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United Nations Space Command

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United Nations Space Command
File:Perfect Black UNSC logo.png
Government overview

Type:

Emergency Military

Executive branch:

UNSC Security Committee

Legislative branch:

UNSC Security Council

Judicial branch:

Office of Investigations[1]

Societal overview

Official language(s):

English (Primary), Spanish, Swahili and many others

Historical overview

Formation:

From United Nations between 2160 and 2164

 

The United Nations Space Command, better known as the UNSC, is the current main government of humanity, spanning more than 800 colony worlds around the Orion Arm, along with Earth before the Human-Covenant War. Formed in the 2160's, during a period where remnants of old cultural ideologies clashed for supremacy in the Sol System, the UNSC served mainly as an overseer of United Nations military operations in space. After initiating massive militarization propaganda throughout its off-world colonies, the UN, through the UNSC, defeated Communist and Fascist forces in a conflict generally known as the "Interplanetary War", consisting of several side-battles that took place on Mars, the Jovian Moons and the South American rain forests. Although the war brought a great deal of suffering to both the colonial population and the residents of Earth, it also united humanity's military forces into a common armed force by the end of the 22nd century known as the UNSC.

Prior to the Covenant's attack on Harvest, humanity was in chaos, fighting in multiple fronts, on planets, against a group known as the Insurrectionists who wanted independence from the UNSC government. In an attempt to help end the long running war against the Insurrectionists and rebels, the UNSC commissioned the SPARTAN Project, which created elite super-soldiers to combat separatists and the insurrections they spawned. When the Covenant began decimating the outer colonies, these Spartans became humanity's best hope against the technological superiority of the aliens. By A.D 2552, Earth the location of which has been kept secret from the Covenant through the Cole Protocol, is the last remaining Human bastion; and falls under attack during Halo 2. The end of the Human-Covenant war comes after UNSC forces eliminate the Covenant's leadership and joint UNSC-Sangheili forces destroy the Flood threat.

By the time the war began, the UNSC had reached Tier 3 of the Forerunner civilization achievement rank system. Humanity’s rank continued to rise due to the capture of Covenant technology and equipment, which was studied and adapted for human needs. The very best and cutting edge of UNSC equipment was supplied to the SPARTAN-II Project. One such example of imitative human technology is the energy shielding adapted for use on the MJOLNIR armor.

During the First and Second Battle of Earth, the UNSC fought the Covenant Loyalists on Earth to prevent humanity's extinction, and eventually won their right to survive thanks in due part to an alliance with the Covenant Separatists. The UEG was initially the primary government of humanity, but as the Covenant-Human war progressed, the UNSC was forced to override UEG authority and inserted itself as humanity's primary government.

Background

File:7thHelljumpers.jpg
The Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, a special forces unit of the UNSC, are deployed by drop pods that land at the mission site.
File:T 8567.jpg
United Nations Space Command Defense Force emblem

The roots of the UNSC go back to the Second World War. The United Nations Space Command (for short, UNSC) was formed by the United Nations during the Interplanetary War. After the eventual UNSC victory, overpopulation on Earth became a major issue in the early 22nd century. This issue was resolved and disaster averted by colonizing and building vast cities on other planets in the Orion Arm of the galaxy, the Inner Colonies and later the Outer Colonies.

The UNSC's defensive military force is the UNSC Defense Force (UNSCDF) consisting of the UNSC Army and the UNSC Air Force.[2]

The UNSC is run by the UNSC Security Committee, under the jurisdiction of the Security Council and is Earth's main military force, most recently fighting the Covenant. The Navy houses the divisions of UNSC Marines (including the special forces branch of the UNSC Marines known as Orbital Drop Shock Troopers more commonly know as ODSTs or "Helljumpers"), Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), and the Fleet. The UNSC was originally designed to keep the peace, order and control, thus serving as an executive governmental branch between neighboring planets and star systems. When certain rebellious factions began to rise in the late 2510s, the UNSC was forced to police its colonies tirelessly to keep privateers and pirates from raiding the colonies and any UNSC ships.

The Unified Earth Government and the United Nations still exist and operate the UNSC. It acts as a democratic world government where all the participant nations share the same legal system as the UNSC and act as smaller parts of the greater whole.

It should be noted that the UEG's specific functions, legal makeup and legal boundaries as they relate to the CAA and UNSC are not yet known in detail.

