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A Conclusive History of the United Nations Space Command: Chapter One: Beginnings
Posted By: witelancer<witelancer@hotmail.com>
Date: 12 December 2003, 6:27 PM
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Author's note: Technically, this is not fanfic. However, since Finn said he couldn't find a place to post this on HSP, I'm posting it here. This document IS compiled ONLY from official sources, so if you're looking for a historical setting for a fanfic, it's a good place to start, if you ask me.
Chapter One: Beginnings
(Author's Note: It is assumed that since Microsoft's official timeline for Halo begins in around 2160, there are no other official sources dating to this period. One must assume that the "current" world structure (as of the early 2000's) would eventually take root and develop into the greatly expanded role the United Nations plays in the Halo universe. But, in consideration of the fact that the United Nations today plays an extraordinarily limited role, the reader must therefore conclude that by 2160, the United Nations would have greatly extended its power over the world.)
Part One: The rise of the United Nations through Conflict
Thus, it is necessary to begin with a history of the UN, since it does eventually develop into the United Nations Space Command, the focus of this work. The United Nations was conceived at the Yalta conference, in February 1945. Leaders of the ancient United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union were in conference to decide the fate of Germany and to ensure that the Second World War would end in world peace—a naïve vision of the future. As of 1950, the UN Charter was signed in San Francisco, California [a province of the ancient United States]. The organization grew greatly in size throughout the remainder of the 20th and 21st centuries, with almost every nation becoming a member state.
Originally designed as a entity for world peace and unity, over time, the United Nations grasped the reins of almost every nation on Earth, guiding most of the war-torn planet to peace and prosperity. However, a few dissenters remained, and these reticent factions would cause the United Nations great headaches and growing pains in the future, for their ability to confound the world leadership was amazing for such small countries.
Since official sources do not document the advent of man's first interplanetary space flight, it is unknown as to when the United Nations first colonized the Sol System. However, since by 2160 there were brushfire wars erupting on Mars and the Jovian Moons, it is assumed that the forces of individual nations as well as the United Nations world government began to colonize planets by the late 21st or early 22nd century.
The official Microsoft timeline has its first significant event in 2160, when dissident nations and conflicting desires of national governments launched the Sol system into chaos. Overpopulation and political unrest caused by a disjointed society and a lack of population control resulted in much tension on the planet. Two distinct factions, each representing a different end of the political continuum, became powerful and would eventually cause the UN great turmoil during the period of time known simply as the "Early Conflicts".
The "Koslovics", as they were called, were supporters of a neo-communist hard-liner Vladimir Koslov, a renegade dissident and political firebrand. Their goals included elimination of the global free-market economy and the elimination of corporate and capitalistic influence. Since the Koslovics could not seize control of Earth without inciting the wrath of many countries (remember that the UN does not yet exist as a governing entity), they focused on achieving these goals in orbital facilities and offworld colonies, presumably owned by Russia [an ancient state] or another "Communist" country. However, the extreme-left wing policies of the Koslovics would not only cause more tension, but it would bring a rival political faction into the fray.
The "Frieden" [German for peace] movement was a neo-Fascist movement, and it began on the Jovian Moon colonies. During the early period of the Sol system's colonization, powerful corporations from the United German Republics (Bohemia, Moravia, and Prussia) colonized these moons in an effort to mine raw materials. The Friedens were fervent opponents of the Koslovics, seeing as how the leftist movement managed to disrupt production with their "workers' crusades. Their name (peace) was a reminder that they believed that peace was only possible with complete independence from Earth and UN, and a crushing of those so-called "oppressors".
Beginning in March 2160, the Jovian Moons Campaign began with Frieden attacks on United Nations Colonial Advisors (UNCA) base on Io. Following the surprise attack, the disunited national governments on Earth, who sponsored numerous colonies in the Sol System, began to fight "proxy wars" reminiscent of the early 21st century throughout the Sol System. The battles between the Frieden forces and the UNCA would continue for three months, with the insurrection eventually being quashed by the superior numbers of the UNCA, not to mention the better supplies they received.
