Galactic Empire (Star Wars)
''"Fear will keep the local systems in line."- Grand Moff Tarkin
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| Form of Government | Empire | |
| Official language | Basic | |
| Capital | Coruscant (Imperial Center) | |
| Head of State and Head of Government | Emperor Palpatine | |
| Establishment | 19 BBY | |
| Currency | Galactic Standard Credit (Imperial Dataries) | |
In the fictional Star Wars universe, the Galactic Empire was the regime established by Palpatine to replace the Galactic Republic.
The Republic ended following a period of intense political turmoil and war. At the height of the chaos the Republic's scheming head of government, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, proclaimed himself Emperor.
The Empire was ruled with absolute power by Palpatine as Emperor with Darth Vader being his assistant. The Galactic Senate still existed years after the Empire's establishment, but it had little power and was eventually dissolved by Palpatine. The real power below the Emperor was in the hands of the Grand Moffs, like Tarkin and the regional governors who were eventually granted direct control of their regions.
The Galactic Empire was actually more decentralized than its immediate predecessor, the Galactic Republic. Much more power was sent into the hands of the Moffs and Grand Moffs who controlled regional issues. This is in contrast to the structure of the Old Republic, which apparently had no intermediary between low-level planetary affairs and that of the Galactic Senate itself.
This power was backed up by the use of state terrorism which threatened horrific retaliation to any defiance to the government. The instrument of that terror was the Imperial military, which included the Imperial Stormtroopers and a large fleet of intimidating war vehicles like Star Destroyers and All Terrain Armoured Transports (AT-ATs or Walkers) which were intended in part to spread fear as well as destroy the enemy.
There is no distinct dividing line marking the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Galactic Empire. Rather, there is a period of overlap starting from the election of Senator Palpatine of Naboo to the office of Supreme Chancellor, until the Declaration of a New Order ÃÂ the formal establishment of the Empire.
Palpatine was an efficient and effective leader who quickly brought an end to corruption in the Senate, through greatly increasing the power of the Supreme Chancellor. Eventually, the Senate lost most of its power and became little more than an advisory council to the Supreme Chancellor. Secure in his power and position, Palpatine issued the Declaration of a New Order and declared himself Emperor twenty years before the Battle of Yavin.
The people of the new Empire enthusiastically supported the vision outlined in the Declaration of a New Order. Many senators wholeheartedly supported the new government while a number of more cautious senators chose to watch and wait to see how the new government would handle the affairs of state. It promised to trade strength for frailty, order for chaos, and decisiveness for uncertainty. In retrospect, the foundation of the Empire had already been set down during PalpatineÃÂs chancellorship and therefore the transition from Republic to Empire was relatively smooth.
During the first few years of the Empire, Coruscant was renamed Imperial Center, the galaxy saw the single largest military buildup in history, and a council of Moffs was established to more efficiently govern individual sectors and regions of the Empire. Popular support for the policies of PalpatineÃÂs administration was high. Then began the reign of terror. The Empire initiated the Great Purge, all but exterminating the Jedi Order.
Three of the most influential senators ÃÂ Bail Organa of Alderaan, Garm Bel Iblis of Corellia, and Mon Mothma of Chandrilla ÃÂ met in secret and signed the Corellian Treaty, forming the Alliance to Restore the Republic, more commonly referred to as the Rebellion or the Rebel Alliance. However, the threat of Rebellion allowed Palpatine to endorse the Tarkin Doctrine of rule by fear and force. A year before the Battle of Yavin, Palpatine declared a state of emergency and disbanded the Imperial Senate. Thus the institution that represented the values and ideals of the Republic was swept away.
In addition a key instrument was intended to be the Death Star, a moon sized space station with sufficient firepower to destroy a planet with a single shot, shown in the first Star Wars movie, . Whereas many planets could afford planetary deflector shields capable of warding off virtually any conventional attack, none could defend against the Death Star's prime weapon. Fear would keep the local systems in line.
In the Expanded Universe, the Empire also emphasized humanoid supremacy, with other alien species like Wookiees subject to slavery. Antislavery laws were repealed and legislation legalizing the persecution of nonhumans was passed. Peaceful demonstrations were dispersed using brute force, often killing and maiming thousands, as during the Ghorman Massacre. The planets of the Empire were no longer given a say in the government, but were now kept in line by the sector squadrons of the Imperial Navy, each containing twenty-four Imperator/Imperial-class Star Destroyers. Disillusioned senators who had tried unsuccessfully to use legal means, and the time-honored system of checks and balances, now sought to end PalpatineÃÂs rule through rebellion.
This attempts to explain why almost everyone on the side of the Empire in Episodes IV, V, and VI is human. The Imperial officers usually have a British accent, reminiscent of British imperialism. It is believed by some that Palpatine's association with non-humans like Darth Maul in contradicts the idea that there is any humanoid bias on the part of Palpatine. An alternate explanation for the apparent bias may simply be that of expedience: it is logistically simpler to have ships carry single (or closely-related) species. While some colossal constructs such as the Death Star may have had multi-species crews, only small parts of those stations were ever filmed.
The Rebel Alliance was a guerilla army dedicated to the defeat of the Emperor and the restoration of the Galactic Republic. This goal was nominally achieved with the death of Palpatine and the destruction of the second Death Star at the hands of the Alliance at the Battle of Endor, as depicted in the sixth Star Wars movie, . However, the Empire was too large to be destroyed in one blow; for the next decade and more, the Rebels, renamed the New Republic, fought to free the galaxy from former Imperials styling themselves as independent warlords as well as Imperial loyalists such as Grand Admiral Thrawn. These battles are chronicled in the many novels licensed by Lucasfilm.
The last gasp of the Empire was the Imperial Remnant, a shadow of its former glory. During the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, the Imperial Remnant allied with the New Republic and its successor-state. It appears that the Remnant will play an increasingly important role in galactic affairs all out of proportion to its small economy and military.
An interesting article supporting the Empire can be found at The Case for the Empire. A response to that article is No Case for the Empire.
See also: