Earth-Minbari War
Encyclopedia
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 was fought between the Earth Alliance
and the Minbari
, an older alien race that overwhelmingly outmatched Earth in terms of technology and weapons. The war ended with Earth on the brink of total destruction, only to have the other side improbably surrender to the almost-defeated humans at the last moment. The reasons for this surrender form part of the arc of the show, and the events of the war itself are depicted in the Babylon 5: In the Beginning
TV movie.
task force led by Captain Michael Jankowski aboard the warship EAS (Earth Alliance Ship) Prometheus
. The Prometheus was engaged on a mission to investigate the Minbari
, a reclusive alien race known to Earth only through stories from other races, such as the Centauri. Unfortunately, being fresh from their victory over the Dilgar
, EarthForce Command arrogantly ignored Centauri Ambassador Londo Mollari's advice to take a cautious approach; Londo recommended that Earth send only one ship into Minbari space so as not to appear hostile. Instead, EarthForce arranged for an expedition fleet of several large warships, including the Prometheus. Furthermore, Captain Jankowski was assigned to command the fleet against the advice of capable officers such as Commander John Sheridan
, who warned that Jankowski was unreliable and "trigger-happy" and declined to accompany him on the mission.
During the expedition, the Prometheus and her escorts encountered three Minbari cruisers, one of which was carrying the Grey Council
, the highest echelon of the Minbari government. The Grey Council was en route to investigate reports of sightings of their ancient enemy, the Shadows. Although Jankowski had been given strict orders to not do anything which might be perceived as hostile, Jankowski disobeyed the orders and refused to jump to hyperspace when the Minbari spotted his fleet. He thought that by waiting to the last possible moment to jump he could gain valuable sensor information about the Minbari cruisers, and this would lead to a promotion and medals from a grateful EarthForce Command. When he finally did decide to flee, it was too late.
Upon seeing the Earth
vessels, the Minbari cruisers opened their gunports as a sign of respect and strength — an old Minbari custom that the Humans were unaware of. Dukhat, the leader of the Grey Council, realized the error and ordered the gunports closed — but too late. Captain Jankowski misinterpreted the gesture as a sign of hostility, an impression compounded by the fact that the powerful sensors of the Minbari cruisers accidentally disabled the Prometheus' jump engines, thus preventing the ship from jumping to hyperspace and escaping. The captain had been told by his first officer that his vessel's jump engines had malfunctioned and that the weapons on the Minbari cruisers were "hot" (active), although this was not the case — although the gun ports were indeed open, the weapons systems were not online, and EarthForce's relatively primitive technology did not allow them to scan the Minbari vessels' internal systems to realize this. Still, believing the Earth fleet was in danger of imminent attack, Jankowski panicked and opened fire on the Minbari ships, scoring a critical direct hit on the cruiser carrying the Council. Dukhat was killed and his protege Delenn
, in a fit of rage, cast the deciding vote on the Council to wage a war of vengeance against Earth. However, the war of vengeance quickly turned into a holy crusade by the Minbari to exterminate humanity.
The Earth Alliance made frantic efforts to present official apologies to the Minbari through all possible diplomatic channels, and tried to obtain help (military or diplomatic) from neutral alien races such as the Centauri. However, no alien race wanted to incur the wrath of the awesome Minbari military, and so Earth was left to fight alone. Although races like the Narn
s were willing to do business secretly, the supplies available were insufficient for Earth military needs.
This was to be the first major battle of the war. The Earth fleet entered the Minbari star system of ShLekkTha (Vega
) and slowly entered weapon range of a waiting Minbari fleet.The human fleet consisted of 2 Nova Class dreadnaughts and 1 Hyperion Class Heavy Cruiser, and a number of Badger Class and SA-23E Mitchell Hyundyne Starfuries. The Minbari fleet consisted of only 2 Sharlin Class warcruisers, 1 Valen'Tha and a number of Nial Class fighters. Despite being well within range of the Minbari's weapons, the Minbari ShLekkTha fleet allowed the Earth vessels to close into range and fire the first shot. The battle lasted only twelve seconds.
While Earth ships had enough firepower to cripple or destroy Minbari vessels, the Minbari warcruisers were equipped with highly advanced stealth systems which prevented EarthForce warships from achieving an automatic target lock, and gunners and pilots on Earth ships had to use inferior manual, visual targeting systems to try to hit their targets. The Minbari, on the other hand, had no such problems, and had weapons capable of destroying Earth cruisers and fighters in single hits. For example, the weapons of Minbari warcruisers could slice the Nova class dreadnought
, Earth's largest and most powerful warship at the time, in half in a single blast. Additionally, unlike Earth ships, Minbari vessels were equipped with artificial gravity, which meant they were capable of much greater acceleration and sustained speed than Earth ships, and were more manueverable in battle. Furthermore, Minbari sensor systems were capable of overloading the shielding on EarthForce power systems, rendering their jump drives inoperable — thus eliminating the possibility of escape. The Minbari pursued a policy of "no quarter" for their human opponents — after a battle was over, the Minbari would deliberately hunt down and destroy any remaining Earth ships, even those which had been damaged and were no longer capable of resisting.
The Minbari pursued a strategy of swift advance: jumping into a planetary system in force, crippling whatever Earth Alliance military assets were present, then moving on to the next system, leaving the civilian targets intact. After they had driven to Earth and destroyed the last of the Earth Alliance's defenses, they would burn the planet's surface. Once the Earth had been reduced to ashes, the Minbari would proceed back out into the Alliance, destroying every human colony until no humans were left alive. This was, for the Minbari, a war of genocide.
Earth victories were few and far between, the Alliance losing an average of five ships for every Minbari ship destroyed. The Earth Alliance found itself being annihilated, losing soldiers and ships at an appalling rate, with the war itself progressing in favor of the Minbari. However, instead of surrendering to despair, the humans regrouped and made the Minbari pay a steep price in blood for every step forward. The Minbari strategy of leaving a system after destroying its defenders allowed EarthForce to initially have success in hit-and-run raids on smaller Minbari warships and supply vessels; on the planetary surface of Earth colonies, human forces used guerilla warfare tactics to pin down Minbari troops. In the end, however, the Minbari's superior technology and firepower nearly always allowed them to destroy any significant human resistance. Even so, humanity's near-suicidal tactics did lead to Minbari casualties and losses. In the Battle of Scimtar, a damaged Earth cruiser deliberately rammed a larger Minbari warcruiser, destroying both ships in the process. At the Flinn colony, ground-based human weapons forced the Minbari to land soldiers on the planet, and massive hand-to-hand combat raged across the planet's surface. In the end every human on the Flinn colony was killed, but the Minbari suffered heavy casualties in the process.
There were secret contacts through hyperspace transmissions, and a meeting was arranged between human and Minbari representatives, with the support of the Narn diplomatic corps. The peace attempt failed when Centauri warships ambushed the meeting (misinterpreting the Narn's presence as an attempt to sell stolen Centauri weapons to the humans). As a result of the sneak Centauri attack, a famous Minbari warrior was killed, and when the Minbari arrived at the planet they blamed the humans for his death. The recriminations over this event should have sealed Earth's fate, as both sides ended further peace negotiations and the war continued.
Only one battle was a real victory for Earth, involving the destruction of the Minbari flagship Black Star
. An EarthForce task group was ambushed by the Black Star in an asteroid field, leaving all ships destroyed or disabled. When the captain of the EAS Lexington was killed in the attack and the ship disabled, the first officer, Commander John Sheridan
, took command. Sheridan, acutely aware of the Minbari policy of exterminating all enemy ships without mercy, even when they were disabled and trying to surrender, mined several nearby asteroids with nuclear devices as a precaution. The Lexington then issued a distress call, which attracted the attention of the Black Star. When the Minbari vessel came within range, Sheridan detonated the mines, which completely vaporized the Black Star, giving Earth a much-needed morale boost. The Minbari considered it a despicable act of cowardice, and named Sheridan "Starkiller" in loathing and disgust; EarthForce Command justified the desperate tactic by noting that the Minbari policy of total annihilation was just as abhorrent.
of more than 20,000 vessels (mostly fighters). They were placed in near-Earth orbit and waited for the Minbari to strike.
Though a noble gesture, the defense was to no avail. In the engagement that came to be known as The Battle of the Line
, an enormous fleet of Minbari warcruisers jumped from hyperspace and attacked the human armada with overwhelming firepower. The Minbari swiftly destroyed almost all of the EarthForce defenders, with the Human pilots reduced to desperate kamikaze
tactics. But then, just when the Minbari were on the verge of total victory, came the most unexpected twist of the war — the Minbari ceased fire and surrendered unconditionally to Earth. The entire galaxy reeled at news of this impossible reversal, and a great deal of wild speculation was voiced about what could have caused this drastic move. However, the Minbari's governing Grey Council
never revealed the official reason, even to their own people.
) to combat alien threats. A powerful planetary defense grid was placed in orbit around Earth; the defense grid consisted of platforms armed with missiles, particle-beam cannons, and plasma-energy cannons. And, finally, the Earth Alliance pledged (with Minbari assistance) to build a diplomatic space station in neutral territory to prevent such misunderstandings in the future. The first four stations all suffered disasters which left them unusable, but the fifth and final station, called Babylon 5
, was a success and opened in 2257.
The real reason for the end of the conflict was that the Grey Council was present at the battle. They chose, for the first time, to take human prisoners to study. The study included scanning them with a triluminary
, the Minbari's most sacred religious artifact, which revealed that Humans had reincarnated Minbari souls — and that one prisoner, Jeffrey Sinclair
, carried the soul of Valen
himself. Profoundly stunned at this seemingly impossible discovery, the Council ordered human prisoners captured for scanning for confirmation. Upon discovering many of those Humans also had Minbari souls, the Minbari leaders realised they were harming their own souls through this war, a horrific concept to them, and had no choice but to stop the war.
. Both space wars began because an Earth vessel misunderstood the significance of an alien ship's open gunports, and fired on the ship based on this misunderstanding.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series, Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
. The war was fought between the Earth Alliance
Earth Alliance (Babylon 5)
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...
and the Minbari
Minbari
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....
, an older alien race that overwhelmingly outmatched Earth in terms of technology and weapons. The war ended with Earth on the brink of total destruction, only to have the other side improbably surrender to the almost-defeated humans at the last moment. The reasons for this surrender form part of the arc of the show, and the events of the war itself are depicted in the Babylon 5: In the Beginning
Babylon 5: In the Beginning
Babylon 5: In the Beginning is a science fiction television movie set in the Babylon 5 fictional universe. It was written by J. Michael Straczynski and directed by Michael Vejar....
TV movie.
First shots
The war was provoked by an Earth AllianceEarth Alliance (Babylon 5)
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...
task force led by Captain Michael Jankowski aboard the warship EAS (Earth Alliance Ship) Prometheus
Hyperion class heavy cruiser
The Hyperion class heavy cruiser is a fictional starship in the Babylon 5 universe.- History :The Hyperion class is an older type of EarthForce warship, smaller and less heavily-armed than the newer Omega class destroyer, but still a capable design. It saw its heyday during the Dilgar and...
. The Prometheus was engaged on a mission to investigate the Minbari
Minbari
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....
, a reclusive alien race known to Earth only through stories from other races, such as the Centauri. Unfortunately, being fresh from their victory over the Dilgar
Dilgar
The Dilgar War is a fictional war that forms part of the back story of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Background: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...
, EarthForce Command arrogantly ignored Centauri Ambassador Londo Mollari's advice to take a cautious approach; Londo recommended that Earth send only one ship into Minbari space so as not to appear hostile. Instead, EarthForce arranged for an expedition fleet of several large warships, including the Prometheus. Furthermore, Captain Jankowski was assigned to command the fleet against the advice of capable officers such as Commander John Sheridan
John Sheridan (Babylon 5)
John J. Sheridan is a lead character in the fictional universe of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5, played by Bruce Boxleitner. For most of the series, he is the commander of the Babylon 5 station; during the series' final season he is the President of the Interstellar...
, who warned that Jankowski was unreliable and "trigger-happy" and declined to accompany him on the mission.
During the expedition, the Prometheus and her escorts encountered three Minbari cruisers, one of which was carrying the Grey Council
Grey Council
In the Babylon 5 fictional universe, the Grey Council is the governing body of the Minbari Federation. Its members carry the title satai...
, the highest echelon of the Minbari government. The Grey Council was en route to investigate reports of sightings of their ancient enemy, the Shadows. Although Jankowski had been given strict orders to not do anything which might be perceived as hostile, Jankowski disobeyed the orders and refused to jump to hyperspace when the Minbari spotted his fleet. He thought that by waiting to the last possible moment to jump he could gain valuable sensor information about the Minbari cruisers, and this would lead to a promotion and medals from a grateful EarthForce Command. When he finally did decide to flee, it was too late.
Upon seeing the Earth
Earth Alliance (Babylon 5)
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...
vessels, the Minbari cruisers opened their gunports as a sign of respect and strength — an old Minbari custom that the Humans were unaware of. Dukhat, the leader of the Grey Council, realized the error and ordered the gunports closed — but too late. Captain Jankowski misinterpreted the gesture as a sign of hostility, an impression compounded by the fact that the powerful sensors of the Minbari cruisers accidentally disabled the Prometheus' jump engines, thus preventing the ship from jumping to hyperspace and escaping. The captain had been told by his first officer that his vessel's jump engines had malfunctioned and that the weapons on the Minbari cruisers were "hot" (active), although this was not the case — although the gun ports were indeed open, the weapons systems were not online, and EarthForce's relatively primitive technology did not allow them to scan the Minbari vessels' internal systems to realize this. Still, believing the Earth fleet was in danger of imminent attack, Jankowski panicked and opened fire on the Minbari ships, scoring a critical direct hit on the cruiser carrying the Council. Dukhat was killed and his protege Delenn
Delenn
Delenn is a fictional lead character in the universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, played by Mira Furlan.-Overview:Delenn, an alien ambassador and leader from the planet Minbar, is one of the pivotal characters in Babylon 5....
, in a fit of rage, cast the deciding vote on the Council to wage a war of vengeance against Earth. However, the war of vengeance quickly turned into a holy crusade by the Minbari to exterminate humanity.
The Earth Alliance made frantic efforts to present official apologies to the Minbari through all possible diplomatic channels, and tried to obtain help (military or diplomatic) from neutral alien races such as the Centauri. However, no alien race wanted to incur the wrath of the awesome Minbari military, and so Earth was left to fight alone. Although races like the Narn
Narn
The Narn are a fictional alien race in the universe of the Babylon 5 television series. Their homeworld is also called Narn.-Homeworld:Narn is the homeworld of the Narn and the Narn Regime. Its day is 31 hours long. Prior to the Centauri's first invasion, Narn was a healthy green planet. Now it...
s were willing to do business secretly, the supplies available were insufficient for Earth military needs.
The War
Hoping that they could prove to the Minbari they were a power not to be trifled with, Earth launched a strike against a Minbari mid-range military base. Earth's intentions were to strike with a fleet of forty starships and destroy the Minbari base, thus proving to the Minbari that they were powerful, and force the Minbari to the bargaining table.This was to be the first major battle of the war. The Earth fleet entered the Minbari star system of ShLekkTha (Vega
Vega
Vega is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, the fifth brightest star in the night sky and the second brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus...
