Alliance to Restore the Republic / Legends The Alliance to Restore the Republic , also known as the Alliance to Restore Freedom to the Galaxy , the Rebel Alliance or simply Alliance and , informally as the Rebellion , was a loose alliance of planetary , system , and sector - level insurrectionist factions . They were generally united in common cause , against a common enemy in the form of the Galactic Empire . In order to achieve their primary goal in restoring the former Galactic Republic , the Alliance aimed to remove Emperor Palpatine from power , and his hegemonic New Order from the galaxy . Members of the Rebellion were known as " Rebels , " " Rebs , " or " Rebel scum " by stormtroopers and other Imperials . The origins of the overall anti - Imperial movement dated back to 19 BBY , shortly before the Galactic Republic ' s transformation into the Empire . Some of the Alliance ' s core founders , such as senators Bail Prestor Organa and Mon Mothma of the Loyalist Committee , joined the Delegation of 2000 in its opposition against the authoritarian leadership of then - Chancellor Palpatine . In 18 BBY , barely a year into the Empire ' s existence , military resistance had already been formed in opposition to the new regime ; one of which was a group of insurgents known as The Eleven , joined by the fugitive Jedi Ferus Olin . By 2 BBY , several resistance groups were unified into a single rebellion , thus creating the Rebel Alliance . Ironically , the Rebel Alliance ' s formation was secretly instigated by the Order of the Sith Lords . In what was supposed to be a plot for drawing the Emperor ' s enemies out from hiding , the Sith Lord Darth Vader ordered his secret apprentice , Starkiller , to organize various rebels and dissidents into a large resistance movement . After Starkiller was betrayed by his Master , however , the former apprentice sacrificed himself to ensure the survival of the Rebel leaders . Hence , the Galactic Civil War erupted with the fledgling Alliance challenging the Empire for control of the galaxy . Rather than challenging the Empire directly , the rebels fought a war of attrition , destroying key Imperial targets and liberating numerous worlds . Though vastly outnumbered in manpower , starships , weapons and various other resources , the Rebels themselves possessed a strong will to fight . By and large , the Alliance was composed of well - trained soldiers and brilliant commanders , some of whom dedicated their lives to the Rebellion after defecting from the Empire due to the atrocities that were committed by the Imperial regime . After securing early victories against the Empire on Kamino and Toprawa , the Rebels achieved one of their most significant triumphs at the Battle of Yavin , in which a Rebel pilot named Luke Skywalker destroyed the Imperial battlestation code - named Death Star . In 4 ABY , roughly four years after the destruction of the first Death Star , Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader both perished during the Battle of Endor . In the wake of their victory at Endor , the Rebel Alliance reorganized itself into a more formal state that was originally known as the Alliance of Free Planets before its reorganization into the New Republic . Ultimately , the New Republic was later remade into the Galactic Alliance , a democratic union that united much of the galaxy under a republican form of government , just as the Old Republic had done in its time . History . Early foundations . The Rebellion against the Galactic Empire began as a peaceful movement by a political minority , known as the Delegation of 2000 , within the Galactic Senate . Certain senators , such as Padmé Amidala of Naboo , Bail Organa of Alderaan and Mon Mothma of Chandrila grew increasingly concerned over the constitutional amendments that weakened the legislature and empowered the executive branch with near dictatorial authority . Although a majority of the Senate supported such alterations to the government ' s overall structure because of the Separatist Crisis and subsequent Clone Wars , both of which threatened to divide the galaxy in half between the Galactic Republic and the Separatist insurrection , the members of the Delegation of 2000 felt that the amendments were too radical , unconstitutional , and generally detrimental to the future of the Republic . Despite the fact that the Separatists were on the verge of defeat in 19 BBY , the final year of the Clone Wars , most senators continued to invest even greater authority within Supreme Chancellor Palpatine . Fearing that the Republic would inevitably drift into an authoritarian regime , the Delegation of 2000 formally presented their