The Great Emu War was a real conflict waged between real soldiers and real emus. An emu is a bird. The Emu War took place in the darkest years of the Great Depression in a place that is already an insane place to live, Australia. Some poor soldiers that had managed to survive World War I went home to Australia; they were given land to farm that wasn't good for farming, the economy went sour, and then the government screwed them over. And THEN the emus showed up.