- "For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire."
- — Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker
The Galactic Republic was the ruling government of the galaxy that existed for more than twenty-five thousand years, until its reformation into the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY. Throughout its existence, the state was commonly known as the Republic. In the New Galactic Wars era and beyond, it was often remembered as the Old Republic.
The Galactic Republic was a representative democracy, composed of various star systems, sectors and member worlds throughout most of the known galaxy. Its central government consisted of three branches: legislative, executive and judicial.
The first was the Galactic Senate, a body of elected or appointed representatives. Its main duties included mediating disputes over issues ranging from planetary to galactic-scale, regulating trade routes between star systems, and in theory, represented the interests of Republic citizens.
The Office of the Supreme Chancellor was the Senate's executive counterpart. The Supreme Chancellor was elected from the ranks of the Senate by its members. As the leader of the Senate and the overall representative of the Republic, the Chancellor also held the titles Head of State and President.
The judicial branch consisted of the Supreme Court and the lower Regional Courts. The Supreme Court was composed of twelve justices, one of whom held the leadership position of Chief Justice.
Throughout most of its history as the dominant galactic power, the Republic did not style itself as a strong centralized government, but rather as a union of sovereign planets for the purposes of collective security and economic prosperity. It was said that its complete history could "fill a thousand libraries." In the last decades that preceded the rise of the New Order, the Republic was a benevolent—though ineffectual—government tied up in layers of bureaucracy, hampered by political and corporate corruption.
History[]
The Galactic Republic was born with the ratification of the Galactic Constitution in 25,053 BBY. During that time Humans and Duros reverse-engineered the Force-based technologies of the Infinite Empire to create the first hyperdrive, allowing Coruscant to become the capital of the Galactic Republic and it would remain that way for twenty-five thousand years.
Shortly after the formation of the Republic, the Perlemian Trade Route was mapped, linking Coruscant to Ossus, and bringing the Jedi Order into the Republic. A key world of this route was Muunilinst which was the source of the Republic credit that traded with the native Muun who controlled the newly formed InterGalactic Banking Clan.
Over the next millennia, the Corellian Run was mapped, linking Coruscant to Corellia and beyond. The wedge defined by the two trade routes became known as "the Slice." Since the stretch of hyperspace galactic-west of Coruscant was anomaly-ridden and impassable for the current Republic technology, the government expanded eastward instead. The Core Worlds portion of the Slice was known as the Arrowhead, and soon the Republic expanded into the Colonies.
Though history often recalls the Republic as peaceful numerous galactic conflicts occurred throughout its existence.
Early History[]
At first, the government on Coruscant wished for slow expansion, despite its promotion of hyperspace exploration. However, against the government's wishes, the membership of the Republic boomed for its first millennium of existence, mainly due to worlds wishing to join as protection against the Hutt Empire. In 25,000 BBY its capital had officially become a galactic hub and the Hutt Empire had fallen and became Hutt Space.
In 24,000 BBY, the Republic entered into the Tionese War against the Honorable Union of Desevro & Tion. The war traveled up and down the Perlemian, and the respective capitals of Coruscant and Desevro both suffered volleys of pressure bombs. The Republic eventually won the war by stirring up the Hutts against the Tionese. Within a century, most of the Tion Cluster swore allegiance to Coruscant, except for Desevro, which chose to remain independent.
During the Great Manifest Period, the Republic expanded eastwards across the galaxy. Despite this, the Slice would remain the heart of navigable space. Eventually, the Republic expanded past the galactic-northern and -southern borders of the Slice, though most of the galaxy was still unknown, except for outposts such as Ord Mantell and Malastare. The space west of Coruscant still remained unexplored since analogs to the Perlemian Trade Route and the Corellian Run in that direction still had not been discovered. Worse, progress was limited due to dangerous hyperspatial anomalies.
During this period, the Expansion Region was formed. However, this region suffered greatly as a result of Alsakan attempting to snatch control of the Republic from Coruscant. This resulted in seventeen Alsakan Conflicts, spanning from 17,000 BBY to 3000 BBY. However, most of the fighting took place between their holdings in the Expansion Region, rather than in the Core itself. For the most part, Coruscant won every conflict it fought, though the seventh one was a notable exception.
