What likely happened to the Cardassian Union after the war

[The Overlord]

What do you think likely happened to Cardassia Union after the Dominion War? Would all 3 of the victorious powers have occupied Cardassia Prime after the war? Would the Cardassians have their own sovereign state right after the war? I would assume the Federation would want Cardassia society to be more Democratic so that they would abandon the oppressive and militaristic policies the previous regime had in place.

However if all 3 powers are occupying the planet, what's to say the Klingons or the Romulans wouldn't want to set up puppet governments in their occupation zones? Look what happened with Germany after WWII, both the USSR and the Western Powers set up different governments in their occupation zones.

 

[DS9forever]

The novels set after "What You Leave Behind" feature Starfleet, the Klingons and the Romulans designating certain areas of Cardassian space as "protectorates". Andrew Robinson's novel A Stitch in Time features Garak supporting a new democratic Cardassian government.

 

[JRoss]

The Cardassians will never again be a "threat" species. They never really were threatening until the Dominion propped them up. The only other times that there was an "Oh noes the Cardies are here!" vibe was when they showed up at places that were undefended or had the Romulans backing them up. Their ships went down like punks.

Take away the Dominion, and about a billion lives, and you've got nothing. Can't imagine that the Klingons would have left much in the part of the Union that they received. Romulans probably wouldn't be kind, either.

 

[MacLeod]

Well as a military power they ae greatly diminshed, they have a massive amount of rebuilding to do on their homeworld. From a political point of view they won't have mich say and their best bet is keeping the Federation on side. And not antongising the Klingons or possible Romulans much.

It is entierly possible that they might edge towards a more itonalisitng philosphy.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I think by now (2389), the Cardassion Union is in much better shape than it was after the war. Fourteen years have passed since the Battle of Cardassia, and while many key cities on the planet were devastated, a great deal of reconstruction has likely been in progress during that time. With possible humanitarian aid from the Federation and several other nations in the form of medicines, foodstuffs, industrial replicators, etc., the Cardassian Union's infrastructure may be well on the road to recovery by now, although there is probably still much work to be done before it can return to pre-war status.

Military-wise, though, I think the Cardassians probably had to enter into their own version of the Khitomer Accords (the Chin'toka Accords, perhaps?) during reconstruction.

IIRC, the Cardassian forces fared about as well as the forces of the Federation-Klingon-Romulan coalition as they switched sides against the Dominion during the final battle.

 

[R. Star]

In the novels Cardassia was reliant of Federation humanitarian aid for years, but eventually got their act back together again.

Garak was able to negotiate the Federation ceding several border planets to Cardassia in exchange for military aid against a Borg invasion.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

In my head the former Cardassian Union is divided up into four. These quarters are then put under the control of the: United Federation of Planets, Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, and Cardassian Republic (with the latter being closely monitored by the others). In these areas, the species responsible has to oversee relief and rebuilding efforts, stabilising the regions economics, ensure health care provision and preventing the spread of disease, coordinating refugees, essential supplies, and providing security and protection.

As mentioned, the Cardassian Union has been dissolved and replaced with the Republic, which has completely overhauled the political system, in order to make it fair, open and equal, with the Military being removed from its high standing within the government.

The military is under strict regulation, with caps placed on the numbers of ships built, and weapons facilities being made open for inspection and monitoring. Whilst what ships they had left after the war are concentrated on protecting their own small holding for the former Union, under their new flagship (the last Keldon-Class to be built before the end of the war) the Cruiser Damar.

The regions economy is in shambles, millions are dead and billions more have been left homeless, without the necessary infrastructure needed to support them or handle even a fraction of reconstruction efforts.

All of this obviously leaves many despondent, depressed and wanting to give up, others want to rebuild a new society, and then there are those that want revenge and want to make it on their own without all the interferance.

Basically, the entire region has gone to hell and everyone in and around the former Union has a lot of work ahead of them.

 

[The Overlord]

I wonder if Cardassia would be plagued by terrorism after the war. The True Way terrorist group came about when Cardassia briefly had a civilian government from 2371 to 2373, Cardassia being occupied by the Federation and other powers may lead to a return of this group.

Also I wonder how the Cardassian people would view Dukat after the war. Would they see him the way Germany regards Hitler now, as a once popular leader leader who brought their civilization into a ultimately disastrous war and became a black mark in their history?

