Expanded timelines and global conflicts

Let's say the only canonical dated event in the Babylon 5 universe is # and concerns the dissolution of the United Nations and the reason the Earth Alliance is founded.

Another assumption is provided by the author George Friedman in his book "The Next Hundred Years". It may shock people, but let us say that a global conflict develops in 2080.
The combatants are, on one side:
Turkey,
Israel,
Japan,
(possibly) Pakistan
and North Korea
versus (specifically) China,
the USA
and Russia.

Iran, Serbia, Armenia and Greece will be allied to Russia and it is likely India would be involved against its old enemy Pakistan.

The short ending is that the USA is able to end the conflict by detonating orbital EMP devices over the nuclear armed nations; cutting funding to Israel and Turkey and then offering EA membership to Israel and Japan.

The longer version incorporates Friedman's assumption that the USA would intervene to protect the territorial integrity of its allies (and potential enemies) Russia and China. It's a shame he doesn't actually dwell much on this point to its logical conclusion.

What he does focus on is the possibility of a conflict between Turkey or Japan and the USA.
Personally I would suggest that both Turkey and Japan, but mainly the former, had long established an empire in central Asia or at least extended their respective spheres of influence. Israel would be allied to Turkey and would probably launch a large conventional offensive against Iran. They would use bombers alongside drone weapons and military satellites.

Japan and the United States would have military satellites also. These would likely come in two varieties. One type is able to defend itself both automatically and by orders relayed from Earth from other satellites. The second launches kinetic weapons at targets on the ground; basically javelins/spears/darts/flechettes dropped from a great height. The second can also target other satellites in a lower orbit.  

Israel would perhaps assume that western powers would support its actions. Japan would also feel the same, launching attacks on North Korea. However, cities in China and South Korea come under attack as well and, further, China would feel that the regime in North Korea is its responsibility. Japan has nuclear weapons by this point and would devastate China if she used them. China had (as described) already lost some territory, partly due to Turkey and Japan funding secessionist movements, and the United States felt it could no longer allow its biggest market (and creditor) to fall. Russia and China were also weakened by being dissuaded from developing and utilising satellite weapons, but they do have drones. Russia would be threatened by Turkey so it became involved in the war on Iran's side.

It is almost certain that nuclear weapons would be used and that other countries would become involved. I would resolve this by proposing that the sleeper ships used by PX to explore the universe before contact with the Centauri (in other words the sleeper ship in "The Long Dark") are upgraded versions of "sleeper stations" used by allied nations in world war three.

These ships orbit the Earth in silence and each contain a command crew of two in almost perpetual suspended animation in stasis tubes. In the event of a conflict each ship is armed with a tactical nuclear weapon to be dropped and detonated high in the atmosphere above an enemy nation. On detonation, an electromagnetic pulse is released which neutralises all electrical devices in the enemy nation, including ground and air-based nuclear weapons. The allies can then end a nuclear conflict before it has a chance to start.

A similar network exists in the form of high-altitude balloons. As well as nuclear weapons, these military balloons also act as bases for extreme high altitude paratroopers. These could be called "Droptroopers". In a crisis, these soldiers drop from just below the edge of space to attack and infiltrate enemy installations. They are armed with advanced multi-megawatt masers, which are capable of instantly disabling enemy equipment and personnel, as well as more conventional weapons issued to special forces commandos.

The sleeper stations are launched as satellites and use several ion drives to make emergency manoeuvres as needed. The crew are kept in stasis to avoid detection by infra-red and are awoken at random so that, out of the whole network, at least one crewmember is awake at all times. 

The EA is called The Pact and is entirely secret at this point. It consists of the UK, South Africa, Israel and Germany. Technically, the USA isn't a full member after losing California and other states.

In the immediate aftermath of the war any possible launching site for the space programme is therefore outside federal jurisdiction. This is resolved by officially dissolving NASA and subsuming it into a front corporation-InterPlanetary Expeditions-thus allowing foreign investment and the use of facilities outside the US homeland because IPX/NASA is, officially, an international corporation.

