Editing Vulcan (Star Trek) (section)

==History==
Vulcans once practiced a form of [[polytheism]]; this can be seen in gods of [[List of war deities|war]], peace, and [[Death deity|death]] depicted on the Stone of Gol relic in the ''TNG'' episode "[[Gambit (Star Trek: The Next Generation)|Gambit]]". The [[DVD]] commentary for "[[Amok Time]]" says that ''TOS'' writer [[D. C. Fontana]] named the Vulcan god of death "Shariel", a [[Bust (sculpture)|bust]] of whom is seen in Spock's quarters.

Vulcan civilization is ancient. In "Amok Time", Spock says that the place of "Koon-ut-kal-if-fee" has been held by his family for 2,000 years. In the ''TOS'' episode "[[The Savage Curtain]]", the image of Surak speaks of a time when Vulcan war nearly destroyed them, before logic was embraced as a way of life.

In 1957, the launch of ''[[Sputnik program|Sputnik I]]'', Earth's first artificial [[satellite]], was observed by a Vulcan vessel that subsequently crashed on the planet, marooning several crew members for a number of months in [[Carbon Creek (Star Trek: Enterprise)|Carbon Creek]], [[Pennsylvania]]; the humans were unaware of the alien nature of their guests.<ref>{{cite episode|title=Carbon Creek|episode-link=Carbon Creek (Star Trek: Enterprise)|series=Star Trek: Enterprise|series-link=Star Trek: Enterprise|season=2|number=2}}</ref>

On April 5, 2063, Vulcans and humans made official first contact near the town of [[Bozeman, Montana]], following the successful test of Earth scientist [[Zefram Cochrane]]'s first warp-capable [[starship]].

In 2097, the Vulcans annexed the Andorian planetoid Weytahn and renamed it Pan Mokar.

In 2105, the Vulcans and the Andorians agreed to a compromise over Weytahn/Pan Mokar. Still, tensions continued due to the threat of mutual annihilation.

By the 22nd century, the ''Vulcan High Command'' is a form of [[Military junta|military government]] that controls both the Vulcan space fleet and most of the planet itself. Most Vulcans, including T'Pol, from ''Star Trek: Enterprise'' obey the High Command. It is dissolved in the early fourth season of ''Star Trek: Enterprise''.

In 2151, Sub-Commander T'Pol joined the crew of the Earth Starfleet vessel [[Enterprise (NX-01)|''Enterprise'' (NX-01)]], within a couple of weeks setting a Vulcan endurance record for serving aboard a human vessel. In 2154, T'Pol became a commissioned officer with Starfleet.

In the time of ''Star Trek: Enterprise'', Vulcans are seen to be arrogant and cold in their behavior towards humans. [[Soval]], Vulcan's ambassador to Earth, appeared particularly distrustful of humans, and was often at odds with Archer and his crew. Soval later justified this behavior in the fourth season episode "[[The Forge (Star Trek: Enterprise)|The Forge]]":

<blockquote>'We don't know what to do about humans. Of all the species we've made contact with, yours is the only one we can't define. You have the arrogance of [[Andorian]]s, the stubborn pride of [[Tellarite]]s. One moment you're as driven by your emotions as [[Klingon]]s, and the next, you confound us by suddenly embracing logic"</blockquote>

Soval also explained that Earth recovered from [[World War III (Star Trek)|World War III]] far more quickly than Vulcan did from its equivalent. (In "[[The Forge (Star Trek: Enterprise)|The Forge]]" and its sequel episodes, it is said that Vulcans took almost a thousand years to fully rebuild their society after their last catastrophic war.) This alarmed many Vulcans, who were confused as to how to deal with a rapidly growing and emotional society such as Earth's.

Throughout the period of ''Star Trek: Enterprise'', the High Command's actions were the themes of several episodes. Vulcan starships were sent to spy on the ''Enterprise'' and report on the ship's activities.<ref>{{cite episode|title=Breaking the Ice|episode-link=Breaking the Ice (Star Trek: Enterprise)|series=Star Trek: Enterprise|series-link=Star Trek: Enterprise|season=1|number=8}}</ref> They appeared to participate in open acts of persecution towards other Vulcans, such as isolating and quarantining victims of [[Pa'nar Syndrome]] rather than treating them; prejudicial acts against any Vulcan proven to have committed a [[#Mind melds|mind meld]]; and hunting down and capturing, sometimes killing, members of the underground [[dissident]] group, the Syrranites.

In 2154, V'Las, the head of the High Command and undercover agent for the Romulans, bombed the United Earth embassy on Vulcan in an attempt to frame and eliminate all Syrranites while simultaneously attempting an invasion of [[Andorian|Andoria]]. He was foiled by the crew of the ''[[Enterprise (NX-01)|Enterprise]]''. During these events, the [[Kir'Shara]], a device containing the original writings of [[Surak]], was discovered by [[Jonathan Archer]]. This led to the prompt dissolution of the High Command and a reevaluation of Vulcan traditional values. It also resulted in Vulcan agreeing to stop "looking over [[Earth]]'s shoulder" in space exploration matters.

It was revealed to viewers that the High Command's illogical and often emotionally based actions were, in reality, the result of covert Romulan influence. The Romulans had secretly made contact with V'Las and attempted to reunify their long-lost peoples. After the invasion of Andoria was foiled, the High Command was disbanded and V'Las was dismissed from his post. Subsequently, the altered political climate on Vulcan caused the undercover Romulan operative Talok to leave Vulcan, apparently ending the infiltration.

After the overthrow of the corrupt Vulcan High Command and the death of [[Admiral (Star Trek)|Admiral]] [[Maxwell Forrest]], who sacrificed his life to save Soval from a terrorist attack, the attitudes of Soval, and Vulcan society in general, became more cordial and accepting towards humanity.

On August 12, 2161, Vulcan became one of the founding members of the [[United Federation of Planets]].

By the 32nd century, Ambassador Spock's dream of Vulcan/Romulan reunification has been achieved. Following the destruction of Romulus, the surviving Romulans have returned to their ancestral homeworld, now called '''Ni'Var'''.

===''Star Trek'' (2009) alternate timeline===
In the alternate timeline of the 2009 film, the planet Vulcan is destroyed in 2258 by the Romulan known as Nero, who had time-traveled from the future. Using his space mining vessel, ''Narada'', Nero created a [[black hole|singularity]] in Vulcan's planetary core as part of his quest to avenge the destruction of Romulus, which Spock failed to save. The resulting implosion destroyed Vulcan, killing most of its six billion inhabitants. Only around 10,000 managed to escape. At the end of the film, Spock Prime tells the younger Spock a suitable planet has been located to establish a colony for the surviving Vulcans; this world is named "New Vulcan".