Who is the galactic empire

In response, he issued Order 66 -- the eradication of the Jedi Order -- and reorganized the Republic into the first Galactic Empire. He promised peace and security, and an end to the corruption and ineptitude of the old ways. The once-Senator of Naboo -- secretly a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious -- was now Emperor, with a massive military at his disposal, the black-clad Darth Vader as his tyrannical hand, and a planet-sized space station under construction.

For decades, the Galactic Empire reigned supreme. Their space station, the dreaded Death Star , had been completed -- a development that allowed the Emperor to permanently dissolve the Senate. He instead handed rule over to regional governors, who would keep dissident systems in through the fear of his new battle station.

Tarkin would test the firepower of this technological terror on Alderaan , destroying the planet with one powerful blast.

Despite the might of the Empire, an organized Rebellion had taken shape, stealing plans to the Death Star. Ultimately, the plan faltered and ended on Sullust owing to logistical concerns. Six months after the Rebellion's catastrophic loss at Hoth, the Rebel Fleet split into small fragments across the galaxy in an attempt to avoid another propaganda victory for the Empire, further extending the Imperial fleet in an effort to engage them.

Despite its previous advantages following the Battle of Yavin, the Rebellion was sitting on a knife's edge after learning of Emperor Palpatine constructing another battle station. Following the loss of the first Death Star, the Emperor made clear his determination to create another planet-shattering space station, this time more powerful than the first.

Utilizing S-thread boosters to carve a secret hyperspace lane through the Outer Rim, the Emperor planned to destroy the rebels in a doomed engagement over the forest moon of Endor , construction site of the Death Star II, which, unbeknownst to the rebels, had a fully operational superlaser.

Following the presumed destruction of a sizable portion of the Alliance's military capabilities, the Emperor planned to deploy some of the largest invasion fleets seen in centuries to blockade the known rebel strongholds of Mon Cala and Chandrila until the Death Star could destroy them, successfully eliminating any hope of a successful galactic resistance and thus permanently ending the Alliance to Restore the Republic through sheer terror and intimidation.

With the Alliance Fleet assembling over Sullust, the Emperor decided to proactively approach the Rebel problem. Rather than guard the station's secrets, as with the first Death Star, Sidious opted to leak just enough information to bait the Alliance into striking at the station before it was completed—including the fact that he would be overseeing the final stages of the station's construction personally.

There, Rebellion leaders and generals were to be informed of the construction of the second Death Star located over Endor which, they knew, had to be destroyed before it became operational. Needing to buy time for the scattered fleet to assemble over Sullust, Princess Leia Organa devised a strategy— Operation Yellow Moon —to divert Imperial attention to her instead of the upcoming mission to Endor. Unknown to the Rebels, large portions of the Imperial Starfleet had already begun massing in the Hudalla system , while Imperial engineers had ensured that the new Death Star's main weapon was fully operational.

Eventually, Imperial Military command had discreetly moved the gathered warships to a staging point on the far side of Endor's moon, where the Death Star was orbiting. Simultaneously, a legion of Imperial troops was deployed on the surface to stop any attempt at sabotaging the station's ground-based SLD planetary shield generator , which neutralized any attempt at directly assaulting the station.

Imperial intelligence reports indicated that Sidious' trap was indeed well underway when it was discovered that the Rebel fleet was massing at Sullust, as a staging ground for their strike at Endor. Per the Emperor's design and command, Imperial Military authorities were ordered to ignore the buildup so that the Rebels would commit their entire force to a doomed attack. When the Alliance fleet arrived en masse, the Emperor's trap was sprung. The Rebel ground forces had taken the bait and been captured, allowing the Death Star's shield to remain active, while the Imperial fleet moved into position to trap the Rebels.

With the Alliance Fleet trapped between the bulk of the Imperial fleet and a shielded, fully operational Death Star, victory for the Empire seemed assured. On the surface of Endor, the tables were turned on the Imperial forces when they were unexpectedly attacked by the planet's indigenous Ewok population, who had allied themselves with the Rebels, giving the Alliance ground forces a free hand to destroy the Death Star's shield generator. With the shield down, Alliance starfighters were able to launch an assault on the Imperial station's reactor core.

Meanwhile, aboard the station, a blow of an entirely different kind was struck against the Empire. Vader—once again Anakin Skywalker—seized the Imperial head of state and hurled him down a shaft to his death.

Soon after, the Rebel starfighters successfully attacked the Death Star's reactor core. The station was destroyed—like its predecessor, lost with all hands. With the destruction of the Death Star and death of the Order's totalitarian ruler, many worlds across the galaxy began to celebrate the Empire's defeat over Endor with the incorrect notion that the war was over.

Owing to the lack of a clear system of succession following the Emperor's death, chaos gripped the galaxy as former Imperial expansionism stalled. Members of the Imperial Council and various other military warlords attempted to grab what territories they could, while tailored propaganda messages often contradicted one another.

Some refused to legitimize the New Republic, and thus banned referring to it by name. Others portrayed it as a monstrous terrorist organization, swallowing up Imperial worlds for plunder and conquest, while still others refused to even acknowledge the Emperor's death for months. Shutting down all travel and communications into and out of the Anoat sector, Governor Adelhard established the Iron Blockade and formed his own remnant faction.

Citizens who dared to fight back and speak of so-called rumors of the Empire's defeat were hunted and eliminated by Commander Bragh and his Purge Troopers. With the Empire fragmented, the Rebel Alliance embarked on numerous campaigns such as the Beltire Liberation and the Battle of Cawa City [] to capitalize on its stunning success over Endor, resulting in numerous Imperial defeats.

Twenty days after Endor, the posthumous contingency plan of the late Emperor known as Operation: Cinder was delivered to numerous Imperial captains by messenger droids. In addition to Naboo, Burnin Konn , Candovant , Abednedo , and Commenor were all targeted for destruction through the use of climate disruption arrays.

Utilizing N-1 starfighters dating thirty-six years earlier to the Battle of Naboo, the Alliance managed to destroy the satellites with the aid of an MC80 Star Cruiser and the Alliance Fleet. After the Battle of Endor, illicit holovids of the Emperor's defeat over Endor and rebel propaganda detailing the liberation of worlds such as Naboo disseminated throughout the galaxy, with many risking arrest and execution for spreading what the Empire deemed lies. However, the increasing view that the Empire was weakened, reinforced by the insistence of authorities claiming otherwise, prompted thousands of planets to join the Alliance, while Imperial Military defections steadily increased.

In order to counter the reports of the Emperor's demise, a proxy actor was installed in his place, but some citizens noticed slight differences in the facsimile. Eventually, the truth of the Emperor's demise became known to the general citizenry.

Declarations of a new Emperor were announced almost every day, but none were able to consolidate any substantial power. Former aide to Emperor Palpatine since the Clone Wars, Grand Vizier Mas Amedda attempted to keep the Empire together while splinter fleets and other Imperial officials fought each other to support the various claimants to the throne.

Eventually, the Galactic Empire had to contend with the New Republic , a rival galactic government formed in the wake of the Rebel Alliance's victory at Endor. Suffering a string of defeats against the Republic including the loss of Sevarcos and Malastare , along with a failed attempt to restart the former Separatist droid foundries on Geonosis, the Empire gradually began to crumble.

Self-appointed Grand Moff Valco Pandion and other military leaders began to jockey for power, while corrupt sector governors accepted payments for the Republic's allocation of Imperial ships or sued for peace at the earliest convenience.

With most of the Empire's veteran troops killed on the second Death Star or Vader's command ship Executor , military paucity and tactical clumsiness soon hampered the Empire's efforts at a concerted strike against the Republic. The Imperial Military suffered numerous losses of warships and troops, and expended more ordnance than it could produce fighting Republic forces. Consequently, many planets were either captured by or seceded to the New Republic.

With the loss and failure of three invasions of the Mid Rim world of Naboo, birthplace of Palpatine and thus an influential rallying point for the New Order's shattered forces, the Empire retreated to numerous fallback positions on strategically unimportant worlds such as Naalol , often drawing the New Republic into long and indecisive conflicts, forestalling its slow push toward the Core Worlds.

Despite these efforts, the Republic had already established its capital on Chandrila, a planet located within the Core. Despite the lack of a clear chain of command, old loyalists and a common fear of the rising Rebellion kept a vague semblance of unity between the surviving Imperial forces.

Existing on a knife's edge, many officers wondered when someone of prominence would break away from commonality and begin to overtly act against the greater body, ushering in chaos and anarchy. To avoid this, the surviving Imperial leaders and their military forces converged on the Outer Rim planet of Akiva in an attempt to evade New Republic detection and stabilize the remaining factions of the Empire in the months following Endor, with various portions of the Outer Rim still occupied by Imperial forces.