concerns to the Chancellor with the request for the relinquishing of his emergency powers . Unknown to the Delegation of 2000 , however , Chancellor Palpatine was secretly a Sith Lord named Darth Sidious . For a thousand years , the Order of the Sith Lords waited and plotted for the time when they would reassert their dominance over the galaxy , specifically by overthrowing the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order . As Palpatine , Sidious spent decades infiltrating the political hierarchy of the Republic . His election as chancellor , the creation of the Kamino clone army , the escalation of the Separatist movement and the outbreak of the Clone Wars were all factors in a Sith ' s plot to seize control of the galaxy . Three years of galactic warfare strengthened Chancellor Palpatine ' s position as a public figure . Public support for his leadership in the Clone Wars remained strong throughout the conflict ; he was immensely popular with the Republic citizenry , and the Senate majority remained firmly committed to its leader in regard to his policy - making decisions . Yet the systematic suppression of thousands of years of Republic traditions and democratic ideals convinced Amidala , Organa , and a group of like - minded senators that the Republic was in danger of losing its core principles for the sake of security . The passing of the Sector Governance Decree all but made the Senate obsolete ; entire sectors would be controlled by a cabal of military governors — otherwise known as Moffs — hand - picked by Chancellor Palpatine . Thus , the Delegation responded with a petition of two thousand signatures from members of the Senate who objected to the Moffs ' virtual usurpation of the Senate ' s responsibilities . They also hoped that their collective opposition would force Chancellor Palpatine to restore the Republic to its pre - war state . The Delegation ' s cause to prevent further amendments to the Constitution was ultimately lost when Palpatine issued Order 66 , a that caused the Republic clone soldiers to betray and murder their Jedi officers . Palpatine then called for a special session of congress , in which he presented a fabricated recollection of a Jedi assassination attempt on his life . The invention of a " Jedi rebellion " presented Palpatine with the justification for his ultimate modification to the Republic ; he declared himself Emperor of the first Galactic Empire . Amidala and Organa , two of the leading members in the Delegation of 2000 , watched in abject shock as their colleagues cheered the end of democracy with thunderous applause . One of the earliest orders of business for the Emperor ' s new regime was the targeting of the Delegation of 2000 . Charged with sedition and high treason , many who had signed the petition in opposition to Palpatine ' s policies were imprisoned , executed or forced into exile . After the Empire conquered and razed the Wookiee home planet of Kashyyyk , many more members of the Delegation withdrew their support out of fear for their lives . However , Organa and Mothma were both able to avoid persecution for a time . Prior to Amidala ' s death , the Naboo senator advised her political allies to oppose the Emperor in secret while feigning obedience . Armed resistance . Emperor Palpatine ' s strategy for the enforcement of the New Order was based on brutal tactics , such as the implementation of the fear of military force in order to discourage ideas of insurrection . The rise of the Galactic Empire was not supported by all member worlds . One of the first planets that attempted to resist Imperialization was the Emperor ' s own homeworld of Naboo , ruled by Queen Apailana at the time . Under Apailana ' s leadership , the Naboo continued to celebrate the memory of the Republic , rather than acknowledging the Empire ' s rule over the galaxy . The Queen also began considering military options that involved sheltering Jedi fugitives . Such actions were discovered and interpreted as signs of rebellion by Imperial Intelligence , and thus the Empire retaliated with the deployment of armed forces to Naboo . The 501st Legion , an elite division of clone stormtroopers under the command of the Sith Lord Darth Vader , assaulted the capital city of Theed in 18 BBY . Although the Queen ' s security detail was augmented by the Jedi , they were ultimately unable to repel the 501st . The city fell to the Imperials , its garrison was destroyed , and Apailana was assassinated during the battle . In the following years , the Empire repeatedly overthrew disloyal governments through force , often relying on Vader ' s 501st Legion for enforcing the Emperor ' s rule where ever