Galactic Republic - End of The Republic

End of The Republic

By the time of The Phantom Menace, the Republic had grown unbearably corrupt. Palpatine became the Chancellor in 32 BBY after his predecessor, Finis Valorum, was voted out in a no confidence vote in a wave of protest against his handling of the conflict with the Trade Federation. Traditionally, the Chancellor could only serve a limited amount of time; however, Palpatine stayed in office much longer, due to the prolonged Separatist Crisis as well as the threat posed by the "Jedi Rebellion."

The crisis occurred when several of the Republic's member Star Systems and organizations united in order to separate from the Republic. This unified organization became known as the Confederacy of Independent Systems, or CIS for short. Tensions between the Republic and the Separatists eventually escalated into all-out war, and the conflicts that would later be known as the "Clone Wars" began (chronicled in Attack of the Clones).

The Senate granted Palpatine emergency powers to deal with the Separatist Confederacy in a motion introduced by Representative Jar Jar Binks. Palpatine's first move, widely supported at the time, was to create a vast army of clone troopers to serve as the Republic's fighting force against the Confederacy. The Republic had not previously needed an army, since until then any small conflicts within the Republic could be solved with the "peacekeeping" Jedi. However, the fact that the Confederacy had access to an enormous army of droid soldiers required the Republic to construct a more formal military to fight effectively.

In the ensuing years, the Senate increasingly granted enormous amounts of power to Palpatine, who became the war's political Commander-in-Chief. Such actions were justified in the name of security, and were considered a perfectly reasonable way to increase the wartime government's efficiency. Eventually, Palpatine gained enough power that he could take virtually any action without Senate approval. In effect, he was now a dictator (though he commanded an overwhelming majority in the Senate in any case).

Tension between Palpatine and the Jedi began to grow as the war progressed. Many members of the Jedi Council remained skeptical of Palpatine's growing powers, especially at the expense of the Senate — the only body they were contractually bound to serve. In time, the Jedi began to believe that Palpatine would not surrender his power at the end of the war. This suspicion was also shared by some senators, including Padmé Amidala of Naboo, Bail Organa of Alderaan and Mon Mothma of Chandrila. Indeed, early in the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine has appointed regional governors over the various worlds of the Republic, buttressed by detachments of clones.

After the death of Separatist leaders Count Dooku and General Grievous, and the discovery that Palpatine was actually Darth Sidious, the Jedi made their move in accordance with contingency plans already made. They attempted to arrest Palpatine, but failed. Shortly afterward, Palpatine secretly issued Order 66, a galaxy-wide instruction for all clone troops to assassinate their Jedi commanders. This command had been secretly implanted in all of the clones when they were created.

Many of the Jedi serving as generals of the Army of the Republic quickly fell victim to the clone trooper forces. They overwhelmed the often isolated Jedi, who were taken by surprise. Because the clones were simply following the command implanted in them, there was no treachery for the Jedi to sense in the minds of the clones that served them. The Jedi remaining in the Temple on Coruscant were eliminated by a detachment of elite clone stormtroopers led by Darth Vader, once having been Anakin Skywalker, who single-handedly cut down many Jedi himself — including many children studying as Padawans there.

As the Clone Wars were winding down, however, Palpatine's once near-unanimous support began to falter. As depicted in the Revenge of the Sith novelization and deleted scenes from the film itself, a bloc of senators began to emerge, even before the Clone Wars had ended, who opposed Palpatine's authoritarian rule and resented his treatment of the Jedi and other opponents. This bloc, originally led by influential politicians such as Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, and later by Bail's adopted daughter Princess Leia Organa, eventually became the political voice of the emerging Rebel Alliance.

At the conclusion of the Clone Wars, Palpatine addressed the Senate. First he related the story of the unsuccessful assassination attempt by the Jedi. Claiming that it was a "rebellion" and that their next move would be to kill all the senators, he declared the Order to be enemies of the Republic. Then he announced that the Galactic Republic would become a Galactic Empire so strong as to never be threatened by outside forces again.

Palpatine, who had been grotesquely disfigured by Mace Windu's "assassination attempt", proclaimed himself to be the first Emperor of the galaxy. Deluded by Palpatine's charisma and skill (and perhaps also by his considerable dark side power), the majority of the Senate cheered him on loudly in approval, which provoked one of Senator Padmé Amidala's more memorable lines: "So this is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause." After more than twenty-five millennia, the Galactic Republic had ceased to exist.

The Senate continued to exist after the formation of the Empire, as the Imperial Senate, but it was a virtually powerless advisory council. Palpatine remained the final authority on all laws; at most, the Senate could simply delay and discuss legislation. Palpatine ultimately became a dictator.

Nearly two decades later, shortly before the Battle of Yavin, Palpatine found the continued existence of open political dissent a hindrance to his total control, and disbanded the Imperial Senate — sweeping away the last remnants of the Galactic Republic. He formally placed all power of governance in the hands of the regional governors of the Imperial Military, thus abolishing civilian control of government. In truth, however, the real power had rested with the regional governors for some time, as long as they did not try to cross the Emperor. The Senate Building, however, still remained visible on the Coruscant skyline at the time of the destruction of the Second Death Star at the Battle of Endor. In addition Anakin Skywalker, having turned away from the Dark Side and from Darth Vader, assassinated Palpatine, thus bringing balance to the Force.