During the Akiva summit, various Imperial delegates discussed the future of the Empire in the aptly named Imperial Future Council. Amid the conference, the various Imperial leaders were divided over how the Empire should deal with their newfound situation, and whether or not it would be wise to continue the war or enter into a state of cold war.

Additionally, the continued funding of the Imperial Military was hotly disputed, with some arguing that plundering the InterGalactic Banking Clan and other monetary bodies would plunge the galaxy into an economic depression. The notion of abandoning the Empire's dark-side devotion was even discussed, while Imperial Advisor Yupe Tashu —a longtime admirer of Palpatine and dark-side cultist—suggested sending the Imperial remnants to the outskirts of the galaxy to search for the source of the dark side.

With the more pressing objective to organize and thus strike out against the New Republic before it could grow any stronger, the delegates soon began discussing who should lead the Empire as the new Galactic Emperor. Before any real progress could be made, Akiva was ultimately liberated after a New Republic fleet arrived, forcing the Imperials to scatter once more and resulting in Akiva being the first Outer Rim planet to formally join the New Republic.

In reality, Imperial Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax , a warlord who controlled one of the larger fragments of the fallen Empire. The man who became Gallius Rax was an orphan boy called "Galli" who had stowed aboard Palpatine's luxury yacht Imperialis roughly three decades before the end of the Galactic Civil War. After ten years of service, Palpatine inducted Rax into the Empire, [17] using his power and influence to aid Rax's career advancement in the Imperial Navy.

With the loss of Akiva and the Galactic Empire's territorial possessions rapidly shrinking, Rax became an official advisor to Grand Admiral Rae Sloane.

While Sloane was the public leader of the Empire in the Vulpinus Nebula , its true ruler was Rax who controlled the fleet through Sloane. Roughly two months after Akiva fell to the New Republic, numerous systems left the Empire or waged their own resistance movements, declared their independence, and established their own fiefdoms or joined the New Republic.

Criminal syndicates flourished in this atmosphere of conflict, especially the reptilian pirate Eleodie Maracavanya , who had captured the Super Star Destroyer Annihilator and used it to forge zher own criminal empire. Several Moffs and governors rebelled against the Empire as more people grew uncertain about what the Empire stood for. Agencies, personnel, and whole planetary systems started to drift apart, each adopting different tactics and methods for combating the New Republic, and each other.

Grand Vizier Mas Amedda was acting as Emperor after Palpatine's death but in reality was nothing more then a proxy Emperor who held little real influence beyond the throneworld of Coruscant with his reign being met with whole sectors of Coruscant started to revolt and was entrenched in government districts. Rax refused to allow Sloane to send reinforcements to Amedda as the throneworld had no place in his vision of a renewed Empire. Sometime later he met with Chancellor Mon Mothma and Senator Leia Organa, who refused his surrender during a meeting on Velusia and demanded he instead find a way to gain full control of the Galactic Empire and ordering him to work towards signing a treaty of surrender to clear his name.

Upon his return to Coruscant, Amedda considered suicide by jumping off of one of the Imperial Palace's balconies. However, he changed his mind after meeting Sloane.

In return for assisting her investigation into Rax's background, Amedda agreed to align with Sloane. Sloane believed in the New Order that developed after the Clone Wars as opposed to Rax, who wished for a renewed Empire ruled by the dark side as it was under Darth Sidious. Following their agreement, Amedda revealed the droids that contained the information she sought were aboard the wreckage of the Imperialis on the junk moon Quantxi.

As the war grew more desperate, TIE fighter pilots even began suicide attacks on entrenched Republic positions, and various commanders executed wholesale massacres of native populations. The HoloNet, now free of Imperial censorship, brought such atrocities to the public spotlight. Other Imperial officials went AWOL and holed up in distant, hyper-secure outposts to avoid the Republic Tribunal and its sentencing of Imperial war criminals.

While the Empire appeared to be receding as the New Republic grew in size, Rax consolidated more and more systems to his cause after staging the Imperial Future Council to eliminate his rivals. A protege of the late Emperor, Rax saw the Empire of old as weak, corrupt, and overripe. To him, by allowing the New Republic to gain ground, he not only eliminated potential competition but consolidated the leftover pieces of the Order.

