Unification War
From The Firefly and Serenity Database
The Unification War was a war fought between the Alliance and Independents, the core planets had taken much of the system resources and technology and left the outer planets to fend for themselves. After years of unsatisfactory talks, the outer planets seceded from the alliance and gathered support of other planets. They desired to start their own alliance without the meddlesome interventions of the core planets. They would not allow this and started the war. Nobody knows who fired the first shot but the consequences were disastrous.
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[edit] History
Set 500 years in the future, humans have colonized and terraformed a planetary system of unknown location. The system contains core planets and "border" planets. As a general rule, the farther out one travels, the less civilized society becomes. The core planets allied under a single government, The Alliance, and declared war upon those planets that wished to maintain their independence (the The Independent Faction, often referred to as "Browncoats"). This series of events is recalled as the Unification War. The Alliance was victorious, and those surviving independents migrated towards the outer planets.
[edit] Battles
Relatively little is known of the actual war itself (for example, it is unknown who fired first). One of the bloodiest battles of the war was the Battle of Sturges, which was fought over a hoard of money. It took place in space, and never made it to the ground. It is never stated where the remains of the battle are, but it is known to the crew of Serenity. Other conflicts mentioned in the series are the Battle of Du-Khang in 2510 (featured in "The Message") and a long winter campaign in New Kashmir. One of the last and most grisly major battles in the war was the Battle of Serenity Valley, in which Malcolm Reynolds and Zoë Alleyne fought (see below).
[edit] Battle of Serenity Valley
The Battle of Serenity Valley is considered the final decisive battle in the Unification War. The battle that began in May 2511, while not the final battle of the war, was certainly the end of the line for the Independents, who had sixteen brigades and twenty air-tank squads in position. Taking place on Planet Hera, the battle lasted seven weeks before Independent High Command officially surrendered to Alliance forces. The Alliance won because of superior numbers and a brilliant deep-flank strategy by General Richard Wilkins (a reference to the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Overall troop casualty rate was 68%. A deleted scene from the film Serenity claims the Independents' command actually surrendered after five weeks of combat, but the soldiers fought on for an additional two before finally giving up. Malcolm Reynolds, of the 57th Overlanders, was a sergeant, but by the end of the battle, so many officers had died that he commanded over 5,000 troops. Reynolds and what was left of the army held the Alliance at bay. To their dismay, orders came to lay down arms and surrender. What Mal hoped to be the sound of the Independent air support was in fact that of the Alliance cruisers landing. Even though the shooting stopped, the battle was not over. For a week, while the Alliance and Independents sorted out the surrender, Browncoat and Purplebelly (a slang term for Alliance soldiers) alike were left hungry, bloody and dying on field of battle. By the time rescue ships arrived, there were about 150 left of the 5,000 Mal led. He and Corporal Zoë Alleyne were the only two survivors of their original unit, known as the Balls and Bayonets Brigade. Malcolm Reynolds' ship, of which Zoë is second in command, is a Firefly-class transport ship, named Serenity after this particular battle; the rubric "no one leaves Serenity, you just learn to live there" being a bittersweet reference less to the ship's status as a home as to the catastrophic bodycount at the battle. The Battle of Serenity Valley is a sensitive issue for both Mal and Zoë, and crew member Jayne Cobb often gets into trouble with the two by bringing up the battle's grim characteristics in an attempt to push Mal.
[edit] Battle of Sturges
The Battle of Sturges was the bloodiest battle of the war, though Mal holds it a distant second to the Battle of Serenity Valley.
[edit] The Independent Faction
"The Independent Faction" was the name of a group that fought the Alliance during the war. The group was nicknamed Browncoats, due to the brown colored trench coats they wore. (Alliance troops were nicknamed 'purple bellies' due to the coloring of their own armor.) One of the reasons they were formed was to attempt and prevent the alliance from creating "better" (submissed) and more peaceful people. The faction was created when the core worlds formed the Alliance and declared war on any planets that resisted efforts to unify the rest of the planets under their control (thus the name Unification War). After the war ended, surviving faction members migrated towards the outer planets, where Alliance control is more tenuous.
[edit] Notable Browncoats
[edit] Serenity crew involvement
Throughout the run of the series Firefly, it is revealed what most of the crew members of the ship Serenity did during the Unification War:
- Mal and Zoe served as Independent Faction soldiers in the same brigade.
- During the commentary for "War Stories", Alan Tudyk speculated that Wash was a pilot, although whether he was Alliance, Independent, or freelance is unknown. He also said he thought Wash was captured early on in the war and spent most of it as a POW.
- Jayne did not serve in the war, although what he did do during the war has yet to be shown.
