Division of Historical & Cultural Studies

As the millenia-old Galactic Senate began to reel from the effects of bureacracy and corruption, another danger emerged - a seperatist faction who wished to secede from the Republic. This threat was soon backed up with a droid army of immense proportions. The military of the Republic had long since been retired and dry-docked. With the help of the Jedi, there was simply no more need to maintain a large fleet. Thus, the Republic was unprepared for this onslaught.

To meet this threat, the Republic soon decided to fight fire with fire, producing a clone army. Although cloning had been a medical option for quite some time, there had never been a military application for the technology. To make matters worse, the Jedi were seemingly being annihilated throughout the galaxy. In fact, the "Clone Wars", as the series of skirmishes became called, would likely have spelled the end of the Republic if not for the unorthodox actions of Chancellor Palpatine.

Palpatine, the Chancellor of the Senate, annointed himself "Emperor" and assumed full leadership of the Republic. Under the leadership of Palpatine, the wars were soon ended. However, once in power, he abolished the Republic, renaming it the "Galactic Empire" - a new government led solely by Palpatine. He then introduced his "New Order", a semantic doctrine that exalted the worth of the human above that of the alien, and that of the male above that of the female. The New Order promised that peace would be upheld throughout the galaxy by delivering swift retribution and punishment to evildoers. Palpatine was hailed as the savior of the galaxy, although a darker truth eventually began to emerge, and he would go on to rule the galaxy for nearly 25 years.