Editing Dominion War (section)

==Turning of the Tide==

The Romulan Star Empire had to this point declared itself neutral in the conflict, though they were allowing Dominion ships passage through their space. Realizing the war was lost without the assistance of the Romulan Empire, Sisko undertook an act of coercion with the help of Elim Garak, implicating the Dominion in an assassination plot against a high ranking Romulan senator. Their ploy was successful, and the Romulans joined the alliance. Within hours of joining the war against the Dominion, the Romulans attacked fifteen bases along the Cardassian-Romulan border, opening up a new front and drawing forces away from the Federation and Klingon lines. (DS9: "In the Pale Moonlight") 
 
With the Romulans now part of the Federation Alliance, the Allies had the necessary resources, ships and manpower to go on the offensive. Realizing that the only way to achieve a lasting victory against the Dominion was to go on the offensive and begin to destroy their shipyards and cloning facilities, Sisko was able to convince both the Romulans and Klingons to join the Federation in the invasion of Cardassian territory. Having diverted the majority of its defenses to the Romulan front, the Chin'toka system was an ideal target. However, Damar had already begun to deploy Orbital weapon platforms, which would replace the need for starships to defend the system. Although the weapon platforms were nearly successful in defeating the allied fleet, their main weakness was discovered and exploited by Garak, which allowed the allied fleet to destroy the platforms' power grid, thus winning the First Battle of Chin'toka. This was the Allies first push into Cardassian territory, and was a monumental morale booster. (DS9: "Tears of the Prophets") 

With Romulan reinforcement, the alliance had forced something of a stalemate. Early and middle 2375 was spent with neither side offering a firm push forward into the other. Sisko had temporarily left his duties as a Starfleet officer after the death of Jadzia Dax and the closing of the Bajoran wormhole by Dukat. With one of Starfleet's major tacticians and leaders out of the picture, the Dominion had time to regroup and hold off against further invasion attempts. The Cardassians were able to halt the Klingon's advance at Monac IV, inflicting at least thirty percent casualties against the Klingons, forcing the Allies to remain bottled up in the Chin'toka system. (DS9: "Image in the Sand") 

One very important event that changed the shape of the war was occurring behind the front lines: a debilitating disease was attacking the Founders. It would later be claimed that Section 31 had a hand in the infection. The Founders' abilities as leaders were being compromised just as their military was taking severe punishment from the emboldened alliance. (DS9: "Treachery, Faith and the Great River") 

Gradually, Damar began openly criticizing the war effort and deriding the Founders' leadership. It seemed to him that Cardassian troops were withstanding the worst of the assault, and statistics proved him correct. Dominion leaders decided that a change was necessary, and in late 2375 they sought the help of the Breen, a mysterious but powerful race. In the ensuing months, the Breen took more and more of the Cardassian's responsibility, their leadership and even Cardassian territory. The tide had turned in favor of the Dominion, but Cardassians grew more restless by the day. (DS9: "'Til Death Do Us Part") 

With assistance from Breen energy-draining weapons, the Dominion won the Second Battle of Chin'toka with ease, destroying all but one of the three hundred and twelve allied vessels, thus regaining control of the system. The Breen even staged an attack on Earth, dealing a heavy blow to Federation morale. Starfleet and Romulan vessels were annihilated by the new Breen technology, forcing the Klingons – whose ships could be modified to be immune to the weapon – to hold the front lines on their own until a countermeasure could be found. To do this, General Martok brought 1,500 starships to the border as the Allies' defense. Even with this sizable fleet, the Klingon force was outnumbered twenty-to-one by the Dominion, Breen and Cardassian forces. To compensate, Martok would have his fleet operate in small battle groups, remaining cloaked until they would engage the enemy, in an attempt to keep them off balance. (DS9: "The Changing Face of Evil", "When It Rains...") 

