Earth Alliance (Babylon 5)
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The Earth Alliance is the name of a fictional alliance of the countries of Earth in the television series Babylon 5. The transition of Earth government from a democratic, post-war government to an authoritarian, militaristic one is a major theme of the show.
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[edit] Stations and colonies
Aside from Babylon 5 itself, the most common human space stations mentioned in the B5 universe are wheel-shaped, Stanford torus design space ships. These stations rotate to produce pseudogravity. They appear to have a standardized design with few internal variations. The oft-mentioned "Io Station" that maintained the principal Jumpgate into and out of Earth's Solar System. Garibaldi also mentions one of these stations is "Near Mars" in the episode TKO. One is also seen orbiting Earth on one occasion.
Colonies of the Earth Alliance include Mars, Orion 7, and Proxima 3.
[edit] Early development
The Earth Alliance was founded in 2085 by the countries of Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States in the aftermath of World War III to replace the United Nations, which was officially dissolved that year.[1] The founding nations also made a strong attempt to explore space by setting up bases on the moon and a colony on Mars by 2090.
In 2122, the Earth Alliance had become the official governing body of humanity and Earth. This started a series of conflicts primarily with nations that didn't want to be part of the Earth Alliance. After San Diego was destroyed by a nuclear terrorist attack in 2150, [2] the Alliance crushed all opposition nations.
Though scientists had discovered hyperspace, they still were unable to send large objects such as ships through. Thus the Earth Alliance began sending ships into space in which people had been put into stasis in the hopes of finding alien life. In 2156, a Centauri patrol fleet made contact with Earth after detecting the use of hyperspace to relay radio communications.
After making first contact with the Centauri, the Earth Alliance saw massive growth. With technology purchased from the Centauri, the Alliance was able to jump forward 200 years. Humans began establishing footholds in other star systems. After the expansion brought Earth into conflict with a number of alien races, the Earth Alliance formed a military arm called EarthForce. In 2231, the Earth Alliance became a galactic superpower when it declared war on the Dilgar in response to the atrocities committed by that race. Within a year of the Earth Alliance's entrance into the war the Dilgar were defeated.
After the Dilgar War, the Earth Alliance entered an optimistic period of expansion. However, in 2247 the Earth Alliance had a disastrous first contact with the Minbari, resulting in the Earth-Minbari War. The Minbari had been a space faring race for one thousand years and wielded technology far superior to the humans. After two years of bloody slaughter the Minbari conquered or destroyed every human colony and finally reached Earth. The last battle of the war was the Battle of the Line, where the Minbari surrendered under mysterious circumstances.
After the war, the Earth Alliance decided to start the Babylon project by building a space station which would serve to create better understanding between Earth and alien species, and also would help to avoid war. The first three Babylon stations were sabotaged and destroyed during their construction. Then, Babylon 4 was built successfully but mysteriously disappeared shortly before it was to come on-line, and finally a fifth attempt resulted in Babylon 5.
[edit] Clark Administration
Years after the Earth-Minbari War, the Earth Alliance entered into a civil war which resulted in the overthrow of President Morgan Clark. It began when then Vice-President Clark allied with the Psi Corps to assassinate President Santiago by blowing up EarthForce One.
Season 2 shows the Earth Alliance getting involved in various disputes and military actions (see for example Gropos and The Fall of Night). The crisis eventually comes in Season 3 when Babylon 5 becomes independent of Earthgov, leading to a confrontation between the station and an expeditionary force sent by President Clark (see Severed Dreams).
In season 2 and the first half of season 3, President Clark transformed the Earth Alliance into an Orwellian fascist police-state, by slowly shaping the state to mirror his xenophobic agenda of paranoia and fear of aliens. Clark gradually replaced most of the EarthForce ship commanders with those loyal to him, and the rest could be intimidated into following orders with threats of reprisal against their families. Clark created the Ministry of Peace and Nightwatch, a secret police organization tasked with arresting anyone even suspected of sedition or who were using their right of free speech to criticize Clark's government.
EarthForce's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General William Hague, had suspected for a long time that Clark was involved in the assassination of Santiago, and had begun a low-level counter-conspiracy that included Captain John Sheridan. Because of Sheridan's war record, Clark thought he would be an anti-alien warhawk that would support him. However, he didn't realize that Sheridan was completely loyal to the truth and considered aliens to be (potential) allies. Sheridan eventually persuaded the Babylon 5 command staff officers to join the counter-conspiracy.
It was revealed that Clark's forces had found a Shadow vessel buried on Ganymede. Clark was having the ship studied in order to learn its secrets. John Sheridan took the White Star to Ganymede, and destroyed the vessel.
[edit] Civil War
The armed conflict began when Mars refused to accede to President Clark's order of martial law. In retaliation, Clark ordered EarthForce to attack various installations on Mars including those containing civilians. In response to the bombings, the colonies Orion 7 and Proxima 3 and the space station, Babylon 5 seceded from the Earth Alliance. In response to B5's independence declaration, Clark ordered the destroyers Agrippa and Roanoke to seize control of the station. However, Babylon 5 with assistance from other rebel ships and Minbari warcruisers are able to repel the initial attack as well as a second wave of Earth warships.
After the second Shadow War ended, Sheridan turned his attention to overthrowing President Clark. Sheridan first liberated Proxima 3 from a group of Omega class destroyers with the use of Minbari built White Stars. In order to destroy any support Sheridan had, Clark began to spread propaganda that Sheridan was under alien influence. Sheridan eventually made it to Earth, but only with rebel EarthForce ships to avoid any connotations of alien influence only to find that Clark had turned Earth's global orbiting defense grid on the planet and then committed suicide. Earth ships (including recently Pro-Clark ships) along with alien vessels that were on the sidelines destroyed the defense platforms before any damage was done to the planet.
After Clark's suicide, Susanna Luchenko of the Russian Consortium was named President. Sheridan then declared Mars independent.
[edit] References
- ^ Graw, Bruce & Glass, Robert (2000). Babylon 5 Wars Rules Compendium, 2nd Edition. Agents of Gaming, Dayton, Ohio. ISBN 0-9700628-3-4.
- ^ Guide page: "And the Sky Full of Stars". Retrieved on October 19, 2006.