While the old Empire relied on third-party corporations to produce its military hardware, Rax had nationalized all aspects of the production chain to be solely Imperial. To conclude his plan, Rax founded the Shadow Council after rescuing the final member of the council, Brendol Hux , from Arkanis. This "Shadow Council" was to serve as a secret advisory board composed of the "best and brightest," with the ultimate motive of secretly guiding the Empire into a new golden age.

Roughly three months after the Battle of Akiva, Rax sent Rae Sloane on a mission to the New Republic's capital with the overtures of signing a peace treaty who reassured her that her mission to Chandrila would cement her role as Emperor. The signing coincided with the New Republic's celebration of Liberation Day , a holiday celebrating the release of captives from the Imperial prison Ashmead's Lock on Kashyyyk, with many of the captives having been held in suspended animation since the days of the early Rebellion.

In reality, the survivors were a part of an elaborate assassination scheme by Rax, executed by his lackey, Windom Traducier —an undercover Imperial operative posing as a Senate Guard—by utilizing inhibitor chips that had been installed within the survivors' brains. As the New Republic officials shepherded the liberated prisoners and their families onto a stage, Rax ordered Grand Moff Randd to prepare the Imperial fleets to travel to a series of coordinates, which turned out to be the planet Jakku.

Rax also convened a meeting of the Shadow Council. The survivors then attacked and fired on the crowd after the chips' activation by Traducier, with the survivors targeting Chancellor Mon Mothma and various members of the Republic military during a dedication speech to their rescue.

Watching the carnage from the balcony, Sloane realized that this terror attack was the "attack" Rax had foreshadowed to her. Already disagreeing on Rax's methods for administering the Empire, Rae announced her intention to confront Rax aboard the Ravager to her aide, Adea Rite , a secret supporter of Rax.

As a result, Rite attempted to assassinate Sloane, but she managed to escape off-world. Traducier then freed Tashu from the Republic and told him that he still served the late Emperor Sheev Palpatine even after Rax had given himself the title of Emperor.

The attacks demoralized the New Republic but failed to turn the tide of the war against the Empire, which lost Kashyyyk following an uprising led by Han Solo and Chewbacca. Claiming that Sloane had been captured during the attack on Chandrila, Gallius Rax seized power as the self-styled Counselor to the Empire. When Borrum asked why they were traveling to the barren world of Jakku, Rax responded that he wanted to "test" the mettle of his new armada above the planet.

He also deemed the Empire's downfall as a necessary outcome for the creation of a new order that would rise in its place. While Sloane had received information from the bounty hunter Mercurial Swift that he had discovered that Rax had come from Jakku, the two then traveled to the desert planet. After landing, Brentin and Rae visited a bar owned by Corwin Ballast in an attempt to find information about Rax. Ballast yielded no information but the pair soon got their answer when they witnessed Rax's Super Star Destroyer Ravager exiting hyperspace with his massive Imperial armada, the Emperor had returned home.

The infantry comprised standard stormtroopers along with the requisite specialist troops such as Demolition Troopers , Heavy Weapons Stormtroopers , [] Imperial officers, [17] jumptroopers , riot control stormtroopers , scout troopers, [] Imperial shock troopers , [] sandtroopers , [17] and at least one member of the Emperor's Royal Guard. Rax established the main Imperial base beyond the Goazon Badlands and the Sinking Fields ; the base housed a stormtrooper garrison and a large number of walkers.

Unknown to the Shadow Council, the Jakku Observatory was central to the late Emperor Palpatine's Contingency plan to destroy the Empire in the event of his death. The Observatory contained computer generated maps of the Unknown Regions and was built on top of a borehole that led to the planet's core.

Rax planned to detonate the core in order to destroy Jakku along with much of the Empire and the New Republic Defense Fleet. Then he intended to lead a select group of Imperials whom he deemed worthy of joining him in the Unknown Regions to rebuild the Empire. Rax's forces including a contingent of child soldiers who were recruited from local orphans.

In public, Counselor Rax claimed that he had brought the Empire to Jakku in order to toughen and harden them for their final showdown against the New Republic. Rax instituted a brutal training regime which encouraged savagery and violence among the Empire's soldiers and officers.

In training sessions, officers egged their men to maul each other. Dissenters like RK who questioned what the Empire was doing on Jakku were brutalized by their comrades for questioning Rax's agenda. The stormtroopers stationed on Jakku degenerated into armed thugs who developed an unkempt appearance due to the harsh, arid climate. For months, the Empire's loyalist forces waited for the New Republic to launch its attack.

