What is Reddit's opinion of Star Trek Federation: The First 150 Years?

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https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Federation-First-Years/dp/1781169152

Not fully canon, but this book explains the foundation and its generally excellent.

 

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TD;LR:

Some of this is speculation strung together by me (heavily influenced by this book) but it can be inferred from what we see onscreen that the Eugenics War (1990s) is a precursor to World War III (2020s-2050s) in the same way that World War I (1910s) was a precursor to World War II (1930s-1940s). Also possible that 'World War III' was a bunch of separate conflicts, but most people from what I've seen plus I tend to assume it is a single long war, so the below assumes that. First Contact happens ten years after WWIII ends, when the world is still reeling from the nukes destroying everything, and that is the beginning of a turning point towards recovery, development, and expansion which culminates in Earth becoming the HQ of the Federation.

Long Version:

The Brush Wars mentioned in TOS are probably a generalized term for Cold War conflicts in the latter half of the 20th century such as Vietnam and Korea, sort of like how we lump multiple related conflicts between England and France into the Hundred Years War. Earth's history definitely diverges from our timeline before this point, since the major powers are launching nuclear weapons into orbit during the 1960s.

The Eugenics Wars are preluded by engineered humans being developed earlier in the 1950s, which ultimately culminates in those humans, Augments, using their enhanced strength and intelligence to seize power over "a large portion of humanity" in dozens of countries. Since North Africa and Asia are specifically mentioned as being battlegrounds by Archer in ENT and Khan himself in TOS (his empire being located there), and North America looking fairly normal throughout this time period judging by time travel visits in VOY and ENT, the wars are likely restricted to Afro-Eurasia and conclude by 1996, the same year Voyager visits Earth in "Future's End". Like with the Brush Wars, the Eugenics War(s) is probably a general term for a large array of related conflicts.

It's mentioned that there was enormous devastation and tens of millions of deaths from the Eugenics Wars, which would almost certainly injure the world economy going into the 21st century. That brings me to the first thirty years of this century.

In 2024 alone; Ireland is violently unified (as per TNG), "Neo-Trotskyists" seize power in France during a period of protests and upheaval, and years of building tension from the American poor and homeless being herded into the Sanctuary Districts culminates in the violent Bell Riots of San Francisco's SD. (as per DS9 in "Past Tense").

Sisko mentions the riots being a turning point in American history, leading to it beginning to improve its social problems, and it seems to work since the US is sending a series of missions to Mars by the 2030s with the Ares program (as per VOY in "One Small Step") nearly ten years later. Unfortunately, World War III breaks in 2026 over human genetic engineering, which is either a followup to the 1990s or a retcon to shift the EW to the 21st century, not sure which but assuming they remain separate. Maybe it starts with a rogue country (such as the PRC) experimenting with it again and a coalition massing to stop them. However it starts, it is in full swing by the 2030s, which means the US is either simultaneously fighting in it and conducting its Martian space program, or it doesn't become involved for a while like it had with the prior two.

The United Nations is referred to as being abolished and replaced with the New United Nations in 2036, so the former is probably regarded as an holdover of World War II in the same way that the League of Nations is of World War I, ceasing to become relevant when the world order established by the war breaks down and is challenged.

Regardless, World War III escalates over the years and by its end in 2053, the US was fighting an alliance called the Eastern Coalition, presumably based in Asia since it was originally going to be stated outright as the PRC in First Contact (the movie) but the producers were concerned about pissing them off. Maybe they're led by more Augments, since the world war started over genetic engineering in the first place, but there is essentially nothing known about the ECON. By 2053 however, the war (which had dragged on for almost thirty years) ends with a global nuclear exchange, devastating Earth and killing over 600 million (either just the nukes or the war in general, most likely the latter with the nukes making up a fair chunk of it). As can be inferred from First Contact, Montana at minimum and likely much of the planet is left in near-but-not-quite-as-bad-as-Fallout conditions. In the years immediately following the nuclear war, an eco-terrorist leader named Colonel Green is able to assume a high enough level of power to carry out a massacre of radiation-affected victims in the hundreds of thousands and general deaths in the tens of millions, remembered in centuries to come alongside figures like Stalin and Hitler. It's possible he rose earlier during the war or was even part of starting it, although there's nothing concrete about that.

Ten years after the explosive end of WWIII in 2063, Cochrane conducts his warp flight and attracts the attention of the Vulcans, who move in and presumably begin helping clean up the mess (to a point). At least some of the world pools their space programs into a single one called the United Earth Space Probe Agency, recovering enough to launch a warp-powered probe to the Delta Quadrant just four years after First Contact in 2067, but areas of the planet remain fairly unstable and stuck in the 'Post-Atomic Horror', with the New United Nations evidently being abolished in 2079 and it continues into the early 22nd century in some areas.

The Vulcans probably rolled their eyes logically while trying to get Earth to unify, which it eventually fully does by 2150 with 'the last holdouts'. This stated date is very very late, since ENT starts only a year after in 2151, but those holdouts could be offworld colonies like Luna or Mars.

Utopia Planitia on Mars, which would become the Federation's Sol-based shipyards had already been established at some point prior to 2069 (I prefer to think that Utopia Planitia is one of multiple comparable shipyards throughout the Federation, but nothing really indicates that in canon). I like to imagine UP as a small settlement grown out of the Ares program which lost contact with Earth after the nuclear war and was forced to eke out an independent existence for a decade or two, but could just as likely have been built after First Contact in 2063. Nothing says so either way in canon.

Throughout the 21st and 22nd centuries, Earth recovers gradually, begins developing offworld and interstellar colonies, starts setting up trade connections with local powers, and eventually creates Starfleet, the Warp 5 Program with Cochrane's help and ENT picks up from there in 2151. For a while, Earth is a second-rate power in the shadow of the Vulcans as a kind of client state, eventually takes center stage as a meditator as it becomes more independent, and becomes the neutral group everyone trusts to house the HQ of what became the Federation.