Galactic Empire (Star Wars)

The Galactic Empire is one of the main factions in the Star Wars universe. It is a tyrannical, xenophobic, galaxy-spanning regime established by the series' lead villain, Palpatine, to replace the Galactic Republic in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Galactic Empire is introduced in A New Hope. The Empire also appears in The Empire Strikes Back, and in Return of the Jedi.

The Empire's origins are explained in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, where it replaces the Galactic Republic in the midst of a crisis orchestrated by Palpatine, then the Republic's Supreme Chancellor. In a scene towards the end of the film, Palpatine appoints himself as Emperor. By the time of A New Hope, the Empire has transformed into a totalitarian regime, still struggling with a rebellion, now known as the Rebel Alliance.

It is stated in the Star Wars literature that the Empire at its height consisted of over one million member worlds and 50 million colonies, protectorates and governorships.

Origins of the Empire
The Galactic Empire was born out of the Old Republic. However, the seeds of change were planted during the Clone Wars, the epic war between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems depicted in Attack of the Clones. It is also believed that the events leading to Palpatine's rise was the sinister rituals the Sith Lord performed while being helped by fallen Dark Lords who have not entered the netherworld. These rituals created a state of confusion, depression, and anxiety among select parts of the galaxy, especially the central world of Coruscant. These rituals led to Anakin's fall, as well as the fall of the Jedi Order. When the extent of the Separatist threat becomes clear, the Old Republic Senate, the legislature of the Republic, grants Palpatine emergency powers to deal with the Separatist threat. This conflict allows Palpatine to remain in office well past the limits set forth by the Galactic Constitution. Palpatine promised to return his powers to the Senate once peace and order was restored to the galaxy. Palpatine takes advantage of the conflict to greatly increase the office's power.
 * Gaining Power:

In Revenge of the Sith, the Jedi begin to distrust the Chancellor's motives, fearing he has come under the influence of a Sith Lord named Darth Sidious. The film eventually reveals that Palpatine and Sidious are one and the same, and that he has been manipulating the Republic and the Separatists against each other. As the war drags on, the Chancellor's power continues to grow until he became effectively a dictator. When the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker discovers Palpatine's true Sith identity, the Jedi try and fail to arrest him. However, he had almost lost a physical battle against the Jedi Master Mace Windu when Anakin Skywalker helps him defeat the Jedi Master. Palpatine is severely disfigured during this duel; Windu deflects the Sith Lord's Force lightning back onto its source with his lightsaber, scarring Palpatine's face. Palpatine then converts Anakin to the dark side of the Force, making him his Sith apprentice, Darth Vader. Palpatine declares the Jedi to be traitors and enemies of the Republic. Secure in his power and position, Palpatine reorganizes the Republic into the Galactic Empire, with himself as Emperor for life. Shortly prior to this declaration, Palpatine issues Order 66, a secret order to his genetically engineered clone Grand Army of the Republic to kill their Jedi Commanders. Soon, nearly all Jedi are wiped out across the galaxy. Palpatine's Empire promises to trade frailty for strength, chaos for order, and uncertainty for decisiveness. The citizens of the newly formed government enthusiastically support the vision outlined in the Declaration. Most of the Senate support him as well, though several more cautious senators choose to watch to see how he would handle the affairs of state while only a few (like Padmé Amidala and Bail Organa) realize that the "freedom" enshrined by the Republic is in serious jeopardy. A deleted scene in the film establishes that the two are among the main founders of the Rebel Alliance.
 * A New Regime:

Two remaining Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, attempt to stop the Sith Lords that are sweeping the galaxy. Yoda confronts Palpatine in an epic duel, promising to end his rule, and Obi-Wan duels his former apprentice turned into the deadly Lord Vader. Even though Obi-Wan succeeds at defeating Vader/Anakin to the brink of death, Master Yoda is unable to defeat the new Emperor, but promises to continue the fight. Plucked from the brink of death, the Emperor rebuilds his fallen apprentice into the dark and destroyed Darth Vader, forever imprisoned in a life-support suit.