The prolonged state of alert began to take a toll on the Imperial forces based on Jakku. While General Borrum expressed concerned that the long wait was beginning to affect the sanity of his men, Grand Moff Randd supported Counselor Rax's harsh regime as a purification process.

During that time, Rax also struck a deal with the Hutt crime lady Niima , who was the leader of a cult. In return for supplying weapons, Niima guarded the path to the Valley of the Eremite and kidnapped local orphans. These orphans were trained by Commandant Hux into Rax's personal guard of child soldiers, which he hoped would become the template of his new Empire in the Unknown Regions.

Norra Wexley and her team discovered the Imperial presence on Jakku. In response, Admiral Ackbar dispatched the scouting ship Oculus and several probe droids into the Jakku system to corroborate Temmin and Sinjir's information. The scouting party found that much of the Imperial fleet had indeed retreated to Jakku and were consolidating in a defensive arrangement.

Rax captured his rival Sloane and the former rebel operative Brentin Lore Wexley , who had teamed up with Sloane to stop Rax. After capturing them, Rax gave a test demonstration of his child soldiers. As a symbolic act of his plan to tear down the Empire and start a new regime, Rax ordered his child soldiers to execute a contingent of stormtroopers.

Following the demonstration, Rax imprisoned Sloane and Brentin. With the New Republic fleet entering the Jakku, Rax delivered a rousing speech claiming that the coming battle would be the Empire's final stand against the New Republic. The fighting between Imperial and Republic forces took place on Jakku's surface as well as in space.

The Battle of Jakku commenced a year and four days after the Battle of Endor. With the Empire controlling most of the galaxy's major shipyards, the Republic sought to expand their fleet by capturing Imperial vessels, along with destroying a secret Imperial weapons facility on the planet.

Randd's strategists devised a battle plan which involved the Star Destroyers forming a defensive cordon around the Ravager. During the battle, the Star Destroyers would periodically open formation to allow the Ravager to bombard the New Republic fleet with turbolasers and missiles.

Despite her ship being crippled, she managed to use the Concord ' s powerful tractor beam projector to drag the Ravager down into Jakku's atmosphere. This turned the tide of the battle in the New Republic's favor. With the Imperial command ship destroyed, New Republic forces were able to outflank the Imperial forces on all fronts.

With the battle turning against the Empire, the surviving Imperial forces began pulling ships onto the planet's surface utilizing their tractor beams, killing most of the occupants in an instant. While the Huxes and the soldiers waited aboard a replica of the Emperor's yacht Imperialis , Rax and Tashu entered the Observatory to activate the mining bore that would destabilize the planet's core.

Rax planned to detonate Jakku's core, destroying the Imperial forces and the New Republic fleet. He then intended to escape to the Unknown Regions, taking the Huxes and the child soldiers with him to build a new Empire. As part of the ceremony, Rax threw the unwitting Tashu, who was carrying several Sith artifacts, to his death down the borehole, initiating the self-destruct mechanism. Rax's plan was ultimately foiled by Sloane, Brentin, and Norra. Following a fight, Sloane managed to kill Rax.

More Amazon News ». View all Streaming Sites. More Movie News ». More FS Movie News ». View all Movies Sites. More TV News ». More FS Entertainment News ». View all TV Shows Sites. More Reality TV News ». View all Celebrities Sites. Citizens who had become disillusioned with their senators found a new voice through organizations like COMPNOR, and the Outer Rim was reconciled to Imperial rule through conciliatory gestures like the pardoning and early release of certain Separatist prisoners.

Nonetheless, many members of the Imperial Military were unhappy about Palpatine's plans for imperialization: One Imperial officer, in particular, the headmaster of the Imperial Academy Gentis , who lost all but one of his sons to Palpatine's warmongering ways during the imperialization effort, formed a military coup against Palpatine and poisoned him with Aorth-6 as a means to bring peace to the Empire, something he realized that Palpatine would never pursue.

The coup, while initially successful, ultimately failed. Emperor Palpatine, ruler of the galaxy. As this process unfolded, the Emperor saw the respected Caamasi as a threat to his New Order, so he ordered the devastation of their home planet Caamas.

A group of Bothan infiltrators were responsible for sabotaging Caamas's shield generators, leaving the planet vulnerable to Imperial orbital bombardment. The once beautiful world was devastated during this attack, turned into a poisoned wasteland. The peaceful Caamasi were dispersed throughout the galaxy. However, the deadly superweapon was sabotaged by two Jedi Knights and the Jedi on Belsavis managed to escape. Around the same time, a group of beings were protesting the tyranny of the Galactic Empire on the planet Ghorman in the Sern sector.

