' Republic, Empire… What's the difference?' ― CT-1409 'Echo' and CT-9904 'Crosshair' įollowing the end of the destructive three-year galaxy-wide conflict known as the Clone Wars, then Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine ushered in the formation of the Galactic Empire, a dictatorship composed of the entirety of the former Galactic Republic and with himself as its head of state, the first Galactic Emperor. ' Galactic Empire? We're soldiers of the Republic.' Six months later, the Imperial Military suffered a sudden and crushing defeat at the Battle of Endor.Īfter successive defeats by New Republic as well as the power vacuum left in the wake of the Emperor's death following Endor, the Imperial Military finally collapsed on the Inner Rim Territories world of Jakku and was officially disbanded by the New Republic shortly after the war ended. Even after the loss of the Death Star over Yavin, the Empire was able to almost defeat the rebels during the Battle of Hoth. The Imperial stormtroopers and Star Destroyers were deployed and fought across the galaxy to retain Imperial control. However it would be faced with a growing rebellion which caused concern within the military, ultimately resulting in the formation of the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the Galactic Civil War. Formed as a realignment of the Republic Military following the Clone Wars and the transformation from Galactic Republic to the Empire, the nascent Imperial Military was tasked with enforcement across the Empire and was used for suppressing planetary uprisings, continuing the Great Jedi Purge and chasing holdouts of the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

The Imperial Military, also referred to as the Imperial Armed Forces, comprised the various branches of the armed forces of the Galactic Empire, such as the Imperial Army and Imperial Navy and the Stormtrooper Corps, as well as agencies such as Imperial Intelligence. Look on our new military not as trespassers or interlopers, but as gatekeepers, here to shore up the Emperor's vision of a pacified and prosperous galaxy.' ― Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, in his Tarkin Doctrine ' It may appear to some that the enactment of universal laws and the widespread deployment of a heavily armed military are steps toward galactic domination, but these actions are taken merely to protect us from those who would invade, enslave, exploit, or foment political dissent, and to punish accordingly any who engage in such acts.

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