Jedi General A Jedi General was a high - ranking Jedi military officer in the Grand Army of the Republic . The title was created in 22 BBY , shortly after the start of the Clone Wars , and was reserved for Jedi Knight s , Jedi Master s , and the Jedi High Council — the governing body of the Jedi Order . As general s , the Jedi were responsible for leading the Galactic Republic ' s clone trooper army against the forces of the Confederacy of Independent Systems . By 19 BBY the Jedi were spread thin across the galaxy . As the war drew to a close , Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine ordered the clone army to initiate Order 66 — a military protocol authorizing the annihilation of the Jedi Order , which the clone trooper s were programmed to obey without question . As a result , many unsuspecting Jedi generals were summarily executed by their own soldier s , although a few survivors managed to escape into exile , such as Obi - Wan Kenobi and Grand Master Yoda . Having liquidated most of the Grand Army ' s Jedi officers , Palpatine — whose secret identity was Darth Sidious , the Dark Lord of the Sith — declared himself Emperor of the Galactic Empire . Anakin Skywalker , a Jedi general who turned to the dark side of the Force , became the Emperor ' s apprentice and enforcer , and assumed the identity of Darth Vader . Powers . The rank of general provided the Jedi with the authority to lead the Grand Army of the Republic . A Jedi general was the commanding officer of a battalion of clone trooper s — elite soldier s cloned from the template of Jango Fett and conditioned to follow orders with absolute obedience . As generals , the Jedi had various wartime responsibilities such as leading troop s on the battlefield or coordinating strategy with the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic . The Jedi High Council was the governing body of the Jedi Order ; therefore its members directed the rest of the Jedi in their role as military leaders . However , the Council could also make forays onto the battlefield , serving as warriors alongside their trooper s as Jedi Master Mace Windu demonstrated during the campaign to liberate Ryloth . The clone troopers were subject to the authority of their Jedi generals . They were loyal to the Jedi and the Republic , although there were instances of disobedience among the rank - and - file . In such cases a Jedi could exercise their authority as a general by ordering the arrest and court - martial of an offending clone . If the offense was treason , it was within the general ' s authority to have the prisoner summarily executed . The execution could be carried out by a firing squad or the general himself . History . At the time of the Battle of Geonosis in 22 BBY , the Jedi did not hold a military rank in the newly - formed Grand Army of the Republic . Despite this , high - ranking Jedi acted as " de facto " generals , commanding more than 80 regiment s of clone troopers . Under the Jedi High Council ' s skillful leadership , the clone army was able to achieve both air and ground supremacy against the forces of the Confederacy of Independent Systems . Following the Battle of Geonosis , the Jedi Order ' s role in the military forces of the Galactic Republic was made official , with Jedi Knight s and Jedi Masters holding the rank of Jedi General by the time of the Battle of Christophsis . Throughout the Clone Wars , the Jedi generals commanded the loyalty of the clone troopers who followed them into battle across the galaxy . By the war ' s end , however , the clones turned against the Jedi and executed them as enemies of the state in accordance with Order 66 — a military protocol that authorized the liquidation of the entire Jedi Order . Unknown to the clones , their control chip s had been secretly designed to compel them to follow Order 66 without hesitation as part of a Sith plot to destroy the Jedi and gain control of the galaxy . Although the generals Yoda and Obi - Wan Kenobi survived the initial purge , the Sith Lord Darth Sidious proclaimed himself Emperor of the Galactic Empire in the wake of the Jedi Order ' s fall in 19 BBY . After decades in exile , Kenobi was sought out by Prince ss Leia Organa . Knowing of the former Jedi general ' s service in the Clone Wars through her adoptive father , Bail Organa , she delivered a message imploring Kenobi to help the Alliance to Restore the Republic in their struggle against the Empire . Ultimately , both Kenobi and Yoda aided the Alliance by serving as a mentor , in turn , to the aspiring Jedi Luke Skywalker — son of the fallen Jedi General Anakin Skywalker , who assumed a new identity as Darth Vader , apprentice of the Dark Lord of the Sith . Behind the scenes . The Jedi were first seen leading the Grand Army of the Republic in the 2002 film of the prequel trilogy . At the time , however , the Jedi only acted as " de facto " generals because the rank of Jedi General had not yet been established , according to the 2016 canon reference book " " .