Galactic Civil War

The Galactic Civil War, also referred to as the revolution or the Rebellion, was a galactic power struggle in which the Alliance to Restore the Republic waged a rebellion against the ruling Galactic Empire in an attempt to restore democratic rule to the galaxy lasting from 4 BBY to 5 ABY. The origins of rebellion could be traced to the Clone Wars, when rebel cells were equipped by the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order to fight against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. After Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, secretly the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, transformed the Republic into the Empire and destroyed the Jedi Order, many rebel cells began fighting the Empire. A number of these cells eventually joined together and became the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

The war had begun by the year 4 BBY and officially began at the formal establishment of the Rebel Alliance in 2 BBY with Mon Mothma's Declaration of the Rebel Alliance. In 1 BBY, the Alliance scored its first major victory against the Empire by stealing the plans to the Death Star, the Empire's planet-destroying battle station, in the Battle of Scarif. The plans were brought to the Rebel Alliance by Princess Leia Organa, with the help of companions, such as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca in 1 BBY. An analysis of the plans led the Rebels to launch the Battle of Yavin, in which Skywalker, with Solo's assistance, destroyed the Death Star. A series of follow-up attacks by the Alliance, including an assault on the Empire's primary weapons factory, left the Empire reeling from the Alliance's advances. As a result, the Empire hunted the Alliance across the galaxy under the leadership of the Emperor's right-hand, the Sith Lord Darth Vader, in his new role as supreme commander of the Imperial fleet. Vader's forces located the Alliance on the planet Hoth. The resulting Battle of Hoth forced the Alliance into retreat and scattered the Rebel fleet. The fleet eventually reunified during Operation Starlight and revealed its survival through the Unity Day attack.

A year after the loss on Hoth, in the year 4 ABY, the Emperor allowed the Alliance to learn of the existence of a second Death Star as part of a trap to lure the Alliance to its destruction. The Alliance, believing that they were launching a surprise attack, assembled their entire fleet and attempted to destroy the Death Star. A large Imperial fleet lay in wait, and the two forces met in what would become known as the Battle of Endor. During the battle, Skywalker, who had learned that Vader was his father, confronted the Dark Lord in a final lightsaber duel aboard the Death Star. The Emperor attempted to kill the young Jedi, but, out of compassion for his son, Vader threw Sidious down a deep shaft and to his death, fulfilling his destiny as the Chosen One and destroying the Sith. Darth Vader, once again Anakin Skywalker, died from injuries he sustained during the battle, bringing an end to the Sith's rule over the galaxy. The Alliance, meanwhile, destroyed the second Death Star, leaving the Sith extinct and the Empire fractured.

As a result of the immediate power vacuum left in the wake of the Emperor's death, many Moffs and other potentates began jockeying for power. Others began to break off from the Empire, becoming warlords. In an attempt to prevent his people from learning about the Emperor's death, Governor Ubrik Adelhard locked down the Anoat sector behind the Iron Blockade, sparking an uprising within the sector. As the grip of the Empire on the galaxy and its citizens was relinquished, the Alliance restored the Old Republic as the New Republic and continued to liberate the galaxy from Imperial rule. One year later, the Empire fought in a final stand over the desert world of Jakku led by Counselor Gallius Rax, only to be defeated. Facing severe internal unrest, the titular sovereign of the Empire, Grand Vizier Mas Amedda, surrendered to the Republic. On Chandrila, Amedda signed the Galactic Concordance with the Republic, officially ending the conflict.

Although the civil war ended, Imperial remnants controlled by various warlords continuing to subsist. Meanwhile, select Imperial officers, nobles, technocrats, warlords, and other loyalists discreetly regrouped in the Unknown Regions where they established the isolationist First Order as part of a secret Contingency designed by the late Emperor Palpatine.

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