Mandalorian Excision The Mandalorian Excision of 738 BBY — known to Mandalorian natives as the Dral ' Han , or the Annihilation — was a brief but brutal conflict that saw the devastation of Mandalorian Space at the hands of the Galactic Republic . Following the Republic ' s enactment of the Ruusan Reformation s in 1000 BBY , the Mandalorian people experienced a growth in technological prowess and military power , but they refused to join the Republic due to their traditional warrior ways . Alarmed by the rising threat of the Mandalorians , the Jedi Order organized the Republic ' s Judicial Forces and Planetary Security Forces in a preemptive strike on Mandalorian Space . The Mandalorians had no hope of winning a war against the Republic and suffered greatly in the resulting battles , with a number of planets including Concord Dawn , Ordo , Fenel , and Mandalore itself crippled by bombardment . The damage lasted for centuries , with entire sections of Mandalorian worlds remaining barren deserts . Following the Excision , the Republic disarmed and occupied Mandalorian Space , installing a provisional government to oversee sectoral affairs . The Mandalorians preserved their distinctive culture , as well as their resentment of the Republic and the Jedi who had defeated them , while rebuilding the worlds that the war had left scarred . The Excision led to the formation of the pacifistic New Mandalorians , who prevailed over the warrior clans in many areas of governmental operation and society , becoming the new rulers of Mandalore . Nevertheless , many unrepentant warriors continued their traditional practices , eventually leading to the formation of such splinter groups as the Death Watch . The schism in ideology ensured that further conflict would ensue , as it did well into the time of the Clone Wars . Background . In the last millennia of the regime of the Galactic Republic , the Mandalorian warrior people of Mandalorian Space clashed with the Republic on numerous occasions , most notably in the Mandalorian Wars from 3976 BBY to 3960 BBY . After losing their leader , Mandalore the Ultimate , the Mandalorian warrior clans were disarmed and surrendered to the Republic , though they were left with a simmering resentment of the Republic and the Jedi Order that had defeated them . The Mandalorian warrior codes came to be followed only in Mandalorian Space , but it was not until the emergence of a new leader , Mandalore the Uniter , in 1051 BBY that the Mandalorians began to reclaim stability in their lawless area of the galaxy . In a movement known as the Return , Mandalore the Uniter urged his fragmented people to strengthen and defend Mandalorian Space . They were thus able to survive the millennium - long New Sith Wars and grew to be a regional industrial power , safeguarding neighboring sectors and star systems from trouble while also advancing in technology and military strength . It was during this time that Mandalorian Space , primarily the Mandalorian homeworld of Mandalore , reached an apex in its military power . As Mandalorian Space returned to galactic prominence as a rigidly disciplined society , the Republic , left weakened and splintered after the New Sith Wars , began to draw itself back together following the Ruusan Reformation s of 1000 BBY . The Republic ' s re - institutionalization of the Outer Rim Territories thus reopened conflict with Mandalorian Space . Although first seen as a much - needed source of stability , the Mandalorians — who had begun to tax commerce along the Hydian Way , were forcing economic and defense pacts onto bordering sectors , and disregarded the Republic ' s new defense force restrictions altogether — re - emerged as a threat to the Republic . Some pro - peace clan leaders believed that Mandalorian Space should join the Republic as one of its most powerful and influential sectors , as they had no chance of winning a direct engagement with the Republic . Nevertheless , the Mandalorians ' overall position was resoundingly for continued independence , as popular opinion held that non - warrior Mandalorians could not claim to be Mandalorians at all . That mindset prevailed for several centuries , until the Republic and the Jedi Order decided to move preemptively against the ever - resistant Mandalorians . The Excision . In the year 738 BBY , the Republic authorized the creation of a task force to remove the threat of the Mandalorians as an opposing power . The Republic ' s Judicial Forces were called in alongside units from various Planetary Security Forces of the Expansion Region , with members of the Jedi Order serving as commanders for the war effort . The Jedi led their troops to Mandalorian Space , striking at key Mandalorian worlds such as Fenel , Ordo , and Concord Dawn , as well as Mandalore itself . In the battles that followed , Republic warships exposed the targeted planets of Mandalorian Space to devastating bombardment , creating barren deserts of white sand from entire regions of the planetary surfaces , including forests and farmland . Having lacked from the start any hope of repelling a Republic attack , the Mandalorian clans were defeated , and the Jedi – Republic forces claimed victory . Many Mandalorian warriors were exiled , disarmed , or killed as a result of the conflict . Aftermath . A schism in ideals . The Mandalorian Excision , the Republic ' s name for the short but brutal war , left Mandalorian Space crippled . Mandalorian natives remembered the conflict as the " Dral ' Han " , translated from " Mando ' a " as " the Annihilation . " In a move that would last for decades , the Republic occupied and disarmed Mandalorian Space , establishing a loyal caretaker government for the sector from remnants of the pro - Republic peace movement from before the war . The occupation of Mandalore birthed a schism in ideology within Mandalorian society : In opposition to the warrior clans rose the pacifistic New Mandalorians from the caretaker government . Resenting the Republic but seeing no benefit to continued opposition , the New Mandalorians renounced the ages - old warrior codes for nonviolence and neutrality in an effort to save their ravaged homeworld . The New Mandalorians triumphed over the warrior clans , holding most positions of power and gaining rule of Mandalorian Space , due to the fact that the majority of Mandalorians were weary of war . Nevertheless , the societal rift in ideology shaped the following centuries of Mandalorian history . Those who continued to practice the outlawed warrior ways in secret became known as the Faithful , while the New Mandalorians were termed the Faithless . None of the Mandalorian clans escaped the enduring divisions between the so - called Faithful and Faithless . The devastation to Mandalore and other worlds lasted far beyond the Excision , with the desolation in many areas remaining well into the time of the Galactic Empire . In spite of the scars to their homes , the Mandalorians retained their distinctive culture and style of technology . Since the white sand deserts of Mandalore were uninhabitable , the New Mandalorians who remade their world engineered massive bio - cube cities as part of their new civilization . Their domed capital , Sundari , was one such city that was erected amidst the inhospitable sands . For the Republic , the Excision brought into question the best methods for coordinating various units of the Planetary Security Forces , an endeavor that the Republic ' s war effort had necessitated . Following the Excision , various Republic marshals and admirals met at the Corsin Retreat to deliberate on the subject , leading to the revival of the Republic Naval College as the College of Planetary Security Forces on Anaxes . Legacy . As Mandalore was rebuilt as an industrial power over the next few centuries , a number of unrepentant warriors and mercenaries were exiled to the moon Concordia . Others kept to the regions of Mandalore that were unspoiled by war like the traditional capital of Keldabe , or ventured out into the galaxy to become bounty hunters like their ancestors . The following generations of the Faithful soon encountered further divisions , with a reformist movement known as the True Mandalorians coming into conflict with the Death Watch , a splinter group of terrorist radicals , in 60 BBY . The ensuing Mandalorian Civil War ended with the decimation of the True Mandalorians in 44 BBY , while the Death Watch survived and later initiated an attempt to overthrow the New Mandalorians . The result was the Great Clan Wars , a bloody civil war that killed a great number of Mandalorians and exacerbated the devastation to Mandalore that the Excision had originally wrought . Though defeated , the Death Watch leader Tor Vizsla survived the upheaval , and he wrote about the Annihilation in his Death Watch manifesto " Ba ' jurne Kyr ' tsad Mando ' ad " . The New Mandalorians remained in power following the Great Clan Wars , much to the chagrin of the Death Watch , which allied itself with the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars of 22 BBY to 19 BBY . In doing so , the Death Watch hoped to finally overthrow the New Mandalorians and exact revenge upon the Republic for its savagery during the Excision . By that time , the New Mandalorians won representation in the Galactic Senate for the so - called " New Mandalore . " The neutrality of Mandalore continued from the post - Excision era well into the Clone Wars thanks to the efforts of Duchess Satine Kryze , who emerged as the leader of the New Mandalorians at that time . In spite of hindrances by the Death Watch and the Confederacy , Kryze was able to preserve the political isolation of the Mandalore system in the war while remaining loyal to the Republic . Yet , the warrior ways ultimately won out over pacifism , with both the Death Watch and New Mandalorians suffering critical losses from further infighting , and the Mandalorian Protectors rising to power under the leadership of a new Mandalore , Spar . Decades later , the Mandalorian Excision was one of the chapters of Mandalorian history that the historian Vilnau Teupt documented in his 24 BBY at the Brentaal Academy . Behind the scenes . The Mandalorian Excision , created as a backstory for a 2010 story arc of the , represented a retcon in the history of the planet Mandalore in the Expanded Universe . Mandalore was a prominent location in author Karen Traviss ' s " Republic Commando " novel series from 2007 on , which portrayed it as a more arboreal world . When the Mandalorians were to be explored in the " Star Wars : The Clone Wars " television series , the backstory for Mandalore — created by crew members such as Series Supervising Director Dave Filoni with input from Series Producer George Lucas — was that the world had been devastated to the point that its surface had been laid to waste . That destruction had led to the formation of the pacifistic New Mandalorians , who were featured as part of the second season storyline . Beginning in August 2009 with " The Essential Atlas " , reference material reflected the change in canon . " The Essential Atlas " introduced a conflict between the Mandalorians and the Jedi as the reason for the devastated Mandalore , whose barren surface was portrayed in the series . Co - authors Jason Fry and Daniel Wallace did not learn about the series ' retcon of Mandalore until they were almost finished with " The Essential Atlas " , so Fry worked quickly with Pablo Hidalgo and Leland Chee of Lucasfilm Ltd . to integrate the new information , particularly with the Jedi – Mandalorian conflict . Fry was later able to explore the details of the event in " The Essential Guide to Warfare " , published in April 2012 . He named the event the " Mandalorian Excision " as a clear message of the Republic ' s cold treatment of Mandalore to ensure Mandalorian resentment . " " , released in 2013 , was the first publication to visually depict the Excision . It also went into further detail about the event ' s aftermath and legacy via an in - universe narrative allegedly authored by Tor Vizsla .