The United Nations Space Command Flag is described as "...a blue field with stars and Earth in the corner." (One should see a similar banner, in the game: Halo 3, where the player can see a blue banner with the UNSC emblem/eagle.)[3]

History

Flag of the UNSC
History of the UNSC
Pre-UNSC period
- Creation of the United Nations (1945)
- Jovian Moons Campaign (2160)
- Rain Forest Wars (2162)
- Mars Campaign (2163)
Interplanetary War (2164–2170)
Inner Colony Wars (after 2362)
Insurrection (2494–2537, resurgence: 2553–)
Human-Covenant War (2525–2552)
Post-Covenant War conflicts (2553–)
Main article: History of the UNSC

Interplanetary War

The UNSC has its roots in World War II, which would form its parent organization, the United Nations. The UNSC was actually formed and fashioned as the result of a series of brutal conflicts across the Solar System and Humanity's space confines between 2160 and 2164, most prominently among them the Jovian Moons Campaign, The Rain Forest Wars, and a series of battles on Mars.[4] The United Nations Space Command, as organized and orchestrated as it seems is actually an emergency military government formed in such strifes. These encounters were centered, around UN clashes with dissident political movements, the most important of which were the "Koslovics" and the "Frieden". More specifically, the Frieden movement was a fascist organization based on the Jovian Moons, though they received backing from some corporations operating in the United German Republic on Earth, while their ideological opponents, the Koslovics, formed a Marxist-Leninist group centered around the leadership of Vladimir Koslov.

The war began with an attack on UN Colonial Advisors on the moon of Io, one of the moons of Jupiter, but would spread to Mars and parts of South America in the Rain Forest Wars. These events culminated in a UN buildup in the 2160s, which would result in the second of the great reforms, the first being from the league of nations into the UN. The second reformed the UN from a largely diplomatic organization to a permanent United Earth Government as an ultimate power to lead the human race by 2170.

Colonization

File:H3 Zune Marine.jpg
A UNSC Marine in battle uniform

The four-year long war put the spotlight on problems facing the overpopulated planet, and the Rain Forest Wars also exacerbated the problems relating to food distribution. The ensuing famine and societal problems related to the post-war population boom providing the spark to change the political nature of governance on Earth and elsewhere, leading to the political system seen in the period of the Halo game series. These pressures also helped make space colonization seem more attractive in later centuries, as the UN government would sign off on a colony ship program that was revealed in 2310 to ease the burden on the ailing home world. This would not have been possible without the invention of the Slipspace Shaw-Fujikawa drive in the late 2200's, which allowed the ships to travel far greater distances than ever before.

It took 52 years before the first colony ship, the Odyssey, was launched, and what became the so-called Inner Colonies were not fully colonized until the end of the 24th century. The apex of UNSC colonization would come in 2492, when more then 800 worlds were under human control and were at various stages of development. By this time, a ring of Outer Colonies was providing the United Nations with the raw materials that made the macro-economy work; the political power, however, remained with the before mentioned Inner Colonies. The massive difference in wealth distribution and political power, which became a hallmark of humanity by this period, led to new threats of secession from the outer ring. Fearing the consequences of the breakup of the interstellar empire and seeing the benefits of avoiding all-out war to defend their hold on the colonies, the UNSC would embark on the predecessors to the SPARTAN-II program in 2491, beginning with the ORION Project.

According to Dr. Catherine Halsey, the UNSC had 20 years before war broke out. With human territory stretching out in an approximately 42 light year radius[5], and humanity yet to make contact with an alien civilization, the possibility of an interspecies war was not taken into account.

The Human-Covenant War

Main article: Human-Covenant War

2525 marked an important turning point in human history; it would mark the beginning of the great technological advancement, the unification of a divided and fractured human race, and the first contact of humanity and an extra-terrestrial intelligence, the Covenant. It would also see a majority of the UNSC's 800 colony worlds razed, and billions of colonists and military personnel slaughtered by orbital plasma bombardment and planetary invasion. Thus began the Human-Covenant War with the Battle of Harvest. Although most of the colony worlds were not razed in its entirety during the war, to facilitate their reconstruction.