Wilhuff Tarkin's flagship was blocked by peaceful protesters who stood on the ship's landing pad and refused to move. With implied permission from Palpatine, Tarkin landed the ship anyway, right on the protesters, injuring and killing many. This came to be known as the Ghorman Massacre. The Alliance to Restore the Republic was founded in its wake.

Many Jedi also rebelled against Palpatine's regime. Olee Starstone and a group of Order 66 Jedi survivors along with Roan Shryne attempted to re-establish the Jedi Council but were unsuccessful. The group fled to Kashyyyk to find out if any Jedi survived there, but the Empire launched a massive takeover of the planet.

A Wookiee among them, named Chewbacca , fled the city to find his family. Meanwhile, Ferus Olin along with his friends including Jedi Master Solace caused much havoc on Imperial-controlled planets including a rebellion on the planet of Bellassa , the two Jedi break-ins of the destroyed Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and the destruction of an Imperial Garrison and Weapon Munitions Center on Naboo.

Due to exceptionally bad planning and tactics, every one of them was killed, though Vader's suit was slightly damaged. Trachta saw the Sith as foolish and archaic, and believed that the Empire should not be ruled by a two-man cult. They planned to use a batch of altered stormtroopers loyal only to them to destroy the two Sith Lords.

However, their plot failed in part because of internal fighting between the co-conspirators. Galactic Empire banner, circa 0 ABY. In 2 BBY , after the true nature of the Empire became clear, three of the most influential senators, Bail Organa of Alderaan , Garm Bel Iblis of Corellia , and Mon Mothma of Chandrila , along with others, were on the brink of starting a great rebellion against the Empire. Brought together by him, they met in secret on Corellia and signed the Corellian Treaty.

This officially formed the Alliance to Restore the Republic , more commonly referred to as the Rebel Alliance. They were arrested on the spot, and taken to be executed by Palpatine himself on board the Death Star but Marek turned to the light side of the Force and freed them , sacrificing his own life.

On Kashyyyk , the Alliance commemorated Marek's death and used his family crest as the new organization's symbol. Just weeks later, a full scale war broke out between the Imperials and the Rebels, which was an armed military conflict that would consume the galaxy for many years to come. However, the threat of rebellion allowed Palpatine to endorse the Tarkin Doctrine of rule by fear of force rather than force itself.

If anything, Palpatine welcomed the formation of the fledgling Rebel Alliance as a legitimate excuse to remove the last vestiges of the Republic and tighten his grip on the galaxy. To test the Death Star's power, Tarkin ordered the Destruction of Despayre , the planet which the space station was built over which took three waves and likely consumed its only moon Haroon in the process.

Almost immediately afterwards, Tarkin ordered the Destruction of Alderaan , which took a single fire and was completely obliterated , despite their captive Leia's protest, who was eventually rescued by the Millennium Falcon crew. A key instrument in the enforcement of the doctrine was intended to be the Death Star, a moon-sized space station with sufficient firepower to easily destroy a planet with a single discharge of its powerful superlaser.

Whereas many planets could afford planetary deflector shields capable of warding off virtually any conventional attack, none could defend against the power of that weapon. The weapon was destroyed in the Battle of Yavin , which marked the first major space-based victory for the Rebel Alliance. At this point, Palpatine and the rest of the Empire realized that the Rebellion was a major threat to them and one that should be taken seriously, for the destruction of the Death Star was a massive blow to the Empire.

After the superweapon's destruction, the Rebels had finally found their footing. They began consistent strikes on Imperial-held territories, inciting continuing resentment against the Empire and taking them under the Rebels' banner. This included the Anti-Imperial propaganda for destroying Alderaan, which set thousands of worlds in the galaxy to protest against the empire's brutality, even in the Core Worlds. Although the Empire gained the upper hand in most campaigns against the Alliance such as the Battle of Hoth and the construction of the second Death Star , they could not prevent the unstoppable juggernaut that the Rebels unleashed upon them and felt their grip in the galaxy slowly weakening.