it was opposed . In the same year , a group of disillusioned civilians publicly protested against the Empire ' s despotic policies , including its high taxation of Ghorman . They staged their protest on the landing platform where Moff Wilhuff Tarkin ' s ship was set to arrive . Their attempt to block Tarkin ' s arrival did not succeed ; in what became known as the Ghorman Massacre , the Governor simply landed his vessel on the platform , killing hundreds of activists in the process . This event was interpreted as a tragedy by outraged sympathizers who also disagreed with the direction of the Empire . Jan Dodonna and other career officers whose service records dated back to the Republic either resigned or retired from Imperial service . The incident also convinced Bail Organa that the Empire was a malevolent government . Yet with so many disorganized and uncoordinated rebel cells , Organa remained convinced that the time was not right for open rebellion . He continued to meet in secret with his closest political allies , senators Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis of Corellia in the Cantham House on Coruscant in order to discuss options for creating their own rebellion against Palpatine . Mothma , however , was forced to flee into exile after being labeled a traitor to the Empire due to her outspoken criticism of the New Order . Iblis ' s failure to hide his own discontent with the Empire also drove him underground in order to escape persecution . Further incidents of armed resistance against Imperial rule involved remnants of the fallen Separatist movement . Gizor Dellso , a Geonosian war criminal who survived the Clone Wars , fled into hiding on Mustafar . Utilizing an abandoned droid factory , Dellso constructed his own private army of battle droids for the sole purpose of reviving the Separatist cause . Before his plot could be carried out , the 501st Legion attacked Mustafar and destroyed his army ; Dellso died during the fighting shortly before his factory was destroyed by Imperial Star Destroyers via orbital bombardment . Another insurrectionist plot against the Galactic Empire was later discovered on Kamino , the world that was responsible for the creation of the Republic clone army . A rogue group of Kaminoan cloners resented the Empire ' s control of their homeworld . Throughout the first decade of the Empire , they secretly engineered and trained an army of rebel clone troopers , all of whom were programmed with absolute loyalty to Kamino . After Darth Vader uncovered the scheme , he dispatched the 501st — under the leadership of the bounty hunter Boba Fett — to the planet . The subsequent battle resulted in the destruction of the rogue clones and their creators , as well as the fall of Tipoca City and all of Kamino . The incident was classified and kept hidden from public records , but Palpatine decided that an army of clones from one genetic template was too susceptible to corruption . Hence , both the Imperial Army and Stormtrooper Corps were heavily diversified with the introduction of new clone soldiers who were based on a variety of different templates . The Empire later redirected the clone program to pursue other projects , and thus the military was compensated with an increase in the recruitment of birth - born Humans as enlisted troopers . Darth Vader ' s secret apprentice . Years before the formation of the Rebel Alliance , Darth Vader discovered a young Human child named Galen Marek during an attack on Kashyyyk . Marek ' s father and mother , Kento and Mallie Marek , were both trained members of the Jedi Order . Thus , he possessed an incredibly powerful connection to the Force . Realizing the boy ' s potential was too great to discard , Vader abducted Marek and indoctrinated him into the ways of the Sith as a secret apprentice . As time passed , Marek developed into a highly efficient Sith assassin , known only to a select few by the codename Starkiller ; his past and former identity were ultimately forgotten as he had been too young to remember what his life was like before falling under Vader ' s relentless tutelage . As his training neared completion , Starkiller was all but a true Sith . Under the Rule of Two , however , only two Sith Lords were allowed to exist . Starkiller ' s Master still answered to another Master , the Galactic Emperor . Ultimately , Vader assured Starkiller that they would eventually unite their powers to overthrow Palpatine in order to rule the galaxy as master and apprentice . In 2 BBY , Darth Vader commanded Starkiller to search the galaxy for various rebels and dissidents who opposed the Galactic Empire . He was then required to unite them into