Stemming from the chance encounter of Human and Covenant forces at Harvest, the first contact made between humanity and the Covenant involved the ship Minor Transgression, and was less peaceful than the second contact made between the two factions. A less aggressive meeting between representatives of the two factions took place on the fields of Harvest, but the peaceful meeting soon turned into a blood bath, with the Covenant claiming the planet for the numerous "Forerunner relics" present, slaughtering most of the colony's population.[6]

On April 20, a scout ship, Argo, was sent to investigate the cessation of communications between Harvest and the rest of the UNSC. Before being destroyed by Covenant forces, it discovered that everything on the planet had been completely incinerated, and the surface covered by fields of magma, leaving nothing alive. Soon after the Heracles battle group, consisting of the frigates Arabia and Vostok and the destroyer Heracles was sent to find out what had happened. On Ocober 7, the battle group dropped out of Slipspace and to Harvest. In orbit around the remains of the colony world was a single alien ship which proceeded to attack the battle group, destroying all the ships except one. Intercepted communications identify the enemy as the Covenant, a caste-driven, theological organization made up of several alien species. The message "Your destruction is the will of the gods... and we are their instrument" was broadcast in perfect English.[7]

Since the later Battle of Harvest in 2531 where a huge human Fleet led by Admiral Cole barely won against a smaller covenant fleet in a symbolic "victory" for humanity, the humans' grip on their territories declined significantly in the course of their struggle. Of the more than 800 colony worlds, the Covenant had managed to capture and razing of the majority, if not all Outer Colonies and a majority of the Inner Colonies. The UNSC Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Militias, outnumbered and out-gunned, have managed to slow down the Covenant's inexorable progress through former human space, but the situation is dire. In desperation, HIGHCOM orders a high-risk Op, sending the Spartan-II super soldiers, the best soldiers ever fielded by humanity, to insert into Covenant space, capture a high-ranking Prophet, and return to UNSC space in an attempt to ransom for a truce. Before the operation begins, the Covenant find and destroy the planet that would have served as its launching pad, Reach, killing most of the Spartans and a large portion of the UNSCDF, inadvertently stopping the operation and rendering most of the Spartans MIA.

A single ship, the Pillar of Autumn managed to escape the planet, with two Spartans on board, Linda and the Master Chief. This ship follows co-ordinates derived by the AI Cortana to a Ring-world known as Halo. There the Master Chief destroys a large Covenant fleet and the ringworld itself. After hijacking a Covenant Flagship known as Ascendant Justice, the Spartan reunites with the remaining survivors from Halo and the destruction of Reach and planned Operation: FIRST STRIKE on an amassing force of Covenant ships, one of the most successful UNSC operations against the Covenant in the entire war.

By October of 2552, the Covenant have haphazardly discovered the position of the human home world, Earth, and sent a preliminary task force there, believing it to be the location of the Ark, an ancient Forerunner relic. They encountered staunch resistance, and were initially fended off. Further complications arise from the political and religious crisis that emerges in the wake of a UNSC operation to assassinate a Prophet, and the secession of the Elites from the hegemony, leading to the Covenant Civil War, further throwing the Covenant into chaos. Nevertheless, by November, what is left of the Covenant Loyalists have subjugated large parts of Earth, devastating much of the planet. Only its retreat through a Forerunner portal in Africa, and the arrival of the Sangheili Fleet, stop the utter destruction of the UNSC and Earth itself.

The UNSC and Elite forces launch a joint operation to destroy the Covenant Loyalists once and for all at the Ark stopping the installation from firing The Halo Array, killing the Covenant's last remaining leader, the Prophet of Truth, and destroying the bulk of the Loyalists' remaining forces. On March 3, 2553, the Human-Covenant War officially ended in a victory for the UNSC and the Covenant Separatists, but at a high price; With every major military outpost destroyed except for Earth as well as numerous but not all colonies. It is presumed that untold billions of humans had been killed from 2525-2553.

Political Organization

Unified Earth Government or United Nations

Template:UNSC Organizations

Economy

The UNSC uses the United Nations Credit monetary unit to organize its economical stability by selling or buying military equipment, supplies and costs for shipping etc. The UN Credit was implemented by the United Nations, probably some time before its dissolution and replacement with the United Earth Government in 2164. For transporting food and raw materials between colonies, the UNSC maintains the Department of Commercial Shipping.

Military

The UNSC's military arm is the United Nations Space Command Defense Force, which is split into the UNSC Army, the UNSC Air Force, the UNSC Navy, and the UNSC Marine Corps. The Defense Force took control of the UNSC during the Human-Covenant War.

UNSC Personnel

See Characters for a list of UNSC personnel.
See Bases for a list of UNSC Military Bases.

Template:UNSC Officer Ranks Template:UNSC Enlisted Ranks

Template:UNSC Services

UNSC Weaponry

Main article: UNSC Weapons

These are the weapons that the UNSC employs against the likes of the Covenant or the United Rebel Front.

Note that all the hand held weapons in Halo 2 and Halo 3 apart from grenades can be swapped with the appropriate class of soldier's weapons.

Held weapons

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Missiles and other larger weapons

UNSC Vehicles

Land

  • Scorpion Tank - The Main Battle Tank of the UNSC. Has a 90mm high-velocity cannon and a 7.62mm machine gun. An extremely powerful tank that can hold up to four passengers on its tread-mounted jump seats.
  • Warthog - M12 LRV capable of mounting a chain gun, rocket launcher, Gauss rifle, or a passenger cage with room for three.
  • Mongoose - Unarmed All-Terrain Vehicle.
  • Cobra - An offensive rocket artillery.
  • Elephant - Siege Vehicle and Infantry Carrier. Powerful but extremely slow.
  • Rhino - Heavy Tank/Self Propelled Artillery Vehicle.
  • Wolverine - A half-tracked armored Anti-Aircraft Vehicle.

Air

UNSC Vessels and Stations

See UNSC Navy

Template:UNSC Ships

Known UNSC Military Units

Main article: UNSC Military Units

UNSC Technologies

Main article: Technology

The UNSC's technology is far more advanced than that of the Twentieth Century. However, it is painfully inferior to that employed by the Covenant.

Sphere of influence

See: Category:UNSC Colonies.

UNSC territory is known to encompass several dozen worlds in several star systems, in various stages of colonization, from the well developed Inner Colonies to the relatively recent and struggling Outer Colonies.Though there were over 800 Human colonies before the War, only 38 have been referenced, mentioned, or otherwise revealed through the novels and games, and yet Earth is called Humanity's last stronghold.

The territory encompassed by the Inner Colonies seems to stretch in at least a 10.5 lightyear radius around Earth, and the Outer Colonies beyond that. By 2525, the outermost colony was Harvest, at 11 lightyears - later, colonies were founded well beyond the Outer Colonies, sometimes free of UNSC influence. The furthest known UNSC colony is Beta Centauri, at 500 light years away[9]. Colonies may have been settled after Harvest, or founded during the Human-Covenant War.

Colony Systems, Worlds, and Cities

Sol System

Epsilon Eridani System

Sigma Octanus System

Lambda Serpentis System

Zeta Doradus System

Other Colonies

UNSC bases

Nations

The majority of information contained by weekly Bungie updates and several comic books indicate that at least some nations on Earth still exist and probably maintained their independence despite the global unification that was performed by the UN, UNSC and Unified Earth's Government in the 22nd century during the Interplanetary War.

Template:Countries

Major UNSC Events

UNSC Laws

See UNSC Laws

Trivia

  • The UNSC is the navigation and military arm of the Unified Earth Government and the Colonial Administration Authority, thus it does not administrate the colonies without the consensus of the CAA or the UEG.
  • The UNSC was accidentally referred to as the "USNC" in the book Halo: Ghosts of Onyx.
  • The United Nations Space Command Marine Corps has an ostensible inspiration from the real world USMC, the United States Marine Corps.
  • The majority UNSC vehicles are named after animals that live on the planet Earth, such as the Pelican, the Mongoose, Warthog, Scorpion, Albatross, etc. The exceptions, of course, being the 'Longsword', 'Shortsword', etc.
  • Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, are the only Marines who have received proper training to use Human Entry Vehicles.
  • The SPARTANS were named after the Greek soldiers of Sparta, who were said to be the best soldiers that ever lived; they were renowned for their discipline, superior fighting abilities, and superior arms and armor (facts reflected by the SPARTAN IIs).
  • In real life, UNSC is an acronym for the United Nations Security Council.
  • The UNSC was saved from destruction near the end of the Human-Covenant war, by the Covenant Separatists.
  • In Red vs Blue: Reconstruction, at the end of chapter 19, Sarge mentions that the Red Team have been given new vehicles from the UNSC. When questioned what it was by Grif, he says "I don't know, never heard of it. Sounds made up."

References

  1. ^ The Office of Investigations most likely investigates and judges the actions of all the arms of the UNSC, as it is the only known judicial organization of the UNSC.
  2. ^ HBO Interview with Frank O'Connor and Robert McLees
  3. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 37
  4. ^ http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/h/halo/storyline.htm
  5. ^ I Love Bees, Troy
  6. ^ Halo: Contact Harvest
  7. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 96-98
  8. ^ Letter - Re:Antilon Mine
  9. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach
  10. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach
  11. ^ Halo:The Fall of Reach
  12. ^ Halo:First Strike
  13. ^ Halo:The Flood
  14. ^ I Love Bees
  15. ^ Halo 2
  16. ^ Halo:Ghosts of Onyx
  17. ^ Halo:Ghosts of Onyx
  18. ^ Halo 2

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