First Galactic Civil War
- This article is about the bygone civil war that sundered the Galactic Republic. For the ongoing conflict, see Second Galactic Civil War.
| First Galactic Civil War | |
| Date | Year -25 — Year -22 |
| Location | The Galaxy |
| Result | · Old Republic dissolved · Empire formed in Republic territories · Drayson becomes emperor · Separatists defeated |
| Belligerents | |
| Republic: Galactic Republic Jedi Order | Separatist Forces: Trade Federation Corporate Alliance Commerce Guild Confederacy of Independent Systems Black Sun |
| Commanders and Leaders | |
| Endis Valorum Supreme Chancellor Hiram Drayson Jedi Grand Master Relm | Unknown |
| Casualties and Losses | |
| Billions | Billions |
The First Galactic Civil War, or Clone Wars, was the conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Separatists forces who wished to secede from the Republic. After a costly war, the Separatists were eventually defeated as the Republic transitioned into the Galactic Empire.
A Republic in Decay (Year -35 to Year -25)
Tensions had been growing in the galaxy for decades. The Core Worlds had been enjoying peace and prosperity while countless systems in the Outer Rim were plagued by widespread corruption, instability, poverty. Criminal activity and petty conflicts disrupted vital trade routes and laws enforced closer to the galactic core were not enforced in the outlying sectors, leading to a what many saw as a double standard within the Republic. Furthermore, The Republic bureaucracy was growing bloated and ineffective, and was either unwilling or unable to settle these disputes. Sith agents, seeing an opportunity to seize power, approached the leadership of the Trade Federation in Year -35 and used subtle force persuasion to convince the viceroy that an attack on the planet Averam would get the attention of the senate back on Coruscant and force them to take Outer Rim matters more seriously. Federation battleships soon encircled Averam and enforced a blockade while legions of fearsome battle droids took control of the major urban centers and planetary shield and communication systems.
News of the Trade Federation's actions soon found its way to the senate. Contradictory reports and a myriad of questions though the senate into confusion and disarray. Outraged that such an crisis could happen under the Republic's watch, Avram senator Hiram Drayson demanded the resignation of Supreme Chancellor Endis Valorum, who had signed and enforced the trade policies which had provoked the Federation's attack. After Valorum refused to step down, the senate called for a vote of no confidence in the Supreme Chancellor. The vote passed by an overwhelming majority and Chancellor Valorum was removed from office. The senate then took up the question of Valorum's successor. Senator Drayson was nominated, along with Alderaan's Zee Wolf and Mon Calamari's Mon Akria. The crisis on Averam and Drayson's own charm and influence handed him a clear victory. In his speech to the senate, newly minted Supreme Chancellor Drayson pledged to bring stability back to the Republic and free it from corruption, thus preventing future tragedies like the one playing out on his homeworld. Chancellor Drayson soon rallied the military might of the Kuat and Rendilli systems and swiftly liberated Averam, though little was done to further punish the Trade Federation's leadership for their actions.
Unbeknownst to the senate, while Chancellor Drayson was a talented and cunning politician, he had long been a puppet of the Dark side of the Force. Drayson's closest mentors and advisers, Vodo Bonias and Suntzu, were the very same Sith agents who had manipulated the Trade Federation to attack Averam and provoke the ensuing crisis that resulted in Drayson's election. In the years following the Averam crisis, Drayson strengthened his power as chancellor and increased his own influence across the galaxy by partnering with the same corrupt officials and lobbyists he had vowed to vanquish. He appointed close friends and allies to important positions within the Republic and increased the prosperity of the Core worlds, further purchasing their loyalty.
War Erupts (Year -25)
Under Chancellor Drayson's leadership, quality of life for many in the Mid and Outer Rim territories continued to spiral as the Republic consistently failed to address the needs of the galaxy outside the Core Worlds and Colonies. Once again under the influence of the Sith, the Trade Federation called together major economic powers in the galaxy to secede from the Republic and form a new, independent government. The Trade Federation, along with the Commerce Guild, the Corporate Alliance, and the Black Sun to formed the Confederacy of Independent Systems on Year -25 Day 90. They immediately began to recruit systems and sectors that had felt neglected and exploited by the Galactic Republic. Many answered their call, and the capital of this new government was established in the Glythe sector, symbolically situated just outside the Core regions.