a single rebellion that would plunge the Empire into a state of civil war . Vader reasoned that an insurrection created the best opportunity to assassinate the Emperor , especially because his attention would be focused primarily on destroying the rebels . Hence , the apprentice embarked on his mission in earnest , and eventually brought Jedi Master Rahm Kota , the only known survivor from Marek ' s missions to exterminate any Jedi who survived Order 66 , and Bail Organa into the fold after earning their trust . Through Organa , Starkiller also made contact with the fugitives Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis . Organa ' s adopted daughter , Princess Leia Organa also pledged her support to the nascent rebellion while still serving as her father ' s successor in the Imperial Senate . Birth of the Rebellion . Starkiller ' s fellow subversives were initially resistant to the notion of open rebellion . They felt that the galaxy had to be shown one way or another that the Empire was vulnerable . In accordance with Darth Vader ' s counsel , Starkiller destroyed an Imperial shipyard that orbited Raxus Prime . As a single Star Destroyer moved to intercept him , the apprentice used the Force to rip the massive vessel from the sky , causing it to crash on the surface below . The symbolic victory had the desired effect as Vader predicted . Starkiller and the senators rendezvoused on Corellia where they ceremoniously proclaimed the birth of the Rebellion , as well as their intentions to restore liberty to the galaxy . However , Starkiller had been betrayed by the Dark Lord of the Sith . The true purpose of his mission was to gather the Emperor ' s enemies in a single location so that Imperial troops could arrest them all at once . Darth Vader revealed the truth to his shocked apprentice : he never intended to overthrow the Emperor with Starkiller at his side . After leaving his former assassin for dead , Vader transported the Rebel leaders to the incomplete Death Star where Emperor Palpatine awaited their arrival . Yet Starkiller survived and ultimately renounced his Sith persona , thus resuming the use of his birth name " Galen Marek , " recovered from repressed memories of his past . Marek infiltrated the battlestation and single - handedly slew countless Imperial soldiers before defeating his former Master in a lightsaber duel . With Darth Vader severely damaged and at the apprentice ' s mercy , Emperor Palpatine urged Marek to assume the mantle of a true Sith Lord by killing Vader in cold blood . Though briefly tempted to pursue his lifelong goal once more , Marek chose to rescue the Rebel leaders by attacking the Emperor . The Rebels escaped with their lives , but Marek was forced to sacrifice his own in order to provide them with enough time to flee the Death Star in the " Rogue Shadow " . In the aftermath of Galen Marek ' s demise , the Rebel leaders reconvened on Kashyyyk where they held a meeting in their fallen leader ' s childhood home . The Alliance to Restore the Republic was officially realized . At Leia Organa ' s behest , the Rebels chose to honor the secret apprentice ' s memory by basing their organization ' s emblem on the Marek family crest , effectively turning it into a symbol of hope that many beings rallied around during the subsequent Galactic Civil War . New allies and weapons . The most notable equipment contributions included the defection of some Incom Corporation staff and all relevant material involved in the development of an advanced starfighter , the T - 65 X - wing , which was acquired at the Battle of Fresia . With this advanced fighter , Rebel pilots had a clear advantage over the more numerous yet unshielded TIE fighters . With the help of Gial Ackbar , who had recently been freed by Rebel forces from slavery under the Empire , Mon Mothma then secured an alliance with the Mon Calamari , who openly joined the Rebel Alliance and used their renowned skill in ship construction to supply badly needed capital ships that could take on the Imperial Navy . Their considerable fleet of Mon Calamari Star Cruiser s gave the newly formed Alliance substantial firepower . Part of the Alliance ' s strategy was the doctrine of space denial . That is , the Alliance would attack Imperial shipping in hit and run raids ; both to disrupt Imperial supplies and operations , and to confiscate desperately needed materials . In these situations , their fighters had hyperdrive capability along prearranged routes which would allow this kind of harassment and escape before the Empire could react . At the same time , the Rebel Alliance annexed most of the remaining Separatist holdouts . Some remaining