Geschichte der Inneren Sphäre

The BattleTech sourcebook Geschichte der Inneren Sphäre ("History of the Inner Sphere"), suffix: 2001-3031, is an original German publication (and therefor apocryphal) by Fantasy Productions GmbH (FanPro), the then-license holder of the BattleTech brand and publisher of German BattleTech products. It was never translated into or published in another language. Its content is an amalgam from various original sources, the imprint explicitly mentions House Steiner, House Kurita, House Davion, House Liao, House Marik, The Star League, The Periphery, Comstar, NAIS Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 1 and Volume 2, Wolf's Dragoons and 20 Year Update. The book is printed as DIN A4, a standard German paper size, which is a little larger then north american Letter.

From the back cover (translated from German)
"Ad Astra Within thousand years mankind has detached itself from its world of birth, explored and colonized thousands of star systems, built a massive Space Imperium as far as the frontier of known space and lost it again, bombed itself by centuries of warfare back to the technological level of pre-space time – and sometimes even beyond.

This book tells, how it happened.

Compiled in yearlong work by Prof. J. R. Lentz of University Tharkad, the History of the Inner Sphere 2001-3031 for the first time illuminates the development of the greater and smaller Houses of the Inner Sphere and Periphery in interplay of their ambitions and actions througout the centuries and gives occasionally fascinating insights to events, which until now, were mere year dates in history books. Nobody, who is in earnest interested in history and essence of Star League and its member states, can pass by this book.

Only some of the states, which history is being highlighted in detail: Star League, Lyran Commonwealth, Draconis Combine, Federated Suns, Confederation Capella, Free Worlds League, Rim Worlds Republic, Outworlds Alliance, Taurian Concordat, Magistracy of Canopus, Alliance of Galedon, Principality of Rasalhague, Tikonov Grand Union, St. Ives Mercantile League, and many more..."