While the senate was embroiled in debate about how to address the shocking turn of events, the Jedi Council dispatched Jedi Master Bodo Baas to investigate rumors of suspicious traffic and industrial activity outside of any previously charted system. In the course of his investigation, Master Baas stumbled the ocean world Kamino, where a massive army of clones was being grown and trained in secrecy on behalf of the Galactic Republic. The Kaminoan scientists claimed a representative of the Jedi Council had commissioned the army under orders of the Senate, but Baas was unable to find records of any debate let alone vote to order such an army's creation. Likewise, the Jedi Council had no memory of being asked by the Senate to contact the Kaminoans or sending anyone to that region of space. Even using the Kaminoans records, the Jedi and Republic were unable to discover who had funded the creation of the army and all of its weaponry. With no information to go on, the Jedi Council announced their discovery to the senate, only fueling the fires of conspiracy, outrage, and confusion.
The Massacre of Centrality and the Battle of Sumitra
While the Republic was paralyzed with debate, the Separatists decided the time was right to strike. Centrality was a sector the the very edge of known space. While there was no known planets or systems, the Republic operated a large relay station there and it was the base of operations of the Republic's modest Outer Rim defensive fleet. on Year -25 D 126 Coruscant received distress calls from the outpost and scans of several Lucrehulk 3210 Battleship s. Within three hours the calls ceased. By the time the nearest Republic-member planetary defense forces arrived scattered rubble was all that remained. With the relay station and fleet destroyed, the Separatists believed they not only crippled the Republic's ability to monitor movements and communications in the Outer Rim, but also that they had decimated the Republic's military capabilities beyond the Mid Rim. The Republic had largely been demilitarized following the Rusaan Reformation and had always been reluctant to move its forces too far beyond the Core.
The annihilation of the Centrality relay station emboldened the Separatists and the quickly launched a second assault on Year -25 Day 140, this time through the nearby mining sector Sumitra. Separatist analysts believed the Centrality crisis would only deepen the infighting plaguing the Senate, and the resource-rich worlds of the Boordii system would be theirs for the taking. Blockades were soon in place, ore haulers captured, and mines under control of Separatist officials. Holos were broadcast throughout the galaxy promising that the prosperity of outer systems would no longer be stolen by the "rotten core of our galaxy", but other reports showed evidence of aggression against civilians populations. Instead of further dividing the Republic senate, the massacre at Centrality pulled them together. Discussion about the sudden appearance of the mysterious clone army was suspended after a group of senators called for a vote to adopt the army and deploy them against the Separatist threat. The vote was nearly unanimous in favor of the army, now branded the Grand Army of the Republic. The Jedi Order, long time peacekeepers for the Republic, were pressed into service as the leaders of this new army as Chancellor Drayson insisted there was no time to recruit and train any others and that the Republic desperately needed their gifts and abilities.
The Separatist forces in the Boordii system were taken by complete surprise. Within days of their securing the system, two heavily armed Republic fleets arrived and began an unrelenting attack on the battleships in orbit. Once the blockades had been broken, fresh brigades of clone soldiers made their way to the surface of Boordii IV where the Separatists had begun establishing their garrison. Before the next rotation the Grand Army of the Republic had scored its first victory of the war. Most of the system's ore reserves were recovered, and the Senate soon allocated a hundreds of trillions of credits to further outfitting their new army.
The Battle of Geonosis
The Separatists were shocked by the sudden appearance of the massive new Republic army and were eager to gain leverage for their cause. The size and scope of the Republic's military was still uncertain, and the Separatist leadership sought to restrain the army by political means until they could learn more. They hired bounty hunters to abduct several high-profile leaders and socialite from Coruscant on Year -25 Day 155, and held them hostage, demanding that the Republic respect Separatist independence and keep their military to their own borders. The thrill of victory was still fresh in the Senate, and they soundly refused to capitulate to the Separatist demands, believing their new army could easily match the droid armies of the CIS. Chancellor Drayson pleaded with Jedi Grandmaster Relm for the Order's help in safely rescuing the hostages. The Jedi Council quietly dispatched three Jedi knights to investigate the abduction.
