Does the cold war with the Klingons imply an unstated earlier war?

[Xerxes1979]

We see that the NX class really is outmatched by most Klingon vessels in its period, while by the time of Kirk the staple Constitution can easily put down its D7 counterpart.

If the Klingons were watching this march of technological progress should they have not invaded the Federation prior to losing the arms race?

If we accept the on screen fact that the Klingon homeworld is relatively close to Earth, then I suspect that human and Klingon territorial touching occured well before the mid twenty-third century.

Which following explanitions best explains why the Klingons didn't take down the Federation?

(A) They dropped the ball and realized that the mutual defense strength of the early Federation, especially the Vulcans was too great.

(B) There was a war, but it was a stalemate. The interim Starfleet vessels defended Earth and as the Federation grew in strength the primary goal was peace through strength.

(C) No war ever occured, the Klingons only became really beligerent in the 2260s.

 

[The Wormhole]

I doubt there was ever a formal war. Relations between the Federation and Klingons was poor in the 23rd century, and it was common for their ships to engage each other in combat, but actual war? No, I don't think it ever came to that. Until Errand of Mercy, of course.

 

[ngc7293]

Enterprise was also in its own little universe. The writers made all kinds of mistakes that didn't match up with TOS or TNG.

I shouldn't say mistakes, I should say "changes".

 

[Bishop76]

Yeah, a lot of the additional source material before the later series (or even the stuff before TNG) assumed there was a conflict. FASA had written supplements to their role-playing game about it even. The Four Years War was what they called it, I believe... It's worth a read if you can find it, but it's very far removed from the "official canon" now.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I don't think the Klingons even thought much about the Federation until it got big enough to become an obstacle to their expansion plans in the Alpha Quadrant (Star Trek VI kind of implied that at least part of the Klingon Empire was in the Beta Quadrant). After that, it was then a case of both sides trying to outdo one another in claiming territory during TOS, IMO.

There were likely plenty of individual skirmishes between Klingon and Federation ships that gradually escalated into a powder keg situation--which was then promptly neutralized by the Organians.

 

[Timo]

Consider the real-world inspiration: there never was a war between the USSR and the United States, and the former basically always had slightly inferior aircraft, an important tool in fighting proxy wars and triumphing in "incidents". The USSR also had superior numbers of said aircraft, though, or could field a better selection of aircraft in a given conflict (say, MiG-15 and -17 in Korea in quantity, as opposed to very few equivalent US aircraft initially despite those definitely existing).

Taking the analogy a bit further, neither side had actual territorial claims or desires on the other, or competed for resources. It was just a game of international influence, and of securing another bit of additional national security.

Novels and the like give the Klingons an inherent expansion urge. Little of that is visible in the actual episodes, though: the Klingons seldom conquer, and when they do expand their influence, it's just in a rat race against the expanding UFP.

That said, I'd like to speculate that the Empire has undergone periods of weakness in the recent and distant past, and one of these prevented them from taking Earth when said primitive planet finally became an attractive target in the 20th century - and that Vulcan influence in the region was one of the main factors holding them back.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

If the Klingons were watching this technological march of progress...

I don't think there was any such thing. With a few exceptions, Starfleet, the Klingons and the Romulans used the same technolgy in 2151 that they do in 2278. The only difference is degree of power that technology brings to bear (evidenced by the out-of-time Defiant and Narada's paths of destruction in "In a Mirror, Darkly" and STXI). Remember that humans have much shorter lifespans than Klingons or Romulans, too - the D7/K'tinga class' 220+ year lifespan sounds a little silly, until you realize that that's only two Klingon lifespans and that the shorter-lived humans use the same ship designs for 100+ years (Miranda, Excelsior, Oberth etc).

Once equipped with photon(ic) torpedoes, the NX-01 cuts up a Klingon bird of prey (in "The Expanse") just as easily as Kirk's ship does a D7 a hundred years later. I think that's pretty much when the technological status quo was established.

 

[BillJ]

Or... while the Klingons had a technological advantage they simply lacked the resources to conquer and control Earth.

 

[Robert DeSoto]

We see that the NX class really is outmatched by most Klingon vessels in its period, while by the time of Kirk the staple Constitution can easily put down its D7 counterpart.

If the Klingons were watching this march of technological progress should they have not invaded the Federation prior to losing the arms race?

I don't think there was an arms race. I think once the Federation was formed, Starfleet was given Andorian, Vulcan and Tellarite technology. But probably used mostly Vulcan technology since they were the most advanced. The Surak class Vulcan combat cruisers had warp 7 engines, deflector shields, tractor beams and high yield particle weapons. That would explain how Starfleet ships were so completely outmatched in the 22nd Century, but were on par with Klingon warships in the 23rd and 24th Centuries.