Led by Darth Vader, the Emperor's Army of Clone Troopers (now Stormtroopers) and other organizations of Sith/Dark Jedi agents all but exterminate the Jedi Order. During the first years of the Empire, Coruscant is renamed the Imperial Center and the galaxy saw the single largest military buildup in history.

Organization of power
Emperor Palpatine rules the Empire with absolute power (though nominally bound by a Constitution), with third-in-command Sate Pestage as Grand Vizier (the Head of Government, who was running the Empire day to day by the Battle of Endor). Vader is the Emperor's second-in-command as well as the Military Executor and Supreme Commander of the Imperial Forces. Two of Palpatine's top advisers are Janus Greejatus and Sim Aloo, who accompany Palpatine on the second Death Star. The leadership of the Empire is called the Imperial Inner Circle, led by Palpatine.

The Senate exists for 19 years after the Empire's establishment as the Imperial Senate, but is little more than an advisory council. Palpatine dissolves it in A New Hope because the Empire discovers several seats in the Senate are actually taken by members of the Rebellion, and the Emperor wants to sweep away any remaining government groups from the Old Republic. Officially, the Imperial Senate is "suspended for the duration of the Galactic emergency" (the threat posed by the Rebellion). Below the Emperor, real power is in the hands of sector moffs such as Tarkin, and other regional governors, and is heavily enforced by the military. A Council of Moffs is established to govern individual sectors and regions of the Empire more efficiently. Eventually, the regional governors are granted direct control over their territories and more power as well.

The Empire's chief tenet is the "Tarkin Doctrine," which theorized that the best form of government is "rule through fear of force rather than force itself". The instrument of this power is the military, which includes the Imperial Stormtroopers, Scout Troopers, Sandtroopers, SCUBA Troopers, Snowtroopers, and a large fleet of intimidating war vehicles such as the Imperial Navy's Star Destroyers and the Imperial Army's All Terrain Armoured Transports (AT-ATs or imperial walkers) which are intended in part to spread fear as well as destroy the enemy. This policy reaches its zenith with the construction of the Death Star battle station.

In the Expanded Universe, the Imperial Interim Ruling Council is formed following the Emperor's death to organize and maintain the Galactic Empire from final collapse. However, its foundation was destroyed by infighting and warlordism.

Palpatine as a ruler
Emperor Palpatine's rule was unique in galactic history; while the centralization and utter dependence on Palpatine was not unprecedented (in its time, the empire of Xim the Despot was as powerful, and collapsed even more rapidly than did the Empire after Xim's death at the Third Battle of Vontor), the all-embracing reach, the heights of dark side power and pre-eminence of the Sith, and the military developments reached during Palpatine's era were. Equally unprecedented was the destruction of the Jedi Order.

His rule to most observers was impressive: Palpatine "judged the universe on his own terms, with a clear sense of right and wrong" and "looked to no other guide than himself".

Palpatine had little trouble ordering military retaliations or any actions against those who threaten his power, such as the incineration of Caamas, the systematic extermination of the Jedi, the attempted resurrection of the droid army by Gizor Delso, the "unofficial" Clone rebellion on Kamino, or killing millions of Coruscanti when the Super Star Destroyer Lusankya was buried in the surface of Coruscant to serve as an escape vehicle (an illuminating example of how Palpatine sought to outdo all previous Sith and Jedi; where the Sith Lord Naga Sadow was content to bury a Sith Battleship on the deserted surface of Yavin 4, Palpatine ordered the construction burial of an entire kilometers-long Super Star Destroyer on the most inhabited planet in the galaxy). Neither did he lose any sleep over the retaliations his various lieutenants might engage in. Indeed, he even condoned them with the endorsement of the Tarkin Doctrine as official policy.

Unwilling to have any limits placed on his power, Palpatine eventually sought to control all other galaxies virtually forever. His clones where the first step of the plan. Palpatine planned to grow a number of clones of himself so he could transfer his spirit into a fresh clone body when the one before it grew too old. Sometime after the Outbound Flight Project, Palpatine hastily grew a clone of his former Jedi advisor, the Jedi Master Jorus C'Baoth. The experiment failed, however, when the clone went insane and challenged his power, necessitating its destruction. Nevertheless, Palpatine learned that Force-potential could be passed to clone bodies, and filed the information away for future use.