) and slowly entered weapon range of a waiting Minbari fleet.The human fleet consisted of 2 Nova Class dreadnaughts and 1 Hyperion Class Heavy Cruiser, and a number of Badger Class and SA-23E Mitchell Hyundyne Starfuries. The Minbari fleet consisted of only 2 Sharlin Class warcruisers, 1 Valen'Tha and a number of Nial Class fighters. Despite being well within range of the Minbari's weapons, the Minbari ShLekkTha fleet allowed the Earth vessels to close into range and fire the first shot. The battle lasted only twelve seconds.
While Earth ships had enough firepower to cripple or destroy Minbari vessels, the Minbari warcruisers were equipped with highly advanced stealth systems which prevented EarthForce warships from achieving an automatic target lock, and gunners and pilots on Earth ships had to use inferior manual, visual targeting systems to try to hit their targets. The Minbari, on the other hand, had no such problems, and had weapons capable of destroying Earth cruisers and fighters in single hits. For example, the weapons of Minbari warcruisers could slice the Nova class dreadnought
Nova class dreadnought
The Nova class dreadnought is a heavy warship in the science fiction series Babylon 5. The dreadnought is used by the military branch of the Earth Alliance called EarthForce....
, Earth's largest and most powerful warship at the time, in half in a single blast. Additionally, unlike Earth ships, Minbari vessels were equipped with artificial gravity, which meant they were capable of much greater acceleration and sustained speed than Earth ships, and were more manueverable in battle. Furthermore, Minbari sensor systems were capable of overloading the shielding on EarthForce power systems, rendering their jump drives inoperable — thus eliminating the possibility of escape. The Minbari pursued a policy of "no quarter" for their human opponents — after a battle was over, the Minbari would deliberately hunt down and destroy any remaining Earth ships, even those which had been damaged and were no longer capable of resisting.
The Minbari pursued a strategy of swift advance: jumping into a planetary system in force, crippling whatever Earth Alliance military assets were present, then moving on to the next system, leaving the civilian targets intact. After they had driven to Earth and destroyed the last of the Earth Alliance's defenses, they would burn the planet's surface. Once the Earth had been reduced to ashes, the Minbari would proceed back out into the Alliance, destroying every human colony until no humans were left alive. This was, for the Minbari, a war of genocide.
Earth victories were few and far between, the Alliance losing an average of five ships for every Minbari ship destroyed. The Earth Alliance found itself being annihilated, losing soldiers and ships at an appalling rate, with the war itself progressing in favor of the Minbari. However, instead of surrendering to despair, the humans regrouped and made the Minbari pay a steep price in blood for every step forward. The Minbari strategy of leaving a system after destroying its defenders allowed EarthForce to initially have success in hit-and-run raids on smaller Minbari warships and supply vessels; on the planetary surface of Earth colonies, human forces used guerilla warfare tactics to pin down Minbari troops. In the end, however, the Minbari's superior technology and firepower nearly always allowed them to destroy any significant human resistance. Even so, humanity's near-suicidal tactics did lead to Minbari casualties and losses. In the Battle of Scimtar, a damaged Earth cruiser deliberately rammed a larger Minbari warcruiser, destroying both ships in the process. At the Flinn colony, ground-based human weapons forced the Minbari to land soldiers on the planet, and massive hand-to-hand combat raged across the planet's surface. In the end every human on the Flinn colony was killed, but the Minbari suffered heavy casualties in the process.
There were secret contacts through hyperspace transmissions, and a meeting was arranged between human and Minbari representatives, with the support of the Narn diplomatic corps. The peace attempt failed when Centauri warships ambushed the meeting (misinterpreting the Narn's presence as an attempt to sell stolen Centauri weapons to the humans). As a result of the sneak Centauri attack, a famous Minbari warrior was killed, and when the Minbari arrived at the planet they blamed the humans for his death. The recriminations over this event should have sealed Earth's fate, as both sides ended further peace negotiations and the war continued.