 

[Gul Bones]

I wonder if Cardassia would be plagued by terrorism after the war. The True Way terrorist group came about when Cardassia briefly had a civilian government from 2371 to 2373, Cardassia being occupied by the Federation and other powers may lead to a return of this group.

Also I wonder how the Cardassian people would view Dukat after the war. Would they see him the way Germany regards Hitler now, as a once popular leader leader who brought their civilization into a ultimately disastrous war and became a black mark in their history?

Most definitely. Dukat would become possibly the most infamous figure in Cardassian history. Damar on the other hand would be regarded as a heroic rebel who fought oppression and used as an example of Cardassian pride.

 

[R. Star]

Read the first Worlds of Deep Space 9 book, if you want a short story to provide the atmosphere for Cardassia after the war. It features terrorists, democratic Cardassians and Garak, oh my!

 

[Knight Templar]

Ever wonder if Bajor, untouched by the Dominion War and near Cardassian space, might've exacted some "off the radar payback" against the Cardies in the aftermath of the war?

Kind of plays to that alternate universe in "Paralles" where the Bajorans had overthrown Cardassian control and then become militant, attacking Federation targets.

 

[Timo]

Dividing the Cardassian holdings among the victors would probably depend on the geometry of the situation. If the worlds the Klingons had taken from Cardassia did not border on the actual Klingon Empire, but would be separated from it by a thick swath of UFP, would the Klingons still be interested? Or would they insist on swapping until they got the formerly contested Betreka region? If the Romulan Star Empire was completely isolated from any Cardassian holdings by UFP space (and by the Neutral Zone, the dispersal of which was never mentioned), would (and could) they lay any claims?

These evil empires of space might be too worried about the defensibility of far-flung assets to accept those, whereas the UFP would be happy to extend all sorts of indefensible tentacles towards worlds eager to ally with them. The end result here might be the UFP once again expanding while the other victors just take loot back home and stay within their former borders.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Ever wonder if Bajor, untouched by the Dominion War and near Cardassian space, might've exacted some "off the radar payback" against the Cardies in the aftermath of the war?

Kind of plays to that alternate universe in "Paralles" where the Bajorans had overthrown Cardassian control and then become militant, attacking Federation targets.

Groups like Kohn-Ma may very well do that, but Bajor was already starting to work with Cardassia before the war (Bareil's peace treaty, the GQ communications array, etc). Also Bajor would still be wanting to get into the UFP and picking on the Cardassians in their post-war state wouldn't look to good.

Though there is still a lot of bitterness, resentment and anger towards the Cardassians, the Bajorans can at least relate to what they've gone through, having just endure occupation themselves. I doubt they'll be BFFs but I'd think they'd be sympathetic towards them.

 

[JRoss]

I can't imagine that the Cardassians could recover. They are presented as having inferior tech (although the Dominion likely gave them the information needed to put them at parity with the Feds), far fewer resources than other empires (thus why Ocett was interested in the possibility of a limitless source of energy, and why they needed slave labor and to mine foreign worlds). Their only strength was their tactical prowess. It seems unlikely that with their resources even further diminished, and the fact that at least a portion of the Union is now at the mercy of the Klingons and the Romulans paints a bleak picture. Just as well that they're done.

 

[Timo]

Then again, Romulans left Vulcan and then stayed "down" for two millennia, before emerging as a serious challenger to Klingons, Vulcans and the other usual suspects for initially local and eventually galactic domination. Klingons recovered from Praxis; Cardassians weren't exactly push-overs even after their defeat to the UFP in the old war, or their humiliation in "Chain of Command". Being "done" isn't a permanent state of affairs, and there doesn't appear to be any norm on how fast you catch up or fall behind.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nightdiamond]

I always thought the Cardassians had the potential to be a major 1st power threat even without the Dominion. It's just that the Fed had too much of a headstart.

The Cardassians had the infastructure, organized military, scientific development and industry.

If its size were larger and had more ship power and technology, (and resources) they could have easily had taken on the entire Federation, simply because of their organized structure.

But as power after the war, they're finished. Their entire society will probably be reformed- no more empire for them.

 

[JRoss]

^I respectfully disagree, Nightdiamond. I mean no offense by my statements. I don't think that Cardassia had anything approaching the industry of the Feds, Klingons or Romulans. They had to resort to slave labor, and apparently 12 industrial-sized replicators were enough to get them up and running, indicating a relatively small size (more on that), and a low manufacturing capacity.

