If the Romulans and Cardassians got in a war during the height of the Bajoran Occupation. Who would win?
I don't think there's much question. The Cardassians had only limited resources, the reason they needed to occupy Bajor in the first place. The Romulans built a vast interstellar empire and had technology that rivaled the Federation. --Sran
I'm pretty sure the Romulans would win that one. My questions is, how would they get into a war in the first place? And where would this war be fought? The Cardassian Union is in the AQ, the Romulan Star Empire is (for the most part) in the BQ, and they have the UFP between them.
We never saw a map depicting such a border. What we got instead is a) a tiny spacecraft takes Worf from Bajor to the edge of Romulan space in "Birthright", perhaps suggesting proximity through travel time issues (although no specifics force us to believe this) b) Romulans often visit Bajor, even though supposedly they can't even leave their RNZ-enclosed empire, perhaps suggesting proximity through them not getting caught before the reach Bajor c) Romulans are said to hover close to the "Cardassian border" in "Improbable Cause", perhaps suggesting this is a border against Romulan space Interestingly, in "Dax" it is revealed that Terok Nor was built or modified with Romulan technology, at least if the analysis of Dax is correct. Was this stolen, copied, or donated? Romulans could well have an interest in aiding an enemy-of-enemy here... If Cardassians and Romulans were technology allies of sorts, then I could certainly see Romulans winning flat out. Naturally, their gifts would be full of Trojans and backdoors and worms and whatnot! So when they do their surprise attack against an ally, said ally's defenses suddenly cease working... Timo Saloniemi
The Cardassians would have a hard time as for the most part of their occupation of Bajor they were also involved in an on and off conflict with the Federation. As for the Romulans we don't know much apart from one or two raids on Klingon planets, so they might have had a relatively peaceful period and be better able to prosecute a war.
Could the Romulans use the Bajorans as usefuk idiots like arming and funding them. If it was a total war like the Earth Romulan War than we could see Cardassia annexed to the Romulans.
The Romulans would have wiped the floor with them and annexed Cardassia. And possibly Bajor too. Romulus is China, Cardassia is North Korea. Easy win. Hm, Romulans as the major antagonists of DS9? Later to join the Dominion? Hrm. Fascinating.
Hmm, Cardassia is a heavily militaristic isolated society run by a series of madmen that no one wants to deal with? Well, that's...{looks back at Cardassia's arc in DS9} pretty apt actually. As as much as it pains me to say it it is true that the Romulans would have won a war with the Union. Which is only natural considering the massive resource base in their home system in Remus and the huge slave labour/disposable shock troops garnered from the population of that selfsame world. Not to mention the overwhelming technological advantages of the cloaking systems and the Tal Shiar. Of course they'd have had to deal with the various resistance groups and fronts that might spring up on Bajor and Cardassia not to mention the Klingon Empire and perhaps even the Federation taking stock of the distraction and undertaking operations against the Star Empire along the natural intrigue of Romulan politics would still make the whole thing a very expensive and bloody affair for Romulus. Oh, and the Founders would have played the Romulans like a fiddle and then slaughtered the lot of 'em afterwards. (and they wondered why the Solids never liked them...)