Dominion War

The Dominion War was a major war fought from 2373 to 2375 between the Dominion, Cardassian Union and Breen on one side, and the Alpha Quadrant alliance led by the United Federation of Planets, Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Star Empire.

Overview

See Dominion War for an overview of the conflict at Memory Alpha.

Alternate Timeline

In 2392, the USS Invicta encountered an alternate universe where the outcome of the Dominion War was quite different from the "prime" universe: the Dominion won.

Below is a timeline of events of the war, comparing the prime and alternate universes.

• Events in the prime universe are in italics.
• Events in bold italics happened in both timelines.

◀ 2373
The Dominion signs non-aggression treaties with several powers, including the Romulans, Tholians, Miradorn, and Bajorans. The entrance to the Bajoran wormhole is mined, preventing Dominion reinforcements from the Gamma Quadrant, just before the combined forces of the Dominion and Cardassians capture Deep Space 9 in the Bajoran system during the the Second Battle of Deep Space 9, marking the start of the Dominion War Using the attack on DS9 as a diversion, Starfleet and Klingon Defense Forces destroy the Dominion shipyards at Torros III.
◀ 2374
Federation and Klingon sustain heavy losses over three months of fighting. The Federation's Seventh Fleet loses 98 of 112 ships in the Tyra system again Dominion forces. The Allied Forces destroy the Dominion's primary ketracel-white storage facility in Cardassian space as well as a Dominion sensor array in the Argolis Cluster. The Dominion advances further into Federation territory, approaching the Vulcan and Bolian home systems. Starfleet begins plans for Operation Return to recapture Deep Space 9, assembling forces from the Second, Fifth, and Ninth Fleets at Starbase 375. Concerns are brought up during the planning in regards to Earth's vulnerability with the regrouping of forces, but the Third Fleet remains behind to protect the Sol system. Starfleet is forced to launch Operation Return early, with only two-thirds of the combined fleet in place and without Klingon support secured. Six hundred Federation starships head into battle against a Dominion fleet of 1,254 ships. Despite heavy casualties, Starfleet breaks through the Dominion line during the battle as Klingon forces arrive to help. The USS Defiant reaches DS9 first and enters the wormhole to confront the impending arrival of 2,800 Dominion ships. Captain Benjamin Sisko, Emissary of the Prophets, convinces the Prophets to remove the Dominion fleet within the wormhole to save Bajor. The Dominion withdraws from DS9 back to Cardassia, and Damar succeeds Dukat as leader of the Cardassian Union. The Defiant is destroyed within the wormhole by the Dominion fleet. The 2,800 ships continue onward to destroy the remaining Federation and Klingon ships still fighting through the Dominion line. Starfleet Command's worse fears come true as the combined Dominion fleet of nearly 4,000 ships continue their advance into the Federation, heading for Earth. The Third Fleet puts up a valiant struggle against the invading force, buying time for a mass evacuation of the Sol system, but billions remain behind when the first Jem'Hadar soldiers step foot upon Earth's surface. Starfleet headquarters is obliterated, and a puppet government is created for United Earth. The Dominion flag is raised in the chambers of the Federation Council. The Dominion remains behind Cardassian lines and begins peace negotiations with the Federation, proposing a redrawn Federation-Cardassian border that seemingly favors the Federation but is actually a ploy by the Dominion to secure the Kabrel system to allow them to produce ketracel-white in the Alpha Quadrant for the Jem'Hadar troops. The Federation makes a counter-proposal and the talks end inconclusively. The remaining Starfleet forces withdraw back to Vulcan and Andor. Despite the loss of Earth to Dominion forces, the remaining Federation worlds unite to defend their homeworlds from Dominion oppression. Local military forces and even civilian ships begin joining in the active fighting against Dominion ships. Dominion agents establish ties with the Orion Syndicate in an unsuccessful plot to undermine the Federation-Klingon alliance. The Dominion begin breeding legions of Jem'Hadar in the Alpha Quadrant and push shipbuilding to full capacity. The issue of ketracel-white shortage was eventually mitigated via new supplies manufactured by the Son'a. The Gorn and Breen sign non-aggression treaties with the Dominion. The Dominion invades Betazed from the Kalandra sector, threatening Vulcan, Andor, Tellar, and Alpha Centauri. The Romulans declare war on the Dominion after the assassination of a Romulan senator, who was believed to have discovered evidence of an impending Dominion invasion of Romulus before he was killed. The Romulans capture Benzar from the Dominion. The Federation reaches out to the Ferengi and the Evora in search of new allies. The newly combined forces of the Federation, Klingons, and Romulans capture the Chin'toka system.
◀ 2375
The Dominion continues to put up a tough fight against the Alpha Quadrant powers with battles at Monac IV and repeated attacks on Chin'toka to recapture a Dominion subspace relay station left behind on AR-558. The Allied Forces retake the Kalandra system from the Dominion. While Federation-Klingon-Romulan relations began to warm slightly from the war effort, within the Dominion, friction between Cardassian and Dominion leadership continued to build as Cardassian troops were being used as cannon fodder. The Founders of the Dominion begin suffering from a morphogenic virus that could ultimately destroy the Great Link. While the Federation Council had not authorized the virus's creation (which had been engineered instead by the clandestine organization known as Section 31), the Council nonetheless chose to withhold the cure from the Dominion because of the possible impact on the war. The Dominion gain a new ally with the Breen, who are promised territorial concessions from the Cardassians over the objections of the Cardassians themselves. The new alliance with the Breen and the massacre of the Cardassian Guard's Eleventh Order at Septimus III drives Damar to form a rebellion against the Dominion. After the Breen attack Starfleet Headquarters on Earth and join Dominion forces in recapturing the Chin'toka system, Damar announces the formation of the Cardassian Liberation Front and attacks the Dominion cloning facility on Rondac III. Following Chin'toka, Klingon forces hold the front lines after the chance discovery that a single Klingon ship had been unaffected by the Breen's energy-dampening weapon. Still, the Klingons remain vastly outnumbered at twenty-to-one odds against the Dominion, and confine themselves to hit-and-run attacks to prevent the Dominion from organizing any major offensives. Chancellor Gowron assumes direct command of Klingon forces for political purposes, fearing the rising popularity of General Martok. His battle plans waste Klingon ships in an attempt to have Martok killed in battle. Worf challenges Gowron and upon killing him in combat, hands chancellorship of the Klingon Empire to Martok. The Federation gives supplies and training to Cardassian rebels, allowing the rebels to carry out a number of sabotage attacks on Dominion targets and to deliver an intact Breen energy-dampening weapon to the Allies. Though Damar's forces are mostly destroyed by the Dominion, the former Cardassian leader is able to rally the Cardassian civilian population into overt resistance against the Dominion. The Dominion withdraws its forces back into Cardassian space. Rather than wait and allow them to rebuild their forces, the Federation Alliance launches an attack from Deep Space Nine towards Cardassia Prime. As the Allies battle the Dominion, Cardassian rebels cause a planetary blackout and cut off Dominion headquarters. In retaliation, the Jem'Hadar destroy Lakarian City, killing two million Cardassians. Upon learning of the massacre, the Cardassian fleet switches sides in the midst of battle. The commanding Founder of the Dominion in the Alpha Quadrant orders a full retreat back to Cardassia Prime and the extermination of the Cardassian population. Determined to make the Federation's victory a costly and devastating one, she only relinquishes after linking with Odo, who cures her of the morphogenic virus and agrees to return to the Great Link to save the other Founders in exchange for the Dominion's surrender.
◀ 2376
◀ 2377
◀ 2378
◀ 2379
◀ 2380
◀ 2381
◀ 2382
◀ 2383
◀ 2384
◀ 2385
◀ 2386
◀ 2387
◀ 2388
◀ 2389
◀ 2390
◀ 2391
◀ 2392