I posit that they had relatively few worlds because Bajor is often described as next door to Cardassia and while the Cardassians were a space-faring civilization for centuries, they had not invaded Bajor until the last two generations. Granted, they were less militaristic until the last century ("Chain of Command"), but it seems that mineral-rich, defenseless Bajor would be any empire's first target.

Their military capabilities seemed lacking as well. Benjamin Maxwell's Nebula-class starship was cutting through the Union like a hot knife through butter. I'm not saying that those he could have taken on the Union on his own, but no single Cardassian ship was a match for him (I'd argue that Nebulas are stronger than Galaxy-class ships, BTW).

Combined with my previous arguments about low industry and what-not, I'd say that the only true assets that Cardassia possesses are fine generals and sneaky tactics. This is actually what we see onscreen, too. The best Cardassian villains, Lemec, Garak (yes, he's a villain) and Tain, were all threatening because of their underhanded ways. The worst/most ineffective, Damar, Madred (not a bad character, just ineffective villain) and Evek, never showed any true prowess militarily. Damar is a funny case in that once he became a hero he actually became competent.

 

[Nightdiamond]

No offense at all! In fact I used to think the same thing about the Cardassians-that they were militarily much weaker than the Fed.

Then I saw some things on DS9 that made me see it another way. I'll explain in a few points;

The Cardassian military is very organized- it's large enough that they have it arranged in Orders or fleets. They also have the capacity to build a number of space stations and ship yards.

Gul Dukat seemed capable of directing and winning the war from the station during the war.

Their scientists are very intelligent. They figured out how to remove the minefield. They developed super weapons (on their own) that were effective.

They designed a drone that was nearly unstoppable, and the Orbital weapons platforms that nearly wiped out a combined Allied fleet.

I realized that they have a strong system of organization and discipline that could make them a serious threat.

I'll admit, the problem is, their ships are outclassed by the Federation, and Cardassia is smaller in size than the Federation. Their economy is weaker and dependent on strip mining of other planets. (They also have a brutal self defeating philosophy)

The Fed had a tech advantage. and a much better head start on them.

However-if the Cardassian Union were larger, had more ships, and updated tech, and they had the same system of organization that they had before the war, they would have been a much, much more dangerous match for the Federation.

 

[ILOVETREK1701]

The Federation would definitely help them. As for the Romulans and Klingons well lets just say not a good time to be a cardi.

 

[R. Star]

No offense at all! In fact I used to think the same thing about the Cardassians-that they were militarily much weaker than the Fed.

Then I saw some things on DS9 that made me see it another way. I'll explain in a few points;

The Cardassian military is very organized- it's large enough that they have it arranged in Orders or fleets. They also have the capacity to build a number of space stations and ship yards.

Gul Dukat seemed capable of directing and winning the war from the station during the war.

Their scientists are very intelligent. They figured out how to remove the minefield. They developed super weapons (on their own) that were effective.

They designed a drone that was nearly unstoppable, and the Orbital weapons platforms that nearly wiped out a combined Allied fleet.

I realized that they have a strong system of organization and discipline that could make them a serious threat.

I'll admit, the problem is, their ships are outclassed by the Federation, and Cardassia is smaller in size than the Federation. Their economy is weaker and dependent on strip mining of other planets. (They also have a brutal self defeating philosophy)

The Fed had a tech advantage. and a much better head start on them.

However-if the Cardassian Union were larger, had more ships, and updated tech, and they had the same system of organization that they had before the war, they would have been a much, much more dangerous match for the Federation.

That's like saying if Germany had more planes, tanks, oil and men, they would have won World War II. Sure it's true, but it doesn't exactly mean much.

Cardassia was advanced enough to compete with the great powers and be acknowledged by them, but not really enough to be truely threatening. Most of their greatest schemes involve tricking and outmanuvering their opponents.

Dukat wasn't a threatening villain because he had a huge fleet as his command, but because he was so unpredictable he kept the good guys guessing.

Their scientists were very capable. Damar personally brought down the minefield and those Orbital Defense Platforms would have been far more threatening if they didn't have such an exploitable flaw. Apparently it was corrected being we saw a series of those platforms deployed around Cardassia in What You Leave Behind.

But after all the Klingons brought the Cardassians to their knees fairly easily, they never were able to hunt down a terrorist group like the Maquis and you get the impression during that first war with the Federation, the Starfleet was fighting more a war of containment and checks than actually trying to beat them.

They are a capable power, but short of dramatic shifts of power like them joining the Dominion, they weren't going to be truely threatening.