Although the war turned significantly in the Dominion's favor with the Breen's entry into the war, the Dominion's obvious favoring of the Breen finally frustrated Damar to the point that he formed an active resistance on Cardassia. A number of Cardassian officers, including Gul Rusot, who shared Damar's frustration, remained loyal to him. Joining his rebellion, they attacked the cloning facilities on Rondac III. Although the fleet was successful in destroying the facility, half of Damar's entire military force was destroyed in the battle. Despite this, the Dominion realized they could not hope to win the war against the allies until the internal rebellion was crushed. This gave the allies the time they needed to obtain a counter measure to the Breen's energy dissipator. (DS9: "The Changing Face of Evil") 

Realizing Damar's rebellion would be crushed without a necessary change in strategy and outside support, the Federation dispatched Kira Nerys – with a new commission as a Starfleet commander – Elim Garak, and Odo to help train the Cardassian liberation forces in guerrilla tactics, while also providing food replicators to sustain the rebellion. With Kira's knowledge of guerrilla warfare passed on to Damar's forces, the rebellion began destroying individual ships via sabotage, and was successful in the destruction of the Tevak shipyards. (DS9: "Tacking Into the Wind") 

Unfortunately for the allies, Chancellor Gowron took control of the Klingon forces in an attempt to defeat the Dominion without assistance from the Federation or Romulan Empire. During his brief campaign, he ordered General Martok to engage the Dominion at Avenal Seven – a world deep inside Dominion territory. Outnumbered six-to-one, the raid on Avanal Seven was an utter failure, losing seven ships, with another five seriously damaged. Realizing that these useless raids could not continue, Sisko ordered Commander Worf to deal with Chancellor Gowron. After killing him in battle, Worf declared Martok the new Chancellor of the Klingon Empire. (DS9: "When It Rains...", "Tacking Into the Wind") 

With the help of Odo, the Cardassian rebellion was able to capture a Jem'Hadar attack ship fitted with one of the Breen's energy dampening weapons from the Kelvas repair facility. With the weapon delivered to the Federation, a counter measure was able to be produced for both Federation and Romulan ships, thus returning the tactical advantage into the Allies' favor. Shortly afterward however, the Cardassian forces were completely wiped out by the Dominion after Gul Revok betrayed them, allowing all eighteen rebel bases to be found and destroyed. Even after this success however, the Dominion realized that the Federation Alliance had developed a counter measure to the Breen's weaponry, and withdrew all of their forces from Klingon, Federation and Romulan space in order to shorten their supply lines and fortify within Cardassian territory until they were able to rebuild a sufficient armada to win the war. (DS9: "Tacking Into the Wind", "The Dogs of War") 

Although Damar's military rebellion was crushed, his brief but effective campaign gained massive support from the Cardassian civilian population. After a raid on a Jem'Hadar barracks on Cardassia Prime, Damar was able to rally the support of the entire civilian population on Cardassia, which proved to be vital during the allies' final invasion. The determination was made by the allied commanders that the best hopes of success for an invasion was now, before the Dominion was allowed to strengthen itself any further. A three-pronged attack into Cardassia was organized and led by Admiral William Ross, Chancellor Martok, and (presumably) Velal. (DS9: "The Dogs of War") 

The Battle of Cardassia was one of the largest space battles in galactic history. During the battle, the civilian population on Cardassia Prime was able to cause a planet-wide blackout, cutting off all communication from the Dominion Headquarters to their fleets in combat. In retaliation for this, the Female Changeling ordered the destruction of Lakarian City as a deterrent to further acts of rebellion. This action had the opposite effect however – when the Cardassian Guard found out about the fate of Lakarian City, it switched sides and began combating the Dominion and Breen ships along with the allies. The Dominion responded typically – the head Founder ordered the Jem'Hadar to offer no quarter and fight to the last man, as well as commanding the annihilation of the entire planetary population of Cardassia Prime. Finally, members of the resistance were able to break into Dominion headquarters with Kira and Garak. Odo thought he could change the Founder's mind by meeting with her, so he beamed to their location. He convinced the head Founder to give up the war by linking with her and thus curing her of the virus. He also offered to return to the Great Link and cure his people of the virus that had been crippling them. The war was officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Bajor, and all Dominion forces returned to the Gamma Quadrant, with the exception of the head Founder, who was to stand trial for war crimes. (DS9: "What You Leave Behind") 

Foremost in the aftermath, however, was the state of Cardassia Prime. Eight hundred million civilians were dead, and the entire Cardassian Union was in danger of total collapse. The Alpha Quadrant had lost a major power, and the effects on galactic politics would continue to be seen for many years to come.

[[Category:History]][[Category: Database]][[Category: The Dominion]]