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The world ofWarhammer 40,000is incredibly immersive. This comes from the layers of lore that have been built upon since Warhammer’s beginnings back in the late 80s. Since then, it has been one of the go-to dark science-fiction worlds for fans old and new alike.
While it does have a wide array of characters, events, and battles to read about, or play games about, it can be difficult to understand just what is going on in the world of 40k. Thankfully, with a handy timeline, you may get a sense of what is happening across the grimdark warzones that expand the galaxy.
Warhammer 40,000 lore spans over 500 novels, ten editions of the boardgame, plenty of offshoot games, and even more media besides that. A comprehensive timeline is near impossible, and some of the lore overlaps in contrary ways. Knowing this, this timeline touches on just some of the major events in the millennia-spanning timeline.
Background (Leading Up To 40,000)
Imperial Pre-History & The Great Age Of Technology
The background leading up to the 41st millennium isloosely based on the actual history of the Earth(Terra, as it is known throughout 40k).A push towards technology and traveling the stars is possible thanks to the unification of Terra by an enigmatic and powerful figure known as The Emperor of Mankind, The Imperium of Man is born.
Through his genetic experimentationhe is able to create powerful warriors to unify the tribes and fiefdoms of Terra, which has slowly slipped into industrial disarray. The local solar system is explored and colonies appear on the planets, most notably theMechanicum, a priesthood on Mars that follows the Omnissiah (god of machines).
Through the combined work of Terra and Mars,interstellar ships are created that can jump though a place called the immaterium(also known as the warp). It is highly dangerous, but allows other solar systems to be colonized. Sometime after,the connections that the Imperium uses to navigate the warp safely falters and communication between the solar systems is lost.
The Emperor creates the Primarchs, and the Adeptus Astartesto help rule the galaxy, and fight back against the little-known forces of the warp known as chaos, and the various xenos species that dominate parts of the galaxy.The primarchs are lost due to a rift in the warp in the labs of Terra, and are scattered through various planets across the galaxy.
The Imperium starts its war of reunification, spearheaded by the astartes, and a countless number of human troops. Of the twenty primarchs, eighteen are found again and given a legion of their own to command, becoming a powerful military force of their own, each with their own skills and abilities that set them apart.
They join forces with the Emperor, unifying human colonies and expanding the reach of the Imperium to a galactic scale. All the whilefighting wars against xenos races, and destroying heretical idealsabout religion and any human colony that either disapproves of Imperial rule, or has had dealings with chaos or xenos entities.
The Horus Heresy
During the reunification,Horus Lupercal, primarch of the Luna Wolves(later the Sons of Horus),is named warmaster to lead the galactic expansion, while the Emperor returns to Terra on other business.This choice aggravates other tensions already building between the primarchs.Horus is then wounded by a poisoned blade touched by warp powers, something that seemed inconceivable.
After a slow recovery,Horus is changed by the whispers of the chaos godsand the things that they promise.He begins working in private to turn his brothers against the Emperor and towards chaos. Tensions build into schisms as half the primarchs claim fealty to Horus, and half stay loyal to the Emperor.All of this boils over as Horus and the traitor armies ambush a group of loyalist armies in the Isstvan system.The result is the death of Ferrus Manus, the primarch of the Iron Hands.
The resulting civil war is referred to asThe Horus Heresy, causing the Imperium to turn inward and fight chaos. This causes the Imperium to crack down on warp-based psychic powers, mutations, and religious beliefs.
The powers of chaos twist and mar the traitor forces, turning humans, primarchs, and astartes into powerful demonic forces.The heretical forces reach Terra, resulting in the final fight between Horus and the Emperor himself. A fight that kills Sanguinius, the primarch of the Blood Angels, kills Horus, and fatally wounds the Emperor.
The Emperor is ‘saved’ by being put in stasis on his golden throne. There, his psychic powers keep the webway, but he is permanently locked in the moment of his death.
M41000 To M41999
This is the beginning of Warhammer 40,000’s timeline proper.The Imperium, in many ways, like the Emperor himself, is stuck in the way of how it was during the heresy.It fights wars all across the galaxy, both inside itself against the corrupting forces of chaos, and without against xenos forces. Its regard towards religion has changed, with most of the Imperium hinging on the faith of the Emperor as the god of humanity. Faith in such that can be seen through various psychic powers in both humans and astartes.The only way of Imperial life is war without end.
Gothic War
Seeking to push their successes against the Imperium,chaos forces, now led by Abaddon the Despoiler, set out on a new warpath. What followed is known as the Gothic War,followed closely by the Black Crusades led by Abaddon. These crusades relied heavily on chaos incursions, warpcraft, and sorcery, all stemming from the chaos worlds of the Eye of Terror.
There are 13 of these crusades in M41, the last of which began at the turn of the next millennium, butall of which are turned back by Imperial forcesnot as total losses but not as victories either.
Da Great Waaagh! & Wars For Armageddon
Under the leadership of Warboss Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, theOrks of various tribes and warbands combined for a great waaaagh, striking deep into Imperial territory,and destroying many armies in the process. This is the largest Orkish assault since before the heresy, the latent psychic energy of which is felt across the warp.It is finally defeated after the defeat of Thraka at Armageddon by Commissar Yarrick and the Armageddon Steel Legion.
The Fenris Incursions
The Thousand Sons chaos space marine legion, turned mostly into automatons due to a deal with warp entities, led a sudden series of strikes against the Space Wolf legion’s home planet of Fenris. Led in part by Magnus, these assaults were direct blows as revenge for the Space Wolves' razing of the Thousand Sons' home world.
