Tauron Civil War

The surface of Tauron during its Civil War.

The Tauron Civil War (or the Tauron Uprising) was a two year civil war that occurred on the colony of Tauron approximately a century before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. A second Tauron Uprising occurred some thirty years later (CAP: "Pilot", "False Labor", "The Dirteaters").

First Tauron Uprising

The victims of Heraclitus death squads.

The first Tauron Civil war began when the poorly armed native rebel forces known as the Ha'la'tha attacked the presidential quarters, rising up against the government. The government fought the rebellion with the military force known as the Heraclitus, or Heracs (CAP: "Pilot", "The Dirteaters").

Referring to their Ha'la'tha enemies as "dirt eaters", Herac forces used harsh measures to quell the uprising, including torture and murder. Members of the Ha'la'tha resistance carried poison tablets, allowing them to kill themselves if captured by the Heraclitus (CAP: "The Dirteaters").

William and Isabelle Adama were members of the Ha'la'tha resistance, participating in attacks against the oppressing government, including blowing up Herac grain silos. Following the murder of a Heraclitus soldier near the Adama home, Lieutenant Kolibri and two Herac soldiers questioned William and Isabelle as possible suspects. Discovering the dead soldier's gun in their apartment (hidden by a young Samuel Adama), the Heracs murdered Isabelle and tortured William, forcing him to reveal the names of fellow Ha'la'tha. The incident ended when Joseph Adama - then a young boy - shot and killed the two Herac soldiers and wounded Kolibri, before turning the weapon on his own father at his request, so he would not reveal anything else (CAP: "The Dirteaters").

In the aftermath of the uprising, the victorious Heraclitus forces attempted a genocide against the Tauron natives. Facing extinction, the Ha'la'tha fled the planet and funded themselves through criminal activities, becoming an illegal crime syndicate found throughout the Twelve Colonies (CAP: "The Dirteaters").

According to the The Caprican, strife on Tauron dated back some 800 years to the "corrupt colonization" of the planet by the Virgon and Leonis. Those colonies likely backed the oppressive Herac forces.

Second Tauron Uprising

The Second Tauron Uprising depicted on Caprican television.

Twenty-eight years after the first Tauron Civil War, a second uprising took place in which rebel forces clashed against the established government controlled by the so-called "playboy dictator" Andreas Phaulkon and backed by wealthy colonies including Caprica (CAP: "False Labor").

Tauron natives living on other colonies including members of the Adama family then living on Caprica donated portions of their income to aid the resistance. Still, despite its mirroring of the first uprising, members of the Ha'la'tha on Caprica, run by the Guatrau refused to send aid (CAP: "False Labor").

In direct defiance of the Guatrau, Joseph and Samuel Adama used their positions within the Ha'la'tha to smuggle U-87 Cyber Combat Unit battle robots to Tauron from Graystone Industries on Caprica. Witnessing the power of the prototypical Cylons, the Adama brothers believed the robots could have a major influence over the outcome of the rebellion (CAP: "The Heavens Will Rise", "Here Be Dragons").

Despite its involvement in propping up the Tauron government, the Caprican government and Minister of Defense Sasha Patel had not been asked to send peacekeeping troops to the colony (CAP: "The Dirteaters").

Though a massive arms shipment from Sagittaron bound for rebel forces was seized by Tauron authorities, officials believed that the success of the Tauron army indicated that the insurgents would be defeated (CAP: "The Dirteaters").

Legacy

Following the political strife of the years prior to the First Cylon War, Tauron would come to be among the wealthiest worlds in the eventual Government of the Twelve Colonies, though it earned a reputation for being a troublesome colony (TRS: "Hero", "Dirty Hands").