History
The Imperium is established on Terra (Earth) in the 30th millennium AD as the planet's sole authority; several centuries later, it embarks on a Great Crusade, an interstellar crusade intended to bring all human-settled worlds in the Milky Way galaxy under its banner. Over the course of two Terran centuries, the Crusade reaches star systems more than 50,000 light years away from its original staging point in the Sol (Solar) System, assimilates millions of worlds into the Imperium, and gives Humankind a dominant position among the galaxy's species; according to Imperial propaganda, it is humanity's "Manifest Destiny" to rule the galaxy.
Early in the 31st millennium, the Crusade comes to a sudden stop as the Imperium is nearly torn asunder in a galaxy-wide civil war known as the Horus Heresy; the war decimates and eventually redefines the Imperium. Following the Horus Heresy, the crippled institution undergoes a centuries-long, often violent rebuilding.
Read more about this topic: Imperium (Warhammer 40,000)
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“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more”
—John Adams (1735–1826)
“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more”
—John Adams (1735–1826)
“Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign powers, the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history the most favorable for the settlement of those principles in our domestic policy which shall be best calculated to give stability to our Republic and secure the blessings of freedom to our citizens.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)