War is always a very real threat that looms on the horizon for every nation and culture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War) and follows closely in front of or behind a societal collapse. No matter where in the world a person lives, their country or nation has already been at war at least once with other countries or with itself, for rights, freedom, and other issues. But, war can encompass the whole world as well as just a few countries, as seen with both World Wars. The difference in the wars of the past and the wars of tomorrow is that technology is erupting to the point that it is almost useless for armies of men to march across the land to destroy other armies. A technological weapon can be sent from miles and miles away to do the damage for them, creating yet another threat to be added to the end of the world theories. With newer warfare out there on the market, such as nuclear and biological war, one push of a button could cause the complete destruction of the Earth and all life upon it.
The threat of nuclear war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nuclear war) is a huge issue that looms on the horizon and in the back of the minds of the billions of people who inhabit Earth. This theory of a nuclear holocaust is one that has been studied, prophesied, theorized, and even made into many movies about what would, or will, happen if there is ever a nuclear war any where in the world. The effects of a nuclear war, no matter how large or small, will have consequences that will reach all over the globe, effecting every person on the planet in some way or another. The larger the scale of the nuclear war, the larger the problems will be that will plague the Earth, the smaller the scale, the smaller the problems.
Nuclear winter could wipe out most of the people living on Earth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nuclear winter). Studies have shown that during a nuclear winter, the sun will be blocked out over parts, or all, of the Earth, causing temperatures to drop drastically, people and animals to die, crops to perish, the water to be contaminated beyond usefulness, and many other health issues that will cause more death on top of the radiation issues.
With the current political uproar about certain countries having the capability to produce these nuclear warheads, the idea of a nuclear war on a global scale is not one that should be taken lightly. Not realizing the consequences of their actions, anyone can launch a nuclear warhead and cause major meltdown of any country, anywhere in the world, and, in turn, affect their own country and people as well. Without meaning to, they are going to kill most of the people they claim to be fighting for, one nuclear bomb or warhead could cause more damage than many people realize.
Another theory that plays into the war arena is with the use of chemical or biological warfare (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_warfare). With the technology that is out there today, and with so many people gaining access to every kind of monstrous disease and chemical munitions, it is also easy to fathom that this could cause a meltdown of the world’s population, especially if they are of a biological sort. In the same way that a mega-strain of a disease can cross the globe quickly, so could a biological threat from a missile or bomb. It would not only have a devastating effect on the country where the biological munition was loosened, but it would have a huge impact all over the world due to the fact that it would be hard to control on a mass scale. Without an antidote readily available, millions of people would be sick and perish, and eventually it would effect the country that used the weapon.
As with a biological weapon, chemical weapons have very little antidotes that are available to the general public. A chemical munition would cause just as much, if not more, damage than a biological weapon would, due to the fact that most chemical munitions cause instant death to the immediate population that surrounds the site, a slower death for those exposed but not in the immediate area, and other problems that will significantly alter the life lines of the population after they were slightly infected with the chemical. A mass hysteria or mass insanity would also follow, which could possibly kill just as many people in the process. Without an antidote to the poison, people would have to fight for the ability to escape the affected lands, food, uncontaminated water, and other basic necessities of life just to survive.