An artist’s concept of a Space Laser Satellite Defense System.

(20) STAR WARS

Space – the final front of war.

Yes, I’ve gone with this wilder entry in lieu of my usual kinky or kinkier entry for my final special mention. You might be surprised by what kinky entries I can squeeze out of a given subject, but wars are simply not a subject for such an entry.

And yes – I’ve chosen this as my final special mention entry partly because of the segue to my Top 10 Wars of Fantasy with that titular franchise, itself inspired by historical wars, primarily the Second World War.

I’ve also chosen it as a matching entry for space warfare as special mention for my top types of war – the historical and contemporary use of space for military purposes, strategy, or war, something which will probably loom larger with any active colonisation or development of space.

The Cold War had its most dramatic front in space – firstly with the ballistic missiles, descendants of V-2 missiles typically designed for sub-orbital space flight as the primary means of delivery for nuclear weapons, and secondly with the so-called space race to achieve technological targets first in their aerospace programs.

In the space race, the Soviets had an early lead, symbolized by Sputnik in 1957, but were overtaken by the Americans, as symbolized by the moon landing in 1969. Ironically, satellites ultimately had more significance than moon landings, albeit again more by the Americans, for military surveillance and communications.

Space warfare in the Cold War reached its height with the American Strategic Defense Initiative, nicknamed Star Wars after the cinematic franchise and as such the direct source for the title of this entry. It was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States against ballistic missile attack by deploying anti-missile weapons in space. Much of it was more theoretical possibility than practical reality, even now, but it was a matter of grave concern to the Soviet Union, perhaps contributing to its decline as well as the end of the Cold War, although other factors seem more direct and immediate.