The goal of the romulins was to cause this to happen such that the federation would not exist, and then they could conquer the galaxy. The apparently romulin society didn't invent a version of the movie the butterfly effect because nobody knows about unintended consequences of time travel. A hundred seasons or years latera they got into a war with vulcan, the planet vulcan, and the vulcans that live there. They stopped the federation from ming, but continued, but then the vulcan beat them back and then basically form their own version of the federation,. bringing the earthlings into the picture as well.