On Year -25 Day 200, forty-five days after the hostages were taken, the Jedi knights announced they had not only found the hostages, but that they had made another startling discovery. Geonosis the hive planet where the hostages were being kept, was also the home of several large automated foundries where the Separatist droid armies were being produced in a terrifying quantity. Despite being ordered to wait for assistance, the Jedi knights continued their investigation of the foundries and attempted to rescue the hostages themselves. After a botched rescue attempt, one knight was killed while the remaining two were captured. On Day 215 a clone battlegroup led by Jedi Masters [[ ]] and [[ ]] arrived at Geonosis and punched through the Separatist defenses. While a group of elite clone troopers were sent to locate and retrieve the hostages, bomber squadrons and artillery units set to work attacking the droid factories that were sheltered underground or within mountains. The native Geonosians were ravenous supporters of the Separatists, and the combined swarms of their done soldiers and the heartless battle droids overwhelmed Republic positions on the planet and inflicted heavy casualties. All but one of the hostages were retrieved and returned to the last Republic foothold before the last Acclamator-class Assault Ship departed the surface of Geonossis. A junior senator from Raxxa was the only hostage killed. Before their withdrawal, Republic forces managed to destroy two of the planet's seven droid foundries and critically damaged another two. Victory was claimed by both sides in the press.
Civil War on Mon Calamari
The events on Genosis convinced the galaxy that this was no normal trade dispute, and that there would be dire consequences for taking the wrong side, or perhaps even for refusing to take a side. Planetary governments rushed to decide if they would remain with the Republic or cast their lot with the growing Separatist movement. In many sectors, the outbreak of war gave rival worlds and species permission to settle old grudges. The civil war on Mon Calamari is but one example. The ocean world is home to two sentient, aquatic species: the Mon Calamari who mostly live on artificial islands or in shallower regions of the ocean, and the Quarren, who live in deeper waters. Relations between the two had been tense for millennia, often devolving into open warfare. When news of the Separatist movement and the clone armies reached Mon Calamari, the Mon Calamari wished to remain loyal to the Republic, but the Quarren planned to offer aid to the Separatists and secretly agreed to welcome a Separatist outpost on the planet. With help of underwater droid armies, the Quarren launched an offensive against the largest Mon Cala settlements on Day 250. Using a now recognizable tactic, Separatist battleships blockaded the planet, hoping to starve the Mon Cala into submission and win their famous shipyards intact. The Mon Cala, outnumbered, outgunned, and cut off plead with the senate for help.
A fresh Republic battlegroup arrived on Day 260 and took heavy casualties on their several attempts to break the Separatist line. On Day 262, several platoons of specialized clone soldiers arrived on the surface with food, weapons, and medical supplies to reinforce the Mon Cala holdouts, but they made very little initial progress in their attempt to pernitrate the well-defended Quarren positions. After two weeks of stalemate, Jedi General [[]] led an elite team of clones on submersible Devilfish and liberated a camp where thousands of Mon Cala soldiers were help prisoner. With this new front opening up behind their lines, the Quarren and their allies were unable to hold out against the Republic. Mon Calamari pledged their continued support for the Republic's war effort, but the Quarren, though humbled, remained a constant nuisance throughout the war.
The Hyperspace Noose
By the end of the year, Separatist command was enjoying modest success frustrating Republic supply lines and containing their troops to the Inner Rim. Despite their best efforts, they were unable to ascertain the location of the Republic's mysterious cloning facilities or stem the flow of reinforcements, though informants suggested the majority of the clone forces originated somewhere in the Outer Rim and arrived via the Correlian Run hyperlane. CIS admiral [[ ]] decided to fill the space around Icktoch with mines, effectively halting all traffic in and out of the core in that section of the galaxy, and he conspired with local pirate gangs ensure all the smaller and lesser-known routes were under constant surveillance. The Republic first tried to reroute their transports navigating jump by jump to the Hydian Way, but it proved too risky and time consuming as new fronts continually opened up all around the galaxy. Chancellor Drayson demanded the hyperspace lane be opened immediately at whatever cost. After several bloody attempts to open the hyperlane with a fleet, a Jedi padowan devised a plan to attach hyperspace rings to droid-operated escape pods. The pods would be sent through hyperspace down the Correlian Run, detonating mines by impact until the way was clear. Construction soon began and the first batch was a resounding success.
