Balance of terror, balance of evidence?

[Tenacity]

It should also be noted that the very fact that Spock needs to give the exposition suggests the war was an obscure one of limited scope ...

Or Earth and the Federation have been in so many wars that the "common sailors" crewing the Enterprise would not reasonable be able to separate the details of the first world war equivalent of a century before from the Vietnam equivalent of half a century before.

What do you mean, you "don't acknowledge Enterprise"?

Personally side with the fan theory that the events of FC created a separate timeline that resulted in the events of ENT and directly lead into the Abrams movies.

 

[C57D]

Or Earth and the Federation have been in so many wars that the "common sailors" crewing the Enterprise would not reasonable be able to separate the details of the first world war equivalent of a century before from the Vietnam equivalent of half a century before.
Personally side with the fan theory that the events of FC created a separate timeline that resulted in the events of ENT and directly lead into the Abrams movies.

Yeah both concepts make sense to me. Depending on the scale of the NZ map in BoT the Rom war could have been anything from a little Bush War against a few system "Empire" to a substantial conflict. Either way a hundred years later the finer details may well have been forgotten by most.
Either that or Spocks info dump was breaking the Fouth Wall and just informing us viewers!?
I had not heard of that FC fan theory, but it makes total sense, from the ENT divergence from TOS and Cochrane's otherwise complete personality implant lol!

 

[C57D]

It makes sense that the Romulan and Vulcan languages would be nothing alike. There are plenty of languages right here on Earth that are completely different and unrelated. Try finding a common source for, say, Lakota and Basque. It can't be done.
Kor

Yes that is very true, but in this instance it would assume that the soon-to-be Roms were from an isolated and unique section of Vulcan, and everyone from there (and so with "ProtoRom" language) did not communicate with any other Vulcans and so exchange loanwords. And so this unique culture left behind few if any clues relating to language. Nothing for Vulcan archaeologists or linguists to uncover. Nothing for (highly intelligent Vulcan) linguist or cryptologist allies of the Humans to say "oh that language that the enemy used in the transmissions we intercepted looks a lot like "ProtoRom"? Yes it could happen, but imho Occams Razor would suggest otherwise.

 

[johnnybear]

What do you mean, you "don't acknowledge Enterprise"?

I never really took to it to be honest and anything that contradicts TOS ain't worth following!
JB

 

[johnnybear]

Jonnybear I like your thinking. I too don't acknowledge Enterprise and think that the TNG crew's attempt to repair the Borg's actions in FC were only partially succesfull, so causing an alternate timeline.
I have always seen Vulcans and Humans first meeting before the Rom War, but who knows, maybe not. Memories of the opponent Earth fought and their similarity to Vulcans would explain the slightly walking on eggshells relationship even in TOS times.

Could be, C! Fighting The Romulans before meeting The Vulcans would have made more sense I think though...
JB

 

[C57D]

I never really took to it to be honest and anything that contradicts TOS ain't worth following!
JB

Amen brother!
You are preaching to the choir!

 

[C57D]

Could be, C! Fighting The Romulans before meeting The Vulcans would have made more sense I think though...
JB

I must admit your suggestion makes a lot of sense Johnnybear, and it overcomes the never having met so suprised to see Vulcanoid similarities trope.
I have always been doubtful that the opposing species never met face to face in a boarding action or dirtside conflict. I just dont want to believe it all happened in space. I am assuming that when Earth met the Vulcans there was some frostiness and a keeping at arms length (continued by the racism we see directed at Spock in TOS). The Axanar event (whatever it was)that enabled Kirk and Spock to call each other brothers, was the start of the thaw and closer alliance between them. But by TOS the Rom likeness issue was long gone ( maybe suppressed by UE government to smooth the alliance?) And only die hard relatives of veterans who still held a grudge kept alive the memories of such things.

 

[C57D]

If nothing else, sensors should have been advanced enough to zoom in and see the visual aftermath of the battles. Drones could have even carried cameras. I don't know about the Romulans but us humans have always had a knack for surveying a battlefield and recording the atrocities in detail

Can only agree Shawnster. f you are fighting against an unknown, furtive, enemy then surely Military Intelligence would be a major priority? After a battle in which the Earth forces drove off the Roms, surely some investigation of the wrecked ships and (however minimal) lifeform sample taking would be at least attempted - in a desperate attempt to try to identify and understand your foe.

 

[Timo]

Desperate is probably right. In ENT, the Romulans are veterans of information warfare, while humans are only finding their space legs. Would the situation change much by the time of the war? We think we have nifty information warfare tricks and technologies today, but the underlying assumption is that the Romulans are ahead of us in that game - and not just in better spying techniques, but in better ways of making our techniques fail.

It would help if we knew which side won the war. But even that little tidbit is kept from us. Perhaps the victorious Romulans insisted on an impenetrable Zone to protect them forever from trespassing Earthlings, only to fail to notice how it slowly turned into a prison wall for them?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[psCargile]

"On screen."

"Sir! The Viet Cong commander looks just like. . ." turns and glares, "Science Officer Tran."

"Whydafuhk you look at me for? He North Vietnam!"

 

[C57D]

It help if we knew which side won the war. But even that little tidbit is kept from us. Perhaps the victorious Romulans insisted on an impenetrable Zone to protect them forever from trespassing Earthlings, only to fail to notice how it slowly turned into a prison wall for them?
Timo Saloniemi

I have always assumed that Earth won, because the RNZ map shows Romulus and Remus quite close by. In contrast Terra is off the map. Surely the winning side would impose a border much closer to the losing enemy's territory and homeworld/s?

 

[johnnybear]

How far is the neutral zone from earth? I know it borders Klingon space and both are situated in the Beta quadrant or edge of but if it's near Vulcan space surely they would have advised the humans to keep away from that sensitive area of space?
JB

 

[johnnybear]

I must admit your suggestion makes a lot of sense Johnnybear, and it overcomes the never having met so suprised to see Vulcanoid similarities trope.
And only die hard relatives of veterans who still held a grudge kept alive the memories of such things.

What like a certain Lieutenant Stiles you mean, C5?
JB

 

[Tenacity]

The war ended with a treaty, instead of a unconditional surrender. Apparently Romulas itself wasn't occupied at any point.

Push the the Romulans back into their pre-expansion territories and shove a one sided treaty under their noses to sign.

How far is the neutral zone from earth?

Subspace communications with the closest base takes hours, Earth reasonably (unless it is the closest base) would be even farther away than that base.

 

[johnnybear]

I would have thought that subspace messages of that era might have taken years to pick up rather than days to be honest!
JB

 

[Nerys Myk]

I would have thought that subspace messages of that era might have taken years to pick up rather than days to be honest!
JB

That would make for some long negotiations.

 

[Kor]

I thought the whole idea of subspace radio was that it is faster than the speed of light. So communication wouldn't take years.

Kor

 

[Nerys Myk]

I thought the whole idea of subspace radio was that it is faster than the speed of light. So communication wouldn't take years.

Kor

More like speed of plot.

 

[Kor]

More like speed of plot.

True, that.

Kor

 

[Anwar]

You can always rationalize that the Romulans used slave soldiers for battles on planets, or that the war took place entirely in space and there were never any remains to be found.

It IS pretty silly though, but unfortunately a cornerstone of Trekthology.