbinger of deadly bombs for ground based installations and entrenchments. Similar to what had been previously repeated in history nations rose against nations and their leaders whether, Kaiser, Fuhror, or Emperor, thirsted for world domination at the expense of those who stood in thier way. In the battle against dictatorship, allied nations invented ingenious ways to thwart the enemy and eventually prevail. Technologies such as Radar, Rocketry, and Computers were developed during these dire times. The Second "World War" saw the invention of the most destructive weaponry forces ever created, The Atom Bomb. Detonation of the first A-bombs and eventual use of the nuclear device over Hiroshima, and Nagasaki Japan in 1945, proved that human beings finally posessed the ability to annihilate each other on a massive scale. The invention of the nuclear bomb, it's advancement, and it's proliferation amongst nations has brought the most painful philosophical debates to the forefront. After the dictatorship regimes of World War II were quelled into submission, nations who had the most destructive weapon on Earth became inheriently defensive about their counterparts, and political differance often brought an aire of fear and state of perpetual preparedness for armagedden. Although in recent years there have been efforts made to reduce the stockpile of nuclear weapons by the world's superpower nations, there still remain multitudes of these genocidal devices in the military arsenals of many countries. Today, war and "organized conflict" is an art of technology, supplanted by supersonic jets, stealth, laser guided missles, global postioning, star wars, as well as a vast array of troops, combat vehicles, and networked mobile and stationary installations designed with the sole intent of subduing the enemy and maintaining order on a global scale.

The paradox of today's society is that there must be war to maintain peace. It seems that the world wars of the early half of the twentieth century may not be repeated any time soon, but in order to maintain stability in a globally interdependant world, small or localized conflicts must be delt with in a manner that benefits the whole of society and elimates the potential of further deterioration. From wars, human beings learn, at the unfortunate expense of those who suffer, and mistakes are recognized more readilly before they are repeated. There may come a time when all people of all race, religion, and ethnic origin can comfortably live without the looming threat of war but this may take a long time to come to fruition. By looking retrospectively at the difficult lessons wars have taught, we, the developing generation of today, can be the ones set into motion an end to an era of human ignorance, and move forward and evolve intellectually and socially, as well as expand the potential of the human race to conquer the adversary of unanswered questions about ourselves and the greater environment we occupy. When examined from the perspective of space, the planet Earth, is one unified body without national borders, without classes of wealthy and poor, without religious affiliations, without ethnic conflict, without emotion, and without division. The planet that is Earth, accompanied by eight neigbors and various regions of massive debris, drift silently through the light-speckled emptiness of space encircling the nearest gravitational source, our sun. It is merely one of billions of similar stars in our galaxy which itself is a member of billions of other galaxies that make up what can be seen in the universe. From this vantage point the petty differences of human beings seem rather infinitesmal, and it puts into perspective what our ultimate goal is truly destined to become.