Galactic Civil War

The Galactic Civil War (2 BBY–19 ABY), also known as the Imperial–Alliance War, and as the Republic–Empire War by the year 18 ABY during the later phase of the conflict, and later the First Galactic Civil War by 43 ABY, was a major galactic conflict fought primarily between the Galactic Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic. The Alliance was a rebel faction dedicated to the restoration of the Galactic Republic, the government that the Empire had supplanted at the culmination of the Clone Wars in 19 BBY.

The origins of the conflict could be traced to the Galactic Senate during the final days of the Old Republic, sometime after the Clone Wars, where dissenting and prominent Senators, such as Bail Organa and Mon Mothma, secretly opposed the powers and authority that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine continued to accumulate under the guise of security and wartime measures.

The war did not begin in its real sense, that of an Alliance against the Empire with its goals and ideals laid out for the galaxy, until nearly two decades after the rise of the Empire, when various Rebel leaders signed the Corellian Treaty and issued the Declaration of Rebellion. Likewise, several Imperial citizens, despite the Empire's atrocities, ended up siding with the Empire, as they were reluctant to join a group similar to the Separatists from the Clone Wars. Initially, the Empire, especially Palpatine, did not consider the Alliance a significant threat, but rather a political tool to further consolidate power that would eventually lead to the dissolution of the Imperial Senate and a massive, unprecedented military build-up. Resistance was galvanized after the Empire obliterated the planet Alderaan for Rebel sympathies, and after Luke Skywalker destroyed the first Death Star at the fateful Battle of Yavin. Thereafter, the threat posed by the Alliance became real to the Empire, and more serious measures were drafted to restore Imperial control over the galaxy.

The decisive moment came at the Battle of Endor, when the Alliance, against overwhelming odds, defeated the Imperial Military and destroyed the second Death Star, killing Emperor Palpatine, Supreme Commander Darth Vader and some of the best minds in the Imperial High Command. From there, the Empire gradually decayed and fragmented, and despite resurgences under Ysanne Isard, Grand Admiral Thrawn, a revived Emperor Palpatine, and Admiral Daala, over a period of fifteen years it was reduced to a mere remnant of its former self, while the Alliance evolved and grew into the New Republic. Peace between the two warring factions was realized in 19 ABY with the signing of the Bastion Accords between Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon and Chief of State Ponc Gavrisom, ending over two decades of constant struggle. The Empire continued to exist as an autonomous entity in the years succeeding the war's end, and would eventually enter an alliance with its former enemy during the Yuuzhan Vong War, and emerge as the galaxy's leading government over one hundred years later, seemingly bringing history back full-circle; however, the exploits of the Alliance and the New Republic were not forgotten, and the galaxy was still very different from what it had been during the Empire's reign.

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