Wiktionary
external conflict
n. (context literary theory English) A conflict that is between a character and an external force, such as another character.
Usage examples of "external conflict".
In predicting that the West will reach Caesarism by 2000, Spengler is predicting the end of such institutions in the West utterly without regard to any external conflict.
First, there must be an end to war and national rivalry and only then could one turn to the internal miseries that, after all, had external conflict as their chief cause.
If there is more external conflict, I have tried to add more inner content.