Insurrection (Futuro)

The Insurrection is the popular name given to an undeclared civil war fought between the Systems Alliance and various loosely organized groups of rebels from 2205 to 2236. Originally, the breakaway movements began as small groups peacefully protesting the Alliance's decision to remain an independent power and not join the Citadel Council, which they believed was the future of humanity in the galaxy. The protests went on deaf ears and after years of frustration, some groups began using more forceful methods until the majority of them abandoned diplomacy in favour of all-out war by arming themselves and organizing a rebellion, sabotaging military targets and assassinating Alliance leaders.

Although the Insurrection had some initial support, it would lose all sympathy from the general public after more and more civilians began getting caught in the crossfire, with some rebels outright targeting civilian locations. In addition, media outlets were stellar in vilifying the rebels as terrorists from the beginning and were able to stir the citizenry's hatred and direct it against them. It was believed that these groups aided some pirate gangs in the Mercenary Wars, but this claim is largely unsubstantiated; however, that did not stop the Alliance from making a connection between the two and using it as one of the justifications for expanding counter-insurgency operations. The Insurrection was officially declared over in June of 2236, but it was not until December that the final attack attributed to what was left of the Insurrection occurred.

The Insurrection was largely kept at bay and only succeeded in giving more support to Terra Firma, leading to their first victory in the Assembly Elections of 2234 with the election of Claudio Saracino as Director of the Systems Alliance, who stepped up the Alliance's efforts to crush the rebellion. This also ensured that the Systems Alliance would never even entertain the thought of joining the Citadel Council and having its freedom restricted. Although the Insurrection is generally agreed to be a thing of the past, small-scale rebellions and firefights have occurred but had never reached the magnitude of the original conflict.

The end of the Contact War
Following the peace treaty between the Systems Alliance and the Citadel Council, the Alliance government elected to decline the invitation to join the council on the grounds that there were irreconcilable differences between the two societies, mainly regarding the council's prohibition of artificial intelligence, and their insistence that the Alliance substantially reduce their military power and give up any technological secrets they had.