Galactic Civil War
The Galactic Civil War (1 BBY - 20 ABY) is a fictional war from the Star Wars series of movies, featured in the original trilogy of films A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The war was fought between the Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance.The Rebel Alliance was created to oppose the Empire. The war began after the Rebel Alliance declared its intentions. Emperor Palpatine 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. 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 first year. But the Battle of Yavin (0 BY), which resulted in the destuction of Death Star, marked a turning point in the war and galactic history. The Empire struck back (in the Empire Strikes Back), destroying the Rebel base on Hoth and began building a new Death Star. This Death Star was destroyed in the Battle of Endor (4 ABY), which also resulted in the death of Palpatine and his right-hand man, Darth Vader.
Please note that all information that follows is from the Expanded Universe.
The Empire then fell into warlordism, but it 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. After several years they succeeded. 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.
The Galactic Civil War ended when a peace treaty was finally signed between the tiny fraction of the galaxy that was under the control of the Empire and the New Republic, 20 years after the Rebels' victory at Yavin. At this time the Imperial Remnant, led by Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, consisted of eight backwater sectors bordering the Unknown Regions in the Outer Rim.
List of major battles: