Dominion War

The Dominion War was a massive interstellar conflict that occurred between 2373 and 2375. The war was fought primarily in the Alpha Quadrant by an alliance of the United Federation of Planets, Klingon Empire, and Romulan Star Empire against the Dominion, including the Cardassian Union, and the Breen Confederacy.

Federation-Dominion Cold War

In 2369, the Federation gained access to the Gamma Quadrant via the Bajoran Wormhole. Through exploration of the Gamma Quadrant, Starfleet learned of the Dominion. In late 2370, the Dominion briefly kidnapped and then released Benjamin Sisco, and destroyed the Galaxy-class USS Odyssey (NCC-71832). The Federation deployed the USS Defiant (NX-74205) with Romulan-supplied cloaking technology to find and negotiate peace with the Founders who ruled the Dominion. The attempt failed, and both the Dominion and the Federation began building forces in preparation for a war.

The Cardassian Obsidian Order and the Romulan Tal Shiar worked together to amass an armada to destroy the Founders' homeworld in the Omarion Nebula. The Founders learned of their plan and led the joint armada into a trap. The fleet's destruction ended the Obsidian Order and crippled the Tal Shiar.

To avoid fighting a united Alpha Quadrant, the Dominion seeded conflict and distrust between the Alpha Quadrant states through intrigue and a program of replacing government officials with Changelings. This program eventually led to a brief war between the Cardassians and the Klingons and then to the Federation-Klingon War (2372-73). In mid-2373, the Cardassian Union, under the leadership of Gul Dukat, joined the Dominion, providing the Dominion a foothold in the Alpha Quadrant.

The cold war ended and full-blown war began shortly thereafter when the Dominion launched an attack on Deep Space Nine.

End of the War

After they destroyed Damar's rebels, the Dominion discovered that the Federation had developed counter-measures to the Breen Energy-Dampening Weapon. In response, the Dominion fell back to Cardassian space in order to rebuild their forces. The alliance decided to invade Cardassian space, despite the heavy casualty predictions.

Although destroyed, Damar's rebellion found widespread civilian support on Cardassia Prime during the Battle of Cardassia. These civilians were able to cause a planet-wide power outage that disabled communication between the Dominion headquarters and their fleet. In response, the Female Changeling ordered her forces to destroy Lakarian City to send a message to the Cardassians. After hearing of the destruction of Lakarian City, the remaining Cardassian forces turned on their Dominion and Breen allies and fought the remainder of the war with the Federation. This forced the Dominion forces to retreat to Cardassia Prime. Angered, the Female Changeling ordered her forces to fight to the last man and ordered the Jem'Hadar to begin exterminating the Cardassian population.

After the resistance broke into the Dominion Headquarters, Odo convinced the Female Changeling to end the war by linking with her, curing her of disease, and agreeing to return to the Great Link to cure all Changelings. The war officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Bajor.

Major Battles

• Second Battle of Deep Space 9 (2373)
• Battle of Torros III (2373)
• Battle of the Tyra System (2374)
• Operation Return (2374)
• Battle of Betazed (2374)
• Liberation of Benzar (2374)
• First Battle of Chin'toka (2374)
• Battle of Monac IV (2375)
• Siege of AR-558 (2375)
• Battle of Riktor Prime (2375)
• Invasion of Septimus III (2375)
• Breen Attack on Earth (2375)
• Second Battle of Chin'toka (2375)
• Battle of Rondac III (2375)
• Battle of Avenal (2375)
• Battle of Cardassia (2375)

Appendix

Those members of Starfleet who served during the war were commended with the Dominion War Service Medal.