I'm not sure it would be called either at this point however but names don't really matter. Let us call the new entity Extra-Planetary Expeditions, or just PX: Planetary Expeditions

2084:

-Earth Alliance set up by allied nations on Earth after World War Three. EA nations share intelligence on "Humans with Meta-Sensory Abilities", as telepaths and telekinetics are called at this time, share both military and civilian technology and have controlling interests in PX.

-The Earth Alliance at this time consists of:

Australia,
the UK,

South Africa,
Ireland,
the Netherlands,
Serbia,
Greece,  
Armenia,
Argentina,
Iran,
Chile,
Israel (minus Jerusalem),
Germany,
Poland
and the European part of Turkey (i.e. Istanbul)

-The EA is basically the official version of The Pact, both incarnations having the same function and organisational structure with new nations joining those original to The Pact.

-Before this date: Britain abandoned all its oversees territories, the Isle of Man declared itself an independent nation, Catalonia seceded from Spain and France left the European Union.   

-EA scientists confirm the existence of tachyons.
 

2090-Lagrange 1 space station built at the Lagrange point between the Earth and Moon.

2095-Brazil, Catalonia, California, Florida, Canada, Panama, Gibraltar, the Isle of Man and the Falkland Islands join the Earth Alliance along with Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Hawaii, Madagascar, the Channel Islands and New Zealand in 2105.

2104-EA establishes the first of several research colonies on Mars.
 

2105-PX sends out sleeper ships to explore beyond the solar system. At a guess I would say this is after WW3 and before the Mars and San Diego bombings, based on comments in episode "The Long Dark" about Earth conflicts.

2110-The United Nations is formally dissolved when India, Japan and the Russian Consortium join the Earth Alliance.

 

2112-Anti-EA government elected in France # protesting the dissolution of United Nations. Canonical date given in episode.

2113-EA establishes new headquarters at Geneva and promises to maintain previous edicts prohibiting the militarisation of space. Norway, Switzerland and the remaining EU nations join the EA as does China and Indonesia.

Roughly by this point, former parts of China and Russia have joined with North and South Korea to form the Eastern Bloc. China had also long since lost the western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. Mass migrations of people, mostly from China, have entered Siberia from before 2070. Climate refugees (mostly from Equatorial regions) and idealists have made repeated attempts to colonise Antarctica since 2071, mostly occupying abandoned research stations. After the war, many migrated north to Siberia.

2114-United States of America becomes the Associate States of America, then the Allied States of America (2121), then just Allied Nations (2130). All successive incarnations are entitled to control their borders, send senators to Washington and share a federal military. Previously I had put this event 30 years earlier, but I think it should be situated after the first sleeper ships are launched.

2115-EA scientists confirm the existence of telepathic abilities in humans. The EA senate passes various laws to protect the privacy of its citizens and begins to track the genetic history of telepaths. Semi-canonical novel and comments made by Lyta Alexander in the television pilot.

2120-San Diego and the largest Mars colony are destroyed in simultaneous acts of nuclear terrorism after the semi-secessionist US states join the ASA and Mexico joins the Earth Alliance.

2129-Canada and Iceland join the Allied States before it is reorganised as the Allied Nations.

2131-Greenland and Cuba join the Allied Nations.

2130 to 2169:

-MetaPOL and MetaGuild are established as precursors to Psi Corps: MetaPOL investigates crimes committed by or against telepaths while MetaGuild is a telepath-only union.

-Telepaths can only join MetaPOL or Earth Force if vetted by MetaGuild.

-The movements and activities of non-members are severely restricted.

-Humans first contacted openly by another race: the Centauri.

-The Centauri provide Earth with a Jumpgate.

-The Allied Nations are incorporated into the Earth Alliance.

-The EA military is first referred to as Earth Force.

-The first human colonists arrive on Mars via the Earth Jumpgate in the first jump-capable ship built by humans.

-The Martian and Antarctic colonies are recognised by the Earth Alliance.

-Establishment of the African, Islamic and Central Asian Blocs.

-Establishment of the first permanent Martian colony (this could be the date of the largest migration of 600 colonists)

 

-First human Technomages emerge along with a hundred alien-inspired cults, including Foundationism.  Canonical date given in episode

-(Under Shadow influence?), the Psi Corps is formally established to monitor and regulate the activities of human telepaths. Telepaths are now required to join the Psi Corps, take drugs weekly to suppress their abilities or face prison. Telepaths are barred from regular military service. Canonical date of 2261 given in episode.

