This brewing conflict goes back to Alma 35. When Alma the Younger went to try to convert the apostate Zoramites, Alma feared that they would create an alliance with the Lamanites and cause armed conflict. He took with him the best people he could, went north to Antionum, and tried to convert them. It did not quite work. This conflict now was the result of the partial failure of Alma’s mission.
Preparatory blessings and commandments are included in Alma’s parting words to Helaman, Shiblon, and Corianton (Alma 36–42). These powerful chapters act as a hiatus between the brewing war in Alma 35 and the actual outbreak of conflict here in Alma 43. Those blessings may have been placed in the midst of those increasing tensions in order to show that, although he had not had all the success that he had hoped for in Antionum, Alma came home and said to himself, “We need to prepare. I need to strengthen my people. I need to be sure that my sons have all the blessings and instruction that they possibly can have.”
The righteousness that allowed the Nephites to win in Alma 43 and 44 is, in part, attributable to the preparation that Alma the Younger consciously interjected. He wanted his sons and future generations to know that the way to be prepared for conflicts is to understand the doctrine, be committed, and follow the ways of righteousness, as he laid out in his sons’ blessings.
Book of Mormon Central, “Why Was the Zoramite Defection So Disastrous? (Alma 35:11),” KnoWhy 143 (July 14, 2016).