Twenty-three years after the Proclamation of the New Order and the formation of the
Galactic Empire, a ragtag assembly of freedom fighters, resistance groups and political
idealists launched a daring attack on the Empire’s second Death Star.
On the ground and in orbit of the forest moon of Endor, Rebel units achieved the impossible;
disabling the battlestation’s shield generator and igniting its reactor core.
With the death of the Emperor and much of the upper-leadership of the Imperial Navy,
the tattered remnants of the Empire soon collapsed, bringing an end to one of the most oppressive
and tyrannical regimes in galactic history.
This remarkable achievement, unthinkable even just a few years earlier, was earned through
the sacrifice and hope of a willing few, known to history and myth as the Alliance to Restore
the Republic.
Even before the formation of the Galactic Empire, the elements that would eventually
become the Rebel Alliance had started to take shape.
Despite the ongoing war against the Confederacy many members of the Galactic Senate, including
Senators Mon Mothma, Bail Organa and Padmé Amidala had grown increasingly concerned with
the extraordinary authority granted to Chancellor Palpatine.
This group attempted to force a commitment from Palpatine to resign as soon as the need
for wartime emergency powers had passed, but the assassination attempt on the Chancellor
by the supposedly traitorous Jedi Order strengthened Palpatine’s already considerable public
support while the death of Senator Amidala silenced once of his harshest critics.
After the defeat of the Confederacy, and the New Order established across the galaxy, the
burgeoning Empire rapidly expanded its military and instituted a crackdown on many of the
worlds and star systems that had existed in a semi-independent state under the Republic.
Many occupied worlds were intimidated by the Imperial military, but several attempts were
made to resist.
While hardly a genuine threat to the power of the Empire, the Free Ryloth Movement and
the development of resistance cells on planets such as Antar, Lothal, and others
represented some of the earliest movements dedicated to opposing Imperial rule.
Non-Human species represented a sizable contingent of these early movements, having been disproportionately
active in the Separatist Alliance and now widely persecuted by the Empire as a result.
As the Empire expanded into the Outer Rim Territories, the former stronghold of the
Confederacy and historically defiant towards outside rule, armed resistance against Imperial
Forces expanded to include dozens, perhaps hundreds of various militant groups.
These ranged from the crews of single ships, such as the Spectres and their infamous light
freighter “Ghost,” to Phoenix Squadron which at its height commanded a flotilla of
starships including several stolen Imperial warships.
These cells maintained at least sporadic contact with the Rebellion’s leadership, but were
often kept deliberately ignorant of one another’s actions and existence to compartmentalize
important information.
While most of these groups shared the ideals of Mon Mothma and Bail Organa, fighting for
the restoration of the Republic and the rule of law, in desperation, the Rebellion was
often forced to associate with known criminals or extremist groups who would participate
in indiscriminate bombings and the murder of captured Imperial targets.
Eventually, as the Empire learned of the existence of a coordinated resistance movement, the
various Rebel cells were carefully integrated, culminating in a Declaration of Rebellion
and the mobilization of rebel forces into larger, permanently mobile fleets.
At its height, the Alliance Navy was comprised of hundreds of capital ships, support vessels
and starfighters.
These ships were commonly repurposed civilian craft; privately owned, stolen from Imperial
use, or in the case of the Alliance’s largest cruisers, clandestinely donated by sympathetic
worlds, most notably by Mon Calamari.
While rarely a match for their Imperial counterparts, the use of former civilian vessels made the
ships easier to crew by Alliance personnel, many of whom had never received formal military
training.
Perhaps the Alliance Military’s greatest asset however was their Starfighter Corps,
comprised of some of the best ship designs ever put into service and uniquely suited
for service in the Rebellion.
Rebel ships and pilots alike grew to almost legendary status and were responsible for
some of the greatest victories during the conflict against the Empire.
Consolidated into a single fleet and now styled as the Alliance to Restore the Republic, the
group centralized many of its activities, creating various civil and military institutions
to help coordinate their actions on a galactic scale.
Unable to realistically compete with the Empire in traditional warfare and only able to assert
control over a scattered few remote planetary systems, the Rebellion conducted a series
of hit and run attacks against vulnerable military targets.
While fundamentally a military operation, the Alliance also adopted many of the characteristics
of a government in exile.
Embracing the ideals of the Old Republic, the Alliance was placed under civilian authority
with Mon Mothma appointed the title of Chancellor.
The Alliance High Command and the Alliance Civil Government functioned as the military
and political leadership of the Rebellion, but its limited resources and the nature of
the Alliance meant that there was significant crossover between the two groups with several
members serving on both councils.
The Rebellion’s commitment to democratic decision making was put to the test when the
Alliance learned of the existence of the Death Star, a mobile battlestation capable of destroying
an entire planet.
With the Council hesitant to confront the Empire and paralyzed with inaction, components
of the Alliance military, led by the improvised strike-team “Rogue One” conducted an unsanctioned
mission to an Imperial installation on Scarif in the hopes of retrieving the plans for the
Death Star.
The Alliance suffered tremendous losses but succeeded in acquiring the schematics which
were eventually delivered to the Rebellion’s headquarters on Yavin IV.
With a weakness in the station identified, but the Death Star itself on route to their
location, rebel pilots participated in a last-ditch attempt to save the Alliance by attacking
the superweapon head-on.
In what some would later call the “Miracle at Yavin” Luke Skywalker, with the assistance
of wingman Wedge Antilles and the smuggler Han Solo, destroyed the Death Star just seconds
before it could annihilate Yavin IV.
This victory served to finally unify the discordant elements of the Rebellion, but was tempered
by the knowledge that before its destruction, the Death Star had destroyed Alderaan, one
of the Rebellion’s largest supporters and home to Bail Organa who had only just returned
to the planet at the time of its destruction.
The death of Bail Organa led his daughter, Princess Leia Organa, to became one of the
most prominent voices in the Alliance, at times second only to Mon Mothma herself.
An active member of the Rebellion for most of her adult life, Leia oversaw operations
of the remote Echo Base on Hoth and then coordinated its evacuation when the Imperial Navy learned
of its location.
The Battle of Hoth was a sizable defeat to the Alliance, who had long struggled to maintain
a permanent base of operations.
Pursued across the galaxy by Imperial forces, the Rebel Alliance became determined to end
the Empire in a single decisive blow.
When Alliance Intelligence, through its contacts within the Bothan Spynet discovered that a
second Death Star was under construction under the personal oversight of the Emperor, that
opportunity had seemingly presented itself.
As the rebel fleet arrived over the forest moon of Endor, it soon became apparent that
they had been lured into a trap.
Confronted by both a fully operational Death Star, a large formation of the Imperial Navy
and a legion of Stormtroopers on the surface of Endor, the Alliance had no choice but to
commit fully to the attack.
Once again, against all odds, the second Death Star was destroyed, taking with it a large
percentage of the Imperial Navy.
This shocking and unexpected victory over the Empire sparked a wave of protests and
riots across the galaxy, with even Coruscants’ Monument Plaza erupting in waves of anti-imperial
demonstrations.
With entire star systems having overthrown the Empire and proclaimed their allegiance
to the Rebellion, the Alliance was reorganized into the New Republic which one year later
would force the complete surrender of the Empire following the defeat of the last major
holdouts at Jakku.
Even decades later when the actions of the Rebellion had become as much legend as fact,
the heroic sacrifices made in the name of freedom would continue to inspire new generations
of freedom fighters and serve as a reminder that hope is too powerful for any regime to
completely extinguish.
The Templin Institute investigates nations, organizations, and factions from alternate
worlds and realities.
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