2170-Europa and Ganymede colonized.

2171-Earth Alliance sets up its first extra-solar colony on Proxima 3. More follow in the succeeding decades.

2173-Psi Corps establishes a secret research facility in Syria Planum on Mars, partly to get around the ban on military bases.

2174-‘Mundanes’ working on the foundations and life support for the Psi Corps base left stranded on Mars build New Vegas and Flintown. Demands for Martian autonomy stem from this point.

2175-Human separatists establish a colony on Regula 4, eschewing modern technology in favour of hand tools and farming.

2178-For security reasons, the Earth Jumpgate is dismantled and construction of the Io Jumpgate and Transfer Point begins.

It would be consistent if there always was a Jumpgate near Io, if races like the Soul Hunters could visit Earth in the past. The Centauri simply dismantled this Gate and reconstructed it in Earth's orbit. This is definitely consistent with their behaviour, with First Contact being timed to occur before Earth began exploring the outer planets.

2212-President Kyoshi of the Eastern Bloc is killed in office three days after the end of the War of the Shining Star by soldiers who fought for the opposition in the civil war. Canonical date given in episode.

2212 to 2249:

-With the Eastern and African Blocs (presumably?) joining the Earth Alliance, Earth has a united planetary government for the first time.  

-Earth Force personnel switch from slugthrowers to PPGs.

-Facing destruction with their sun about to go Nova, the Dilgar begin an invasion of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. Canonical date given in episode.

 

-The Dilgar are driven back to their home system, their Jumpgate is destroyed and their supply of quantium-40 is confiscated by Earth Force. Earth begins construction of its fleet of Jumpgate-building ‘Explorer’-class starships. The EA is now a major military power.

-Extinction of the Dilgar with the destruction of their sun.

-Earth Force is involved in several campaigns in Africa.

-France finally joins the Earth Alliance, just before the Minbari War.

 

(October 2243) An Earth vessel encounters a Minbari ship and support vessels. Believing they were under attack, the vessel opens fire on the Minbari, killing Dukhat, leader of the Grey Council.

(June 2245) The Earth-Minbari War begins when the Minbari attack the first colony within thirty light years from Earth.

(October 2245) Earth’s only victory during the war occurs when Lt. Commander John Sheridan of the EAS-Lexington destroys the ‘Black Star’ in an ambush by mining the Asteroid Belt with tactical nukes and sending a fake distress signal.

(2247) Mars declares itself neutral in the Earth-Minbari War.
 

(December 2247) The Battle of the Line ends with the Minbari mysteriously surrendering. After the war the Senate imposes an embargo on Mars, resulting in food riots.

(2248):

-Food riots on Mars end with the imposition of an Earth-selected Provisional Government.

-Mars is permanently occupied after the Minbari War by Earth Force.

-‘Free Mars’ grows in numbers and begins to use violence to achieve its aims.

-IPX, or InterPlanetary Expeditions, is set up as a front corporation for a secret EA bio-weapons research group. As indicated I would assume a much earlier date for this. An alternative is that IPX is the reincarnation of PlanetaryExpeditions and has a focus beyond archaeological digs on Mars.

(2249) The first Babylon diplomatic and trade station is built, but its superstructure is destroyed by sabotage, as are numbers two and three.

2253 to 2257:

-Psi Corps secretly instigate a sleeper agent program, inserting hidden Artificial Personalities into the personnel of various EA departments.

-IPX uncover a buried Shadow vessel on Mars, Psi Corps become involved in its recovery. Michael Garibaldi observes part of this event and retrieves a Psi Corps insignia. It takes him and Jeffrey Sinclair, an Earth Force officer he was transporting, fifty miles to walk back to civilization after the shuttle Garibaldi was piloting crashes.

(2254) Babylon 4, the largest of the five Babylon stations, disappears 24 hours after coming on-line.

-Psi Cop Alfred Bester founds ‘Black Omega’ squadron, with Byron Gordon as his protégé.

(December 25^th 2256) Babylon 5 comes on-line.