Thus, in the climax of the Galactic Civil War that was the Battle of Endor , where Anakin Skywalker would also aid the Rebels in fulfilling an ancient Jedi prophecy , the Empire was finally unseated from its control over the galaxy. The Empire, however, was too large, to be destroyed in one blow; for the next fifteen years, the Rebels soon renamed the Alliance of Free Planets and then the New Republic fought to free the galaxy from former Imperials styling themselves as independent warlords as well as Imperial loyalists, such as Thrawn and Ysanne Isard.

Even prior to the fall of Emperor Palpatine in 4 ABY , the signs of fragmentation began to slowly reveal themselves as early as 0 ABY with the rebel's propaganda of the then-recent Destruction of Alderaan. In just a matter of days after the Battle of Endor, the Empire was thrown into a power struggle and would meanwhile resume their conflict with the New Republic in a two-front war.

The first incursion was that of Moff Kalast , followed by the more serious situation involving the free-selling arms dealer Admiral Harkov , and finally culminating in the major Imperial infighting with Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin. However, he lacked the charisma, Force powers, and terrifying presence that both Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader used to keep the Empire together.

Admiral Blitzer Harrsk was the first Imperial to declare himself a warlord and set up his own mini-Empire, but he would not be the last. Sate Pestage only managed to hold the throne for a scant six months before he was deposed by the Imperial Ruling Council composed of three Tribunes.

The Ruling Council was acting on the manipulations of Imperial Intelligence Director Ysanne Isard though, and the Ruling Council's leadership of the Empire ended under brutal conditions executed by Isard. However, Ysanne Isard managed to hold the Empire together and stem off aggressive warlords, as well as Trioculus and the false Kadann , who also claimed the throne, for nearly two years before losing control of Imperial Center.

When Ysanne Isard started to lose her grasp over the Empire, she had her scientists develop a biological virus targeting only non-humans that she later let loose in Coruscant. So when Coruscant fell under the Rebel's attack, led by Rogue Squadron, they inherited Isard's disease that caused havoc for the starting government. With the loss of Coruscant, the Empire dissolved further and, soon, Warlord Zsinj was seen as the single largest Imperial threat in the galaxy.

Isard managed to evade death and escaped to her own little kingdom. The remnants of the Empire found themselves for the first time on the same side of the table as the New Republic.

Both governments viewed Warlord Zsinj as their biggest threat. Zsinj came under the pressure of both governments, but it was not until Admiral Teren Rogriss teamed up with General Solo that they managed to bring Zsinj down. The temporary alliance was over and new fighting erupted between the Empire and the New Republic over the scraps of Zsinj's domain.

However, the New Republic dealt blow after blow to the Empire, winning most of the engagements and further humiliating the Empire by pushing them off of the monstrous ship producing world of Kuat.

X1 had been drawing out plans for a new Galactic Empire, with himself as Emperor. However, his attempts were ultimately thwarted by his own brother, X2. Grand Admiral Thrawn. The Empire continued to lose ground until the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn, a military genius, the only nonhuman to climb the ranks of the Imperial Navy, and the last remaining Grand Admiral.

Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign recaptured nearly half of the galaxy in the name of the Empire; however, it came to a sudden end when Thrawn was assassinated by his own bodyguard.

Captain Pellaeon, Thrawn's second-in-command, knew that he could not continue Thrawn's inspired campaign and ordered a retreat. The New Republic immediately took advantage of the Imperial power vacuum and moved to cut off future Imperial threats in the form of the remaining warlords. Using the pretext of pursuing Imperials who had committed various crimes the New Republic began their push against Prince -Admiral Delak Krennel.

Despite Krennel's new ally in a clone of Ysanne Isard and the real Isard's machinations to steal back her Super Star Destroyer the Republic emerged victorious and began pressing their advantage even more, leaving the Core worlds with minimal protection. The warlords were emboldened by the late Grand Admiral Thrawn's triumphs and accomplishments against the New Republic, which was still recovering from the devastating Thrawn campaign.

The New Republic was powerless to repel the military might of the once-more-unified Empire, and the Empire swiftly conquered much of the economically, politically and strategically vital Core Worlds within weeks. Chandrila , Esseles , Ralltiir , as well as the Metellos and Kaikielius systems, were seized by the Empire, while Caprioril was besieged by the Imperial Navy and the Borderland Regions were devastated.

The offensive culminated in the decisive Second Battle of Coruscant , in which the New Republic abandoned the planet and the Empire retook the galactic capital. Having assumed total control over the Core Worlds, the Empire had been restored to its former glory, while the New Republic leadership relocated its headquarters to the Outer Rim Territories.

