I am curious, according to canon what was the Battle of Axanar?? Based on the transcript, it almost appears that it was a fight between the Federation and the planet Axanar itself (edit: the people from said planet -- pretty hard for a big ball of rock to fight back). There's nothing to indicate Klingons or any other third-party was involved.
GARTH: You'll find that I am magnanimous to my friends and merciless to my enemies, and I want you, both of you, to be my friends.
SPOCK: On what, precisely, is our friendship to be based?
GARTH: Upon the firmest of foundations, Mister Spock. Enlightened self interest. You, Captain, are second only to me as the finest military commander in the galaxy.
KIRK: That's very flattering. I am primarily an explorer now, Captain Garth.
GARTH: And so have I been. I have charted more new worlds than any man in history.
KIRK: And tried to destroy Antos Four.
SPOCK: Why?
GARTH: Well, I could say because they were actively hostile to the Federation.
KIRK: Yes, you could say, but that would be untrue.
GARTH: Agreed. Actually they were quite harmless, and they made me whole when I was maimed and dying. And in my gratitude, I offered them the galaxy. They rejected me, and I condemned them to death.
SPOCK: How could you, a Starship fleet Captain, believe that a Federation crew would blindly obey your order to destroy the entire Antos race, a people famous for their benevolence and peaceful pursuits?
GARTH: That was my only miscalculation. I had changed. I had risen above this decadent weakness which still has you in its command, by the way, Captain. My crew had not. I couldn't sway them, but my new crew, the men in this room, will obey my orders without question. Gentlemen, you have eyes but you cannot see. Galaxies surround us, limitless vistas. And yet the Federation would have us grub away like some ants on some somewhat larger than usual anthill. But I am not an insect. I am master of the universe, and I must claim my domain.
KIRK: I agree there was a time when war was necessary, and you were our greatest warrior. I studied your victory at Axanar when I was a cadet. In fact it's still required reading at the Academy.
GARTH: As well it should be.
KIRK: Very well. But my first visit to Axanar was as a new fledged cadet on a peace mission.
GARTH: Peace mission! Politicians and weaklings!
KIRK: They were humanitarians and statesmen, and they had a dream. A dream that became a reality and spread throughout the stars, a dream that made Mister Spock and me brothers.
GARTH: Mister Spock, do you consider Captain Kirk and yourself brothers?
SPOCK: Captain Kirk speaks somewhat figuratively and with undue emotion. However, what he says is logical and I do, in fact, agree with it.
GARTH: Blind! Truly blind! Captain Kirk is your commanding officer and you are his subordinate. That is all. Yet, Mister Spock, you are a worthy commander in your own right, and in my fleet, you will surely have a Starship to command.
SPOCK: Please forgive me, but exactly where is your fleet?
GARTH: Out there waiting for me. They will flock to my cause, and for good reason. Limitless power, limitless wealth, and solar systems ruled by the elite. We, gentlemen, are that elite, and we must take what is rightfully ours from the decadent weaklings that now hold it.
I know that FASA somehow turned it into the Four Years War, but is that really considered "canon"?