History of the Cardassian Union

Cardassians once were a peaceful, spiritual people. Their home world Cardassia was in ancient times a legendary civilization whose ruins are still considered as some of the most remarkable in the galaxy. However, poor resources caused a planet-wide famine where millions died and treasured relics of the past were plundered by starving Cardassians alike in an effort to buy food.

The military, sickened by the weak state, took over the government and organized efforts to stabilize the situation. During the famine, the new leaders who rose to power after the takeover discovered that taking what they wanted was easier and more efficient than long-winded negotiations. Soon, the military state conquered worlds and replenished their resources forcibly.

In the course of continuing military conquests, Cardassian military forces soon descended upon nearby Bajor. Promising help and support to the peaceful Bajorans, the Cardassians instead annexed Bajor in 2336 and began the 30 years of the Cardassian Occupation. To strip mine resources even more efficiently, Cardassia built a mining station, Terok Nor, in Bajor's orbit for the purpose of ore mining and processing. They established a presence upon the planet and instigated an authoritarian government with Cardassian Prefects at its head. Many Bajorans were forced to resettle on other worlds and their religion was later banned. Those among the Bajorans who were not content to rely on the assistance of the Prophets to end the Occupation gathered to form resistance cells in the mountains of Bajor. They utilized guerrilla tactics, running through rough terrain, then shooting as the Cardassian soldiers caught up. Although the terroristic operations of the bajoran guerilla fighters was getting more and more organized they were not able to win against the highly professional Cardassian occupation forces. It was finally the treaty between the Federation and Cardassia which caused the retreat of the Cardassians from Bajor.

Cardassian relations with the Federation had been hostile ever since 2346, when the Cardassians invaded Setlik III, believing it to be a base the Federation planned to use in an invasion of Cardassian territory. A prolonged period of tension punctuated by hostilities resulted. War broke out when the Federation would not yield, lasting for 20 years. An uneasy truce was reached when an armistice was signed in 2366.

Only one year later, on Stardate 44429.6, the federation Captain Maxwell violated the treaty when he entered Cardassian space with his vessel, the starship Phoenix. During this illegal action he destroyed an unarmed cardassian space station, a harmless frighter and a cardassian cruiser which tried to stop him.

According to the treaty with the Federation the Cardassians retreated from Bajor in 2369. The Occupation ended with a withdrawal, and along with all the equipment left on Bajor itself, Terok Nor was abandoned as well. Defenseless and left with a weakened world, the Bajoran Provisional Government requested the assistance of Starfleet to administer to the orbiting station.

The Cardassians didn't let the Federation claim the wormhole entry without contest. In 2370, a year later, they were successful in driving out Starfleet presence on the station by helping the Bajoran extremist group "the Circle" stage a coup to overthrow the Bajoran Provisional Government. The intervention of the Vedek Council stopped this development and reinstated the Federation presence.

A few months later, the Cardassia Union and the Federation agreed to redraw their borders, relocating citizens who were on the wrong side of the line. The agreement also included a buffer zone between the two powers, called the Demilitarized Zone.

Federation colonists ran rampant when the agreement was signed. Soon, they started unprovoked attacks and sabatoge operations against the Cardassians on the colonies of the Demilitarized Zone, hoping to reclaim land lost in the deal. The Federation colonists, already furious over what they saw as the betrayal of the government soon organized themself in a terroristic organisation, called the the Maquis, and began hard-hitting terrorist attacks on Cardassia itself.

In 2372, the Cardassian Central Command was overthrown by civilian dissidents, placing the Detapa Council in control. Paranoia ran high in the Alpha Quadrant following the exposure of several Changeling imposters at the highest political offices in the Quadrant. Fear of the Founders gripped the Klingon Empire, the High Council believing the coup to be a ploy by the Dominion to replace the Council with Founders. In response, Klingon warships led by General Martok attacked Cardassia Prime, nearly eliminating the Council, which were rescued by Gul Dukat, who, with assistance from Starfleet, transported them to the safety of Federation space. After proving the Council members were not shape-shifters, the Klingon attack was forced to cease.