Two years later, in 2162, the "Rain-Forest Wars", as they are known today, began with a Koslovic attack on Frieden forces in South America. This conflict earned its name for the grueling jungle battles between the leftist radicals, right-wing reactionaries, and the United Nations, which was at this time desperately reeling from the insubordination of individual governments. By December 2163, as the Rain Forest wars wound down and UN forces eventually assumed control of the planet, a Martian conflict began, with stunning tactical maneuvers on the horizon.
A Koslovic buildup at the Argrye Planitia on the surface of Mars was utterly destroyed by an extra-terrestrial deployment of Marine forces, using lightning strikes and other innovative interplanetary striking measures. The attack was a great success and would continue to shape UNSC military doctrine for years to come—even today, UNSC ships do not travel without Marine contingents. The new military doctrine involved using large numbers of Marines for ground action as well as ship-to-ship boarding action.
Finally, in 2164, a greatly rejuvenated UN military force was able to greatly enlarge itself from the morale boost after the Martian campaigns. The propaganda spread by the UN, which was slowly increasing its power base, caused hundreds of thousands of volunteers to join the newly founded United Nations Space Command, the armed forces of the UN in space. UN forces not only crushed the remnants of the Koslovics and Friedens in South America, Germany, and the former Soviet Union, but they continued to strike the dissidents throughout the Sol system, culminating in their final defeat in 2170, when the United Nations officially became a world government, with the United Nations Space Command as its military wing.
Part Two: So... Now what?
Although the United Nations Space Command had won the brushfire wars of the 2160s, a new threat loomed on the horizon, one that couldn't be beaten with military force. The environmental fallout from the Rain Forest Wars, as well as the ever-increasing population of planet Earth, made the United Nations a very unstable world government. The economy faltered as the Earth exceeded its population capacity. The UN searched desperately for a solution, even sending millions of people to Mars and other planets that were in-system. The immense UNSC fleet sat motionless in vacuum, with no enemy to fight. The world grew restless.
It was not until 2291 that a viable long-term solution was found, but in the meantime, the UN attempted to cure the problems of world overpopulation and massive famines with aggressive replanting campaigns and economic recovery plans, almost all of which faltered and stalled, leaving the Earth in worse shape than before.
However, a glimmer of hope showed in the efforts of Dr. Shaw and Dr. Fujikawa, two American and Japanese scientists that shaped the course of human history by developing the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine. This amazing invention, the brainchild of researchers, quantum physicists, nuclear technicians, and advanced mathematicians, stretched the limits of human science to come up with an interstellar drive—one that would propel ships into "Slipspace", a quasi-dimension that not only bends the laws of physics, but alters time and reality. FTL (faster-than-light) travel, however, was not instantaneous, but it did indeed reduce flight times between distant stars by factors too large to measure.
The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine worked by creating a resonance bubble around a target starship. The ship would enter the "slipstream" by engaging its SFTE, and then it would continue to travel in this alternate domain until a given time, at which the ship would disengage its FTL drives and use its sublight drives, usually powered by a standard Mark One fusion reactor. However, "Slipspace" often has eddies and currents in it, and it was very difficult to come up with a practical way to use the SFTE. Applications for the quantum technology were finally found in the colonization efforts in progress by the UNSC and the UN itself.
Colony ships began to appear in 2310, and there was no shortage of volunteers—conditions on Earth were terrible. In order to better utilize the standing fleets, the UNSC armada was refitted with SFTE, which allowed them to escort the colony ships to distant stars. However, these early colonization efforts would take not only time but also money to coordinate. It would take fifty-two years for a colony ship to be launched, and in that amount of time, conditions on Earth were reaching their lowest point ever, as a population of more than thirty billion ravaged the Earth for resources.
Finally, by 2362, the Odyssey, the first ship in the line of colony ships was ready. The UNSC reached for the edge of another solar system—and found a handhold.
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