Earth Alliance (Babylon 5)
The
Earth Alliance is the name of a
fictional alliance of the countries of
Earth in the
television series Babylon 5. It was almost eliminated during the
Earth-Minbari War due to a botched first contact, and the war was the reason the Earth Alliance created the
first Babylon station.
In 2076 AD,
World War III erupted when
India,
Pakistan, and their allies (including the United Islamic Nations and the Pacific Consortium) attempted to annex several nation-states in the
Pacific Rim, actions staunchly opposed by their western-bloc counterparts. The conflict then rapidly spiralled out of control, resulting in the loss of countless lives by the time it burned itself out in 2084.
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. The Alliance quickly moved to supersede the
United Nations, which they finally succeeded in doing by 2107. 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, the Alliance crushed all opposition nations. At this time, humanity was growing too large for its home system, and all attempts to travel faster than light had failed. Although 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. 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, which culminated in the
Battle of the Line. After the war, the Earth Alliance decided to start the Babylon project by building a space station which would serve to a 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 misteriously dissapeared few after it was inagurated, and finally a fifth attempt resulted in Babylon 5.
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. They did so by blowing up
EarthForce One, while the Vice President was "conveniently" not on board because he had the flu. Over the course of one year 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. President Clark also 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 created the
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.Clark also circulated numerous rumors about "vast alien conspiracies against Earth" in order to spread fear among the populace and make them more willing to accept his "extraordinary measures" to "protect" Earth.
A year after ascending to the presidency,
EarthForce officers on space station
Babylon 5 smuggled Clark's doctor to Earth, where he gave testimony before the Earth Alliance's Senate that Clark's claim that a case of the flu kept him off of Earth Force One was a lie, that he hadn't been sick at all. This exposed before the public eye that Clark may have had a hand in
President Santiago's assassination.
However, in danger of the truth of his assassination conspiracy coming to light, President Clark acted quickly: citing the random appearance of an alien vessel near
Ganymede that destroyed a base there (which actually had been
captured by Clark's forces for experimentation, after which they lost control of it), President Clark declared
martial law throughout the Earth Alliance.
Following declaration of martial law, President Clark set his full plans in motion: Earthforce troops stormed the Senate building to put a stop to any impeachment hearings, then stormed the office of the military Chiefs of Staff who weren't loyal to Clark. Military patrols were then put on the streets in every major Earth city, as Clark began a full-scale crackdown against his opponents. Before he could be captured, EarthForce's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
General Hague, tried to stop him. General 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, replacement commander of Babylon 5. 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. As such, he would oppose Clark and Hague knew this. Sheridan eventually persuaded the Babylon 5 command staff officers to join the counter-conspiracy.
General Hague's counter-insurgency was not very successful, however. With only five
Omega class destroyers Hague tried to escape the Solar System at the Io Jump Gate transfer point, but was intercepted by a Clark-loyal fleet. What resulted was the first firing of one EarthForce ship on another since the Martian revolts. Only Hague's own flagship was able to escape, the
EAS Alexander.
Meanwhile, the governor of
Mars publicly stated that he would defy Clark's order and not implement martial law. In retaliation, President Clark ordered the full scale
carpet bombing of civilian population centers on Mars. Following this atrocity, the
Interstellar Network News, the Earth Alliance's primary news agency, revealed that they had been intimidated into keeping quiet about what they knew about what Clark was doing the last year, and had been keeping silent about his brutal reprisals of the past few days. However, in a frantic speech an anchor reported that he would break their silence now as EarthForce troops were descending on the ISN building. He hastily said that after the full-scale bombing of Mars, many of the outer planets like
Orion 7 and
Proxima 3 had
seceded from the Earth Alliance in protest, and set themselves up as independent states. However, Clark's troops then stormed the building on air, the sound of gunfire filling the building before the livetransmission went dead.
The
EAS Alexander then stopped at Babylon 5 for repairs, as Captain Sheridan said they would render humanitarian aid in repairing them. Unfortunately, General Hague had died from wounds en-route. Then Captain Hiroshi's
EAS Churchill, another Hague-loyal Omega-class destroyer, arrived at B5. She brought dire news: Earthforce had achieved space superiority over Orion 7 and Proxima 3, which were now cut off; Earthforce was now occupying Mars, and though there was fierce groundfighting the Martians were losing; very few ships had defected away from Clark, those not appointed by him were keeping silent due to intimidation. Effectively, Babylon 5 was the only Earth Alliance planet or base that President Clark did not control. Worse, an EarthForce fleet of two Omega class destroyers and many wings of
Starfuries were headed for Babylon 5 to arrest the command staff and put it under jurisdiction of Nightwatch. They had been ordered to take over Babylon 5 even
before the Alexander had arrived.
