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In the Babylon 5 fictional universe, the Battle of the Line was the final battle of the Earth-Minbari war. 25,000 Humans participated in the battle. The cost was extremely high as fewer than 200 humans survived the battle. However, at the edge of victory, the Minbari inexplicably stopped themselves, and surrendered. Image File history File links Information_icon. ... The Earth Alliance is the name of a fictional alliance of the countries of Earth in the television series Babylon 5. ... Image File history File links Battle_of_the_line. ... Image File history File links Battle_of_the_line. ... Babylon 5 is an epic American science fiction television series created, produced, and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. ... A fictional universe is a cohesive imaginary world that serves as the setting or backdrop for one or (more commonly) multiple works of fiction. ... The Earth-Minbari War is a fictional war that takes place in the science fiction series Babylon 5. ... Humans are one of the many races in the fictional Babylon 5 universe. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The battle was one of the most important events of the 23rd Century. The effects of the war were felt throughout the galaxy for many years following the war. The 23rd century of the anno Domini (common) era will span the years 2201–2300 of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Background

About two years before the Battle of the Line, the first contact between Humans and Minbari had ended in disaster. The Minbari Grey Council were travelling aboard their Sharlin Class Warcruiser, and detected a convoy of Earth Alliance ships. The Minbari approached with their ship's gunports open, a traditional sign of respect in their culture. Dukhat, the Minbari council leader, knew that the humans would most likely not be aware of this tradition, and ordered the gunports closed. However, the order came too late; the captain of the lead Earth ship, thinking that the Minbari were about to attack (a belief compounded by the fact that the Minbari ship's sensors were so powerful as to prevent the Earth ships from opening jump points), panicked and opened fire. This resulted in the death of Dukhat, whereupon the remaining members of the Grey Council voted to declare war. Due to a tie vote, Delenn was called upon to cast the deciding vote. Filled with rage, she voted 'Yes', although she later sought to change her vote upon considering that the situation may have been a misunderstanding. It has been suggested that Satai be merged into this article or section. ... A Sharlin class warcruiser The Sharlin Class Warcruiser is the main starship of the Minbari Federation in the fictional Babylon 5 universe. ... The Earth Alliance is the name of a fictional alliance of the countries of Earth in the television series Babylon 5. ... For the character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, see Dukat. ...

Over the next two years, the Minbari won many victories against the Humans. But the Humans made them fight for every inch of space, and Commander John Sheridan succeeded in destroying the Black Star, the Minbari flagship. Truce talks were attempted, but these efforts failed when the Centauri, thinking the negotiations were arms sales from the Narn to the humans, sabotaged the efforts. now. ... A typical Sharlin Class Warcruiser of the same class as the Black Star. ... Peter Jurasik as Londo Mollari in Babylon 5 The Centauri are a humanoid species in the fictional Babylon 5 universe. ... Andreas Katsulas as GKar in Babylon 5 The Narns are a race of humanoid aliens in the television series Babylon 5. ...

Finally, after two years the Humans were losing the war. All the defenses had failed. A large Minbari fleet was approaching the Solar System. In order to allow some to escape, the President of the Earth Alliance ordered as many ships as possible to defend Earth to give as many people as possible time to get into neutral space.

Battle

A large Minbari fleet came out of hyperspace near Earth. Confident they could take out the Humans quickly and end the war, the Minbari fleet had bypassed the other Human colonies in the system, mainly Mars and Io, to strike at Earth directly. As with other engagements, the battle was not going well for the humans. The humans fought valiantly, but they were unable to damage or slow the Minbari fleet. The technologically superior Minbari decimated the human ships with little difficulty. Babylon 5 is an epic American science fiction television series created, produced, and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. ... Articles related to Babylon 5 and Crusade: Spoiler warning: Alphabetically by Subject Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z By Topic Episodes - Characters - Races - Locations Alphabetic Index... This is a list of Babylon 5 episodes. ... The following is a list of people involved in a significant way with the science-fiction television series Babylon 5. ... Adjectives: Terrestrial, Terran, Telluric, Tellurian, Earthly Atmosphere Surface pressure: 101. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure trace Sulfur dioxide 90% Io (eye-oe, IPA: , Greek Ῑώ) is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. ...

The Eve of Minbari victory

"I'm taking you bastards with me!"

Lt. Commander Jeffrey Sinclair watched as his entire squadron was destroyed in under 60 seconds. After his Starfury fighter suffered a critical hit, he decided to ram the nearest Minbari cruiser, and set a suicide course. Image File history File links Poweroverwhelming. ... Image File history File links Poweroverwhelming. ... Image File history File links Sinclair_ram. ... Image File history File links Sinclair_ram. ... Jeffrey Sinclair is a fictional character in the television science fiction drama Babylon 5. ... The Starfury is the primary single-man starfighter of the Earth Alliance on the TV series Babylon 5. ...

As the battle drew to an end, the Human fleet was annihilated, and the Minbari fleet virtually unscratched. But just as Earth’s doom seemed inevitable, the Minbari suddenly ceased fire, and their ships stopped advancing. The Minbari broadcast their surrender. Earth had not only been spared, it had won the war. There was much speculation as to why the Minbari chose to surrender when their victory was all but assured, but the Minbari’s governing Grey Council never explained its decision. It has been suggested that Satai be merged into this article or section. ...

Earth losses were enormous. The battle losses were more than 20,000 Starfuries and 1,000 ships, rounding a total of over 200,000 deaths. It is said frequently that were only 207 survivors, but it's not clear if that number refers to Starfuries only, capital ships or both. It is unlikely that the number refers to people since many heavy ships survived, of which the EAS Hyperion alone has more than 250 crew. The EAS Hyperion is a starship in the Babylon 5 science fiction universe. ...

