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War is a state of armed conflict between states, governments, societies and informal paramilitary groups, such as mercenaries, insurgents and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, aggression, destruction, and mortality, using regular or irregular military forces. Warfare refers to the common activities and characteristics of types of war, or of wars in general. Total war is warfare that is not restricted to purely legitimate military targets, and can result in massive civilian or other non-combatant suffering and casualties.
Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life. It has been called the "literature of ideas", and often explores the potential consequences of scientific, social, and technological innovations.
Babylon 5 is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Television. After the successful airing of a test pilot movie on February 22, 1993, Babylon 5: The Gathering, in May 1993 Warner Bros. commissioned the series for production as part of its Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN). The show premiered in the US on January 26, 1994, and ran for five seasons.
Until the early 23rd Century the mighty Centauri Republic controlled a vast empire. When the Centauri became decadent and corrupt their empire began to decline and the Centauri military began gradually to withdraw from large areas of the galaxy. As this happened another alien race, the Dilgar, moved in to fill the void left by the Centauri. The Dilgar were a xenophobic race who displayed little except contempt for alien species. Although not as advanced technologically as the Minbari or Centauri, the Dilgar were still more advanced and powerful than most of the other alien species they came into contact with. As the Centauri retreated in the early 23rd Century, the Dilgar slowly increased the size of their own empire by conquering or simply annexing nearby worlds.
Xenophobia is the fear or hatred of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange. Xenophobia can involve perceptions of an ingroup toward an outgroup and can manifest itself in suspicion of the activities of others, and a desire to eliminate their presence to secure a presumed purity and may relate to a fear of losing national, ethnic or racial identity.
The Minbari are a fictional alien race featured in the television show Babylon 5. The Minbari characters of Delenn and Lennier figure prominently throughout the series; Neroon, Draal, and Dukhat are less prominent Minbari characters.
The Centauri are a humanoid species in the fictional universe of the Babylon 5 television series.
In the 2220s the Dilgar learned that their sun was about to go into a supernova stage, an event which would completely destroy their world. To ensure the survival of their species, the Dilgar greatly accelerated their campaign of conquest and expansion. Although they had already proven themselves to be a ruthless opponent, the threat of their sun going nova caused them to abandon any pretense of morality or decency. Believing all species that were not Dilgar to be nothing more than potential slaves at best, the Dilgar quickly began attacking and destroying the outposts of many alien worlds.
A supernova is a powerful and luminous stellar explosion. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion. The original object, called the progenitor, either collapses to a neutron star or black hole, or it is completely destroyed. The peak optical luminosity of a supernova can be comparable to that of an entire galaxy, before fading over several weeks or months.
The Dilgar Invasion
By 2228 the Dilgar raider attacks and rumors that the Dilgar were preparing for a major war quickly brought the League of Non-Aligned Worlds together. In 2230, the Dilgar openly attacked a number of League worlds, including the Narn and Drazi. Despite combining their forces, the League of Non-Aligned Worlds fought a losing battle as world after world succumbed to Dilgar conquest and experimentation. The Dilgar's tactics in this war were ruthless, and included the destruction of entire worlds and the use of conquered races as subjects in cruel medical and biological experiments. The League races were overwhelmed by the Dilgar assault and suffered heavy losses. The desperate league then called upon the major galactic powers for assistance and help in fighting the Dilgar.
The League of Non-Aligned Worlds was a fictional collection of races in the Babylon 5 universe.
The Narn are a fictional alien race in the universe of the Babylon 5 television series. Their homeworld is also called Narn.
Even the Narn spacefleet could not halt the Dilgar offensive; and the large Narn colony of Halax VII was captured by the Dilgar. By the time Narn forces arrived at the fallen system it was learned that the Dilgar Warmaster, Jha'Dur, had experimented and infected the entire colonial population with biogenic weapons, killing almost everyone on the colony.
After this attack, the Narn, not wishing to provoke the further wrath of the Dilgar, sent a Narn delegation to the Dilgar homeworld to seek a negotiated peace. The first two Narn ambassadors were used in scientific experiments by the Dilgar. The third Narn ambassador was allowed to live and finally opened diplomatic relations with the Dilgar Empire.
At the Tyree system, a fleet of League ships with some Narn ships present attacked a Dilgar warfleet. Losses for the combined League-Narn fleet were heavy and with the tide of battle turning against them the allied fleet was on the verge of defeat. At the last moment, however, a fleet of Earth Alliance warships jumped out of Hyperspace to join the fight (an event known as the 'Omega Incident'). With this surprise assistance from Earth, the allied fleet won their first major victory over the Dilgar in nearly a year.
The Earth Alliance is the name of a fictional alliance of the nations of Earth and off-world colonies in the television series Babylon 5. The transition of Earth government from a democratic, elected government to an authoritarian, militaristic one and back to a democracy again is a major theme of the series. It is considered one of the five major galactic diplomatic/military powers in the Babylon 5 pilot episode movie "The Gathering". They have separate seats at the head of the council chambers on the Babylon 5 station. The League of Non-Aligned Worlds sit in the general assembly section.
The Tide Turns: The Earth Alliance Intervenes
When the Dilgar War began, the Earth Alliance had only recently emerged as an interstellar power, having acquired Jumpgate technology from the Centauri. In 2230, Earth decided to intervene in the Dilgar War on the side of the League.[1] At first the Earth Alliance was motivated only by a desire to establish a reputation for themselves as a major player in galactic affairs. However, as human soldiers and fighter pilots witnessed first-hand the atrocities committed by the Dilgar on civilian populations, the Earth Alliance came to see the Dilgar Empire as an immoral, evil force not unlike the Nazis of Earth's twentieth century. Thus, the war effort on Earth took on a clear rationale of defeating a despicable enemy with a fierce enthuasism in an arguably just war.