In 15,500 BBY, after a disastrous first contact, Coruscant was assaulted by Star Dragons in the Duinuogwuin Contention. The conflict was peacefully resolved by Supreme Chancellor Fillorean and the Star Dragon philosopher Borz'Mat'oh, who together founded the University of Coruscant. At some time before 12,000 BBY, the Galactic Museum was established on Coruscant.
Around 12,000 BBY, Contispex I became Supreme Chancellor. He and his descendants belonged to the theocratic Pius Dea cult that would control the Republic for the next 1,000 years. These fanatic Supreme Chancellors sanctioned "crusades" against rival alien sects in the Rim. After 11,000 BBY the cult was finally dissolved, but the tensions from the fallout of the crusades would deepen the rifts between the Core Worlds and those of the Rim.
Around 9,000 BBY, Blotus the Hutt became Supreme Chancellor and ruled the Galactic Republic for 275 years during the Rianitus Period. Unlike most other Hutts, Blotus was a distinguished and just ruler.
In 5,000 BBY, the Jedi and the Old Sith Empire clashed in the Great Hyperspace War. Many worlds were forever scarred in that battle, but the Jedi were able to repulse the invaders. After that, the Republic granted the Jedi land over a Force nexus: a sacred mountain on Coruscant over which the Jedi Temple was constructed. The Sith were defeated in that same year but not destroyed.
In 4,250 BBY, the Third Great Schism occurred, which involved fighting on Coruscant. The surviving Dark Jedi were forced to flee to the Vultar system, where they discovered ancient technology indicating that the system's worlds were artificial constructs, probably the creations of the mysterious Celestials who had also built the Corellian system. These Dark Jedi took over these machines, including the Cosmic Turbine, but could not control them, and soon destroyed the whole system and everything in them during the Vultar Cataclysm. Around 4,000 BBY, four Jedi Masters (two Warrior Masters and two Sage Masters) established the ziggurat of the Jedi Temple over the Force nexus on Coruscant, which would stand for over four thousand years.
Sith Wars[]
Following those conflicts were those of the Sith Wars that almost destroyed the Republic. During the Great Sith War the Sith Lords Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma, along with their Krath and Mandalorian allies, waged war on the Republic with their own Sith Empire, causing devastation until they were defeated by the combined Jedi and Republic forces.
These would be followed by the Mandalorian Wars. They were fought between Mandalorian forces hoping to expand their colonies beyond the Outer Rim Territories and the Galactic Republic, which feared further incursions.
The Mandalorian Wars were a prelude to the more devastating Jedi Civil War which was fought between the Republic and the Sith Empire under Darth Revan and Darth Malak. It was possibly the most destructive conflict of that entire era, with many worlds, including Taris, Dantooine, and Telos IV, being devastated by the Sith fleet.
After the Jedi Civil War and the fall of the Sith Empire, the Sith remnants fought each other, exterminated the remaining Jedi and waged a secret war with the Republic, until the Battle of Malachor. One year later, the Sith Civil War ended, bringing the Old Sith Wars and the Sith Empire to an end.
Some time later the Kanz Disorders took place in the Kanz sector. During that time, the Provisional Governor Myrial of Argazda seceded from the Republic and established a military regime throughout the Kanz Sector. During the conflict that followed, her military forces invaded planets that resisted her reign throughout the Kanz Sector, including Lorrd. She often enslaved their inhabitants, most notably the Lorrdians of Lorrd. After three centuries and the loss of over five billion lives, including those of some 500 million Lorrdians, the Kanz Disorders finally ended when Jedi/Republic efforts toppled the regime in 3,670 BBY.
In 3,700 BBY, Freia Kallea discovered the Hydian Way, which spanned the entire north-south width of the galaxy. This allowed the Republic to expand past the Slice into the worlds of the Mid and Outer Rims, and also led to the discovery of more hyperspace routes, including the Corellian Trade Spine, thus starting the Second Expansion Wave.
Galactic Wars[]
In 3,681 BBY, the Sith Empire returned to wage war against the Republic in the Great Galactic War. The War greatly weakened the Republic, culminating in the Sacking of Coruscant and the signing of the Treaty of Coruscant in 3653 BBY. The Treaty of Coruscant placed several major burdens on the Republic. A large economic depression began, slowing the rebuilding process and stalling efforts to restore peace. The Treaty of Coruscant also forced the Republic to abandon many long-time allies, including the Bothans.