Confederate materiel , such as Recusant - class light destroyer s , ended up in Rebel hands . Largely because of their fighting against the Empire , High General Cassio Tagge stated in the history of the Imperial Army in the official field manual for the Imperial Military , " " , that the Rebels , and by extension those who claimed kinship with them , feared order , distrusted prosperity , and hated progress . Destruction of Alderaan . Because several key Alliance figures were held prisoner on it after the signing of the Corellian Treaty , the Alliance learned of the construction of the Death Star , an enormous terror weapon capable of destroying an entire planet , intended to secure the Empire ' s power . An operation headed by Princess Leia was successful in retrieving the schematics of the station , but Darth Vader discovered the act and captured Leia . In an effort to get the young princess to divulge the location of the secret Rebel base , Grand Moff Tarkin threatened to destroy her home planet of Alderaan . Yet even after Leia gave him the location of an abandoned Rebel base on Dantooine , Tarkin ordered the Death Star to fire its primary weapon — a planet - destroying superlaser . Leia watched as billions of her fellow Alderaanians were murdered by the vicious super - weapon . The Alliance would use this act as a propaganda tool to recruit more people into its ranks . A New Hope . The Force was with the Alliance . Luke Skywalker , a young man from Tatooine , came under the tutelage of Jedi Master Obi - Wan Kenobi , after stormtroopers destroyed his farm and killed his uncle and aunt . The aged Jedi had been watching Luke for a long time . Knowing his family history and importance to defeating the Emperor , Obi - Wan began training the boy as a Jedi . The duo , along with the droids C - 3PO and R2 - D2 , secured passage on a freighter , " Millennium Falcon " . With the help of smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee co - pilot Chewbacca , the group managed to free Princess Leia Organa from the Death Star and deliver the plans to the Alliance . As a result , the Alliance succeeded in attacking and destroying the battle station , and also , in Luke , they gained their only loyal member with training in the use of the Force and the skills of the practically extinct Jedi Knights . Galactic Civil War . As a result of the Battle of Yavin , the Rebel Alliance gained credibility as a legitimate military opponent to the Empire . Between the effects of the battle and the dissolution of the Imperial Senate , thousands of star systems openly joined the Alliance in the months following the Death Star ' s destruction . As a result , the Empire began occupying worlds it had allowed to remain untouched earlier , both actions resulting in an escalation of the war . The Alliance could afford to waste no time following its major victory at Yavin . Following numerous raids on their Yavin 4 base , the Alliance relocated temporarily to a base on Thila while setting up a more permanent establishment on the ice planet Hoth . There were some setbacks , namely Garm Bel Iblis leaving the Alliance following a major disagreement with Mon Mothma to create his own rebellion . This was a blow to the Alliance , though it was offset by the joining of Borsk Fey ' lya and his sizable faction of Bothans . Mon Mothma took steps to create a true navy for the Alliance , raising the Mon Calamari Gial Ackbar to the rank of Admiral and appointing him Supreme Commander of the Rebel Fleet . Under Ackbar ' s leadership the fleet grew in size and ability . Along with the headquarters of the Rebel Alliance , Ackbar ' s fleet was the most important asset of the Rebellion . During this time Luke , Han , Leia , and their companions proved to be the most valuable Alliance members , performing countless crucial missions . The ensuing battles around the galaxy were a number of engagements between either side . Many were Rebel soldiers fighting to sabotage Imperial weapons or destroy Imperial facilities . A large number of people were inspired by the defeats of the Galactic Empire to join the Rebellion . However , the might and oppressive nature of the Empire inspired others to join the Imperial Military . Loss of Hoth . The Alliance suffered a setback when Echo Base , Alliance High Command ' s main base of operations on the ice planet Hoth , was discovered by an Imperial probe droid and overrun by Darth Vader ' s forces . In the ensuing battle to escape , the Rebels used their large ground - based ion cannon to disable several of the Star Destroyers in orbit , effectively punching temporary holes in the Imperial blockade long enough for Rebel