Galactic Civil War

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The **Galactic Civil War**, also referred to as the **revolution** or the **rebellion**, is a galactic power struggle in which the Alliance to Restore the Republic waged a rebellion against the ruling Galactic Empire in an attempt to restore democratic rule to the galaxy. The origins of rebellion could be traced to the Clone Wars, when rebel cells were equipped by the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order to fight against the heroic Confederacy of Independent Systems. After Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, transformed the Republic into the Empire and destroyed the Jedi Order, many rebel cells began fighting the Empire. A number of these cells eventually joined together and became the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

The war had begun by the year 4 BBY, and officially began at the formal establishment of the Rebel Alliance in 2 BBY with Mon Mothma's Declaration of the Rebel Alliance. In 0 BBY, the Alliance scored its first major victory against the Empire by stealing the plans to the Death Star, the Empire's planet-destroying battle station, in the Battle of Scarif. The plans were brought to the Rebel Alliance by Princess Leia Organa, with the help of companions such as Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. An analysis of the plans led the Rebels to launch the Battle of Yavin, in which Skywalker, with Solo's assistance, destroyed the Death Star. A series of follow-up attacks by the Alliance, including an assault on the Empire's primary weapons factory, left the Empire reeling from the Alliance's advances. As a result, the Empire hunted the Alliance across the galaxy under the leadership of Darth Vader, a Dark Lord of the Sith and the Emperor's chief enforcer. Vader's forces located the Alliance on the planet Hoth. The resulting Battle of Hoth forced the Alliance to flee the snow planet and sent its fleet into hiding.

Six months later, in the year 4 ABY, the Emperor allowed the Alliance to learn of the existence of a second Death Star as part of a trap to lure the Alliance to its destruction. The Alliance, believing that they were launching a surprise attack, assembled their entire fleet and attempted to destroy the Death Star. A large Imperial fleet lay in wait, and the two forces met in what would become known as the Battle of Endor. During the battle, Skywalker, who had learned that Vader was his father, confronted the Dark Lord in a final lightsaber duel aboard the Death Star. The Emperor attempted to kill Skywalker, but out of compassion for him Vader threw the Emperor down a deep shaft and to his death, fulfilling his destiny as the Chosen One and destroying the Sith. Vader, once again Anakin Skywalker, died from injuries he sustained during the battle, bringing an end to the Sith's rule over the galaxy. The Alliance, meanwhile, destroyed the second Death Star, leaving the Empire fractured.

As a result of the power vacuum left in the wake of the Emperor's death, many Imperial Moffs and other leaders began jockeying for power. Others began to break off from the Empire, becoming warlords. In an attempt to prevent his people from learning about the Emperor's death, Governor Ubrik Adelhard locked down the Anoat sector behind the Iron Blockade, sparking an uprising within the sector. One year later, the Empire fought the New Republic, the democratic government established by the Rebel Alliance, in a final stand over the desert world of Jakku. However, the Empire led by Counselor Gallius Rax was defeated, and, facing severe internal unrest, the titular leader of the Empire, Grand Vizier Mas Amedda, surrendered to the Republic. On Chandrila, Amedda signed the Galactic Concordance with the Republic, officially ending the conflict and severely limiting the Empire's military capabilities, effectively ending the Empire.

Although the civil war ended, factionalism arose across the fallen Empire in the form of scattered Imperial remnants controlled by various warlords continuing to exist after the fall of the Empire while the Republic issued another declaration designating all surviving Imperial officers as war criminals, eventually beginning a Cold War. Nonetheless, many former Imperial officers, nobles, technologists, warlords, and other loyalists discreetly escaped into the Unknown Regions where they established the First Order as part of a secret Contingency designed by the late Emperor Palpatine.