Terran Revolution

The Terran Revolution of 2077 (725 MY) seemed to appear from nowhere, but was actually the result of a series of events set in motion by first contact with the Mykentians. While other revolutions cite social, cultural or philosophical reasons as their causes, the Terran Revolution was unabashedly economic. While popularly represented as the overthrow of corrupt corporate rule of the United Earth Alliance, it in fact created an imperialist corporate oligarchy.
   

Post Contact Economy

The global economy was already heading towards recession when the Mykentians appeared in 2007 (675 MY). While there was a period of instability for several months following first contact, this was largely attributed to the uncertainty of events, rather to the already unstable nature of the bank loan industry. The Treaty of Geneva of 2008 placed the fleet of Mykentian Admiral Kosos under the authority of the United Nations Security Council and allowed the new fleet to independently award contracts for supplies and equipment to contractors on Terra.
  Admiral Kosos, recognizing the unstable nature of Terran geopolitics of the time, was extremely careful in the awarding of these contracts. He would pointedly refuse to award contracts to any company that was connected to government work, or state owned companies. This decision would immediately limit his options to small manufacturing companies that had a reputation for quality.
  Companies that were awarded these contracts would have to upgrade their manufacturing processes and expand their facilities. As these companies generally did not have large amounts of capital on hand, they would have to rely on loans to meet their contract obligations. Failure to fulfil the contract in a set period of time would result in the contract being transferred to another firm.
  This would only exacerbate the existing bank loan conditions, where the major banks already held vast sums of capital locked up in defaulted loans. Seeing the newly emerging economy as their way out of the mess they had allowed themselves to create, the banks were more than happy to extend credit to these companies in anticipation of rapid returns that would help cover these defaults.
  In their haste, the banks did not realize that these new companies came with a great deal of risk. Not all had the managerial capability to carry off rapid expansion and fulfil their contracts. This failure would result in even more defaults, driving the banks into desperation. Only a continuously growing economy could stave off the impending collapse.
   

United Earth Alliance

The banking industry was one of the main supporters of the move towards unification under the United Earth Alliance. They needed a global government strong enough to remove trade barriers, but one that was too weak to impose significant banking restrictions. When the Alliance was formally established in 2024 (687 MY), it was essentially the United Nations with a few titles renamed and greater authority over its members by incorporating elements of the European Union into its new charter.
  The new Alliance was quickly dominated by corporate and financial interests who drove new economic growth into Africa and South America. In 2040 (699 MY) the Alliance General Assembly would approve the establishment of corporate owned colony worlds. The founding of these colonies would require even more capital investment and loans, and in many cases the banks would require that the colonies themselves be used as collateral.
   

The Meeting of the Oligarchs

By 2068 (719 MY) it had become obvious to the heads of the leading corporations that the banking industry now held control of both the economy and the government. Leon Thomason would invite Richard Carruthers and Raphel Gerard to meet him at the corporate retreat built by Thomason Holdings on Belle Isle. The three represented the largest privately held corporations in the Alliance, and none of them had any substantial outstanding loans. This substantially limited the amount of influence the now desperate banks held over other corporations.
  They recognized that the current banking system was rapidly approaching the point of collapse as there would soon no longer be any currency left in the system to circulate. The Alliance was already resorting to limited price controls and other economic restrictions to control the cost of goods in the face of growing inflation. The oligarchs realized that a collapse of the economy under these circumstances would make the Great Depression seem mild by comparison. They saw a way to solve the crisis before it emerged, but it would require an extremely strong, unified government to carry it out.
   

The Plot

Immediately following the Meeting of the Oligarchs, an announcement was made that the consortium that created the Aurora class ship had been renewed. They gained an Alliance contract to construct the new Alpha class ship, ostensibly to protect the colonies from raiders and pirates as an armed corporate security force. While portrayed as a single consortium, the three companies purchased components from each other and built the ships themselves in their own yards.
  On June 30, 2077 (725 MY) the fleets of all three companies appeared in orbit of Terra and demanded the surrender of the United Earth Alliance to the Terran Imperium. When the Alliance refused, the fleet simply swept away the meagre orbital defenses and threatened to bomb strategic sites from orbit. With no realistic defense possible, the Alliance reluctantly surrendered.
   

Reforms

It would fall to Leon Thomason as Consul of Internal Affairs to reform the economy and pull it from collapse. He would accomplish this through a series of draconian economic reforms. All existing loans were forcibly converted into the Terran dollar, but in doing so it was required that the conversion be done using the conversion rate that existed at the time the loan was taken out. This was done to avoid inflating the debt even more by converting at the current inflated rate and would effectively be a deflationary measure. The law also locked the interest rate to the date of the loan and required that it be recalculated from that point forward.
  The Imperial Treasury then announced that it was assuming all loans that stood in default from the private banks, in addition to assuming the debt of the Alliance government and the member states. It would take these debts and consolidate them into a single account to be paid off by imperial taxes and revenue.
  Charges of corruption were then filed against various government and banking officials for acts done under the Alliance. Those convicted would have all their assets seized and transferred to the Imperial Treasury where they were liquidated and used to pay down the debt. When this proved insufficient to bring the debt to a manageable level, elite families were coerced into making “donations” to the Treasury for debt relief in exchange for being recognized as Major Imperial Houses. In some cases, this would virtually bankrupt these families, causing them to lose their House standing in the next census.
  The Imperium would suddenly pay off the debt in 2098 (740 MY), concurrent with the Terran dollar converting to the gold standard. By this point the Imperium was firmly established and showing signs of drifting away from its planned liberal reforms.