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When this revelation was given on 25 December 1832 at or near Kirtland, it was talking about the political uncertainties generated by the 1832 American Nullification Crisis.
The 1832 Tariff Act favored the Norths industrial interests instead of the Southern agricultural ones. Because of the impact it had on foreign trade, it was declared null and void by the South Carolina legislature. President Andrew Jackson responded by calling upon federal troops to stop any possible rebellion in the state. While this was going on, Joseph Smith received the Prophecy on War.
In the preface to the revelation in the History of the Church, Joseph stated that the Nullification Crisis was the background for the revelation. In this revelation, he describes "wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning with the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls; And the time will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place".
In this way, he seems to say that the Nullification Crisis will result in world war. This becomes clear in the next verse, which originally read: "For behold, the Southern States will call upon other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and they shall also call upon other nations, in order to defend themselves against other nations, and thus war shall be poured out upon all nations".
Upon further reading of the revelation, Joseph Smith stated that this war would engulf the whole world, destroying the fabric of society (slaves raise up in war against their masters in verse 4; American Indians - vex the gentiles in verse 5; and culminating in the apocalyptic "consumption decreed" which makes "a full end of all nations " verse. 6 before the second coming of the Lord.
In 1832, the prophecy predicted the immediate onset of a series of events leading up to the Second Coming of Christ.