Earth Alliance (Babylon Five)
The Earth Alliance is the principle human government in Babylon 5, controlling Earth and various human colonies in other systems.
Organization
The Earth Alliance appears to be a representative democracy with interstellar elections held at unspecified intervals. The Earth Alliance Government (EarthGov) is known to have a Senate as well as a Presidency, but no other EarthGov offices were identified in the series. The last known election was held in 2258, when President Louis Santiago and Vice President William Morgan Clark were re-elected. Clark became President after Santiago's assassination in late 2258, and Susanna Luchenko served as acting President following President Clark's suicide in 2261.
History
The Earth Alliance rose to prominence around 2230, when they allied with the League of Non-Aligned Worlds in the Dilgar War. Earth's entry into the war tipped the balance of power against the Dilgar, who were driven back to their homeworld and later became extinct when their sun went nova.
In 2243, the Earth Alliance sent an expedition toward Minbari space to seek contact with the Minbari Federation. They encountered the Grey Council's fleet as they entered Minbari territory, and the Warrior Caste captains of the Minbari ships switched off their stealth systems and opened their gunports as a display of good faith (showing exactly what they were so as not to deceive these strangers in their space). Powerful active scans from the Minbari ships also began to interfere with systems on the EarthForce vessels, including their jump engines. The commander of the EarthForce expedition panicked and opened fire on the Minbari fleet, starting a war that lasted two years, during which the Minbari obliterated virtually the entire EarthForce military with negligible losses. When they were on the brink of wiping out Earth itself, however, the Minbari abruptly surrendered without explanation. As the only civilization to ever "defeat" the Minbari in war, the Earth Alliance remained a significant force in galactic politics.
During the period that came to be known as the Shadow War, the Earth Alliance had a change in political structure. Because of concerns about attack from outside stellar powers, an increase began in security-driven police measures and political movements to monitor the population of the Earth and its colonies. When the elected president of the Earth Alliance was killed in uncertain circumstances, Vice President Clark became the president. Soon, Clark consolidated political power until he effectively made himself a dictator. This lead to many of the outlying colonies rebelling. Lead by Babylon 5, these colonies soon brought the battle to Earth itself, where President Clark, seeing his forces were defeated, committed suicide before he could be arrested by representatives of the Earth Alliance Senate. Before killing himself, he set the Earth's defensive satellites to fire on the surface of the planet, and without both rebel and loyalist forces cooperating to destroy them, would have decimated the population.
Territory
According to B5 "And Now for a Word", the Earth Alliance had colonies or military installations on at least 24 planets or moons in 14 solar systems in 2259. Known colonies include Mars, Proxima III, and Orion VII (all mentioned in B5 "Severed Dreams").
Threat Assessment
Earth Alliance territory is typical by the standards of the Young Races in Babylon 5, but small compared to that of the Star Trek Federation and tiny compared to the Star Wars Galactic Empire. Similarly, Earth Alliance fleet strength has never been greater than several hundred ships, which is small even by the standards of the other major powers in Babylon 5.