Gwynne Dyer is a Canadian journalist, syndicated columnist, and military analyst. He is best known for his documentary television series War, which echoed the peace movement’s growing concern over the threat of nuclear war in the early 1980s. Nominated for an Oscar in 1985, War was based on his own military experience and extensive study.

After serving in the naval reserves of Canada , the United States, and Britain, Dyer completed his doctoral studies in military history at King's College, University in London, in 1973. He lectured on Military studies for the next 4 years before producing a seven-part radio series, Seven Faces of Communism, for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 1978. This quickly led to other radio series, including War, in six parts, in 1981. Based on this series, he was invited by the National Film Board of Canada, the country’s public film producer, to enlarge the project into a seven-part film series in 1983. On release to critical acclaim, the series was broadcast in 45 countries. 

War was a reflection of Dyer’s own growing concern about the proliferation of new technology, its impact on the changing nature of warfare, and the growing threat of nuclear annihilation. Filmed in ten countries and with the participation of six national armies, it examined the nature, evolution, and consequences of warfare. It featured interviews with top-level North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Warsaw Pact military leaders and strategists, many of whom spoke to the Western media for the first time. The series argued that in an era of total war, professional armies were no longer able to fulfill their traditional roles. The growth of nationalism, conscript armies, and nuclear technology had brought the world perilously close to Armageddon. War offered the unique perspective of the soldier, from the rigorous training of the young U.S. Marine recruits at the Parris Island Training Depot in South Carolina to the field exercises conducted by NATO and Warsaw Pact countries in Europe. It presented Military Officers from both sides talking frankly about how nuclear technology had changed their profession and followed them as they vividly described how any superpower conflict would inevitably lead to an all-out nuclear war. Dyer argued that the danger posed by the explosive mix of ideology and nuclear technology could be mitigated only by a total elimination of nuclear arsenals.

This award-winning series was soon followed by another production for the National Film Board of Canada in 1986, The Defence of Canada, an examination  of Canada's military role on the international scene. Following arguments similar to those postulated in War, Dyer called for Canada to set an example by rethinking its position in NATO and the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD). He maintained his ties in the Soviet Union and from 1988 to 1990 produced a six-part radio series, The Gorbachev Revolution which followed the thunderous changes occurring in Eastern Europe. He served as a military commentator in Canada during the Gulf War, and in 1994 his series The Human Race was broadcast nationally on the CBC. It was a personal inquiry into the roots, nature, and future of human politics and the threat posed by tribalism, nationalism, and technology to the world's environment. The next year, his television documentary on the war in Bosnia, Protection Force, aired.

Dyer continues to write a syndicated column on International affairs, which is published in 150 newspapers in 30 nations. He also lectures frequently on military history and global instability in the current world.