Those defeated, EA colonies

[warmachine]

The 'In the Beginning' movie explains that the Minbari only destroyed military infrastructure of the human colonies in the war and left them vulnerable. The war took over 2 years. I doubt the food and water supplies of most of the colonies would last this long and the Minbari wouldn't supply them. No other nation would risk the wrath of the Minbari by supplying them either. The colonists couldn't have starved to death, otherwise the EA would have collapsed as a star-spanning empire and replacement colonists would be near non-existent.

Instead, I have a hypothesis. In the Human-Minbari war, Minbari naval supremecy was decisive but not absolute. Deep behind enemy lines, EarthForce had supply task forces with enough warships for off-beacon travel and jump-in-drop-supplies-and-ran tactics but not for any counter-attacks. With Minbari hunter task forces chasing them, casualties were high but EF High Command maintained them as messages from the outer colonies maintained morale back home and showed EF was still a fighting force. It was also hoped that the Minbari would regard this as a sign of an enlightened, humanitarian race.

After the war, with little of the EF navy and colony garrisons left, the Earth Alliance outer colonies were vulnerable to pirates and aggressive nations like the Narn. This means the EA, as part of the surrender terms, would have to order Minbari ships to defend the EA. Of course, this was a temporary affair until the EF navy was rebuilt.

Any thoughts?

 

[LoneStranger]

Well I remember them saying that the Minbari were only going after the military, so if a convoy stated they had no defenses the Minbari would probably let them through. Other than that some colonies probably have some type of agriculture to help each colony out.

Now having said that I will grant this is CONJECTURE, IT'S NOT FACTS!!!!! If you find something out about how it happened fine, if not this could explain part of it.

 

[Sundog]

I would have said that being self-sufficient in food production would be pretty much the first thing a colony would do upon being founded. So, if the Minbari just came along, blew the local military base to scrap from orbit and interdicted spaceflight, most colonies could survive, at least until the first failed crop.

Things might be a bit hardscrabble, and lacking in luxuries, but survival would likely be assured.

Of course, this only applies to colonies on Oxy-Nitro atmosphere planets. Mars-style hostile atmosphere colonies would probably die off in under a year (consider - Mars, EA's oldest colony, is not self-sufficient in food.)

 

[frobisher]

Of course, this only applies to colonies on Oxy-Nitro atmosphere planets. Mars-style hostile atmosphere colonies would probably die off in under a year (consider - Mars, EA's oldest colony, is not self-sufficient in food.)

You'd just have a reduction in population to meet agricultural output that's all. Hard on those who starve to death, but them's the breaks. You'd downsize quite a few during any food riots as well...

 

[El Cid]

I'm not so sure that the Minbari could just target military outposts.

Remember that in the EA book it was noted that the Minbari mistook Disney Planet for a secret EA military base.

I wonder what they thought of any cast members in Mickey of Goofy costumes?

 

[ShadowScout]

Well, I suppose they might have tried to target only military stuff - but they aren't infallible, and mistakes get made.
However, the EA does have Q-ships, and once one of them fires on the minbari, no freighter will get away from them by claiming non-combatant status. If they every tried to scan ships enough to detect the difference - considering the warrior caste they may not have wanted to do that...

 

[warmachine]

Well I remember them saying that the Minbari were only going after the military, so if a convoy stated they had no defenses the Minbari would probably let them through. Other than that some colonies probably have some type of agriculture to help each colony out.

This is an alternative hypothesis. However, the Minbari wanted to exterminate the human race. They were a race gone mad, after all. I just can't see them showing humans any kind of humanity (pun intended) during the war.

 

[Jal]

as far as i know the Minbari tactic was:

destroy or disable anything military (or percieved as a military threat) on the way to earth.

once they got to earth wipe out all humanity present.

and on the way back wipe out all of humanity remaining on the colonies.

a nice logical procedure as far as the Minbari were concerned. :shock:

just because they didn`t target civilians on the way to earth doesn`t mean that civilian shipping was free to move around, it wouldn`t take much in the way of Minbari vessels to embargo any earth colony that has already had it`s EA support "neutralised".

Don`t forget the Minbari have prior experience/practice at the genocide business.

The first time the Minbari removed a race from existance they wiped out the Gromak.

It happened just around the time the Centauri got into space, indirectly giving the Centauri a big help in their empire building. :wink:

 

[Enlightened Bystander]

Just a point IIRC, the Minbari didn't wipe out the Garmak, they stopped just short of it (once they'd wiped out the space-going capacity of the Garmak) and the Centauri soon moved in.

 

[hassanisabbah]

Yeah for some reason I remember reading that the Minbari don't differentiate (much like the Vorlons in that respect) between colony and military.

Though they did only go after Earth Alliance (Declaring independence was I think a successful, and possibly sensible tactic). :shock:

 

[Jal]

Just a point IIRC, the Minbari didn't wipe out the Garmak, they stopped just short of it

that could very well be true, don`t remember and can`t be bothered reading up on it. :roll:

lets just say they aren`t amateurs when it come to that type of work. :wink:

Though they did only go after Earth Alliance (Declaring independence was I think a successful, and possibly sensible tactic).

i thought that the colonies had already declared independance before the minbari got involved. :?

 

[Dag'Nabbit]

I only remember the colonies declaring independence during the civil war that Cpt. Sheridan led against Clark.

Unless they declared independence a time earlier then that I think you are talking about a different war. :?

 

[Jal]

that is what i am talking about, the EA civil war.
i wonder what hassanisabbah is talking about? :?

 

[slingbld]

that is what i am talking about, the EA civil war.
i wonder what hassanisabbah is talking about? :?

Heh, I'm just confused over this entire thread here :shock:

 

[Jal]

Heh, I'm just confused over this entire thread here

you and me both. :roll:

 

[Greg Smith]

Didn't Mars declare independance in an attempt to escape the Minbari attacks?

 

[Jal]

that`s news to me, where`d you get the info from?

to the best of my knowledge the Minbari totally bypassed Mars because they were able to launch a direct attack on Earth.

check out the season two episode "The Long Twilight Struggle" when Dr Stephen Franklin tells G`Kar about the Minbari attack on Earth.

why go after the small fry when you have a clear shot at your primary target? :wink:

 

[CARTMAG]

actualy.. Mars didnt declare independence untill Clark started on his plan to turn himself into Dictator of the EA..... and as far as I know the Minbari Bipased mars so they could hit earth head on and end it in one fell swoop... and they would finish the other colonies off later...

 

[Dag'Nabbit]

Well, now that we've gotten all that straitened out, what was the original question. :?

I seem to have lost track.

 

[Enlightened Bystander]

I'm pretty sure I've seen sources saying that Mars at least sent out messages in the dying days (of the E-M war) saying 'We're not part of Earth, please don't hurt us)

Whether the Minbari actually listened to them is another matter.