This war is a conditional prophecy. It never will happen literally. Note that the text lists ancient weapons of war that are no longer in use today: "horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armor, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords."
However, the book of Revelation has updated this prophecy to occur after the millennium.
However, the book of Revelation has updated this prophecy to occur after the millennium.
How do you know it is conditional?
How do you know that (for example), a nuclear war complete with magnetic pulses will not wipe out every computer and memory chip in the world? How do you know that we won't be sent back to the dark ages again? I am impressed at how Revelation looks low tech, not high tech.
It used to be that electric plants would operate, cars would operate, TV's would operate all without any computers & chips. But today it is a different story. Yes, there are a few 1957 Chevy's around with 4 barrel carburetors, which might leave the new computer chip cars standing still in a race.
It appears to me that civilization is very vulnerable because it is so dependent on the computer, which would be wiped out by the magnetic pulse of a hydrogen bomb. I doubt that oil well pumps and refineries would work if you wiped out the computers. If we were still operating on old technology like during the 1950's, when life was really pretty good. But we are not using that technology today. Maybe some old Amateur radios with tubes would still work until parts went bad that can't be replaced.
I see no reason why it could not be back to bows, arrows, & swords. Probably the word for sword would include the bayonet. Armor exists today. Horses are still around.
I wonder how many young people today can add, subtract, multiply, and divide without calculators. Imagine, no more cell phones, no internet, no telephones, no electricity. Imagine gangs of men looting. Imagine ammo plants that don't work without computers? Imagine break down of civilization because of disorder, gangs of sodomists raping persons on the street. I have heard that they may be stopping teaching cursive ligature; imagine everyone having to print because they can't do longhand.
I hope I am not here to see this. I can speculate that maybe the Rapture happens along with the nuclear war, explaining the disappearance of many persons. The USA now gone; utterly destroyed by nukes, nowhere in prophecy.,
I don't see that Revelation has updated the prophecy. Gog and Magog can rise more than once.