The Imperial Civil War on Coruscant. After Coruscant had been retaken, the Imperial Ruling Council invited important political and military leaders to the Senate Building to elect the next Galactic Emperor and re-establish the disbanded Imperial Senate. The Empire plunged into anarchy and chaos: the Imperial Intelligence and Security Bureau orchestrated the assassinations of their political enemies, while COMPNOR purists attempted to take control of the regime in order to prevent any changes to the New Order.

Soon, an armed conflict broke out amongst the various political and military factions, each trying to dominate the Empire. The disarrayed Imperial Military was responsible for committing atrocities, massacring civilians and destroying entire worlds.

Above Coruscant, the orbit became littered with space debris and the Star Destroyers conducted orbital bombardments , transforming the surface of the planet into a decaying urban wasteland. On the surface, stormtroopers, walkers and tanks fought on the streets of the planet-wide ecumenopolis.

Much of the galactic capital was laid to waste, and millions of native Coruscanti perished during the Imperial infighting. The New Republic took advantage of the chaos, performing raids on Imperial territories through the use of captured Imperial vessels.

The civil war ended only several months following the retaking of Coruscant. In 11 ABY , when it seemed the Empire would never return, that hopes were lost, and that the New Republic was finally close to victory, an enigmatic figure took the title of Emperor. However, this person was no new Emperor, for Emperor Palpatine had returned. Returning in fresh clone bodies imbued with the dead despot's spirit, he proceeded to rebuild his fallen Empire and six years later had finally regained the strength to again challenge the New Republic.

While most of the rank and file troops returned to loyal service, few of the warlords did, while most fled for their lives. Palpatine regrouped the fragmented Empire's many warlords and loyal forces into a single unified force, headquartered at the secret throne world of Byss in the Deep Core.

Determined to crush the weakened New Republic and once again subjugate the galaxy under his dark rule, the Galactic Emperor initiated a military campaign known as Operation Shadow Hand.

Eventually, Palpatine intended to transform the Empire into a magocracy in which he ruled the galaxy forever with his loyal Dark Side Adepts. However, Skywalker and his sister Leia Organa Solo used the Force , causing the storm to annihilate Palpatine and his flagship, the Eclipse -class dreadnought Eclipse.

Sedriss suffered heavy casualties in attempting to occupy the factory world of Balmorra and perished in the Battle of Ossus. However, the Emperor returned once again to spearhead his galactic conquest and commissioned his newest superweapon, the Galaxy Gun.

The Empire had succeeded in conquering most of the galaxy and becoming the leading galactic superpower, while the New Republic was on the brink of downfall. However, a group of Imperial politicians and officers, led by Carnor Jax and Sarcev Quest , sabotaged the Emperor's clone bodies in order to assassinate Palpatine and take control of the Imperial state.

The Galaxy Gun accidentally launched a particle disintegrator warhead on Byss, destroying the planet and killing its inhabitants. In these cataclysmic events, the Empire lost the Galactic Emperor, two superweapons, the Imperial Fleet orbiting Byss, and most of Palpatine's loyal advisors, officers, soldiers and Dark Side Adepts. The last major action of a Sith-led Empire, Operation Shadow Hand resulted in the final destruction of Palpatine's Empire, as the Destruction of Byss effectively terminated all political and military structures that upheld the Imperial state.

Without the leadership and guidance of the late Emperor Palpatine, the Galactic Empire had practically ceased to exist. In the midst of chaos, rival warlords fled to their pocket empires, disorganized Imperial forces abandoned the Core Worlds , and the New Republic retook Coruscant. As a result, the resurrected Empire fell to its knees and self-destructed. Following Palpatine's final death, Carnor Jax seized the Imperial throne. However, the Imperial fleet was left rudderless without orders from their Emperor.

They retreated from the Core Worlds, and the Empire quickly crumbled. Many fleet commanders refused to follow Jax and his Interim Ruling Council, and they broke away to form various warlord holdings. Jax's Crimson Empire thus held a small territory, limited to a narrow band of space that stretched from the Outer Rim to the Colonies. This had undone Palpatine's extermination of the Jedi Order , that had began with the formation of the empire in 19 BBY.

Gilad Pellaeon , the "Old Man of the Empire". In the Deep Core , the warlords divided into several pocket empires, waging aggressive warfare against their rivals and building heavily fortified planets known as the " fortress worlds ". Harrsk controlled the largest territory, while Teradoc had the largest military.