UFP-Klingon War!

[Atekimogus]

I am currently rewatching TNG seasons 1 and 2 (because I am feeling retro atm and I never watched them in english) and I stumbled upon a few hints about a UFP-Klingon war I basically know nothing about.

One hint is from Q who insults Worf telling him it is no wonder they lost the war with the federation. The other one is from "The Emissary", were the klingon sleeper ship from 75years back still thinks they are at war with the UFP. Now one could assume they just mean a "cold war" state but on the other hand the klingon captain explicitly states that he has standing orders to fire on every federation vessel he encounters which seems a bit extreme for a cold war cat and mouse play.

So obviously the events of star trek VI did not lead to peace and there was a state of war approx. 75 years before the events of the second tng season.
Do we have any info on it or was it picked up in one of the novels?

_

[Bryan Moore]

I think "War" refers to cold war, honestly.

[Deepcrush]

The UFP and the KE according to Picard would suffer around 40 years more of hostility. At some point, after TUC, the two powers became strained. Somewhere along that line fighting broke but the KDF was still to badly weakened by the Praxis explosion. So, the UFP won the war. Things went back to a cold war state which continued until the events of Yesterdays Enterprise. In YE, the E-C goes down fighting trying to save a klingon colony. This is in spite of the 4 to 1 odds and the hostility between the two powers. The KE sees this as a great and noble action (or at least their people do) and as such they can't be at war with such an honorable people when the RSE (who was an unseen ally) is so cowardly attacking.

[steamrunner]

I agree that it is a Cold War... Anything that Q says should be taken with a grain of salt. I've read dozens of Trek novels and I don't recall a full-scale war - skirmishes here and there, perhaps, but nothing full-blown...

[Deepcrush]

Stated on the show means its canon. There for there must have been a war.

[steamrunner]

Stated on the show means its canon. There for there must have been a war.

CANON blows me out of the water every time...

[Atekimogus]

I agree that it is a Cold War... Anything that Q says should be taken with a grain of salt. I've read dozens of Trek novels and I don't recall a full-scale war - skirmishes here and there, perhaps, but nothing full-blown...

No absolutly not. First I think it is not in Worfs nature to simply accept such a statement if it were not true. Second, I did wisely not base my argument on Q's ravings but on the episode "The Emissary" were it is cleary stated that there was a war and that the klingons on the sleeper ship still think that they are at war. How many soviet or navy-captains had standing orders to fire at each other on sight?

So we must assume that at one point approx. 75 years ago from a tng perspective there was a war with the klingons and my questions was just if we know anything about it, which - appart from the happenings of yesterday's enterprise as correctly citated by Deepcrush - seems not to be the case, shame though especially for deep since it's a safe bet that the Excelsiors would be the match winners in such a war .

[Sionnach Glic]

I'd say it probably reffered to the Cold War.

[Tsukiyumi]

I'm with Ateki on this one, based on this:

"The Emissary" were it is cleary stated that there was a war and that the klingons on the sleeper ship still think that they are at war. How many soviet or navy-captains had standing orders to fire at each other on sight?

Which I remember. This indicates that the KE and the UFP were in a shooting war when that particular ship left for the Delta Quadrant. Might have only been a few weeks of open hostilities, but clearly they'd gone hot.

Like Ateki said, during the Cold War, we certainly had no "shoot on sight" doctrine, or it wouldn't have been a "cold" war.

[Mikey]

US troops had orders to fire upon the VC on sight, and there was technically never a war at all in Viet Nam. The questions is did the comments mean "declared war" or "instances of combat?" Kirk and co. certainly exchanged fire with Klingons plenty of times, without the aegis of an actual state of war - instances like that could easily be what the "war" comment referred to.

[Tsukiyumi]

I could see it going either way.

[Capt. Jethro]

Stated on the show means its canon. There for there must have been a war.

CANON blows me out of the water every time...

Oh that is soooooooo true.

[Captain Seafort]

So obviously the events of star trek VI did not lead to peace and there was a state of war approx. 75 years before the events of the second tng season.

At some point, after TUC, the two powers became strained. Somewhere along that line fighting broke but the KDF was still to badly weakened by the Praxis explosion. So, the UFP won the war.

Nitpick here - season 2 of TNG is 2365. Seventy-five years earlier is 2290 - three years before Khitomer.

[Atekimogus]

US troops had orders to fire upon the VC on sight, and there was technically never a war at all in Viet Nam. The questions is did the comments mean "declared war" or "instances of combat?" Kirk and co. certainly exchanged fire with Klingons plenty of times, without the aegis of an actual state of war - instances like that could easily be what the "war" comment referred to.

But what you described with Kirk & Co isn't that the exact difference between a skirmish and a war? Now english isn't my first language and I might be wrong but imho there is a difference between Kirk and a few hotheaded klingons like Kruge taking potshots at each other with both governments denying it because neither wants a war and an actual war.

Are even all Klingons part of the imperial navy? Since they are organised in rather independent houses I would say that there is a lot of potential for people like Kruge - who are only one step above space pirate - to make things interesting for both sides, but that still isn't a war imho.

At some point, after TUC, the two powers became strained. Somewhere along that line fighting broke but the KDF was still to badly weakened by the Praxis explosion. So, the UFP won the war.

Nitpick here - season 2 of TNG is 2365. Seventy-five years earlier is 2290 - three years before Khitomer.

Interesting. Well the 75 years is an exact quote from the "The Emissary" therefore unfortunatly canon.......maybe she rounded a bit but why someone would round up or down to 75 remains a mystery. Maybe "Klingon" years? How long are those?
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[Mikey]

But what you described with Kirk & Co isn't that the exact difference between a skirmish and a war? Now english isn't my first language and I might be wrong but imho there is a difference between Kirk and a few hotheaded klingons like Kruge taking potshots at each other with both governments denying it because neither wants a war and an actual war.

You are correct. However, in colloquial or vernacular usage, it's easy to take Q's reference to "war" and apply it to either scenario.