Timeline

This is a brief timeline of the past millenium, showing main events and the seeds of the factions.

Terra, homeworld of humanity, center of the Inner Sphere.

Nearly a thousand years humans have travelled throughout the farreaches of space, colonized myriads of worlds and formed star-spanning alliances.

Alliances from which the empires grew, that make up the Inner Sphere - which is divided desparingly.

For the Inner Sphere's colony worlds provide more or less valuable resources - that the ruling houses constantly battle for.



The first central government to control all of Terra, was the Terran Alliance. Its project Deimos (superluminal velocity space travel) rang in the Brave New Age of Man. Being able to travel great distances quickly, humanity began extra-terrestrial colonization, making the Terran Alliance also the first central interstellar government in history.
 * Terran Alliance

Using the destabilized political environment of the Terran Alliance, Admiral James McKenna (House Cameron) founded the Terran Hegemony.
 * Terran Hegemony

To maintain its borders, despite its relative small size and lack of resources, Terran Hegemony heavily relied on its technological advantages over its less advanced neighbors. Thus, they pioneered the BattleMech: a resounding humanoid battle machine bristling with lethal weapons. '''Since the 25th century, these walking tanks rule the battlefields. 'Mechs and their skilled pilots changed combat forever.'''

Persitent conflicts exhausted the Inner Sphere. The Terran Hegemony (under leadership of Ian Cameron) became the heart of an interstellar federation known as the Star League, in which the Terran Hegemony (and its ruling House Cameron) became the hereditary First Lords in the League High Council.
 * Star League

With the outcome of the Reunification Wars Star League Defense Force (SDLF) brought the Inner Sphere peace and prosperity for nearly two centuries.



The Terran Hegemony fell after Stefan Amaris (the Usurper of the Rim Worlds Republic) proclaims himself First Lord. To reclaim the Hegemony worlds, General Aleksandr Kerensky staged a war by that the nation was scoured, leaving only a shadow of its former self. Following Kerensky's exodus from the Inner Sphere, the remains of the once mighty Hegemony were conquered by the remaining five Great Houses, leaving only Terra which fell under the control of ComStar.
 * Amaris Civil War

In 2751, the sudden death of its First Lord left the Star League in the care of a child. Young Richard Cameron ruled in name, but the real power lay with the 5 Council Lords. Ambitious and distrustful, they plotted against each other, while an evil genious named Stefan Amaris wormed his way into Richard's trusting heart. In 2766, Amaris assassinated Richard, and all known Camerons, and took control of the Star League in a bloody coup d'etat.

The Star League Defense Force (SLDF), commanded by the brilliant General Aleksandr Kerensky, refused to accept Amaris' rule. For 13 years, they fought him in a bitter civil war that was the largest conflict ever fought by humanity, before or since. Kerensky's forces won, but at a terrible price. In the chaos that followed, the Council Lords were all determined to step in as First Lord. Despite the efforts of Kerensky to hold it together, the Star League dissolved in 2781.

Unable to halt the impending conflict, Kerensky appealed to his soldiers to join him in leaving the Inner Sphere. Nearly 80 percent of the SLDF heeded Kerensky's call to build a new Star League somewhere far beyond the explored universe. In 2784, Kerensky and his followers abandoned their homes and headed into uncharted, presumably never to return.

War followed war in the wake of Kerensky's dramatic departure. For nearly three centuries, the Houses of the Inner Sphere fought in vain for the right to rule the universe. These Succession Wars brought new alliances and cost the Inner Sphere precious, irreplaceable technology. Constantly maneuvering for position, the House Lords assumed that the greatest threat they would ever face was each other.

How wrong they were

Years at war and in peace

2000
 * 50: .........|.........|.........|..... 86: Terran Alliance formed ...|.........

2100 .........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........

2200 .........|.........|.........|.........|......... 50: Rim Worlds Republic formed .........|.........|  71: Free Worlds League formed ........|.........|.........

2300 .........|.... 15: Terran Hegemony formed .. 17: Federated Suns founded. 19: Draconis Combine founded |.........|....
 * 35: Taurian Concordat formed ....| 41: Lyran Commonwealth founded ........
 * 50: Magistracy of Canopus founded .........|..... 66: Capellan Confederation founded ...|.........|.........|.......
 * 98: Age of War  begins.

2400 .........|.. 13: Outworlds Alliance formed ......|.........|........  39: First BattleMech invented (Mackie) |.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........

2500 .........|.........|.........|.........|......... 50: Age of War  ends  .........|.........|  71: Star League formed .....
 * 77: Reunification Wars begins ..|.........|...... 97: ends ..




 * 2600 .........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........

2700 .........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|..... 66: Amaris Civil War begins .. 69: Rim Worlds Republic conquered |........
 * 79: Terra Liberated, Stefan Amaris captured and executed, Amaris Civil War ends.
 * 81: Star League disbanded .. 84: 80% of SLDF undertakes Operation Exodus ....
 * 86: Operation Exodus ends when the Pentagon worlds are settled, 1st Succession War  begins ...|.........


 * 2800
 * 01: Exodus Civil War begins, Aleksandr Kerensky dies, Second Exodus led by Nicholas Kerensky .....
 * 07: Nicholas Kerensky forms the Clans ..|.........|
 * 21: 1st Succession War ends  ; Operation Klondike begins 22: ends (with the Pentagon Worlds conquered by the Clans) .......
 * 30: 2nd Succession War  begins ...  34: Nicholas Kerensky killed .....|.........|.........|...  64: 2nd Succession War  ends.
 * 66: 3rd Succession War  begins ...|.........|.........|.........

3000 .........|.........|.... 25:  ends  ..
 * 2900 .........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........|.........
 * 28: Federated Commonwealth unofficially formed, 4th Succession War  begins, Gray Death Legion discovers Helm Memory Core.
 * 30: 4th Succession War ends  ...  34: Free Rasalhague Republic formed .....  39:  War of 3039  begins 40:  ends  |......
 * 48: Explorer Corps vessel Outbound Light encounters Clan forces
 * 49: Clans invade the Periphery, contact established with the Clans, Operation Revival takes place
 * 50: Welcome to MechWarrior Online