Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-27276671-20160214220907/@comment-410526-20160727155156

The "incredible time of peace" probably refers to the 80 or so years since the Great War (minus the Faunus War and any other smaller conflicts that took place in that time). And if Salem and Ozpin have been at it for millennia, 80 years isn't really such a long time.

The Great War, where humanity was divided and fought amongst themselves, seems almost identical to the ideal scenario for Salem. She says that she wishes to "divide" humanity, so it would make sense to me if Salem engineered the Great War, but Ozpin (or an agent of Ozpin) managed to broker a peace between the Kingdoms at Vytal and re-unite humanity.

After that major set-back, Salem was probably just biding her time and planning her next move. We know she's behind the current unrest, perhaps she was behind the Faunus War and the White Fang too, in an attempt to cause further divisions.