Resolving that they would not give in to Clark without a fight, Sheridan made a stand. In a public transmission, he said that Clark did not have the authority to declare martial law in these circumstances nor to bomb Mars, and that he didn't swear loyalty to Clark, but the Earth Alliance constitution, which Clark no longer represented. Thus, in response to Clark's unconstitutional actions, Babylon 5 declared its independence of the Earth Alliance, seceding to "function as an independent state until President Clark is removed from office".
In the resulting battle the
EAS Churchill was critically damaged and rammed one of the Clark-loyal ships, destroying both. Babylon 5's defense grid fired the final volleys to destroy the other, as opposing Starfuries engaged in dogfights and Clark-loyal commando squads boarded the station, resulting in costly fighting against the Babylon 5 security forces (armed in riot gear) and
Narn supporters.
Ultimately, the
Minbari Delenn intervened, promising to destroy any Earthforce ships that tried to attack Babylon 5. Not willing to risk going into battle against three Warcruisers and Delenn's
Whitestar, the EarthForce Ships retreated. The
EAS Alexander left to try and raise more support.
Babylon 5 would become the bastion of opposition against Clark. Two years later, Sheridan would lead an allied fleet that retook Proxima 3 and Orion 7. On the way, many EarthForce ships defected to Sheridan, notably the Omega-class
EAS Agamemnon, which he took as his command ship.
Sheridan then allied with the Martian resistance to defeat Clark. In the Battle of Mars, most of Clark's fleet deployed to meet Sheridan head on. However, the Martian resistance smuggled many
Shadow-altered
telepaths onto their vessels, which when activated disabled 25 out of 35 destroyers without firing a shot. Sheridan then moved on to Earth, where in a fit of madness a la
Dr. Strangelove, President Clark turned Earth's own satellite defense grid on itself, attempting to launch a suicidal "
Scorched Earth" assault against the entire planet rather than surrender. However, the allied fleet destroyed them before they could, and President Clark committed suicide.
After his overthrow, in exchange for their aid, Sheridan declared Mars independent.
However, the Earth Alliance still remains a major power in the galaxy.
Aside from Babylon 5 itself, the most common human space stations mentioned in the B5 universe are wheel-shaped stations, likely derived from the
Stanford torus design for
Space Colonies. Even so, comparatively little is known about them. They appear to have a standardized design, suggesting they are relatively mass-produced and somewhat generic, with few internal variations. They appear to be built and used for a variety of aplications, some of these stations are military in nature, (e.g. the unnamed station of this type destroyed during the
Earth-Minbari War seen during
In The Beginning), others are civilian settlements (e.g. the station harboring
Mr. Bester in the script for an unfilmed episode of
Crusade), and others appear to be simultaneously used for both purposes (As, indeed, B5 itself was), such as 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 (Possibly in the
L3 position, as the moon is nowhere in sight) on one occasion.
These stations rotate to produce
pseudogravity. Actual specifications, size, and crew compliment are not known, but the Babylon 5 Tech Manual suggests they are exactly one kilometer in diameter. It's difficult to judge, as we've never seen one in close proximity to an Earth Alliance vessel who's measurements we know for sure, but this seems uncomfortably small, and, if it's true, it would actually be considerably smaller (And hence less useful from an industrial and commercial point of view) than the original proposal for a
Stanford torus, as well as considerably smaller than most Earth Alliance warships. A more likely suggestion is approximately a mile in diameter, though this isn't based on any difinitive information, and is really just a guess. Assuming a diameter of a mile, the station could easily hold 10,000 or so people quite comfortably, and with not much more population density than in most modern American suburbs, though again this is based on the specifications for the Stanford design. By contrast, Babylon 5 was frequently said to have a quarter million souls living within it, so this kind of station could easily hold vastly more people if one were willing to give up on a lot of internal open spaces.
No Earth Alliance station appears to have any large windows in it's superstructure. Why this should be has never been made clear.