Though unsuccessful in its mission, the Klingon invasion nearly fell Cardassia's industrial production base. For the first time in decades, Cardassia was weak and unable to provide for itself. Several of the outer colonies had been captured by the Klingons, and nearly every ship destroyed while defending the home world. With assistance from the Federation Council, who provided among other things twelve industrial replicators, (though some replicators were stolen in transit by the Maquis) Cardassia started rebuilding.

The Klingons soon turned to declare war on the Federation, beginning with attacks on Deep Space Nine. When it was revealed that General Martok was a Changeling, and that he was the one behind the paranoid violence exhibited by the Klingon Empire, the war ceased, but Klingons still occupied some of Cardassian space.

"You might ask, should we fear joining the Dominion? And I answer you: Not in the least. We should embrace the opportunity. The Dominion recognizes us for what we are, the true leaders of the Alpha Quadrant. And now that we are joined together, equal partners in all endeavours, the only people with anything to fear would be our enemies. My oldest son's birthday is in five days. To him, and to Cardassians everywhere, I make the following pledge: By the time his birthday dawns, there will not be a single Klingon alive inside Cardassian territory. Or a single Maquis colony left within our borders. Cardassia will be made whole, all that we have lost will be ours again. And anyone who stands in our way will be destroyed. This I vow with my life's blood, for my son, for all our sons."

Dominion forces soon began building up inside Cardassian space, and the whole Quadrant could sense an impending invasion with the arrival of each additional Jem'Hadar convoy. On Stardate 50975.2, Sisko persuaded Starfleet to allow him to begin mining the wormhole entrance with self-replicating cloaked mines. The Vorta Weyoun was sent to dissuade Captain Sisko to disarm the mines and clear out the wormhole entrance, but both he and Sisko knew war was inevitable. Weyoun returned to Cardassia, where he, along with Dukat and a large fleet of Dominion/Cardassian vessels, began an attack on Deep Space Nine, hoping to overtake Ops before the activation of the minefield. The attempt would only be successful in driving out the Federation personnel, and the Dominion had to make do without Jem'Hadar reinforcements for the time being.

The Dominion won victory after victory for the next three months, and the subjugation of the entire Alpha Quadrant was within sight. The slow progress on deactivating the minefield however displeased both Founder and Vorta. It was Dukat's aide, Gul Damar, who finally figured out a way to disarm the mines. Starfleet assembled three fleets in a last-ditch effort to stop the Dominion from penetrating the minefield. 2,800 Jem'Hadar ships were waiting on the other side of the wormhole, and when the minefield is successfully deactivated, the Alpha Quadrant would be lost.

The minefield eventually was deactivated and the Jem'Hadar armada began pouring into the wormhole. The Defiant, with Captain Sisko onboard, managed to break through enemy lines, but was no match for the overwhelming numbers of Jem'Hadar vessels. On the verge of the ship's destruction, the Emissary sought the help of the Prophets by making them see how devastating the result would be if the Jem'Hadar were allowed passage into the Alpha Quadrant. The Prophets agreed help their Emissary, but warned cryptically that he would pay a penance for what happened that day. When the Emissary came to, all 2,800 ships vanished without a trace from sensors, and only the Defiant exited the Wormhole. Dukat could not believe what had happened. With a complete victory almost within reach, he would only suddenly lose everything. Worse still was the murder of his daughter Ziyal at the hands of Damar, who despised her for betraying their cause (she had freed Kira and Rom). The impact of all these events resulted in the mental breakdown of Dukat and prove to be the turning point of his life.

Damar, Weyoun, and the rest of the Dominion presence retreated from Deep Space Nine, leaving the station for the Federation to reclaim. Soon afterwards Damar was proclaimed the new leader of Cardassia, but he served at the pleasure of Weyoun and the Dominion, unable to assert his own will in matters of state.

The Romulans, who had distanced themselves from the war by signing a non-agression pact with the Dominion, would again be drawn into the war when they suspected the Cardassians assassinated Senator Vreenak. Vreenak, who had signed the pact, died aboard his warbird from what appeared to be Cardassian sabotage, and this act of treason could not be ignored by the Romulan Empire. They immediately retaliated by destroying 15 Cardassian outposts along the border, and would formally join the Klingon/Federation forces later on.