(January 2257) Kosh Naranek of the Vorlon Empire arrives on Babylon 5, the last ambassador to arrive from the four major federations.

-An InterPlanetary Expeditions mission lands on Z’ha’dum

-The Shadows awaken from hibernation

-Dawn of the Third Age of Mankind.

-Earth Alliance has thirty colonies and outposts in over two dozen solar systems. Some are mining colonies or used for food/ fertilizer production while Beta 7 appears to be mainly used as a prison planet-cum-mental institution.

-Earth’s population is nearly ten billion.

-The Death Penalty is still in place, but only for treason and mutiny involving the attempted or actual murder of a superior officer by serving Earth Force personnel. The penalty for mutiny is usually death by spacing-the perpetrator is shown the nearest airlock minus a breather unit. Murder is usually dealt with by ‘death of personality’.

What if Sheridan's entrance had been planned from the start?

The five years of Babylon 5 happen as broadcast, but with some differences.
I would propose two five year arcs: The first starts immediately after the pilot episode and ends following the departure of the First Ones in 2262. The second arc begins eleven years later and ends after the fall of Centauri Prime in 2278.

Pilot episode.

Season One

-Sinclair is stranded aboard Babylon 4 during its reappearance, May 2258.  Laurel Takeshima assumes command in the interim.

-A volunteer in Psi Corps experiments, Jason Ironheart is now a P15 and ‘no longer what you or I would consider entirely human’.

-The Shadows return in numbers to Z’ha’dum.

-Catherine Sakai is the first human to knowingly come into contact with First Ones.

-Alisa Beldon, a telepath, is the first human to live on Minbar.

-Drall, a Minbari, takes custody of the Great Machine on Epsilon 3 after the death of Varn.

-The Narn outpost at Quadrant 37 is attacked by an unknown party acting on behalf of Centauri Ambassador Londo Mollari.

 

-Babylon 5 Security Chief Michael Garibaldi uncovers a plot to assassinate the EA President.

-Minbari Ambassador to Babylon 5 Delenn begins her transformation into a half-human Minbari using the Triluminary to address the imbalance in Minbari souls.

-Earth Force One explodes near Io Transfer Point, killing Earth Alliance President Louis Santiago.

 

-Vice President Morgan William Clark is sworn in as President.

-The Minbari inform him of their belief that Minbari souls are being reincarnated in human bodies.

Season Two

January 2259: Lyta Alexander is recalled to earth as soon as Clark comes to power. Six months later she escapes Psi Corps and makes her way to Babylon 5 with the aid of the Mars resistance and General Hague's operatives. She then warns the remaining crew about a mole: Laurel Takeshima

March 2259: General William Hague of the Joint Chiefs sends Captain John Sheridan to Babylon 5 as its new military governor. Officially this is because Sheridan was President Santiago's choice to replace Sinclair if he was ever transferred. Secretly, this is done in order to build an anti-coup alliance of loyal officers away from close scrutiny by Clark's allies.

June 2259: Ivanova defects to the Minbari. She returns to the station in January 2260 after being trained by the remaining Rangers to fight the Shadows.

Season Three

Ivanova returns in the White Star, a prototype Minbari warship crewed by religious Minbari.

August 2260: Senate enacts blockade on Babylon 5 after Sheridan requests military aid in fighting the Shadows, on behalf of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds

Season Four

Delenn is sentenced in absentia for treason when she begins a relationship with Sheridan.

Ivanova and Delenn recruit "Arthur", G'kar and Catherine Sakai to lead and train the Rangers aboard Babylon 5.

Garibaldi is on patrol outside the station when it is surrounded by Shadow ships. They leave after he tries to intercept them and Garibaldi finds himself on the Shadow homeworld. The Shadows try to recruit Garibaldi. They give him the same spiel they otherwise gave to Sheridan. When he refuses to serve them they send him to Psi Corps for reprogramming.

A colony of rouge telepaths is established. Some are recruited by Sheridan to fight the Shadows, others join security in order to to deter Shadow infiltration.

G'kar leaves the station to search for Garibaldi. He ends up aiding Londo in removing Cartagia and the Shadows from Centauri Prime, in return for Londo ending hostilities against the Narn and returning all captured territories.  

