This was the period of the "Interstellar Wars", which saw the Vilani gradually cede ground to the Terrans, both astrographically and economically. The vulnerability of Vilani to Terran diseases didn't help, and made relations worse. Given that they were massively outnumbered, the Terrans tried to create allies through uplift of dolphins, apes, and other animals, producing new sophont populations. Eventually, the Terran Confederation built ties with restless Vilani subjects, like the Geonee, the Suerrat, and the alien Vegans, and the Terrans took control of the Vilani Imperium. Terran military personnel were left trying to govern massive Vilani territories. When the Terran government made to introduce disastrous post-conquest policies, the navy launched a quick coup, declaring that both the Vilani Imperium and the Terran Conderation were defunct, and all human territories would now be governed as one by the military government, as the Rule of Man. This would also be known in later times as the Second Imperium, or (to cynical Vilani) as the Ramshackle Empire.