Among the first joint campaigns of the Klingon/Federation/Romulan forces was the taking of the Chin'Toka System. Targeted for its thin defenses, the fleet led by Sisko encountered resistance only in the orbital weapons platform deployed there. After destroying the main power source, the aystem came under Federation control. Dukat, who escaped from a Federation prison escort ship when it crashed in a remote planet, returned to Deep Space Nine to destroy the Orb of Prophesy and in the process unwittingly killed Jadzia Dax, who was praying in the Bajoran Temple at that time. The wormhole inverted and collapsed, sending the Bajorans into panic about the disappearance of their Celestial Temple. Three months later, Captain Sisko restored the wormhole by rediscovering the Orb of the Emissary on Bajor.

Not satisfied with the damage he'd done, Dukat later surgically altered his appearance to look like a Bajoran as part of his plot to ruin Sisko and free the Pagh Wraiths. At the same time the Breen general Thot Gor presented the Female Founder with Worf and Ezri, whom they captured in the Goralis System. After thanking them for the gift, Weyoun and the Founder officially welcomed the Breen into the Dominion alliance, much to the chagrin of Damar.

A few years ago, Cardassia had joined the Dominion to elevate their status and become true masters of the Alpha Quadrant, but when the Breen entered into the Dominion, the Cardassians suffered a major insult, and the subsequent massive sacrifice of Cardassian troops for Dominion causes showed the Dominion's lack of regard for Cardassia. Legate Damar, angered by the dismissal of Cardassia and realizing that though he was on Cardassia Prime, he and the rest of the Cardassians were now second-class citizens within the Dominion, wanted to pull Cardassia out of the alliance altogether. However, the Dominion already had complete control over the Cardassian military, and Damar resorted to plotting a resistance movement along the lines of the tactics used by the Bajorans against the vastly superior Cardassian military at the time of the Occupation. Damar freed Worf and Ezri, asking them to bring word to the Federation that they had an ally on Cardassia.

The Breen attacked Starfleet headquarters shortly afterwards, causing severe damage to San Francisco and to the psyche of the Federation. An energy dissipater weapon the Breen utilized on their ship proved especially effective against power-hungry attack vessels the Federation, Klingon, and Romulans deployed. After San Francisco, the Breen turned their attention to the Chin'Toka System. Taken forcibly by the Federation, Klingon and Romulan last year, the Dominion were eager to reclaim it. The Federation and allied forces suffered devastating losses of ships and personnel, and the Chin'Toka System once again fell under Dominion control.

The Breen had usurped the Cardassians as partners of the Dominion. Instead relegated to cannon fodder and put aside for the new favorite, Damar felt the line had been crossed and organized a resistance to drive the Dominion from Cardassian space. He gave a speech calling on Cardassians everywhere to resist the Dominion and began his campaign with an attack on a Vorta cloning facility, an action confirmed by intelligence reports.

Cardassians have never been afraid of war, a fact we've proven time and again over these past two years. 7 million of our brave soldiers have given their lives to fulfill our part of the agreement, and what has the Dominion done in return? Nothing. We've gained no new territories. In fact, our influence throughout the Quadrant has diminished. And to make matters worse, we're not even masters in our own home. Travel anywhere in Cardassia and what do you find? Jem'Hadar, Vorta, and now Breen. Instead of the invaders, we have become the invaded. Our allies have conquered us without firing a single shot. Well, no longer. This morning, detachments of the Cardassian First, Third, and Ninth Orders attacked Dominion outposts on Rondack 3. This assault marks the first step towards the liberation of our homeland from the true oppressors of the Alpha Quadrant. I call upon Cardassians everywhere - Resist. Resist today. Resist tomorrow. Resist till the last Dominion soldier has been driven from our soil."

