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 TV show 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 Babylon 5.

Early Development

The Earth Alliance was founded in 2085 by the countries of Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, and US. 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 a terrorist bombing in San Diego 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 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 build Babylon 5 to prevent another war.

Earth Alliance under President Clark

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 Earth Force One, while the Vice President was "conveniently" not on board because he had the flu. For one year Clark then 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 experminatation, 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, Earth Force's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Hague, tried to stop him. General Hague had suspected Clark's assassination of Santiago for a long time, 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 know Sheridan, and Hague knew that Sheridan was totally loyal to the truth and would oppose Clark. Sheridan eventually converted the Babylon 5 command staff officers into joining 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 Sytem 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 Martian 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, quickly reported that they had been being intimidated into keeping quite 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 live transmission went dead.

The EAS Alexander then stopped at Babylon 5 for repairs, as Captain Sheridan said he 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, and EarthForce fleet of two Omega class destroyers and many wings of Starfuries was 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 gave a speech citing 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 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 Stafuries 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 new EarthForce fleet to attack Babylon 5. 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 30 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 to "scorth the Earth". 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.fr:Alliance terrienne