Only one battle was a real victory for Earth, involving the destruction of the Minbari flagship Black Star
Black Star (Babylon 5)
The Black Star was a Sharlin Class Warcruiser in the fictional science fiction universe of Babylon 5. The Black Star served as one of the flagships of the Minbari Federation fleet, until its destruction in the year 2245. The Black Star (Drala Fi' in Minbari) was a Sharlin Class Warcruiser in the...
. An EarthForce task group was ambushed by the Black Star in an asteroid field, leaving all ships destroyed or disabled. When the captain of the EAS Lexington was killed in the attack and the ship disabled, the first officer, Commander John Sheridan
John Sheridan (Babylon 5)
John J. Sheridan is a lead character in the fictional universe of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5, played by Bruce Boxleitner. For most of the series, he is the commander of the Babylon 5 station; during the series' final season he is the President of the Interstellar...
, took command. Sheridan, acutely aware of the Minbari policy of exterminating all enemy ships without mercy, even when they were disabled and trying to surrender, mined several nearby asteroids with nuclear devices as a precaution. The Lexington then issued a distress call, which attracted the attention of the Black Star. When the Minbari vessel came within range, Sheridan detonated the mines, which completely vaporized the Black Star, giving Earth a much-needed morale boost. The Minbari considered it a despicable act of cowardice, and named Sheridan "Starkiller" in loathing and disgust; EarthForce Command justified the desperate tactic by noting that the Minbari policy of total annihilation was just as abhorrent.
Ground Campaigns
While much of the war was fought in space, numerous campaigns were fought on the ground. The Minbari were unlike many other races in the sense that they avoided orbital bombardment. Some contemporary races used orbital bombardment as the primary means of eliminating a base or colony, avoiding a ground campaign altogether. However, the Minbari code of honor and Warrior Caste System precluded this. The fact that the Warrior Caste enjoyed winning victories over a weaker opponents may have also affected this strategy. Ground campaigns on Human colonies were brutal and extremely bloody. Human defensive networks on the ground were set up along traditional post-modern Human military models with front lines, reserves, artillery, mines and supporting forces. The Minbari on the other hand maintained ground tactics based more on ancient Warrior Codes. Small groups of Minbari warriors were often able to infiltrate these Human defensive networks after which they caused numerous casualties amongst rear element units. Some high ranking Minbari took pride in killing over 50 human counterparts in these attacks. In many places the Humans fought back with militia raised from local populations, with various levels of success. In desperation humans employed elite groups of hunter killer soldiers who tracked behind Minbari lines and used all means to kill Minbari Warriors. Some of the men in these units were deranged or otherwise unbalanced but were effective nonetheless. It seems the Minbari were planning a large ground campaign to capture Earth, but their surrender at the Line precluded this.The Battle of the Line
The Minbari, frustrated by the futile but persistent human resistance, and their pride wounded by the handful of EarthForce victories, were determined to utterly annihilate the younger species by the time their fleet finally reached the Human homeworld. To give Earth's civilian population time to flee to neutral territory, military and civilian leaders on Earth desperately organized a grand last stand, "to hold the line against the night". Nearly all of the Earth Alliance's remaining warships, fighters, and personnel were combined into a vast armadaNaval fleet
A fleet, or naval fleet, is a large formation of warships, and the largest formation in any navy. A fleet at sea is the direct equivalent of an army on land....
of more than 20,000 vessels (mostly fighters). They were placed in near-Earth orbit and waited for the Minbari to strike.