The Republic was forced to relinquish control of many planets to the Empire, such as Balmorra. As a result of the Great Galactic War and its subsequent treaty, which left the Republic in an unfavorable position, many star systems began withdrawing from the Republic. The Mantellian Separatist Movement took over Ord Mantell, beginning the Separatist War, while Alderaan seceded from the Republic altogether, beginning the Alderaan Civil War.
The Republic was plagued with an insurmountable supply crisis and chaos in the streets of Coruscant, and the Senate was left paralyzed. Confused by the chaos, the insolvent Senate blamed the War and its current problems on the Jedi, sparking a feud with the Order that saw their departure from Coruscant and relocation to their ancestral homeworld of Tython.
After the Great Galactic War the Cold War began, lasting for 11 years before the tense peace collapsed around 3,642 BBY, beginning the Galactic War, which began to conclude around 3,637 BBY with a temporary truce between the Empire and the Republic during the re-emergence of the Revanites with Revan in lead. It finally ended in 3,636 BBY during the Eternal Empire conquest, in which the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire had to submit to the new power and were forced to pay huge amounts of resources.
The Republic and the Sith Empire were liberated with the defeat of the Eternal Empire at the hands of the Outlander and their Eternal Alliance. Shortly after, tentions escalated again between the two side during the conflict on Iokath, and later into an all out war after the Sith Empire's assault on the Jedi colony on Ossus.
At an unspecified point in galactic history, the Sith Empire would eventually fall, with Darth Desolous having set up his own faction over a century after the Eternal Empire's invasion. In 3,000 BBY, the Seventeenth Alsakan Conflict ended with the final defeat of Alsakan.
Draggulch Period[]
In 2,000 BBY, the Republic once more faced the menace of the Sith with the fall of Darth Ruin and the rise of the New Sith Empire. This time, the Jedi took the forefront of the war against the revived order. The conflict with the reborn Sith Empire fluctuated over the course of hundreds of years until the Battle of Mizra in 1,466 BBY, which saw one of the largest Sith victories in the entire war. The losses for the Republic were so catastrophic that a dark age began, with widespread social unrest and economic collapse.
The Republic itself shrunk to a mere rump state surrounding the Core Worlds, Inner Colonies, and few other worlds outside it, with the Sith Empire encompassing virtually the rest of the entire galaxy. The Jedi took over absolute authority, ruling the remainder of the Republic directly. The Senate was bypassed, with sole governing power residing in the Jedi, while the Republic's armed forces were absorbed into the Jedi Army of Light.
After nearly five hundred years of continued war, the Army of Light had beat back the Sith to the planet Ruusan. They were finally defeated in 1,000 BBY at the Seventh Battle of Ruusan, although almost all the forces of the Army of Light that were on Ruusan also perished. The lone Sith survivor, Darth Bane, subsequently initiated the Rule of Two, meaning that at any given time there would only be one Sith Master and an apprentice. They continued this method over the next millennium, in secrecy, waiting patiently for the right moment to bring down the Jedi.
Post-Draggulch Period[]
Following the battle, the Ruusan Reformation was enacted by Chancellor Tarsus Valorum. It returned power to the Senate, placed the Jedi under the authority of the Republic government, and disbanded the vast majority of its remaining military.
At long last, with war after war, peace and prosperity came to the Republic. Yet with it came a dangerous complacency. Vast armies and navies were downscaled, and the Republic came to rely on the Jedi more and more for the maintenance of civility. Despite a few isolated flashpoints—like the Stark Hyperspace War and the Battle of Naboo—full-scale military conflict remained a distant memory.
Nonetheless, remote planets theoretically under the jurisdiction of the Republic hardly could find the technology that was commonly available near the Core. Feeling little interest for those planets, the Republic did not even chart them properly or classify all of their flora and fauna.
Decline of the Republic[]
- "The Republic is not what it once was. The Senate is full of greedy, squabbling delegates. There is no interest in the common good."