Season Five

Sheridan successfully rallies the League of Non-Aligned Worlds against the Shadows. His Alliance of Light achieves its first victory. A neutral planet was blockaded with civilian vessels posing as refugee ships. Hidden among these were Alliance ships and waiting in hyperspace were the White Star, several Vorlon ships and a few ships belonging to Minbari loyal to Delenn. Knowing the Shadows would never pass up such a tempting target, Sheridan was able to thus determine where their next attack would take place.

Delenn suddenly announces that she must take the White Star on an unusual mission, after Ivanova receives a distress signal from herself. Delenn, Sheridan, Lennir and Zathras take the White Star back in time to the point at which B4 goes online. It transpires that it was about to be destroyed by the Trigati, a renegade Minbari warship. The White Star opens fire on the Trigati just before it is in visual range of B4 thus avoiding resumption of hostilities between Earth and Minbar.

Zathras and the others locate to Babylon 4, hoping to pilot it to 2262. Sinclair, meanwhile, is given a triluminary by Zathras and takes the White Star into the distant past. It transpires (possibly via Lyta?) that Sinclair basically founded the Minbari civilisation. This means that Kosh Naranek either personally knew, or was himself, Jeffery Sinclair.

This explains Kosh knowing so much about the future and seemingly shaking Sinclair's hand when they meet for the "first time". It also explains why the Minbari were dying off, why they needed fresh DNA and why they believed humans were reincarnated Minbari. Sinclair appeared in Minbari space when the species is still developing. He takes a wife, has several children, and directs Minbari civilisation to the point that they were able to defeat the Shadows in the last war. However, his genetic impact is such that there is rampant inbreeding among the Minbari.

Awaiting Sheridan's return, Ivanova tries to maintain the new alliance. She formally declares independence from the Earth Alliance.

Station morale increases when Garibaldi returns. At first he has no idea who he is but his memories of his time on the station and his life before slowly return and he is allowed to return as Chief of Security.

Meanwhile the only major powers to recognise B5 are the Narn Regime and the Centauri Republic and both these powers suffered heavy losses in the Shadow War. Similarly, the Minbari leadership refuse to recognise Babylon 5's independence due to hostility towards Delenn.


The second arc begins when Sheridan, Delenn and Lennir return aboard Babylon 4. The series then carries on from 2273 to 2278.

Z'ha'dum is destroyed by Lyta Alexander after Bester arrives and insists their technology can help the Alliance.

Babylon 5 is partially evacuated after being sabotaged. Garibaldi goes missing after apparently trying to destroy the telepath colony.

Babylon 4 returns.

With no opposition from the Shadows, the Vorlons begin destroying civilisations that have sided with the Shadows.

Clark is overthrown with the aid of Sheridan and the Shadow implant telepaths.

Garibaldi's free will is restored by Bester. He then works as a bounty hunter, focusing on Shadow allies in Psi Corps.

Lyta discovers she is powerful enough to defeat Kosh. While the station's remaining residents and personnel are relocated to Babylon 4, and with the aid of some surviving telepaths and station security, she forces Kosh to remain aboard the station while it is deliberately destroyed.

Ivanova was exposed as a telepath as she was able to control Kosh's ship during the evacuation. The technology aboard the Vorlon transport is later used in upgrading the second generation of White Stars.

The Vorlons are confronted in the Coriana system by the combined forces of the Narn, the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, the Centauri and the remaining first ones. They agree to leave the galaxy alongside the last of the first ones.

The Interstellar Alliance is formed, Delenn gives birth to a rapidly developing child, Minbar and Earth recognise Babylon 4's independence.

The IA commissions the Rangers as a peacekeeping force with membership open to all IA citizens.

The Rangers become indispensable in the Telepath War.

Garibaldi's free will and personality is fully restored by Lyta Alexander.

Babylon 4 is renamed Babylon Prime.

War with the Centauri starts just as Earth and Minbar agree to join the IA.

Delenn is captured during a voyage to Minbar, Sheridan arrives with the White Star fleet. He is captured trying to negotiate a truce during the fall of Centauri Prime.

Emperor Londo dies, his successor Vir Cotto reveals he was being controlled by the Drakh, who also orchestrated the war.