1,259
edits
Changes
From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
m
Updated to {{CME}}
His fleet constructed, he forged out into the depths of space, seeking out his Primarchs and spreading the name of the Emperor. Throughout the following millennium, he gradually reclaimed his Primarchs, and slowly united humanity under the [[Pax Imperialis]]. World after world fell to the Emperor's forces, at first the [[Legio Astartes]] and [[Custodian Guard]] and later the [[Imperial Army]], [[Sisters of Silence]], [[Collegia Titanica]], [[Legio Cybernetica]], and others. Tyrants and false-rulers of thousands of worlds were overthrown by Imperial forces, who quickly outlawed religion and dogma by decree of the Emperor himself. [[Ork]]s, [[Eldar]], [[Hrud]], [[Slaugth]], hideous [[Warp]] entities, and many other lesser alien races were all defeated and driven back in a seemingly unstoppable tide of conquest. Worlds whose human population had become too corrupted or mutated were simply exterminated from orbit.{{Fn|7a}}
In the early stages of the Crusade, the Imperial forces were divided into three main thrusts, one commanded by [[Horus]], the other by [[Ferrus Manus]], and the last by the [[Emperor]] himself.{{Fn|8}} As each Primarch was discovered, he was given control of his own Legion of Space Marines. As more of the Empire was carved, the Emperor's forces were spread more and more thinly.{{citethisCME}}
The Crusade lasted for around two hundred years. At its peak, it had over 4,300 [[Expeditionary Fleet]]s involved in galactic conquest. The Great Crusade reached its apex with the great victory by [[Horus]] against a massive [[Waaagh!]] of [[Orks]] in the [[Ullanor Crusade]]. After this victory the Emperor declared Horus [[Warmaster]], or acting Supreme Commander in his stead. Having seen most of humanity reunited the Emperor returned to Terra, where he began his [[Webway Project|secret project]].{{Fn|5}}
Towards the Great Crusade's end came a period of political consolidation. The Legions were at this point dispersed across the galaxy, many acting as garrison forces rather than campaigning armies. The Legions had been battling constantly, especially the [[Iron Warriors]], struggling under the monotony of siege warfare and garrison duties. A large [[Administratum|bureaucracy]] overseen by [[Malcador (Character)|Malcador]] and the [[Council of Terra]] formed to manage the newly conquered territories. This bureaucracy often clashed with the Astartes military established, and tensions began to run high when it became apparent that the Emperor intended to have Malcador's Terran Council rule over the nascent Imperium and not the Legiones Astartes.{{Fn|5}}
Also, without the Emperor's guidance the Primarchs that had previously friendly rivalries were beginning to develop into dangerous feuds. Some of the Primarchs had reached the point of intolerance with one another, others like [[Magnus the Red]] had simply become isolated in the confusion of the Great Crusade. Already the [[Word Bearers]] Primarch [[Lorgar]] had secretly turned against the [[Emperor]] decades before the Crusades end after the destruction of his "perfect city" of [[Monarchia]] by the [[Ultramarines]]. Meanwhile [[Leman Russ (Primarch)|Leman Russ]] clashed with both [[Angron]] and [[Lion El'Jonson]]. [[Perturabo]] was shunned by most due to the nature of his hand in the Crusade and was in turn envious of [[Rogal Dorn]]. [[Konrad Curze]] also had a disagreement with Dorn that escalated into a brutal surprise attack that left Dorn badly injured and unconscious. This mistrust and hatred would form the linchpin of the [[Horus Heresy]].{{cite thisCME}}
===Noteworthy Battles & Campaigns of the Great Crusade===
==The End of the Crusade==
*{{Main|Horus Heresy}}
The age of the Great Crusade ended with the virus bombing of [[Isstvan III]] by [[Warmaster]] [[Horus]], which announced the beginning of his [[Horus Heresy|Rebellion]]. The loyalist legions were recalled to Terra to defend against the traitor Warmaster, but not all of the Legions were able to return. The [[Ultramarines]] were mired in the Ultramar system fighting [[Kor Phaeron]] and his retinue of [[Word Bearers]] that had come to destroy them. The [[Space Wolves]] were finishing their battle at Prospero with the now openly traitorous [[Thousand Sons]], the [[White Scars]] were mired in the [[Chondax Campaign]], and the [[Dark Angels]] were in the midst of a civil war on Caliban and a slow campaign against the [[Gordian League]].{{cite thisCME}}
In many ways the Emperor was now gone, The Imperium suddenly finding itself without the great leadership of the Guardian of Mankind. The brief age of recovery which the Great Crusade represented was over, and mankind began to decline into the state it is now, with fear and chaos rife, [[Inquisitor]]s seeking out heresy at every corner and billions of people living in forced, and willing, [[slavery]] to their God-Emperor.{{cite thisCME}}
==Related Videos==
*{{Endn|2}}: [[Warhammer 40,000 6th Edition Rulebook]], pg. 166
*{{Endn|3}}: [[Collected Visions|Horus Heresy Collected Visions]], pg. 143
*{{Endn|4}}: [[The First Heretic (Novel)]] by [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]], Chapters Seven & Eight*{{Endn|5}}: [[Horus Rising (Novel)]] by [[Dan Abnett]], Part One, Chapter Nine, pgs. 172–173*{{Endn|6}}: [[Fulgrim (Novel)]] by [[Graham McNeill]], {{Cite ThisCME}}
*7: [[The Horus Heresy Book One - Betrayal]]
**{{Endn|7a}}: pgs. 18–22
