Perhaps the best analogy for the War...

POSTED BY: Kurukami
UPDATED: Friday, December 13, 2002 07:31
VIEWED: 2326
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KURUKAMI

Thursday, December 12, 2002 10:52 PM

... is not so much the American Civil War, but the American Revolution. It seems as though the paradigm fits a great deal, particularly given what we've seen of the core Planets and the way the Alliance military behaves -- very much holier-than-thou and not terribly concerned about life in "the Colonies".

Anyhoo. Just an idle thought.

History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it merely shouts "Weren't you listening the first time?!?" and lets fly with a club.

THEGN

Thursday, December 12, 2002 11:33 PM

Following the American Revolution, the American Colonies under British rule were an independent Confederation of States, the thirteen States of America.

I don't see your analogy, because the "colonies" in Firefly are not independent of the Alliance. Firefly is about a revolution that didn't succeed, right the opposite from the American Revolution, which did.

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In the Dark Ages, Romano-Celtic Britannia was over-run by Viking-like cultures collectively called the Anglo-Saxons. They were led by warlords called Drytinns, and the greatest warriors among them were the Thegns.

KURUKAMI

Friday, December 13, 2002 1:08 AM

Oops, my bad. What I'd meant was -- imagine what might have happened had the British won the Revolutionary War, and America not gotten free of the British Empire. That was what I meant to imply with my statement, though I totally mis-stated myself. *wry grin*

History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it merely shouts "Weren't you listening the first time?!?" and lets fly with a club.

ZATHRAS10

Friday, December 13, 2002 4:40 AM

It's also worth noting that on many battlefields, British interests were represented by American Loyalists. In many places (especially brutally in South Carolina), the American Revolution *was* a civil war.

Chris

Life is like a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. You never know what...alas! Ear wax.
--Forrest Dumbledore

XERIAR

Friday, December 13, 2002 5:34 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kurukami:
Oops, my bad. What I'd meant was -- imagine what might have happened had the British won the Revolutionary War, and America not gotten free of the British Empire. That was what I meant to imply with my statement, though I totally mis-stated myself. *wry grin*

They might have given up control anyway. In British history lessons, America's 'Revolutionary War' was called the 'conflict of 1776'. It wasn't a war to them, it was simply too expensive (and too unpopular) to maintain the colonies, especially when they were revolting.

It would be like the U.S. setting up a colony on Mars a century from now, and having the 'Mars revolution'... The cost of fighting even a small battle over there would be so astronomical as to be simply not worth it.

To me, it is more civil warish. Unification, brown coats (versus gray)...

EDGARALLAN

Friday, December 13, 2002 7:31 AM

The American civil war is the perfect analogy for the FF universe. The Alliance (the North) wages war on all the outer rim planets (the South). The Northern union attacks the southern confederacy. (I know the South attacked Fort Sumner first, but I’ve read several books that indicate Lincoln maneuvered Davis into committing a first strike, thereby having the pretext to go to war.) The civil war was about bringing the southern states into the union, or by crushing them politically and economically. The Alliance forced the outer rim planets into the “Alliance”. And Mal could certainly be considered a southern as could Zoe and even Jayne. (Jesse James anyone?) Coincidence?

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. --P.J. O'Rourke