The peace treaty

[Training]

And Stauffenburg tried to kill Hitler because he'd always been a pacifist.

If my memory serves me correct. Stauffenburg wasn't a pacifist. He just thought Hitler was taking Germany into a direction that would lead to it's destruction. Just like Damar.

After all, post-WW2 Germany was and is at the core of European unification.

Germans didn't have a choice. The side ruled by the West became pro-western and feared invasion by the USSR. The side ruled by the USSR became socalist and feared being taken over by the West. The only reason why modern day Germany is pro-western is purely economics.

With the exception of the brief offensive thanks to the Breen weapon, I don't think the Dominion was in a winning position since the entry of the Romulans in the war (or even the retaking of DS9). They may have been winning that final battle in the sense that the Feds etc. were unable to break their lines but the Fed Alliance clearly had an upper hand at that point of the war (which is why the Dominion decided to retreat to Cardassian space and shorten it's defensive lines).

There was a stalemate at the end. The Dominion wasn't strong enough to continue it's offensive and the Alliance wasn't strong enough to take the war on to the Dominion. In fact they suffered extremely high losses at the border. That even with the fact that the Dominion were having communication problems due to Cardassian saboteurs. If the Cardassian fleet didn't switch sides the losses would have probably increased and lead to the Alliance retreating.

OTOH, I don't think the Dominion can simply continue as it is in the GQ. Despite their strength, their military loses were still significant

I think the war is damaging more on the morale front then military. Most of the military equipment and Jem'Hadar troops were manufactured in the Alpha Quadrant with the exception of the massive building in S5 and the 2,000 ships lost in S6.

Okay, I'll split the difference with you--that was a factor. Nevertheless, I suspect that if the Dominion was outright slaughtering the Allies, that--firstly--the Doms wouldn't have become so haughty with the Cardassians, since it seems their perception of being failed by the Cards was the major reason the Vorta and Founders engaged the Breen and brought them in with territorial concessions, necessitating a tighter grip on Cardassian society, and--secondly and consequently--Damar and co. would not have been so keen to throw off the Dominion yoke, because whatever they were losing in autonomy was being repaid with revenge and with great new conquests.

I have to agree with the independence argument. What about the deaths of the Cardassian soldiers? That was pissing Damar off. What about the fact that Damar wasn't actually a leader? Just a poster boy?

 

[neozeks]

Germans didn't have a choice. The side ruled by the West became pro-western and feared invasion by the USSR. The side ruled by the USSR became socalist and feared being taken over by the West. The only reason why modern day Germany is pro-western is purely economics.

It's probably more complicated then just economics. But then again, Cardassia is also an ocuppied territory after the war, divided under the influence of the Feds, Klingons and the Romulans. When your other options are rule by the Klingons or the Romulans, seeking Federation's protection and membership at some point must seem like a good idea.

I think the war is damaging more on the morale front then military. Most of the military equipment and Jem'Hadar troops were manufactured in the Alpha Quadrant with the exception of the massive building in S5 and the 2,000 ships lost in S6.

Without a doubt, the Dominion is still very strong. But my rough estimate is that, including the 2000 ships lost in the Wormhole, they probably lost about a third of their fleet in the AQ (YMMV, of course - I'm basing that on the assumption that that's about the amount of ships they would be willing to send through the wormhole in the first place, while still maintaing their Empire back in the GQ). Some of that could have been rebuilt, but while you can grow a Jem'Hadar in a few days it should still take quite a lot more time to build a ship, even with Dominion's abilities. The Dominion War only lasted, what, two years?

 

[Training]

It's probably more complicated then just economics. But then again, Cardassia is also an ocuppied territory after the war, divided under the influence of the Feds, Klingons and the Romulans. When your other options are rule by the Klingons or the Romulans, seeking Federation's protection and membership at some point must seem like a good idea.

Personally I disagree that the Cardassians would be divided up that easily. If you remember the Dominions pimped up the Cardassians infrastructure and only a small percent of Cardassia ever came under attack. Has far has we know the Jem'Hadar glassed Cardassia Prime only. This leaves the brunt of the Cardassian Union still at a good level. The chances of them being divided up like a piece of cake doesn't seem likely to me. Probably a chunk of their territory did become occupied namely Chintooka and Prime while the others became something of Lithunia Pre-WW2 (The Poland occupied parts of Lithuania while most of it was self run yet weak).

Without a doubt, the Dominion is still very strong. But my rough estimate is that, including the 2000 ships lost in the Wormhole, they probably lost about a third of their fleet in the AQ (YMMV, of course - I'm basing that on the assumption that that's about the amount of ships they would be willing to send through the wormhole in the first place, while still maintaing their Empire back in the GQ). Some of that could have been rebuilt, but while you can grow a Jem'Hadar in a few days it should still take quite a lot more time to build a ship, even with Dominion's abilities. The Dominion War only lasted, what, two years?

I'm not sure how fast the Dominion manufactures ships but in real life the problem is always the soldiers and not the equipment. Equipment can easily be manufactured while it takes a long time to replace a dead soldier. So the Dominion have an advantage there. Plus the news of their defeat in the AQ will come after more then a year and a half of losing 2,000 ships. Which means that they should either have rebuilt or in the last stages of rebuilding. Unless otherwise they were building an excess force before the wormhole opened in which case the loss was minimal to normal operation numbers.