Content
The book is presented in-character as a history study by Prof. Johannes R. Lentz of University of Tharkad. The table of content reads:
 * Introduction (Einleitung)
 * Departure to the Stars (Aufbruch zu den Sternen)
 * The Beginning (Der Beginn)
 * World of Hope, World of Tears (Welt der Hoffnung, Welt der Tränen)
 * The Times they are a changing (Die Zeiten ändern sich)
 * Beginnings (Anfänge)
 * Initiatives und Results (Initiativen und Ergebnisse)
 * Birth of a Dynasty (Geburt einer Dynastie)
 * The Souvereignity-War (Der Souveränitätskrieg)
 * Terra reports back (Terra meldet sich zurück)
 * New Worls - new Loyalties (Neue Welten - neue Loyalitäten)
 * New Players - new chance (Neues Spiel - neues Glück)
 * Chaos and Order (Chaos und Ordnung)
 * Too many Archons (Zu viele Archonten)
 * Change of Power (Machtwechsel)
 * Great events are often foreshadowed (Große Ereignisse werfen ihre Schatten voraus)
 * The Age of War (Das Zeitalter der Kriege)
 * Ares and the consequences (Ares und die Folgen)
 * Rise and Fall of the Dictators (Aufstieg und Fall der Diktatoren)
 * Interlude: Steiner vs. Marik (Zwischenspiel: Steiner gegen Marik)
 * A New Order (Eine neue Ordnung)
 * BattleTitans! (Kampfkolosse!)
 * Operation Prometheus (Operation Prometheus)
 * The long March into Chaos (Der lange Marsch ins Chaos)
 * Of Wars and other catastrophies (Von Kriegen und anderen Katastrophen)
 * The Beautiful, the Bad and the Witch of Tharkad (Die Schönen, die Schlechten und die Hexe von Tharkad)
 * The McAllister-Rebellion (Die McAllister-Rebellion)
 * Many must die for Power (Viele müssen sterben für die Macht)
 * Fight for the Throne (Kampf um den Thron)
 * Cumbersome Way to a new Time (Mühsamer Weg in eine neue Zeit)
 * The Golden Age (Das Goldene Zeitalter)
 * A labouros Birth (Eine schwere Geburt)
 * Negligible start-up Problems (Unbedeutende Anlaufschwierigkeiten)
 * The Unification-War (Der Vereinigungskrieg)
 * The Fight begins (Der Kampf beginnt)
 * No quarter given (Keine Gnade, keine Gefangenen)
 * They sow the wind... (Wer den Wind säht...)
 * Days of Ire (Tage des Zorns)
 * A golden Age? (Ein goldenes Zeitalter?)
 * Departure to a new century (Aufbruch in ein neues Jahrhundert)
 * The good Years (Die guten Jahre)
 * Peace and Prosperity (Friede und Wohlstand)
 * The Scourge of Death (Die Geißel des Todes)
 * Hidden Wars (Versteckte Kriege)
 * The Beginning of the End (Der Anfang vom Ende)
 * Council Wars, Part I: The Davion-Succession-War (Ratskriege, Teil I: Der Davion-Thronfolgekrieg)
 * Council Wars, Part II: The Marik Civil War (Ratskriege, Teil II: Der Marik-Bürgerkrieg)
 * Fables and Myths (Fabeln und Märchen)
 * Idealism and Perfidiousness (Verrat und Heimtücke)
 * Year of Thousand Battles (Jahr der Tausend Schlachten)
 * The Chaos of Succession Wars (Das Chaos der Nachfolgekriege)
 * Warriors without Homeland (Krieger ohne Heimat)
 * The Campaign against Hegemony (Der Feldzug gegen die Hegemonie)
 * Operation Freedom (Operation Freiheit)
 * Exodus (Exodus)
 * Dark Years (Dunkle Jahre)
 * First Succession War (Erster Nachfolgekrieg)
 * Massacre of Kentares (Massaker von Kentares)
 * The Dragon flinches (Der Drache weicht zurück)
 * Time-off (Auszeit)
 * Second Succession War (Zweiter Nachfolgekrieg)
 * Comstar vs. Marik (Comstar gegen Marik)
 * Snow Fire (Schneefeuer)
 * Miyogis Marathon (Miyogis Marathon)
 * Black Pearl (Schwarze Perle)
 * Third Succession War (Dritter Nachfolgekrieg)
 * The Battle for Skye (Die Schlacht um Skye)
 * The Price of Freedom (Der Preis der Freiheit)
 * Abduction of an Acolythe (Entführung einer Akolythin)
 * Knights of Void (Ritter der Leere)
 * The Dragon sloughs its old skin (Der Drache streift seine alte Haut ab)
 * Concentrated Weakness (Konzentrierte Schwäche)
 * Duke Anton's Rebellion (Herzog Antons Rebellion)
 * New Friends - new Allies (Neue Freunde - neue Verbündete)
 * Galahad and Thor (Galahad und Thor)
 * Fourth Succession War (Vierter Nachfolgekrieg)
 * Gotterdämmerung (Götterdämmerung)
 * Not the end by far (Noch lange nicht das Ende)
 * Riposte (Riposte)
 * Politics demands its Rights (Die Politik fordert ihre Rechte)
 * Interdict (Interdikt)
 * Like a Rat in the Trap (Wie eine Ratte in der Falle)
 * Peace at last (Endlich Frieden)
 * Annex (Anhang)
 * Errata and Addenda - "Mächte der Inneren Sphäre" (Errata und Addenda - "Mächte der Inneren Sphäre''")
 * List of all Mechnames (Liste aller Mechnamen)
 * List of Succession to the Thrones and Map of Dynasties (Thronfolgerlisten und Herrscherlinien)
 * Terran Hegemony/Star League (Terranische Hegemonie/Sternenbund)
 * Lyran Commonwealth (Lyranisches Commonwealth)
 * Draconis Combine (Draconis-Kombinat)
 * Federated Suns (Vereinigte Sonnen)
 * Confederation Capella (Konföderation Capella)
 * Free Worls League (Liga Freier Welten)

Foldouts
The book contains five double-sided foldouts, containing each the genealogy of a major house, sourced from the respective House Books. A sixth foldout shows the genealogy for House Cameron on one side, and Errata for the previous published Mächte der Inneren Sphäre as well as a list of German Mech names on the other side.

Canonicity
Although an official product that was made under a valid license, the book does not meet the criteria for canon because it was never published in English. As a consequence, it does not contribute canon even where it provides otherwise canonical information: It should be noted that most information contained within the book was taken from primary sources which are themselves canonical; in this sense, it could arguably be called a meta-source.

Spelling and Names
As with other German products prior to 1997 spelling and names (especially places and units) as well as most abbreviations were regularly adjusted. For instance the Mech unit Archer was renamed to Schütze, the Planet Gotterdammerung was respelled to Götterdämmerung, the DCMS (Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery) became VSDK (Vereinigte Streitkräfte des Draconis Kombinats) and so on.