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| The Galactic Civil War
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| Date | 19 BBY-19 ABY
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| Place | Yavin, Hoth, Endor (among other places)
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| Result | Alliance victory
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The Galactic Civil War (approx. 19 BBY - 19 ABY) is a fictional war from the Star Wars series of movies, featured thus far in the original trilogy of films A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, as well as several novels, comics, and video games. The war was fought between the Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance, later renamed the New Republic.
The war began apparently at the end of the Clone Wars when Anakin Skywalker, seduced by the power of the Dark Side of the Force, became Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith. The situation had begun to deteriorate when Palpatine (who by this time had become the Galactic Emperor) and Vader ordered the extermination of the Jedi Knights (aside from the converted and corrupted Anakin, two other Jedi survived - Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda).
A new and evil Imperial Order (through both fear and force) was declared throughout the galaxy, and as a result the Rebel Alliance was created to oppose the new Galactic Empire. The Emperor was pleased with a rebellion against his rule, because it would give him an excuse to get rid of the last remains of the Galactic Republic, the Imperial Senate. He could simultaneously display the awesome power of the Imperial Starfleet and clamp down on unrest against his rule. This confidence in his regime's power became his greatest weakness.
The Rebel Alliance was not very successful in its early years, but the Battle of Yavin (0 BBY), which resulted in the destruction of the Death Star, marking a turning point in the war and galactic history. The Empire counter-attacked (in The Empire Strikes Back), destroying the Rebel base on Hoth, and began building a new Death Star. This second Death Star was destroyed in the Battle of Endor (4 ABY), which also resulted in the deaths of Palpatine and his right-hand man, Darth Vader who, as Anakin Skywalker, had returned from the Dark Side and sacrificed his life to save his son, Luke). With that, the Empire suffered its most grievous defeat thus far, and one of the greatest in the entire Galactic Civil War.
The Empire then fell into warlordism, but was still a formidable threat, and controlled much of the galaxy. The Rebel Alliance proclaimed itself the New Republic and began a campaign of recapturing vital Imperial worlds, including Coruscant, the former capital of the Galactic Republic and the Galactic Empire alike. The Empire rose again several times under powerful leaders such as Grand Admiral Thrawn and a series of clones of Palpatine, but was always thwarted when those leaders were killed.
Later, a peace treaty was finally signed between the New Republic and the tiny fraction of the galaxy that was under the control of what remained of the Empire, 19 years after the Rebels' victory at Yavin. At this time the Imperial Remnant, led by Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, consisted of 8 backwater sectors bordering the Unknown Regions in the Outer Rim.
List of major battles:
Operation Strike Fear
Operation Strike Fear was the name of Emperor Palpatine's plan to destroy Mon Mothma and the Rebel Alliance. It was unsuccessful and the Rebels destroyed the second Death Star and killed Palpatine.
Although "Strike Fear" wasn't mentioned in the original Star Wars films, it was mentioned in the "Star Wars: the Essential Chronology".
