The ancient Hebitians were a spiritual and peaceful reptilian civilization which thrived on Cardassia Prime for centuries. They lived in harmony with the land and the planet was lush with forests. Archeologists reported that the Hebitian burial vaults were magnificent and filled with many jeweled artifacts made of jevonite.

Due to a climatic change and the planet's scarcity in natural resources, the impoverished society suffered from famine and disease, leading to millions of deaths. The frail population was taken over by aliens with a militaristic ideology thus ending the Hebitian way of life. (TNG: "Chain of Command, Part II" and A Stitch in Time)

First contact

First contact between the Cardassians and Bajorans occurred as early as the 16th century. Using their lightships, Bajoran explorers traversed the space around Bajor and stumbled upon tachyon eddies, which took them all the way to Cardassia Prime. (DS9: "Explorers")

Cardassian Union

The Detapa Council (1872), Cardassian Central Command and Obsidian Order were jointly established in the 19th century, together forming what was eventually known as the Cardassian Union. (DS9: "Defiant")

First Republic

The First Republic was established in the late-21st century and featured an era of excellent literature such as the works of Iloja of Prim. (DS9: "Destiny")

By the mid-22nd century, Cardassians began to explore space. Cardassians and Humans also traveled in the same area of space as early as 2154. (ENT: "Observer Effect")

Modern Empire

In a scene cut from DS9: "Tears of the Prophets", Garak noted that Tret Akleen, who was born on Ventani II, was the "father" of the modern Cardassian Empire.

Having assumed a militaristic philosophy after the Hebitian society perished, Cardassians relied heavily on the military's expansion into the galaxy to obtain the natural resources which were scarce on their homeworld. The military colonized numerous worlds to obtain the resources for their population and in return had almost complete power over the people. This arrangement satisfied both the military and the civilian population for many years.

However, as the Cardassian Union continued to expand over the decades, so did the military's requirements. Eventually the military was consuming the majority of the obtained resources and leaving only scant remnants to Cardassian citizenry. This led to a period of social discontent, as famine and disease once again struck Cardassia, as it had with its ancient civilization. To compensate, the military conquered neighboring planets and forced their native people to work as forced laborers.

2328 - The most well known of these occupations was that of Bajor in 2328. The Occupation effectively ended in 2369 due to political pressure from the Federation on top of the constant terrorism and guerrilla warfare from the Bajoran Resistance. (TNG: "Chain of Command, Part II", "Ensign Ro"; DS9: "Duet", "Cardassians")

The Reklar and USS Enterprise-D met in the DMZ over the dispute of Minos Korva. Eventually their expansion brought them into conflict with the Klingon Empire causing the Betreka Nebula Incident. (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior")

2328 - Contact with the Klingon Empire in the Betreka Nebula. The Betreka Nebula is a nebula located between the Klingon Empire and the Cardassian Union. The Betreka Nebula Incident began an 18-year-long cold war between the Klingon Empire and the Cardassian Union. (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior")

2347 The Cardassian Union attacked Setlik II, killing over 100 Federation colonists. Federation/Cardassian War begins.

2351 - Construction of Terok Nor is completed.

The date of first contact between the Federation and the Cardassian Union has never been established, although most sources assume that it was sometime in the first two decades of the 24th century due to the lack of any Cardassian mention in 23rd century back stories. Conversely, the Cardassian Iloja of Prim was in exile on Vulcan during the lifetime of Tobin Dax, i.e. before 2245. (DS9: "Destiny")

2354 Starfleet drives Cardassian forces out of Federation space.

2367 Truce between the Cardassian Union and the Federation.

2370 - Treaty finally signed by both the Federation and the Union. The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is established. The layout of the DMZ also contributed to the tensions. Due to the change in borders some Federation worlds became Cardassian territories and vice versa. Many of the people, whose worlds were turned over to the Cardassians, did not wish to leave and were granted permission to remain on their worlds. Disgruntled by the treatment they received from the Cardassians some of the citizens decided to revolt. This gave birth to the Maquis. (TNG: "The Wounded", "Chain of Command, Part I", "Chain of Command, Part II"; DS9: "The Maquis, Part I", "The Maquis, Part II")

After exhausting much of their resources during the Federation-Cardassian War the Cardassian Union was in no shape for renewed conflict with the Federation so soon after the peace treaty. To make matters worse the Maquis were located in the Demilitarized Zone, preventing the Cardassian military from launching a full-scale invasion to wipe them out. This enabled the Maquis to carry out numerous acts of sabotage and small military engagements against the Union.