Though a noble gesture, the defense was to no avail. In the engagement that came to be known as The Battle of the Line
Battle of the Line
In the Babylon 5 fictional universe, the Battle of the Line was the final battle of the Earth-Minbari war. The Battle of the Line was a desperate attempt by the Earth Alliance to stop a Minbari combat fleet from attacking Earth. Over 20,000 Human defenders fought in the battle; including most of...
, an enormous fleet of Minbari warcruisers jumped from hyperspace and attacked the human armada with overwhelming firepower. The Minbari swiftly destroyed almost all of the EarthForce defenders, with the Human pilots reduced to desperate kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
tactics. But then, just when the Minbari were on the verge of total victory, came the most unexpected twist of the war — the Minbari ceased fire and surrendered unconditionally to Earth. The entire galaxy reeled at news of this impossible reversal, and a great deal of wild speculation was voiced about what could have caused this drastic move. However, the Minbari's governing Grey Council
Grey Council
In the Babylon 5 fictional universe, the Grey Council is the governing body of the Minbari Federation. Its members carry the title satai...
never revealed the official reason, even to their own people.
Aftermath
The Earth–Minbari War launched several movements which would become prominent in the succeeding decades, and which would feature prominently in the storyline of the Babylon 5 TV series. First, the war and near-destruction of humanity created a deep reservoir of fear, hatred, and suspicion of all aliens among some humans. These people would eventually form an underground movement within Earth's government to push all alien influence off Earth and out of the Earth Alliance, and have the Alliance adopt an isolationist policy towards alien governments. A tragic shift in philosophy from the early days of EarthGov's assistance in the Dilgar War. Second, the war convinced EarthForce Command of the desperate need to upgrade Earth's weapons and technology. Over the next decade EarthForce would develop larger and more powerful warships (such as the Omega class destroyerOmega class destroyer
The Omega-class destroyer is a fictional vessel used by Earthforce, the military branch of the Earth Alliance, in the science fiction television series Babylon 5...
) to combat alien threats. A powerful planetary defense grid was placed in orbit around Earth; the defense grid consisted of platforms armed with missiles, particle-beam cannons, and plasma-energy cannons. And, finally, the Earth Alliance pledged (with Minbari assistance) to build a diplomatic space station in neutral territory to prevent such misunderstandings in the future. The first four stations all suffered disasters which left them unusable, but the fifth and final station, called Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
, was a success and opened in 2257.
The real reason for the end of the conflict was that the Grey Council was present at the battle. They chose, for the first time, to take human prisoners to study. The study included scanning them with a triluminary
Triluminary
Triluminaries are devices in the science fiction drama Babylon 5. The triluminary is a triangular shaped Minbari crystal with a small chip in the centre. The full extent of its abilities are unknown, although it is said to be the holiest of all relics in Minbari society and thus any readings it...
, the Minbari's most sacred religious artifact, which revealed that Humans had reincarnated Minbari souls — and that one prisoner, Jeffrey Sinclair
Jeffrey Sinclair
Jeffrey Sinclair is a character in the fictional universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, played by actor Michael O'Hare. He was a regular in the first season of the show, as Commander of the Babylon 5 station, and made a number of guest appearances afterward.-Early life and...
, carried the soul of Valen
Valen
Valen is a character in the fictional universe of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5. Although he has only one scene in the show, he is an important character in the history of the Minbari, and is frequently mentioned...
himself. Profoundly stunned at this seemingly impossible discovery, the Council ordered human prisoners captured for scanning for confirmation. Upon discovering many of those Humans also had Minbari souls, the Minbari leaders realised they were harming their own souls through this war, a horrific concept to them, and had no choice but to stop the war.
Doctor Who similarity
Television critics have observed that the precipitating incident of the Earth-Minbari war is very similar to the beginning of the first Earth-Draconia war in the 1973 Doctor Who serial Frontier in SpaceFrontier in Space
Frontier in Space is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from February 24 to March 31, 1973...
. Both space wars began because an Earth vessel misunderstood the significance of an alien ship's open gunports, and fired on the ship based on this misunderstanding.