Earth-Romulan War
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference
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- You may be looking for the FASA role-playing sourcebook, The Romulan War, or the Pocket ENT novel, The Romulan War - Beneath the Raptor's Wing.
The Earth-Romulan War, also known as the Romulan Wars, was a major interstellar conflict fought from 2156 to 2160 between the forces of United Earth and those of the Romulan Star Empire. Earth was assisted by its allies Vulcan, Tellar, and the Andorian Empire. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II")
The two sides knew little of each other before the war, and little after the war. Based on the limited state of knowledge that still existed in as late as 2266, the war was summarized as "Earth believes the Romulans to be warlike, cruel, treacherous; and only the Romulans know what they think of Earth."
In 2266, Spock categorized the weaponry generally used in the Earth-Romulan War as atomic in nature, and fairly primitive at that. He also characterized the ships in use as primitive, and designed in ways that did not permit quarter or captives.
Romulan starships were painted to resemble a "bird of prey", a tradition kept through the mid-23rd century. Ship-to-ship visual communication between Earth-allied ships and Romulan-allied ships did not take place during the war or during the peace negotiations.
Among the casualties during the course of the war include several members of the Stiles family, including one Captain Stiles. (TOS: "Balance of Terror")
The Battle of Cheron is generally considered the decisive battle in the Earth-Romulan War. Both sides recognized the major victory achieved here by Earth and its allies as a humiliating defeat of the Romulan military. This event would establish long-term political effects within the Romulan Empire lasting well into the 24th century. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II";TNG: "The Defector")
Following the Battle of Cheron the two sides negotiated a treaty via subspace radio. Among other things, it established a Neutral Zone, entry into which by either side would constitute an act of war. Earth set up at least eight outpost stations on asteroids along its side of the Neutral Zone to monitor Romulan activity.
From a 23rd century Human perspective, the Neutral Zone represented an area "between planets Romulus and Remus and the rest of the galaxy..." Some Humans still harbored resentment over the war after over a century of peace, including Lt. Stiles of the USS Enterprise.
Despite these Human attitudes, until 2266 the Neutral Zone served its purpose and the treaty had remained unbroken. In fact, one might say it served its purpose too well, as there were limited or no contacts between Earth and the Romulan Star Empire from the conclusion of the war until the mid-23rd century. (TOS: "Balance of Terror")
| Earth wars |
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| Crusades • American Revolution • American Civil War • World War I • World War II • Brush Wars • Earth Cold War • Eugenics Wars • World War III • Earth-Kzin Wars • Earth-Romulan War |
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[edit] Appendices
[edit] Background
The details of the Earth-Romulan War are still somewhat uncertain with little canonical evidence. As Spock said about the war, "As you recall from your histories, this conflict was fought, by our standards today, with primitive atomic weapons and in primitive space vessels which allowed no quarter, no captives. Nor was there even ship-to-ship, visual communication; therefore, no human, Romulan, or ally has ever seen the other. Earth believes the Romulans to be warlike, cruel, treacherous... and only the Romulans know what they think of Earth." The exact dates for the war and several details above are derived from an illegible viewscreen graphic seen in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II". The graphic comprised of data points from an outdated version of the Star Trek Chronology.
Prior to this, a behind-the-scenes newspaper clipping titled It's Federation Day!, which was among the collection found in the Picard family album from Star Trek Generations, dated "11 Oct. 2161," stated that the war ended "a little more than a year" prior to the final declaration of peace and the foundation of the Federation. This source also stated that the war ended with the Battle of Cheron in early 2160. However, this information did not appear on screen.
Some evidence indicates that Earth itself commenced the conflict, as Data remarked in "The Defector" that "in their long history of war, the Romulans have rarely attacked first... they prefer to test their enemy's resolve." In other words, Earth may have been provoked into acting first, either intentionally or possibly inadvertently. However it may have been one of the few occasions that the Romulans did attack first, such as the events that transpired in "Balance of Terror."
The Star Trek: Enterprise series finale "These Are the Voyages..." presents the formation of an alliance that in the words of Deanna Troi, "will lead to the founding of the Federation." It is unclear whether or not this "alliance" was the one spoken of between Earth and its allies during their opposition against the Romulans as Troi made no mention of the Earth-Romulan War itself.
An early concept for a proposed eleventh Star Trek film would have revealed the beginnings of the Earth-Romulan War. However, this concept has since been scrapped.
There are several points of ambiguity involved with this time period. For more information on those topics please visit the following links: cloaking device, Romulan Bird-of-Prey (22nd century) and Romulan Bird-of-Prey (23rd century).
In the Spaceflight Chronology, more detailed accounts are given of the events that led to the war and the war itself. 14 years prior to the actual war, the Romulan Star Empire began a campaign of attacks disguised as random space pirate activity. The first of these attacks was the hijacking of the ore freighter USS Muleskinner. Two years later the Delta VII outpost was attacked. Five years after this, the commercial transport Diana was attacked with its cargo stolen and crew killed. Four years prior to the actual war, the reports on piracy attacks were for the first time percieved as possibly being organized. Three years before the war, Starbase 1, in Sector 3A, was destroyed by what was still believed to be an act of space piracy. Romulans were for the first time identified as the culprits. All transports were given military escorts at this time. Two years before the war, the Romulan threat became apparent. A year before the war, Romulans made a number of hit and run attacks to several sectors. The actual war began when a full Romulan invasion fleet advancing on the Rigel system was encountered by the destroyer USS Patton. In the second year of the war, Romulans managed to destroy a mining complex in Sector 5B. A Romulan armada was completely destroyed in Sector 7. In the third year of the war, Romulans attacked Alpha Omega. Victory in the war was credited to advanced ship-mounted laser weaponry, developed only two years before the war as a response to the destruction of Starbase 1.
In the Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual, Franz Joseph offered a one-page version of the subspace peace treaty that concluded the war. It was signed by "Christofur Thorpe" for Earth and "Praetor Karzan" for the Romulans.
[edit] Apocrypha
The non-canon Star Trek: Enterprise novel Last Full Measure suggests that the Federation was born from the conflict. The Last Unicorn Games book Among the Clans: The Andorians makes reference to a series of Earth-Romulan wars, taking place during roughly the same time as the single canonical war.
In the 2006 game Star Trek: Legacy it is revealed that a Vulcan scientist named T'Uerell supplied the Romulan Star Empire with metagenic weapons to use against Earth colonies. Earth used the radiation from nuclear reactors in the Tyburn system to halt a large Romulan force from reaching Earth – explaining the use of atomic weapons.
The non-canon series by Michael A. Martin starting with The Good That Men Do covers the events going from "These Are the Voyages..." through the Romulan war. It starts with the apparent death of Trip so he can spy on the Romulans attempt to create a warp-seven capable ship. According to the series, the Romulans started the war out of fear of the birth of the Coalition of Planets. The Romulans started the war by attacking proposed member Coridan (thus delaying their entrance into the alliance until the Original Series and then by attacking a number of Coalition ships using a telecapture device and destroying the Kobayashi Maru as seen in the novel Kobayashi Maru. The novel The Romulan War - Beneath the Raptor's Wing details the first year of the war.
[edit] External links
- Earth-Romulan War at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- Warp Drive and Romulan History at Ex Astris Scientia - a discussion of warp drive and Romulan ships
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