In revenge for Earth's interference in the war, the Dilgar sent an assault force against the Earth Alliance's Orion Colonies. The Dilgar fleet included more than 180 warships; their plan was to reduce the Orion colonies to ashes and convince humanity to stay out of the war. Unfortunately for the Dilgar, they were unaware that their communications had been intercepted and descrambled by EarthForce intelligence. When the Dilgar attack fleet emerged from hyperspace, instead of facing a small colonial garrison, they faced more than 600 Earth warships and thousands of Starfury fighters. Against such overwhelming numbers the Dilgar were forced to make a hasty retreat.
Earth's entry turned the tide of the war. Assisted by EarthForce, the League worlds succeeded in driving the Dilgar away from their territories and pushing them back to their homeworld. The final battle of the war was the Battle of Balos in 2232; after this defeat the Dilgar were forced to surrender. All Dilgar Warmasters were captured and tried for their crimes, except for one, Jha'dur, who disappeared during the fighting at Balos.[2]
As part of the surrender terms, the Dilgar agreed to let Earth warships blockade the Dilgar jump-gate, thus trapping the Dilgar in their home solar system. Shortly after the war ended, the Dilgar sun went supernova, vaporizing the Dilgar homeworld and wiping out the entire species. Unknown to Earth and the League, a single Dilgar survived both the war and the supernova eruption: Warmaster Jha'dur, nicknamed "Deathwalker", the most infamous Dilgar leader of the war. Jha'dur had been the foremost proponent of using captured aliens as live "guinea pigs" in sadistic medical and scientific experiments. Approximately twenty years after the Dilgar War ended, Jha'dur would reemerge on the Babylon 5 space station, where she claimed to have invented a serum that gave its users immortality – but at a terrible price.
Aftermath
The immediate effect of the Dilgar War was to make the Earth Alliance a major galactic power; the League of Non-Aligned Worlds would forever look to the Earth Alliance as its protector and benefactor, even during current Babylon 5 timeframe. However, the war also created an arrogant belief among Earth's military and civilian leaders that they could defeat any alien threat. Earth's victory over the technologically superior Dilgar gave the Earth Alliance an inflated view of its military capabilities.
As a result, the Earth Alliance ignored the warnings of the Centauri Republic to avoid contact with the reclusive but extremely advanced Minbari race. In 2245 an EarthForce task fleet would encounter a small group of Minbari warships; this disastrous contact would lead to the bloody Earth-Minbari War, in which the Earth Alliance would be almost exterminated by Minbari forces. This was considered to be the ultimate revenge of Jha'dur, who by this time was helping the Minbari, on Minbar.
The origin of the Earth-Minbari War is shown in the movie In the Beginning.
The number of humans killed in the Earth-Minbari War is stated by journalist Cynthia Torqueman in the episode "And Now For a Word".
Related Research Articles
"The Fall of Night" is the final episode of the second season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.
The Earth–Minbari War is a fictional war that formed a major part of the back story of the science fiction television series Babylon 5. The war began in 2245 when an EarthForce expeditionary fleet damaged and destroyed vessels of the Minbari Federation fleet, killing Dukhat. The Earth fleet's commander misinterpreted the Minbari warrior caste's tradition of approaching a ship with gun ports open as a hostile action and fired on the Minbari vessels. In retaliation for this incident, the Minbari went on a genocidal crusade against Earth and all humans.
"Deathwalker" is an episode from the first season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.
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Londo Mollari is a fictional character in the universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, played by Peter Jurasik.
G'Kar is a fictional character, played by Andreas Katsulas, in the universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5. He initially appears as a villainous diplomat opposite Londo Mollari, being constantly engaged in insidious, if petty and often comical schemes, usually driven by his hostility to his people's historical enemies, the Centauri, whom Londo represents. However, in the course of the series, he is transformed into a Messianic figure and the foremost spiritual leader of his people.
Stephen Franklin is a lead character in the fictional universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, played by Richard Biggs. He serves as the chief medical officer on the Babylon 5 space station.
The Drakh are a fictional alien race in the Babylon 5 universe. The Drakh were dark servants for the race of First Ones known as the Shadows. They appeared in the fourth and fifth seasons of Babylon 5, as well as the television movie, A Call to Arms. The Drakh are a ruthless, malevolent race who become prominent adversaries to the Interstellar Alliance following the conclusion of the Shadow War in 2261. Armed with the technology left behind by their Shadow masters, the Drakh are determined to assume their vacant role and, with the aid of other former Shadow allies, use it to establish dominion over the galaxy.
This article discusses fictional civilizations on the science-fiction television show Babylon 5.
Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (ACtA) is a tabletop miniatures boardgame released in September 2004 by Mongoose Publishing, designed initially as an expansion to their Babylon 5: The Roleplaying Game, it is a complete game in its own right. Babylon 5: A Call to Arms is based upon the sci-fi television series Babylon 5 and draws heavily on material from the television show and the boardgame Babylon 5 Wars. The game's popularity exceeded Mongoose Publishing's initial expectations and has expanded to include new rules supplements and new miniatures; a second edition of the game was released in August 2007. Mongoose Publishing announced on their website in February 2008 that all production of miniatures for the line would cease as of March 2008. Mongoose have indicated they will continue to support the game however through supplements and articles in their in-house magazine Signs and Portents.
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