Fenris is saved after repeated assaults. As a result, Fenris doubles their security efforts and squads hunt across the snowy terrain of their home world to search for remnants of the chaos armies.Logan Grimnar is named the new leader ofthe Space Wolvesfor his leadership and feats against chaos forces.
The Macharian Crusade (M41392)
Recently risen to the rank of Lord Commander,Solar Macharius led a powerful strike into the Western part of Imperial territory in what is called the Macharian Crusade.
The Crusade was wildly successfulunder the leadership of the enigmatic Macharius and manned by the guard, navy, and space marine chapters. They fought various chaos elements, including followers of Tzeentch, Nurgle, and even some chaos space marines. They also succeeded in stemming the tide of an Ork Waaaagh.
The crusade ground to a halt after the death of Macharius, but his efforts canonized him in the Imperial church as a saint.
Damocles Crusade (M41742)
The Tau, led by their ideals of The Greater Good, begin the Damocles Crusade, pushing to seize more planetary elements and gain more humans into their amalgamation of different species. Imperial guard and space marine forces met them in the third quarter of M41. This was considered the first large-scale conflict between humans and the Tau.
Both forces withdrew in the end, mostly due to loss of forces and the incoming Tyranid fleet that would consume whatever remaining forces were left in the system.
The Tau would later resume their efforts in smaller-scale conflicts led by the water caste and leaders like Commanders Shadowsun, Puretide, and Farsight.
The Sabbat Worlds Crusade (M41755)
The Sabbat Worlds Crusade began in the later half of M41. Led by imperial guard forces, they sought to loosen the hold chaos forces had in the sector. A war fought on many planets in the system, the guard elements were backed up by the inquisition, space marine forces, and even one of the first accounts of living saints fighting in large-scale conflict.
This is the setting of many of Dan Abnett’s novels, most notably the Gaunt’s Ghosts series.
The Astronomicon Wanes (M41800)
People across the Imperium, not only those attuned to the warp, see a vision of the Emperor, his corpse-like body shedding tears of sadnessat what had become of his people.The Astronomicon that guides ships throughout the warp wanes. The brief flickering of which kills untold numbers of psykers and ships in transit. Something that bodes ill for the future of the Imperium.
Hive Fleet Kraken & Leviathan (M41900s)
Drawn by the mass of lifeforms, both Imperial and xenos,the Tyranids are drawn into the Milky Way to feed. The Second Tyrannic war follows at the hands of Hive Fleet Kraken.Undermined bythe mutant Genestealer cults, Imperial forces struggle to retake planets, but finally succeed after severe losses by the Ultramarines and various successor chapters.
This is the location of the Ciaphas Cain novels.
Only a brief few years following the defeat of Kraken,Hive Fleet Leviathan rises up from the remnants of the Tyranids, and The Third Tyrannic War begins. Assaulting the Imperium from new sides and with new forces, the Tyranids forced the Blood Angels and successor chapters to find unlikely allies in the Ork warbands and the chaos forces of the daemon Ka’Bandha that the Tyranids were also keen to feed on.
M42000 And Beyond
Crossing The Rubicon
Locked in the constant struggle of a multi-sided war,the Imperial efforts were renewed by Archmagos Belisarius Cawl of the Mechanicus. The result of which was a new surgery for space marines. This rubicon surgery allowed for space marines to be turned into primaris marines, with improved strength, reflexes, increased growth, and access to new weapons and armor built specifically for them.
This marks the 10th Edition of the 40k tabletop game.
With a renewed fighting force,the Imperium begun waging a new war on the enemies of mankind, an echo of the old crusades the legions used to fight.
Guilliman Lives
This wasn’t the only experiment Cawl had been working on.He was also able to revive Roboute Guilliman, primarch of the Ultramarines chapter,from his stasis after being wounded during the heresy.Armed with the emperor’s flaming sword, Guilliman took up the mantle as leader of the Imperium in his father’s stead, and led the charge across the galaxy.
Cadia Falls
The Imperium wasn’t the only faction that doubled their efforts in the new millennium.Chaos forces took control of an old Blackstone Fortress (an ancient structure made by the Eldar) and sent it on a collision course with the Imperial planet Cadiaas part of the 13th Black Crusade.The result of the chaos incursion was Cadia being destroyed, and the Eye of Terror opening further, allowing more immaterial energy into the galaxy.
This resurgence of the chaos powers allowed for chaos primarchs, now daemon princes, to be sighted across the galaxy. Most notably, Mortarion of the Death guard, who fought with Guilliman one-on-one during the Plague Wars; Fulgrim of the Emperor’s Children, and Angron of the World Eaters.
4th Tyrannic War
Guilliman, after the events of the Plague War against the forces of Nurgle, set his sights on thenew Tyranid invasion.Thus beginning the 4th Tyrannic War. While the Ultramarines are the bulk of the fighting forces seen in this war, other chapters have dedicated forces to pushing back the tide of Tyranids as well. Including the Deathwatch.
This is when the events of Space Marine 2 take place.
Other Notable Events
While the Imperium and chaos fight their endless war, and the Tyranids vie for space, other armies are making their claims to systems across the galaxy as well.
Squats, a colloquialism for the mutated humanoids known as the Leagues of Votann have had a resurgence on the edge of Imperial space.Having a different physiology than basic humans, and having traded with xenos in the past, it is uncertain how well the Imperium will get along with their humanoid siblings.
The Necrons have appeared throughout the galaxy, both in the outer reaches and on planets already controlled by Imperial forces. There is a schism in their forcesthough, stemming from differences in the old Necrontyr dynasties especially since the Silent King made himself known again.
The Orks and Tau seem to also be setting up for a new push into Imperial space after their last Waaaghs and war with the Imperium ending somewhere around a loss and a stalemate.
