History of The World

The First Holy Grail War took place around 1800, but it was not meant to be anything like the future Holy Grail Wars. It was not named as such, only meant to be a ritual for the families to reach Akasha. It took ten years from its establishment to gather the necessary energy to manifest, but the Three Families originally planning to utilize it realized that the system could only allow for one person to utilize it. Though they had the same goals, their opinions on how to reach them were different, so the unforeseen aspect caused them to break off their alliance. They instead agreed to proceed with the system and means to create the Grail, but they would then become enemies when it was summoned.   Due to requiring seven Heroic Spirits to achieve the ritual and seven Masters to summon them, they had brought in four outside magi with the call of "We've succeeded in manifesting the Grail. If you'd like to witness this miracle, join us and become Masters." Though the outsider magi had only sought to learn about the ritual of activating the Grail, they used the internal quarrel as an opportunity to grant their own desires. Though the Three Families held the rights to the Grail, winning the conflict would allow them to obtain a wish regardless of the ancestry.   It was not a major conflict in the end, and can be called a "small quarrel of sorts" due to the conflicting opinions and interests. From the point of view of the Einzberns, the first time ended before the completion. The evocation site of the Grail was held at Ryuudou temple on Mount Enzou.

The Third Holy Grail War took place in the 1930s, held on the eve of World War II. The fourth evocation site was confirmed and established, later becoming the center of the developing residential area of Shinto, the Fuyuki City Hall. Jubstacheit von Einzbern prepared the Einzbern forest and castle as the family's headquarters. The Tohsaka and the Edelfelt families were participants. The Edelfelts had two Masters, each with the same Saber-class Servant due to their unique Sorcery Trait. The Einzberns, tired of losing out on reclaiming the Third Magic, subverted the usual system in an attempt to summon the Zoroastrian god, Angra Mainyu. They obtained Avenger, which replaced the Berserker-class, but he was a very weak Servant without any abilities.   During the courser the Lesser Grail with the Imperial Army and the Nazis as well, and the fighting unfolded in the Imperial Capital. Avenger was lost early during the conflict, while upholding the Saber class' reputation, at least one of the Edelfelt sisters made it to the end. They were ultimately defeated by the Tohsaka, and the fate of the younger sister is unknown. The older sister ran away from the country, promising never to come back. The Lesser Grail was destroyed during the battles before the victor could be decided, so the ritual became meaningless and failed. The evocation site of the Grail was set to be at the Fuyuki Church.   There was a meeting held at a suitable time that appointed the then young Risei Kotomine as the supervisor for the next Holy Grail War. The ritual ended in failure, but Avenger, Angra Mainyu, was absorbed and the Greater Grail was contaminated. Up until that point, only true Heroic Spirits were summoned, but that contamination allowed for "something other than a Heroic Spirit" to be summoned during later Holy Grail Wars.

The Fifth Holy Grail War took place in 2004. Kirei Kotomine maintained his contract with Archer from the previous war, and though he was supposed to act as the impartial mediator from the Church, he mortally wounded Bazett Fraga McRemitz and took her Servant, Lancer. Rin Tohsaka (as shown in Unlimited Blade Works) emerged as the victor and helped in destroying the Grail rather than activating it.

The Holy Grail System in New York was established April 16, 2018 by Gregory von Einzbern under the direction of Jubstacheit von Einzbern.  With the removal of the previous system, which was corrupted by Avenger in the third iteration, this was a chance at a fresh start to try and win the Grail.   Old Man Acht was clever in this second system's creation, however, and directed Gregory to make alterations to the system.  Previously, the Fuyuki Grail System could only pluck true Heroic Spirits from the Throne of Heroes before Avenger was assimilated in the Third War.  This change to the New York system mimicked that effect without the corruptive nature of Avenger.