Minbari surrender

"We must take one of them in. If our next step is the final assault on their world, we must know their defenses."

"Very well Delenn. Choose, but quickly. We're fast running out of candidates."

The Grey Council had gathered at the scene to watch the battle. Council member Delenn advocated taking a prisoner for interrogation. She was told to choose a target from the quickly diminishing pool of candidates. She pointed at a fighter, which was disabled and brought aboard the ship. The pilot was Lt. Commander Sinclair. Over the next few hours, Sinclair was interrogated. He was brought before the Grey Council, which marked the first time a Human stood in the council chambers. A council member scanned Sinclair with a triluminary. This triluminary was programmed to detect Valen's DNA sequence, and light up if it found even a piece of his DNA. What the council found stunned them. When they scanned him with the triluminary, the device reported that he not only had part of Valen's DNA, the device said he was Valen. At first the council did not want to believe this, so they pulled other humans on board and scanned them. Image File history File links Thisisgenocide. ... Image File history File links Thisisgenocide. ... Image File history File links Outtacandidates. ... Image File history File links Outtacandidates. ... Delenn, played by Mira Furlan, is a fictional character in the universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5. ... A device in the science fiction drama Babylon 5. ... Michael OHare as Valen in Babylon 5 A Minbari not born of Minbari Valen is the fictional leader of the Minbari in the science fiction television show Babylon 5. ... A device in the science fiction drama Babylon 5. ...

Sinclair during the Minbari "interrogation"

Because of the Minbari belief in reincarnation, they believed that Sinclair was the current host of Valen's soul. They thought that other Minbari souls were also in human bodies, and that they were harming their own souls through this war, a horrific concept to them. They also felt that what happened with Sinclair was a sign that the humans would become a needed ally in the upcoming Shadow War. They ordered Sinclair's memories of the examination purged, followed by his release. Delenn volunteered to stay close to Sinclair to observe him. The Grey Council ordered the Minbari to immediately cease hostilities, but refused to publicly explain this unexpected move which stunned both Minbari and Terran alike. Image File history File links Sinclair_torture. ... Image File history File links Sinclair_torture. ... Reincarnation, literally to be made flesh again, as a doctrine or mystical belief, holds the notion that some essential part of a living being (or in some variations, only human beings) can survive death in some form, with its integrity partly or wholly retained, to be reborn in a new... The Shadow Wars refer to the great wars involving the Shadows in the television science fiction series Babylon 5. ...

Aftermath

When Sinclair came to, he found that it was about 24 hours later. He learned that Earth had "won" the Minbari war. For many years he struggled with his feelings - particularly survivor's guilt. For the most part, he could not remember his experiences, although he later found that he remembered bits and pieces mainly through flashbacks.

The Earth Alliance had learned a powerful lesson as well. An arrogant attitude towards other races and military force had brought the Human race to the edge of extinction. They learned that they had to use diplomatic efforts to keep this from ever happening again. The Earth Alliance is the name of a fictional alliance of the countries of Earth in the television series Babylon 5. ...

With that thought in mind, the Earth Alliance commissioned the Babylon Project. The Babylon stations were intended as a place where people of different races could come and resolve their differences peacefully. The first three stations were destroyed during construction, either by sabotage or engineering failures. The fourth station was completed, but it disappeared in a time warp right after it became operational.

With assistance from the Minbari, Earth built one more Babylon station. It brought many races together, including Humans and Minbari. The station served as a base of operations in the Shadow War. When President Clark of Earth attempted to turn Earth into a neo-fascist state, Babylon 5 was central in the efforts to defeat him and restore freedom. The Earth Alliance is the name of a fictional alliance of the countries of Earth in the television series Babylon 5. ...

For a number of years after the war, Earth-Minbari relations were somewhat tense. Individuals from both races blamed the other for the death and destruction from the war. However, efforts by some Minbari, especially Delenn, resulted in greatly improving the relations between the two races.

Finally, in 2259, Jeffrey Sinclair was named Ambassador to Minbar. He was the first human allowed to reside full-time on the planet. As the Shadow War began to heat up, many Humans joined with Minbari in the Anla'Shok, or Rangers, including Sinclair, who became their leader (as Valen had been 1000 years before). The cooperation between the two species was vital in defeating the Shadows, and the forming of the Interstellar Alliance. Marcus Cole, a Ranger, portrayed by Jason Carter in Babylon 5 A Ranger (Minbari: AnlaShok) is a fictional class of warrior that plays a prominent part of the science fiction television series, Babylon 5. ...

However, the results of the Battle of the Line caused some strife in Minbari society. A rift developed between the Religious and Warrior castes. The Grey Council did not explain their reasons for stopping the war to anyone, not even their generals. One war leader committed suicide rather than obey the order. The others grudgingly obeyed the order; however the Warrior caste resented the Religious caste for stopping the war after many of their people had died. While the issue was sublimated when the Minbari fought the large fight of the Shadow War, the issue came to a head in the months following that war. Eventually a brief civil war broke out over the issue. But largely through the efforts of Delenn, Lennier, and Neroon they were able to bring the war to an end. Delenn reformed the government to give the Worker caste a dominant role in Minbari society - feeling that they had been ignored for far too long. Delenn, played by Mira Furlan, is a fictional character in the universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5. ... Lennier, played by Bill Mumy, is a fictional character in the universe of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5. ... Spoiler warning: In the television science fiction series Babylon 5, Neroon was a Minbari, a member of the Warrior Caste from the Star Riders clan. ...

The Minbari also learned that their isolationist policies were partially to blame for the tragic first contact. The Grey Council knew that if they had made contact with the humans right away it could have been handled peacefully. They knew that to prevent a similar occurrence they had to reach out to other races, and keep an active presence in the galaxy.