- — Palpatine
As the Republic grew more and more powerful, many of the bureaucrats and Senators that ran the government grew increasingly corrupt or complacent. The bureaucracy that had grown and festered over millennia choked any attempt at effective government. Furthermore, patron politics and personal agendas also hampered effective governing, and due to the increasing collusion of decadent governmental agents and politicians with favored groups, corporations like the Trade Federation and Techno Union grew in power and even formed their own militaries. It is likely, given the eventual result of this decline, that it was nurtured and accelerated (and perhaps even started) by the Sith during the centuries they spent in hiding after the Battle of Ruusan.
During this time Naboo fell under siege by the Trade Federation. Despite the full-scale invasion of the planet, the call to condemn the invasion was tied up in bureaucratic procedure. When Queen Amidala—the elected leader of the sovereign system of Naboo—spoke before the Senate, calling for action, she also called for a Vote of No Confidence in the leadership of the Republic, under the persuasion of Palpatine, and Chancellor Finis Valorum was voted out of office. This led to the increasingly-popular Palpatine's election as the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic.
Clone Wars[]
Traditionally, the Chancellor could only serve two four-year terms, but Palpatine stayed in office much longer, due to the prolonged Separatist Crisis.
The crisis occurred when several of the Republic's star systems and commercial organizations, fed up with the corruption and obliviousness to their issues and concerns in the Republic, united in order to separate from the Republic. This unified front became known as the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Tensions between the Republic and the Separatists eventually escalated into all-out war after a Jedi strike team came to Geonosis, which started the First Battle of Geonosis—and the Clone Wars.
In the ensuing years, the Senate increasingly gave more power to Palpatine, who became the war's political Commander-in-Chief. Such actions were justified in the name of security, and eventually, Palpatine did not need the approval of the Senate for many of his actions. Since the Chancellor held the loyalties of a vast majority of supporters in the Senate, this was considered a perfectly reasonable way to increase the wartime government's efficiency. The citizens of the galaxy, who had long since lost faith in the corrupt and inefficient Republic itself, came to see Palpatine personally as their protector from the droid armies and their terrible commander, General Grievous.
The End of Democracy[]
- "So this is how liberty dies… with thunderous applause."
- — Padmé Amidala
The tension between Chancellor Palpatine and the Jedi Order grew as the Council became increasingly wary of the Chancellor's lust for greater power. As the Chancellor continued to increase his authority through a variety of emergency powers, the Council became ever more suspicious of Palpatine's intentions and ultimately disapproved of the Republic's gradual slide into autocracy, especially at the expense of the Senate—the only governmental body that the Order was legally obligated to serve.
With the help of Anakin Skywalker, the Council discovered that Palpatine was actually the elusive Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith, and thus they conspired to arrest the Republic's own head of state. The Jedi coup d'état ended in failure, however, when Palpatine killed all four of the Jedi Masters, including Mace Windu, that tried to take him into custody. He then responded by declaring all Jedi as enemies of the Republic and won the Senate's support after portraying them as assassins bent on taking over the Republic. Through Order 66, the Chancellor realized the Sith's long-awaited dream of the Jed Order's destruction. Without warning, the clone troopers of the Grand Army betrayed and murdered most of their Jedi officers.
As the Clone Wars ended with the onset of the Great Jedi Purge in 19 BBY, Palpatine addressed the Senate and declared the rise of a New Order, beginning with the Republic's immediate transformation into the Galactic Empire. Palpatine, who had been grotesquely disfigured during the attempt on his life, proclaimed himself emperor of the galaxy, thus transforming the office of the Supreme Chancellor into what it had already become—an absolute dictatorship. Deluded by Palpatine's charm and skill, in conjunction with the effects of his dark side powers of persuasion, the majority of the Senate cheered him on loudly in approval. Soon afterward, industries were nationalized and the Republic was replaced by the authoritarian Empire, ruled by a megalomaniac autocrat.
After more than 25,000 years, the Galactic Republic ceased to exist. Only a shrunken, powerless Imperial Senate remained as the last symbol of the old galactic government. Prior to its dissolution two decades after the rise of the Empire, the Senate was nothing more than an ineffective advisory board that Palpatine tolerated until his reign was consolidated enough for him to rule without the stagnant bureaucracy. With the last remnant of the Republic destroyed by the very man whom they supported, the Senate's responsibilities were redirected to the Moffs and regional governors, all of whom were empowered to rule over their respective territories in the name of Emperor Palpatine.