UFP without Earth

[James Wright]

A little while back I was reading about the sphere builders seen on Enterprise and got to thinking, could there be a United Federation of Planets without Earth? I'm thinking the sphere builders would've been better off having the Xindi take out other key members of the Federation as well as Earth!

James

 

[6079SmithW]

Well, the executive, legislative, and judicial capitols are all on Earth as well as Starfleet headquarters. The Federation would probably recover and rebuild if Earth were destroyed but there would be a period of political and strategic/tactical turmoil during which time a hostile power could conquer or destroy the Federation.

 

[Admiral Shran]

There probably could have been a UFP without Earth or Humans, but it would definitley have been a much different UFP. Humans were clearly intergal in getting the other founding members (Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites) to set aside their differences and work together.

If the Sphere Builders had succeeded in having humanity wiped out, the others could have eventually set aside their differences and banded together against a common foe. However, it would most likely have been a much rockier road to union. Also, by the time it finally happened it would be too late, the Sphere Builders would have won.

 

[JoeFromEarth]

It's hard to see the UFP without Earth. Humans seem to be the galaxy's diplomats. Humans are always trying to bring species despite their differences.

Maybe this trait exists since, in human history, we have been determined to set aside our differences... Despite our different ethnicity and cultures, as well as opponents to said unity. Other races seem naturely united, as they typically only have one or two different cultures.

 

[apenpaap]

In the story "A Less Perfect Union" in "Infinity's Prism", the Terra Prime movement takes over Earth, and it withdraws from the Coalition, which immediatly breaks down. However, the Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites and Denobulans found a new Coalition, but it just remains a coalition, and never turns into a Federation.

 

[captcalhoun]

the coalition does, however, continue to exist into the 23rd century and admits many UFP member species from the main universe. and there's a strong implication that Earth had eventually joined in the epilogue which takes place in the late 23rd or early 24th century.

interestingly, the coalition has a unified fleet, but not unified ship designs. instead they operate a mix of Andorian, Vulcan and Tellarite ships with mixed-species crews.

 

[Sci]

A little while back I was reading about the sphere builders seen on Enterprise and got to thinking, could there be a United Federation of Planets without Earth? I'm thinking the sphere builders would've been better off having the Xindi take out other key members of the Federation as well as Earth!

Well, the impression that ENT seemed to give is that it was Humans who were able to act as the "honest brokers" who brought Andor, Tellar, and Vulcan together in a federal union. Apparently without the influence of Humans -- and presumably their victory over Romulus in the Earth-Romulan War -- the Federation would never have come into being.

The novel A Less Perfect Union by William Leisner from the Star Trek: Myriad Universes anthology of alternate Star Trek universes featured a timeline in which Terra Prime became a major political party in United Earth in the 2150s. Because of Terra Prime's isolationist influence in the United Earth Parliament, U.E. withdrew from the negotiations to found the Coalition of Planets, which collapsed. Captain Archer and the NX-01 crew continued their campaign to create a coalition without Earth, however, and Vulcan, Andor, Tellar, and Denobula eventually founded the Interstellar Coalition at Babel in 2161, which was a sort of European Union-esque coalition of worlds less strongly integrated than the Federation in the Prime Universe. Unlike the E.U., though, the Interstellar Coalition maintained its own military, the Interstellar Coalition Space Command, whose vessels received names like the I.C.V. Shallash. (United Earth Starfleet vessels ended up receiving the prefix "U.E.S.S.," for "United Earth Starship.")

The Interstellar Coalition and United Earth became major rivals for over a century before the government of United Earth Prime Minister Carter Winston eventually applied for Coalition membership in the 2260s.

ETA:

Another Myriad Universes novel, The Chimes At Midnight by Geoffrey Trowbridge features a timeline in which the death of Spock in childhood prevents him from determining that the Whale Probe sought out humpback whales, preventing Kirk and Co. from traveling back in time to stop the Probe. Earth is devastated by the Probe, and the Klingon Empire takes advantage of the chaos to conquer Earth. The Federation government evacuates from Earth during the battle and re-locates. Vulcan becomes the new Federation capital planet, and the Vulcan High Command building in ShiKahr seen in ENT's Vulcan Reformation arc becomes the new Federation capitol building (replacing the Palais de la Concorde in Paris).

 

[Timo]

It's hard to see the UFP without Earth. Humans seem to be the galaxy's diplomats. Humans are always trying to bring species despite their differences.

Well, the Feds are the galaxy's diplomats. The Feds send ambassadors and negotiators and broker treaties and whatnot. But it doesn't seem as if the humans are the ones doing this job for the Feds - not solely, and perhaps not even primarily. The most noted ambassadors working for the Federation have been nonhuman: Sarek and Spock of Vulcan, Curzon and Odan of Trill, Lwaxana of Betazed, apparently also Riva of Ramartis. In contrast, we have, what, one semi-decent human ambassador, Krajensky from "The Adversary", and all he did was die. Then we have the gadawful commissioners Fox and Ferris from TOS, people unrelated to brokering of treaties: one wanted to subjugate the Eminians, the other was there just to supervise some shipment. And then there's the alternate-future Picard.

It seems to me that the Federation would have done just fine without human diplomats...

Timo Saloniemi