As the Maquis grew in size and strength tensions increased between the Federation and the Cardassian Union with neither side having a concrete solution to the problem. The Central Command secretly armed their citizens in the DMZ to combat the Maquis while the Maquis procured weapons by raiding various vessels as well as receiving materials from the Klingon Empire in later years. (DS9: "The Maquis, Part I", "The Maquis, Part II", "Defiant", "For the Uniform", "Blaze of Glory")

The Central Command attempted to deal with the situation in the DMZ by discrediting the Federation and providing evidence that they not only sanctioned the Maquis' actions, but were providing them with weapons to combat the Cardassians. Their undercover operative secretly developed evidence that Miles O'Brien was shipping photon torpedoes to the Maquis from Deep Space 9. The plan was foiled when Central Command's agent was discovered by the station's senior staff, and the evidence against O'Brien was proved to be fabricated. (DS9: "Tribunal")

Another failed attempt by Central Command was to wipe out the Maquis' munitions base in the Badlands with the creation of their ATR-4107 missile (which was later renamed Dreadnought). While the ATR-4107 effectively acted as a missile, it was also a fully autonomous warship capable of warp

 speeds and carried a wide range of defensive weaponry. The Dreadnought had successfully made it to the Maquis munitions depot after fighting its way through every Maquis defense. However, due to the Cardassian's use of an outdated kinetic detonator, the Dreadnought did not detonate as planned, but instead drifted in orbit of the planetoid.

There, the Maquis reprogrammed the super weapon to attack a Cardassian fuel depot on Aschelan V. Dreadnought inexplicably disappeared in the Badlands while on the way to its new destination, only to be found by the USS Voyager two years later. (VOY: "Dreadnought")

2370 - Enter The Dominion:

The discovery of a large, hostile empire in the Gamma Quadrant proved to be one of the most devastating events for the Cardassian Empire. By 2371, no major Alpha Quadrant power was willing to commit to a firm solution to the threat of a Dominion invasion. Enabran Tain, the retired leader of the Obsidian Order, with the help of the Tal Shiar, was able to develop his own small fleet in the Orias system which he would use later that year in an attempt to wipe out the Dominion's rulers; the Founders. His plan was ultimately foiled by a Changeling infiltrator, resulting in the disastrous Battle of the Omarion Nebula. The battle caused the Obsidian Order to completely collapse, allowing for the Cardassian dissident movement to overthrow the Central Command's authority the following year. The movement saw the restoration of the Detapa Council and civilian rule. (DS9: "The Jem'Hadar", "Improbable Cause", "The Die is Cast", "The Way of the Warrior")

2371 - Kai Winn Adami negotiated the Bajor-Cardassia Treaty with Legate Turrel while Benjamin Sisko mediated their discussion in 2371. Attempting to reestablish relations with Bajor after the end of the occupation, the Cardassians secretly worked out a treaty with the Bajorans. Legate Turrel represented the Cardassian Union and Vedek Bareil initiated the talks and worked out the details. Five months of secret discussions began between the two, from war reparations to an official apology from the Cardassians. However, Bareil was injured on his way to Deep Space 9 to finalize the treaty so Kai Winn completed the negotiations, thus creating the Bajoran-Cardassian Treaty. (DS9: "Life Support")

2372 - Klingon Attack On Cardassia

In the aftermath of the Omarian Nebula Incident, the civilians rose up and overthrew the Central Command. The Detapa Council regained control of the government. Klingons believed this change of power proved that Founders infiltrated Cardassia and they tried to capture Council members.

In actuality, Chancellor Gowron was influenced by an actual Changeling, and the Klingon Empire launched an unprovoked and abrupt invasion of the Cardassian Union, thus initiating the brief Klingon-Cardassian War. The war devastated the Cardassian infrastructure and crippled a large portion of their fleets. The Detapa Council, with the help of Gul Dukat and the Federation, was able to obtain asylum aboard Deep Space 9. This drug the Federation into a war with the Klingons. Also a short war, the Second Klingon-Federation War (2372-2373) further depleted resources of both powers. After the Klingons were successfully driven away from DS9, the war became a stalemate, with Klingon ships able to roam freely throughout Cardassian territory.

