Battle of Coruscant

The Battle of Coruscant, also known as the First Battle of Coruscant, was a crucial Clone Wars battle in 19 BBY. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, knowing the Jedi were close to discovering his alter ego, Sith Lord Darth Sidious, ordered General Grievous, leader of the Military of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, to kidnap him. He swept into the system and caught the Republic Coruscant Defense Fleet completely by surprise. The Confederate Navy hammered the few defending warships, destroying them, before assaulting the planet itself.

Grievous himself, along with his MagnaGuard droid elite, using the battle above as a distraction, landed on the planet and fought their way towards Palpatine's bunker, as several Jedi and dozens of clone troopers protecting the Chancellor were killed. Grievous succeeded in capturing Palpatine, before fleeing to his flagship in orbit, the Invisible Hand. While Darth Tyranus became aware of this plan, he was unknowingly deceitfully led by Sidious to believe that this was part of his plan to convert Anakin to the Dark Side, when in reality, Sidious had, in fact, had staged this attack with the intention of Anakin killing him and then replace him as Sidious's apprentice.

However, the fleet was unable to leave, as Republic reinforcements had arrived and trapped the Separatists. The two fleets engaged each other, firing volleys back and forth. Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker arrived at the battle. They boarded the Invisible Hand, made their way to the Wizard's Tower, where Palpatine was being held. Before the Jedi could rescue Palpatine, Count Dooku arrived with an escort of two super battle droids. After a brief duel, Skywalker defeated Dooku. Dooku was then betrayed by his master, as Sidious had Anakin kill him. The duo, along with the now-freed Palpatine, were captured by General Grievous before they could make their escape. Skywalker and Kenobi were able to defeat his MagnaGuards, forcing the General to flee. With the loss of the flagship, the Separatist fleet retreated, having suffered heavy losses.

Chancellor Palpatine was safe in Republic hands, and neither the Republic nor the Separatists were aware that Palpatine had orchestrated the battle, and was also testing Anakin Skywalker, whom he was grooming to be his new apprentice.

Text and facts from the “Battle of Coruscant/Legends” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.