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The Earth–Minbari War is a fictional war that formed a major part of the back story of the science fiction television series ''Babylon 5''. The Earth–Minbari War began in 2245 when an EarthForce (Earth's military force) expeditionary fleet damaged and destroyed vessels of the Minbari Federation fleet, killing Dukhat (leader of the Minbari Grey Council). The Earth fleet's commander misinterpreted the Minbari warrior caste's tradition of approaching a ship with gun ports open as a hostile action and fired on the Minbari vessels. In response of this incident, the Minbari went on a genocidal crusade against Earth and all humans. The war lasted for two years with Earth Alliance being almost totally outmatched by the Minbari and ended with the unexpected Minbari surrender at the Battle of the Line. The Minbari surrender occurred when they believed that the souls of dead Minbari were being reincarnated in humans and that they shared DNA with the human race. This revelation became part of the story arc of the show and the events of the war itself are depicted in the ''Babylon 5: In the Beginning'' TV Movie. ==War== The seeds of the war were planted when Earth Alliance, flush from their victory in the Dilgar War, was expanding its influence and decided to explore Minbari space. Despite the warnings of Centauri Ambassador Londo Mollari that the Minbari are an ancient, powerful species and dangerous if provoked, a flotilla of armed vessels was dispatched and led by Captain Michael Jankowski, who was appointed over the objections of capable officers like John Sheridan who considered the captain unsuited to delicate operations like this. As feared, the war was provoked by Captain Michael Jankowski aboard the warship EAS ''Prometheus''. During the expedition, the ''Prometheus'' and her escorts encountered three Minbari cruisers, one of which was carrying the Grey Council, the highest echelon of Minbari society. The Grey Council was en route to investigate reports of sightings of their ancient enemy, the Shadows. Although Jankowski had been given strict orders to not do anything which might be perceived as hostile, Jankowski disobeyed the orders and refused to jump to hyperspace when the Minbari spotted his fleet. He thought that by waiting to the last possible moment to jump he could gain valuable sensor information about the Minbari cruisers, and this would lead to a promotion and medals from Earthforce Command. Upon seeing the Earth vessels, the Minbari cruisers opened their gunports as a sign of respect and strength - even though Humans would have no knowledge of such a tradition. Captain Jankowski misinterpreted the gesture as a sign of hostility, an impression compounded by the fact that the Minbari cruisers accidentally disabled the ''Prometheus'' jump engines, thus preventing the ship from jumping to hyperspace and escaping. When told by his first officer that his vessel's jump engines had malfunctioned and that the weapons on the Minbari cruisers were "hot" (active), Jankowski panicked and opened fire on the Minbari ships. Dukhat was killed and his protégé Delenn, in a fit of rage, cast the deciding vote on the Council to wage a war of vengeance against Earth. After calming down, Delenn reconsidered, but found that she was helpless to stop the crusade she placed in motion, even while she remained among the loudest voices pleading for a peaceful solution. The Earth Alliance made efforts to present official apologies to the Minbari through all possible diplomatic channels, and tried to obtain help (military or diplomatic) from neutral alien races such as the Centauri. However, no alien race wanted to incur the wrath of the Minbari military, and so Earth was left to fight alone. Immediately following the destruction of Jericho 3, the Minbari struck at half a dozen EarthForce bases in the space of just a few days, leaving no survivors and accepting no surrender. Even ships no longer capable of fighting were targeted and destroyed. All attempts to communicate, including an offer to turn over Michael Jankowski, were rebuffed. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Earth–Minbari War」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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