Great Jedi Purge

The Great Jedi Purge, also known as the war against the Jedi, was the campaign waged by the Galactic Empire to hunt members of the Jedi Order during the early Imperial Era. The destruction of the Jedi traced its origins to the ancient wars against the Sith, at the end of which were nearly eliminated by the Jedi Order. The Sith were in fact operating in secret, plotting their eventual destruction of the Jedi. A millennium after the defeat of the Sith, Darth Sidious, using his public persona of Senator and then Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, manipulated and deceived the galaxy into the Clone Wars as a pretext for gaining emergency executive power over the Galactic Republic. He used the war to manipulate and deceive the Galactic Senate into granting his office virtually unchecked executive power in the name of security. In addition, the clone army that provided the Republic with its military force had secretly been implanted with bio-chips by its Sith creators that, upon activation, would trigger total compliance and force the clones into killing their Jedi leaders.
The Jedi Purge began at the end of the Clone Wars. Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight believed to be the Chosen One destined to destroy the Sith, discovered that Palpatine was Darth Sidious and informed Jedi Master Mace Windu. In what Sidious would publicly label the "Jedi rebellion," Windu and three other Masters confronted the Chancellor, who killed the three Masters and engaged Windu in a lightsaber duel. Skywalker, who sought power from Sidious in order to save his wife Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo from death, betrayed and incapacitated Windu before the Jedi Master could kill the Dark Lord. Sidious then threw Windu off his office with his Force lightning, and Skywalker became Sith Lord Darth Vader and led the Siege of the Jedi Temple, killing virtually everyone inside it. While Vader carried out the assault on the Temple, Sidious initiated Order 66, with the latter causing the clones' biochips to brainwash them into betraying and slaughtering the Jedi, ultimately leading to the Jedi Order being defeated and nearly destroyed. The Order was a resounding success: nearly all the Jedi in the field were killed. With the Jedi branded traitors and the Clone Wars at an end, Sidious declared himself Galactic Emperor when he transformed the Republic into the Empire. However, a small number of Jedi who were either not involved with the clones or escaped the trap survived and continued to vex the Sith in years after.
The Age of the Empire saw the continued hunting of the Jedi survivors by the Empire. Vader commanded a number of Inquisitors, whose job was to hunt any Jedi survivors and Force-sensitive children. The Grand Inquisitor, a former Jedi Temple Guard from Utapau, hunted a rebel cell on the planet Lothal led by Padawan Kanan Jarrus. These rebels ultimately helped create the Alliance to Restore the Republic which fought against the Empire during the Galactic Civil War. A major battle of the Purge came with the Mission to Malachor I, during which Sidious' first apprentice Maul resurfaced, and Vader dueled his former Padawan Ahsoka Tano, where most of the Inquisitors died. The Purge continued with the Mission to Onderon, Action at Coruscant, Battle of Dxun, and the Mission to the Lothal Jedi Temple.
==Appearances==
===Non-canon appearances===
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Category:Events
Category:Conflicts
Category:Republic Era
Category:Imperial Era
Category:Early Rebellion
Category:Galactic Civil War