The traitor Legate Corat Damar has betrayed the Dominion and the Cardassian Alliance by defection from the Dominion Council. The Council believes that his intention is to start a rebellion. In his place, our loyal servant Gul Manzel Broca of the Third Order has been appointed Commander in Chief of the Cardassian armed forces and Senior Legate of the Cardassian Union. The traitor Corat Damar is hereby stripped of all rank, rights and privileges according to his status as a former Legate and Gul of the Cardassian Military. It is the duty of every loyal officer of all Orders to seek out Damar and his followers and bring him to justice. Any information leading to Damar's capture will be appropriately rewarded. Aiding the traitor Corat Damar, failure to provide information leading to Damar's capture, sympathising with Damar's aims, or concealing information as to his whereabouts will be considered like and equal treason and punishable by the highest sanctions of the Cardassian Courts. It is my dearest wish that the Union of the Cardassian and Dominion peoples can move on past this unfortunate event to the ultimate conclusion of our mutually beneficial alliance: the conquest of the Alpha Quadrant.

Damar's resistance movement was never large enough to launch an all-out campaign against the Dominion, so he used the guerrilla tactics employed by the Bajorans in the Occupation, running sabotage missions and other campaigns to derail the Dominion's war efforts. Damar's organized resistance was crushed by Weyoun after Gul Rovok betrayed Damar and compromised his movement. All eighteen cells were destroyed, and Weyoun declared a complete victory.

He instead ignited an even more powerful popular movement against the Dominion. Rallying the citizens of Cardassia, Damar asked for the help of all civilians, and took out power for the duration of the Federation/Klingon/Romulan attack on Dominion forces which had pulled back to establish a tight defensive perimeter around Cardassia Prime. With communication cut, Weyoun and the Female Founder could not contact their fleet, and the Founder was so incensed she ordered Lakarion City, 2 million in population, destroyed. She also ordered every house levelled in Cardassia if necessary until Damar and his rebels were found. The Jem'Hadar eventually knocked found them, and were about to kill the trio when the Cardassian soldiers that had come along with the Jem'Hadar killed the Dominion soldiers and pledged their loyalty to Damar.

Sisko, Martok, and Ross lead the attack, and they clearly were losing ground when the Cardassian ships suddenly turned to fire on the Dominion. Soon, the Dominion was losing ground fast, and it was only then that long-range communications returned to Weyoun and Founder. Knowledge that the entire Cardassian fleet had turned against the Dominion angered the Founder into declaring that all Cardassians untrustworthy. She immediately ordered the extermination of the entire population on Cardassia Prime and sent Jem'Hadar ships to level every inch of Cardassia Prime. The Breen general volunteered to fight in the front lines, leaving Weyoun and the Founder almost entirely alone on the planet surface.

Damar and the rest of his resistance group stormed the serpents lair, which they eventually penetrated. Damar died in the crossfire, but the survivors pressed on to find the Founder and Weyoun virtually alone. The Founder refused to call off the attack force and was content to let all of her forces die, taking as many of the enemy as they could with them. Only when Odo linked with her and healed her disease did she change her mind, agreeing to sign a peace treaty and stand trial as a war criminal.

The pre-war borders were reestablished, but the Cardassian Union had to face the fact, that its capital planet was badly damaged, that many colonies and planet-systems within Union rebelled and declared their independence and that their still strong military was at the edge to fall apart and to start a civil war.

Again the military intervened: Under leadership of the CO´s of the 2nd, 5th and 7th Order the cardassian military deposed in 2975 the civilian Council. Under leadership of the reinstalled Central Command the Cardassian Union started to reconquer one rebellious planet after the other. Some planets simply surrendered when the cardassian military arrived - others had to be conquered in bloody fighting - causing further losses of cardassian lifes and recources.

But the Central Command was successful to rebuilt Cardassia-Prime. By pressing recources out of the colonies the capital planet was able to supply its population without these helps in 2988. More than 35 years were necessary to let dissappear the visible wounds the Dominion War had caused to the planet!

The Central Command also continued the military rebuilt of the Cardassian union. Because of the need of quantity instead of quality the Cardassian Central Command decided to build primary the easier to build and maintain Galor-class instead of more powerful, but too complicated designs.