Later that year, Dukat was able to procure a Klingon vessel with the help of Major Kira Nerys. Despite the substantial information he obtained from the ship's computer logs and status reports, the Detapa Council chose to find a diplomatic solution to the war as opposed to using the information for launching a new offensive. Dukat then began a one-ship war against the Klingons with his captured Bird-of-Prey. (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior", "Return to Grace", "Rules of Engagement")

2373 Cardassia joined the Dominion. Dukat becomes ruler of Cardassia. Dominion War begins.

The Detapa Council became completely powerless when the Dominion appointed Dukat as the designated leader of the Cardassian people. Dukat later "justified" his actions by saying the alliance with the Dominion would restore Cardassia to its former glory, promising to push every Klingon ship from Cardassian territory and wipe out every Maquis colony in the DMZ. Dukat made good on his promises, for within three days every Maquis colony was destroyed, with only a few members able to evade capture or death, and the entire Klingon invasion force was in full retreat. (DS9: "By Inferno's Light", "Blaze of Glory")

With the Cardassian Union's borders returned to their pre-war state, Dukat had successfully raised the Union to be a first-rate power in the Alpha Quadrant. However, Dukat's personal ambitions, combined with the Founders desire to bring order to the galaxy, meant that an interstellar war was inevitable. Since the Dominion required constant reinforcements of ships, supplies, troops and Ketracel-white from the Gamma Quadrant to be able to conquer the entire Alpha Quadrant, the Federation decided to mine the entrance of the wormhole to prevent the movement of Dominion ships through the wormhole.

This move was the provocation the Dominion needed to start a full-scale war against the Federation without coming across as the aggressors. The Dominion then sent a fleet of ships to capture Deep Space 9 and stop the completion of the mine field. Dukat retook the station and the Dominion War began. (DS9: "Call to Arms")

For the first few months of the Dominion War, Cardassia and the Dominion were unbeatable, forcing the Federation and Klingon Empire to retreat. The utter failure of the Federation's Seventh Fleet at Tyra was one of the many engagements resulting in complete victory for the Dominion. It was only a matter of time before Earth and the rest of the Federation would be completely conquered.

A bold attack lead by Captain Benjamin Sisko saw the first allied victory. This victory was possible because of the help of the Bajoran Prophets who destroyed all 2,800 Dominion ships inside the wormhole before they could enter the Alpha Quadrant. This sudden turn of events, combined with the death of his daughter Tora Ziyal, caused Dukat to have a mental breakdown. Soon after, Cardassians began to lose their status as equals with the Vorta and Jem'Hadar. (DS9: "A Time to Stand", "Sacrifice of Angels")

Puppet Government and Rebellion

2374 - After Dukat's subsequent capture, Damar was appointed the new leader of the Cardassian people. However, Damar's position gradually became nothing more than a formality, with the Female Changeling and Weyoun running a de facto government. Shortly after the Federation retook Deep Space 9, Damar was forced to call for peace by Weyoun, despite his personal objections. Over time, Damar was forced to obey Weyoun on almost all political and military decisions, including the order to reinforce the Son'a outpost on Devos II as opposed to perusing the Defiant, as Damar had initially ordered. (DS9: "Statistical Probabilities", "Penumbra")

2375 - Damar gradually realized that he was simply running a puppet government under Dominion regime and that Cardassians were becoming second-class citizens within their own territory. When the Female Changeling negotiated with the Breen to join the Dominion in 2375, she made territorial concessions on behalf of Cardassia. Damar, forced to sign the negotiations as the designated leader of Cardassia, realized his power had been completely usurped. It was then that Damar began his rebellion against the Dominion oppressors. (DS9: "The Changing Face of Evil", "When It Rains...", "Tacking Into the Wind")

Gul Revok betrayed Damar’s resistance and provided the Dominion with the information necessary to locate their bases. However, Damar learned upon arriving back on Cardassia Prime that he had more of an impact on all Cardassians than he had thought. The entire civilian population eventually joined Damar's rebellion and was able to cause a planet-wide blackout during the Battle of Cardassia. The confusion and lack of communication with their main headquarters enabled the allies to defeat the Dominion forces, forcing them to retreat to Cardassia Prime for one final stand. When the Dominion destroyed Lakarian City in retaliation for the blackout, the remaining military forces switched sides, helping the Federation Alliance defeat the Dominion once and for all. (DS9: "The Dogs of War", "What You Leave Behind")

By the end of the Dominion War, Cardassia Prime had been devastated by orbital bombardment and Jem'Hadar raids by the Dominion, who wished to wipe out the Cardassian species for their betrayal. Over 800 million men, women and children were slaughtered in the planet-wide genocide. Cardassia Prime had once again become a planet plagued with famine, death, disease and destruction, leaving the remaining Cardassians to rebuild. (DS9: "What You Leave Behind")