Second Galactic Civil War

The Second Galactic Civil War, also known as the Galactic Revolution or simply the Galactic Civil War, was a major galaxy-spanning conflict fought mainly between a loose amalgamation of pro-Republic and anti-Imperial groups known as the Alliance to Restore the Republic, which would later become the New Republic, and the Palpatinian Imperium, also known as the Galactic Empire.

The origins of the conflict could be traced to the Galactic Senate during the final days of the Galactic Republic, where disgruntled Senators, such as Bail Organa and Mon Mothma, secretly opposed the powers and authority that the Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, in reality the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, continued to accumulate under the guise of security and war-time measures. The Black Fleet Crisis of the First Galactic Civil War also sewed further chaos and unrest throughout the galaxy.

Although relatively brief but notable shooting wars between the Empire, remnants of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, Mandalorian clans, and early rebel cells, including a sizable revolt on Kashyyyk, were not uncommon during Palpatine's reign and before the onset of the war, being a byproduct of the Black Fleet Crisis many years prior, the official declaration of open rebellion started with the signing of the Corellian Treaty of 2 BBY by the leaders of various rebel cells, including the former Jedi General Rahm Kota's, cementing the Alliance's goal of restoring what once was: the democratic values of the Old Republic. Initially, Palpatine did not believe the Rebel Alliance would become a real threat to his Empire, but that all changed with the controversial yet galvanizing Rebel victory that was the Battle of Kamino of 1 BBY, which saw the orbiting Imperial defense fleet crippled, Palpatine's apprentice Darth Vader in shackles, and the Rebels, desiring to make a point, causing a derelict Imperial I-class star destroyer to fall out of orbit, destroying Timira City and its cloning facilities as a result; the latter act caused much moral controversy both within the Imperium and the Alliance, with Imperial propaganda branding the Rebels as dangerous, senseless and morally bankrupt terrorists after the fact.

A year later, the immense battle station known as the Death Star, infamous for first destroying the penal colony world of Despayre, wiping out Jedha City and massacring hundreds of thousands on the cold desert moon orbiting NaJedha, Jedha, and finally annihilating the peaceful world of Alderaan with its massive superlaser complex, was destroyed by the Jedi-in-training Luke Skywalker, marking another major and galvanizing victory for the Rebellion. Nine months later, however, victory was soon followed by crippling defeat, as most of the Alliance Navy was destroyed or deemed lost at Tingel Deepspace Besh, as a result of a trap the Empire orchestrated, although they soon rebuilt with the help of the Mon Calamari and their famed shipyards. In 3 ABY, the Rebellion incurred another devastating loss at Hoth at the hands of the Imperial Navy detachment, Death Squadron.

During this three-year period, the Empire, now attaining a sufficient military buildup and after losing many systems to both the Alliance and the Mandalorians, was beginning to inflict serious and heavy losses on the warriors, whose actual government on Mandalore had previously moved on from mere rhetoric and proxy conflicts, finally united all of the warring clans, and officially declared war on the New Order over suppressed military freedoms, seeking to restore their honor and power they had lost to the Republic eons ago. However, just as Imperial forces began encroaching on Mandalore itself, the Mandalorians gained an unexpected source of backing and later an official ally: the restored Zann Consortium, whose leader, Tyber Zann, sought revenge on the Empire for imprisoning him on Kessel and nearly wiping out the Consortium a few years prior. This however caused further discourse among the warriors, sparking fractious debate concerning the concepts of the warrior's honor being tarnished by their affiliation with a criminal organization, with some clans ending up breaking off and joining the Alliance.

As chaos and total war once again consumed the galaxy, a new evil was on the rise; years prior, the assassin droids IG-88A, B, C, and D, after massacring their organic creators when they attempted to erase their sentience programming, took control of the factory world Mechis III, cranked out countless battle droids and began an almost unprecedented military buildup in secret, and began indiscriminately attacking the Imperium, Rebellion, and Mandalorians, mostly in naval hit-and-fade strikes, in preparation for their conquest of the galaxy. When the latter three were all destroyed by Boba Fett over Bespin in 3 ABY, A took control of the entire Second Death Star himself, which was in orbit over Endor, preparing to annihilate both the Imperial and Rebel forces engaged in the decisive Battle of Endor with the weapon as he began the final sequences that would send out what would be known as the Extermination Signal, which would cause all droids in the galaxy to revolt against and kill every organic life form in the galaxy. Just as the droid was about to deploy this signal, however, a Rebel boarding team ultimately destroyed IG-88's final droid body and wiped his code from the station's main computer, as the Second Death Star, along with Palpatine, Vader, and much of the Imperial high command, was destroyed by the Alliance.

From that point on, the Imperium began a state of decay, fragmentation, and even civil war. Despite a sizable gathering of Imperial forces on the desert world of Jakku, the brief resurgence of the Chiss Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo and several clones of Palpatine, among others, the war reduced the Empire into a mere rump state, while the Alliance grew and ultimately became the New Republic, which, after Thrawn's death, began its own costly offensive against the Mandalorian and Zann's forces in 9 ABY, ultimately defeating them and forcing both to sue for peace; the Mandalorians were allowed to exist as a separate entity, while the Zann Consortium was disarmed and dissolved. After twenty-one years of constant war, the two warring sides finally reached peace in 19 ABY, in the form of the Bastion Accords signed by Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon and New Republic Chief of State Ponc Gavrisom. The Empire was allowed to exist as an autonomous entity, the Imperial Remnant, and both sides freely allowed their worlds to choose which government they wanted as their ruling body. The peace and alliance held throughout the devastating Yuuzhan Vong War of 25 ABY and until 34 ABY, when the First Order, a radical military junta seeking to restore the Empire to its former glory, began a massive offensive from the Unknown Regions and effectively ended the existence of both.