During the Great Jedi Purge, Palpatine captured the wise Jedi Master Ashka Boda and ripped a number of Jedi secrets out of his mind, including how to transfer one's spirit to another body. Palpatine experimented with his novel procedure at his leisure during the Galactic Civil War, practicing on servants that were too valuable to lose permanently. One notable example was Bevel Lemelisk, a scientist charged with the creation of the Death Star battlestation. (Lemelisk was executed for the Death Star's fatal flaw, the exhaust port.)

Palpatine pursued another road towards immortality. He made contact with the Ssi-ruuk Imperium; Palpatine had learned of their unusual system of powering machinery — they literally channelled the spirit out of living beings and stored them in the machines. He died at Endor before he followed the possibilities this opened up

Resistance to Imperial rule
Disturbed by Palpatine's new dictatorship, three of the most influential senators - Bail Organa of Alderaan, Garm Bel Iblis of Corellia, and Mon Mothma of Chandrila - met in secret to sign the Corellian Treaty, forming the Alliance to Restore the Republic, more commonly referred to as the Rebel Alliance. During the 19 years that took place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, the Rebellion is all but crushed by the Empire, and its leaders are constantly forced into hiding while others were killed.

The Death Star, a moon-sized space station (whose construction began at the end of Episode III) with sufficient firepower to destroy a planet, was designed to be the supreme weapon of the Empire's power. The station's commander, Grand Moff Tarkin, demonstrated that power when he destroys the populated planet of Alderaan merely as a show of force. However, soon after this, the station is assaulted by a small force of Rebel starfighters in an engagement called the Battle of Yavin, which ends with the Death Star's destruction at the hands of Luke Skywalker. The victory is the Rebel Alliance's first major success against the Empire. Furthermore, the threat of Skywalker himself became evident to the Emperor when he learned that, in addition to being Darth Vader's son, Skywalker showed tremendous potential to become the first of a new generation of Jedi Knights to oppose the Empire.

The Empire is permanently defeated when Palpatine and Vader die during the Battle of Endor, as portrayed in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. In the film's climactic battle, the Rebellion destroys the second Death Star and a great portion of the Imperial Navy's highest ranking officers. In the Expanded Universe, it is stated that though the Empire was too large and well-organized to be destroyed with one blow, it becomes corrupt following Palpatine's death; for the next decade and more the Rebels, renamed the New Republic, fight to claim the galaxy from remnant Imperials styling themselves as independent warlords, as well as Imperial loyalists such as Grand Admiral Thrawn and Ysanne Isard.

In a twist of irony, the Empire's greatest weapons (the Death Stars) led to its destruction as many of it military leaders were killed when either one was destroyed by the Rebels.

Imperial leaders

 * Palpatine 19 BBY - 4 ABY (Note: The Empire factionalized after Palpatine's death, and heavy in-fighting between various fleet commanders competing for position ensued. Only on rare occasions was one leader able to assert themselves as unquestioned leader of all Imperial forces after this)
 * Sate Pestage 4 - 5 ABY
 * Trioculus 5 ABY (in opposition to Pestage and Isard)
 * Kadann 5 ABY (in opposition to Pestage and Isard)
 * Ysanne Isard 5 - 8 ABY
 * Thrawn 8 - 9 ABY (Note: Re-unified most Imperial factions)
 * Palpatine (reborn) 10 - 11 ABY (Note: Re-unified all Imperial factions, after they broke up again upon Thrawn's death)
 * Carnor Jax 11 ABY
 * Daala 12 ABY (Note: Re-unifed all Imperial factions, by assassinating the leaders of all other factions at a gathering. Voluntarily resigned and passed on leadership to Pellaeon).
 * Gilad Pellaeon + Moffs 13-30 ABY
 * Roan Fel circa 130 ABY
 * Darth Krayt (usurper) 130 ABY -

Fan Societies / Clubs

 * The Empire Reborn - Roleplaying & gaming society (PC Games)
 * The Galactic Empire - Roleplaying game with strong emphasis on political and military training.