Clone Wars

The Clone Wars (22–19 BBY), occasionally referred to as the Clone War, the Separatist War, or the Droid War, was a major, three-year war between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The war was named after the army of clone troopers used by the Republic against the Confederacy's battle droid army. Both belligerents fielded in enormous numbers, the Grand Army of the Republic and the Separatist Droid Army were two of the largest military forces in galactic history, and fighting between them swept through the galaxy upon the outbreak of war in 22 BBY.
Prior to the conflict, the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, under his alter ego Sheev Palpatine, spent years amassing political power, eventually rising to become the Republic's Supreme Chancellor. Through his Sith apprentice Count Dooku, he sparked the Separatist Crisis, causing thousands of Republic star systems to secede and form a new government as the Confederacy, with Dooku as its Head of State. Beginning with the First Battle of Geonosis, the conflict quickly spread throughout the galaxy with both sides scoring significant victories, appearing as if either side was likely to triumph over the other at different points in the war. At the war's outset, both sides vied for control of major hyperspace lanes to gain strategic advantage, which ended with a Republic victory when Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, secured an alliance between the Republic and the Hutt Clan.
Battles, skirmishes, raids and other actions continued for the next two years, with notable battles occurring on Ryloth, Felucia, Malastare, and Kamino. During this time, the Separatists developed various superweapons, including more traditional weapons such as the ion cannons of the battleship Malevolence, as well as biological weapons, such as a variant of the Blue Shadow Virus. Meanwhile, the Republic launched several key offensives, including the Second Battle of Geonosis, which obliterated the planet's battle-droid foundries, and a failed Jedi-led operation to capture Supreme Commander of the Droid Army General Grievous at Saleucami. Amidst the escalating conflict, many planets — including Mandalore and other members of the Council of Neutral Systems — struggled to maintain their neutrality, but found it difficult to escape the carnage.
Over a year into the war, Republic Senator Padmé Amidala and Separatist Senator Mina Bonteri collaborated on an initiative to end the fighting, though it ended when Dooku and Grievous bombed the Republic capital of Coruscant, and another peace conference on Mandalore also failed to resolve the conflict. With no end in sight, the Jedi worked with local militaries, including Mon Cala's military and Naboo's Gungan Grand Army, and covertly trained an insurgent rebel cell to retake Onderon from Separatists occupation — a mission overseen by Tano and fellow Padawan Jarik Shan. Similarly, the Confederacy relied upon factions such as the Umbaran Militia and the Zygerrian Slave Empire. Furthermore, a proxy war materialized when the Nightsister Mother Talzin and her son, Darth Maul, strove to exact their revenge on both the Sith and the Jedi.
During the war's third and final year, the Republic drove the Separatists into redoubts in the Outer Rim Territories, initiating a campaign termed the Outer Rim Sieges. In an effort to reverse the course of the war, Grievous launched a massive strike on Coruscant through the Deep Core. Much of the Separatist fleet was lost in the assault, along with Head of State Dooku. The Confederacy quickly lost its core leadership in quick succession, with Grievous subsequently falling in battle during the Battle of Utapau, and the Separatist Council being massacred on Mustafar. This, coupled with the issuing of Order 66 and the deactivation of the droid army, led to the total capitulation of the Confederacy and, with it, an end to the war.
Unbeknownst to most involved, the conflict was instigated, facilitated, and eventually resolved by Darth Sidious, whose ultimate goal was to restore the Sith Empire and to transform the Republic into a Galactic Empire with himself as Emperor, as well as the complete eradication of the Jedi Order. Evading arrest by Mace Windu and a cadre of Jedi Masters, Sidious would succeed in this endeavor with the aid of Skywalker, who Sidious seduced to the dark side of the Force and molded into his new apprentice Darth Vader. Sidious publicly branded the Jedi as traitors and triggered Order 66, which forced the Republic's clone troopers to betray and execute their Jedi Generals, thereby initiating a galaxy-wide Great Jedi Purge. Palpatine then declared an end to the Clone Wars in an extraordinary session of the Galactic Senate and proclaimed the transformation of the Republic into the First Galactic Empire, and the Galactic Senate into the Imperial Senate.
==Appearances==
===Non-canon appearances===
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Category:Events
Category:Conflicts
Category:Republic Era
Category:Imperial Era