Overview of the Socialist Solar Empire

         The Marxian scientific-socialist member nations of the United Nations government formed the Solar Empire and the UNSC after the USSN had essentially “lost” the Great War.
         Initially, the UN Solar Empire was unaware that the United States of North America and its allies had survived the asteroid impact that had devastated most of the Earth’s surface.  The UN Solar Empire lost control of Earth, and its moon Luna, in 2062 AD when the United States Space Navy took control of the Earth sphere
         The Solar Empire was the major power within the inner sphere of the Sol star-system from 2062 AD to 2076 AD.  They lost their superiority due to the newer and more powerful ship types of the Earth Federal Republic and the betrayal by key members of the UNSC.  The space forces of the United Nations Solar Empire initially consisted of only assault shuttles and spacefighters, but were eventually replaced as these craft were no match for the modern warships of the Earth Federal Republic.
          As the 1st Interplanetary War progressed, it became clear to the Solar Empire elite that they needed a real spacenavy.  After Alphonse Zhukov was replaced by Edric VonStalin as Supreme Commander, VonStalin resurrected the former UNSC warship project known as "Project Ironclad" to build a modern space fleet with which to combat the forces of the EFR.   
         The society of the UN Solar Empire was built upon a typical socialist planned system consisting of three classes: the proletariat, or working class, the bourgeoisie or middle class/merchant class, and the aristocratic Soviets or the government/ruling class. 
         The proletariat were little more than slaves.  They made up the bulk of the society and consisted of laborers from every industry: agricultural, mineral, and industrial.  The Soviets completely controlled their lives from cradle to grave.  What jobs they would have, what schools they would go to, where they could live, etc. were all predetermined in the planned system.  The Solar Empire crushed all resistance to their “Great Society” by vicious government reprisals.  There was little resistance to the state, as Soviet socialist propaganda bombarded the population constantly. 
         The bourgeoisie was the middlemen between the Soviets and the proletariat.  They consisted of the managers, executives, police officers, lower ranking government employees, and other “middle” class members of the society.  Schoolteachers and professors were among this class.  Their rations were not much more than the proletariat, but their privileges and government welfare was much higher.  Any mistake by a member of the bourgeoisie meant a reduction in social rank and usually destitution.  The Soviets feared this class and kept a close watch on them. Alphonse Zhukov was a member of this class.
          The Soviets, or ruling class, were the self-elected elite party members of the UN socialists who ruled their subjects with an iron fist.  The UN sent those who challenged their order to concentration camps commonly known as relocation centers.  Even the slightest infraction could put a proletarian or bourgeois in one of these death camps.  Many went in, but few came out. 
          The Solar Empire remained technologically stagnant through the first few years of the 1st Interplanetary War with the EFR.  Their ironfisted stranglehold on their population prevented innovations and advances from happening as fast as in the EFR.  Even with their considerable stockpile of alien technology, they were unable to decipher the alien technology quick enough to match the pace of the Earth Federal Forces. 
           Prior to the 1st Interplanetary War, the Solar Empire's space exploration efforts of the 2060s were under the control of the United Nations Space Corps.  In 2064, they launched “Operation Alpha Centauri” and sent a heavily modified UNCS-01 cargo shuttle to the closest star-system to Earth via an intersection drive. 
             Shortly after the expedition team arrived in the Alpha Centauri system, the UNSC team found a depot of over 350 alien starships.  Upon learning the details and composition of the alien fleet, Supreme Commander Zhukov demanded that the largest of these craft be sent back, unmanned, to the UNSC headquarters on the planetoid Ceres for testing.  The ship misfolded and crashed on Earth where the EFR salvaged it and made it the flagship of their fleet just prior to the outbreak of the 1st Interplanetary War. 
         Ultimately, the UN oligarchy succumbed to three main forces working against them.  The first factor was the Earth Federal Republic's superior spacecraft at the beginning of the war and their relentless determination to destroy the Solar Empire, which allowed the EFR to make huge strides against Solar Empire territory.  The second factor was a 5th column element within their government that sought to unseat the Soviets and overthrow them. This caused people in key positions throughout the Solar Empire to undermine their war effort.  The final factor was the EFR gaining control of the large alien space-battleship they dubbed the Posse Comitatus, and the Zhukovists using the other Prodono warships against the Soviet forces.  This left the Solar Empire with the daunting task of fighting a two-front war while dealing with an internal insurrection.  It was impossible for the Solar Empire to recover and the invasion of Mars was simply inevitable.  
           The defeat of the Solar Empire opened the doorway to the creation of the Regency of Ceres and the creation of the Union of Solar Republics, not to mention various planetary governments within the Sol star-system.  In addition, many remnants of the old Solar Empire spacenavy turned to spacepiracy for survival in the post-war era.