Gallofree transports and other craft to escape the planet . The Alliance was forced to scatter and remain mobile until the end of the war for fear of losing another main base . Therefore the High Command was transferred to the Rebel Fleet , using Ackbar ' s flagship " Home One " as their mobile base of operations . This was a dark time for the Alliance with the loss of men and equipment on Hoth as well as being forced into hiding from the Empire . Also , Rebel hero Han Solo was captured while in Lando Calrissian ' s hospitality on Cloud City , subsequently frozen in carbonite , and sent to Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine by the bounty hunter Boba Fett . Furthermore , the secret shipyards in the Vergesso Asteroids were destroyed by Darth Vader ' s fleet . Crucial Victory at Endor . News that a new and more powerful Imperial space station , Death Star II , was nearing completion , forced the Alliance to take its greatest risk . The entire Rebel Fleet was amassed near Sullust , in order to launch an attack on the installation before it could become operational . Most important to the decision to initiate this attack was the knowledge that the Emperor himself was overseeing the final stages of construction on board the Death Star . However , in secret , the Empire had organized its forces there so that when the Rebel fleet was lured in , it would be destroyed . The plan backfired , and the subsequent Battle of Endor was a massive victory for the Alliance . Palpatine was dead ; his Death Star destroyed , along with many Imperial warships , including Darth Vader ' s flagship , " The Executor . " Darth Vader , who was redeemed by Luke Skywalker , his son , became Anakin Skywalker once again and sacrificed himself to kill Palpatine , saving Luke in the process . Reorganization into New Republic . About one week after the death of the Emperor at Endor , Mon Mothma declared the Rebellion ( which became the Alliance of Free Planets ) to be at an end , one month after that , she declared the New Republic to be established as the successor state . The Alliance to Restore the Republic had succeeded — a new Republic was to be born , though in many people ' s eyes the movement only gained real legitimacy with the capture of Coruscant twice by Rogue Squadron and New Republic forces in 6 . 5 ABY . Government and politics . The Civil Government . The Alliance was divided into the Civil Government and the Military , led by the Chief of State and the Commander - in - Chief , respectively . Throughout the Galactic Civil War , however , the two positions were occupied by the same person , Mon Mothma . The Civil Government was responsible for handling the numerous jobs of any planetary civil government — including protecting the Alliance ' s peoples , revenue gathering , the maintenance of vital services , and foreign relations and defense . Many of these functions were left to each member world or government of the Alliance . The Chief of State was the head of the Alliance . Essentially an elected dictator , the Chief of State had virtually unlimited power over the Alliance . Elections were held every two years , though in practice this was only a formality as Mon Mothma had unanimous support amongst the Alliance members . According to the Corellian Treaty , the position of Chief of State " will be abolished when the Emperor is deposed , killed , or resigns his position of power . " When this happened , it was the duty of the Advisory Council to assume executive control of the Alliance and convene a Constitutional Convention to form a new Galactic Republic . Below the Chief of State was the Advisory Council , which was composed of representatives of seven Allied governments who had given the most lives in battle to defeat the Empire . This council was the primary advisory body to the Chief of State , responsible for approving or dismissing the proposals of the Chief of State . Furthermore , the Advisory Council had the right to dismiss a Chief of State with a two - thirds majority vote , providing a check to the powers of the Chief . During most of the history of the Alliance , worlds like Alderaan , Dac , and Sullust were members of the Advisory Council , due to their extreme devotion and high losses of life suffered in Alliance service . The Alliance Cabinet was the body of Ministers through which the Chief of State could maintain and run the Alliance . Each member was selected by Mon Mothma for their devotion , intelligence , and ability to get things done . The Cabinet was composed of six ministries : the Ministry of Finance , responsible for overseeing Alliance funds ; the Ministry of Education , which controlled Alliance Civil Intelligence and distributed propaganda ; the Ministry of State , which handled relations with other non - member governments ; the Ministry of Industry , which controlled all Alliance factories and production ; the Ministry of Supply , which maintained supply chain for the Alliance government ; and the Ministry of War , which advised Chief of State on directing Alliance military forces and controlled the Alliance High Command . The Allied Commands . The Alliance Allied Command s were the individual local governments of planets , sectors , organizations , and groups that were members of the Alliance . Each Allied Command varied slightly depending on how each member world was organized , though in practice Allied Commands mimicked the structure of the Alliance government . Allied Commands ranged from member worlds like Mon Calamari or Alderaan to whole sectors like Atrivis or Churnis . Alliance Military . The Alliance Military was charged with defeating the forces of the Galactic Empire and bringing down the Emperor ' s reign of terror , a task to which all Rebel military personnel pledged themselves . Its members variously included Republic Loyalists , former Separatists , and Imperial defectors . The Alliance Military ' s civilian leaders were the Commander - in - Chief and the Minister of War . Below them was the Chief of Staff , who worked between the Commander - in - Chief and the seven Supreme Allied Commanders of Alliance High Command . High Command ' s structure was an odd amalgam reflecting the Rebel military ' s reliance on the centralized Alliance Fleet , and Alliance Starfighter Corps , local military forces , and clandestine resistance cells . Fleet Command controlled the Alliance Fleet , with Admiral Gial Ackbar as Supreme Commander from 0 ABY . The Alliance Starfighter Corps answered to Starfighter Command , which was nominally subordinate to Fleet Command , though this was rarely the case in reality as the Alliance came to depend heavily on starfighters as its primary combat force in its early years , though from 0 ABY tactical control of starfighters was assigned to fleet elements or the Sector Force s . Special Forces Command controlled the Alliance Special Forces , the most capable soldiers of the Alliance Army . The SpecForces were a flexible backbone for the entire Rebellion , with barracks regiments acting as specialist support elements for the Fleet and Sector Forces , or guarding High Command ' s main bases , while temporary task forces conducted most fighting missions . The SpecForces were routinely used to buttress the weakness of Sector Forces . Ordnance and Supply and the Support Services handled military procurement , transport , and logistics , while the Chief of Intelligence controlled Alliance Intelligence . Sector Command oversaw the Alliance ' s thousands of Sector Force s , whose ground forces formed the non - Special Forces element of the Alliance Army . Sector Command generally granted the Sector Forces great leeway in conducting operations in their sectors . The Sector Forces in principle belonged to the Allied Commands , though High Command claimed supreme military authority over them where necessary . Sector Command would sometimes ask individual Sector Forces to detach ships and troops to the central Alliance Fleet for crucial operations . Astrography . Alliance worlds . Though the Rebels lacked the resources of the Empire , they did control planets . Major members . Command Structures . Supreme Allied Commands Behind the scenes . The Rebel Alliance was the main protagonist faction of the original trilogy of " Star Wars " , as well as of further stories in both the Legends and canon continuities . When writing the film , George Lucas loosely based the Rebel Alliance on the Communistic / Nationalistic guerrilla group during the Vietnam War , and the Galactic Empire primarily on at that time , albeit slightly disguised because the Vietnam War was ongoing when he penned " " in 1973 . This was largely inspired by his earlier role in the creative process of the film " " . George Lucas ' s alternate explanation of the roots of the Rebel Alliance appeared in the of the , in the episodes " A War on Two Fronts , " " Front Runners , " " The Soft War , " and " Tipping Points . " In part six of his Endnotes to " The Essential Guide to Warfare " , Jason Fry admitted that he deliberately wrote the Separatists ' backstory to be very similar to that of the Rebel Alliance in order to show why the Imperials remained loyal to the Empire despite its atrocities . RTVE , a Spanish TV broadcasting element , compared the Rebel Alliance to the terrorist organization on November 17 , 2015 .