Eastern Alliance

The Original Series
(Battlestar Galactica 1978 and Galactica 1980)

The Eastern Alliance was a nation on the planet Terra, a world settled on by an offshoot of the Thirteenth Tribe.

History

In Terra's political history, two power blocks formed by its space age: the Eastern Alliance and the Western Nationalists. The Eastern Alliance was a military dictatorship led by the Supreme Commandant and his chiefs-of-staff, while the Western Nationalists a liberal democracy led by a President and his Praesidium. The Eastern Alliance was totalitarian and fascistic in nature, believing in a socio-political philosophy that only the strongest of people deserve to survive and that, as the strongest, all others must succumb to its will. This philosophy placed the Eastern Alliance as the dominant force in the universe, that all of Terra and its colonies be rightly theirs. They considered differing political opinions to be a danger to their society as it could weaken their claim, and equally saw the Western Nationalists as its antithesis.

During the Seventh Millennium, the Eastern Alliance made its final plans to annihilate the Nationalists entirely rather than continue its cold war. As the Nationalists were the larger of the powers and had a number of colonies to support its resource needs, the Eastern Alliance began attacking the colonies first, destroying settlements and chasing survivors out. In the case of Lunar Seven, Nationalist refugees were chased to the planet Paradeen, a planet settled on by Nationalists hoping to be kept out of any war. In the case of Lunar One, the entire planet's population may have been wiped out. These colonial conquests were ignored by the Western Nationalists, who's president they were able to manipulate with a faux offer of an end to hostilities, calling for a super-national government that would disarm the two states simultaneously and divide the flow of colonial resources between the two. On the day the treaty was to be ratified, the Alliance began a massive assault on the Nationalists, firing nuclear missiles in a bid to totally wipe-out their civilisation. Only a small portion of the Alliance population was given word of the attack, in the belief by the Supreme Commandant that loss of the majority of its own population was an acceptable loss and would be necessary due to the problem of overpopulation. The attack ultimately failed due to the actions of Galactica, a massive warship from a distant human civilisation. Under the supervision of the Seraphs, Galactica departed Terra without informing the general population of its existence. This persuaded the Eastern Alliance that the Western Nationalists had access to a powerful anti-missile shield, and petitioned for peace to prevent their own extermination.

Technology

Ships

The standard Alliance ship is the Star Destroyer. All Destroyers are numbered (i.e. "Destroyer Two") and patrol set areas in and around Terra and the various satellites such as Paradyne or Lunar Seven. The Destroyer is small enough to land in the Galactica's landing bay and is crewed by about six men, led by a Commandant. While questioning the destroyer's commander (Leiter), Adama states that the Alliance "would need a thousand such destroyers to attack the Galactica" and Leiter replies with "we have nearly..." but realizes what he is saying and stops talking.

Small Arms

The Alliance favors a large laser rifle with a red pulsing strobe light. It is unknown if it has multiple settings or what its range might be. While Western weapons aren't directly seen in the series, in "Experiment in Terra" Western troops are seen after Starbuck lands and they do not carry such a rifle. Correction to your comments here. That pulse weapon is not an Alliance weapon, its a Colonial Weapon. When Adama's Assault team are lining up to take the launch bay they are using that same weapon. This is not an Alliance Weapon!!

Other technology

Both sides seemingly have a level of technology which is between that of modern Earth and the Colonies. They are more advanced than Earth in that they have deep space faring ships, force fields, laser guns and cryogenics. However, unlike the Colonials they still utilize wheeled vehicles, lack ships capable of light speed and cannot defend themselves against nuclear warfare.

Further notes

• Josef Steiff identifies the "Eastern Alliance" as a stand in "for the 'Eastern Bloc' countries of the Soviet Union," while John Kenneth Muir sees this "enemy as ruthless as the Cylons" as "fascistic".
• Josef Steiff argues that the show "suggests that Evil is universal (existing in...the Eastern Alliance, per 'Experiment in Terra') and that its agenda is to lead humanity astray, away from the light and the universe of the spirit." Nevertheless, John Kenneth Muir writes that Eastern Alliance forces have "little impact" and that "in execution, the Eastern Alliance baddies were not really much more interesting than the faceless Cylons."
• Talk about arrogant the Eastern Alliance like to think they are the ultimate power in the universe, when in all likelihood if they ran into the Cylons, they would amount to little more than target practice for the Cylons.