However, a Separatist agent posing as a local, independent navigator stirred up dissension in the clone ranks, charging that the Republic's plan treated the droids as disposable and warned that they didn't think much higher of the clones who were also mass produced and identical. Several units making the pods refused to work and were subsequently imprisoned, pending trial. The arrest of the dissenting units only caused moral on the ship to sour, pressuring the Jedi to halt the project altogether. The Republic Senate, enraged at the slowdown, agreed to outbid the Separatists with the local pirate groups and returned to the costly work of manually clearing the lanes with starfighters. After fending off four separate attacks' on the vulnerable Republic cruisers, regular traffic resumed on the Corellian Run on Day 350. Analysts reported to the senate that the clone army was not large enough to keep the hyperlanes to Kamino open without sacrificing the advantage they had on several battlefronts. The Supreme Chancellor called a closed session of the senate on Day 360 to approve additional and expensive contracts with the cloners and the corporations producing ships and equipment, and they also debated the possibility of opening additional cloning facilities closer to the galactic core. The senate was split, with half demanding the contracts be extended to support the clone force and safeguard Republic citizens, and the other half fearing further escalation would only extend the war, bankrupt the Republic, and close all possibilities of resolving the conflict diplomatically. Talk of the debate soon leaked, and in the face of overwhelming public support for the war, the contracts were extended at great expense.
Dark Clouds Gather (Year -24)
The Embarrassment at Ryloth
The Separatist movement continued to grow. Their message of the underrepresentation and neglect of the Outer Rim and the corruption of a bloated and outdated Republic resonated with many worlds, as did the promise of mutual support and defense in the face of the mysterious clone army. However, many worlds were suspicious of the Separatists and wished to remain neutral in the war, a war that had nothing to do with them. Ryloth was one such world, independent and tucked away near the edge of charted space. Worried that claims of neutrality were smokescreens for quiet Republic support, the CIS commander [[ ]] sent an envy to Ryloth to investigate. The native Twi'leks, isolationists by nature, objected to the intrusion, fearing that it lead to occupation. A fringe movement calling itself the Twi'lek Resistance destroyed the envoy's shuttle in a failed assassination attempt, news of which seemed to confirm Separatist suspicions about Ryloth, and a full occupation force was soon deployed on Day 45 of Year -24.
Ryloth's delegation pleaded for justice in the senate, claiming their neutrality had been violated. The majority of the senate was lukewarm on the question, with several influential members suggesting that Ryloth's adamant claims of neutrality should put it lower on the priority list in favor of more loyal Republic worlds who had supported the war effort. Debate stalled until a senator from Naboo brokered a compromise to send food and medical supplies in place of military assistance. Jedi Knight [[ ]] was tasked with the mission, and was given command of a vessel with an experimental cloaking device to bypass the planet's blockade. Rather than complete the mission undetected as instructed, the Jedi used the ship to engage the Separatist flagship and called in his battlegroup when the flagship returned fire. Ryloth was soon liberated with help of native militia groups, but not without heavy casualties on the ground. Press on both sides of the war quickly reported the Jedi disobedience and the embarrassment that came when the newly freed Twi'leks still refused to recant their neutrality in the war. While the story was quickly suppressed in the Republic, it shook confidence in the ability of the Jedi order to lead on behalf of the senate.
The Battle of Kamino
The location of Kamino was the most closely guarded secret in the Republic, as it was still the main production point for the clone armies.
| Primary galactic conflict | ||
| Preceded By: New Sith Wars |
First Galactic Civil War Year -25 — Year -22 |
Succeeded By: Second Galactic Civil War First Imperial Civil War |
| First Galactic Civil War | |
| Belligerents | |
| Pro-Imperial | |
| Anti-Imperial |
Galactic Republic loyalists · Nascent Rebel Alliance · Maharettan · Klysteron · Kanchin |
| Separatist | |
| Neutral | |
| Battles and Conflicts | |
| Republic/Separatist Conflict | |
| Imperial/Rebel Conflict | |
| Concurrent | |