Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/Week 36, 2012/0

In the year 3,681 BBY, the Rimma Trade Route was blockaded by the Sith Empire in an attempt to strangle the resources of the Galactic Republic. The action was one of the earliest conflicts of the Great Galactic War, and occurred shortly after the Empire's return to the known galaxy. As part of the Sith Emperor's plan to secure the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories, the Rimma super-hyperroute was locked down, which resulted in further Republic losses and interior political turmoil. While Republic forces in the Outer Rim suffered from a lack of supplies and reinforcements&mdash;particularly those in the embattled Minos Cluster&mdash;military leaders organized efforts to retake the Rimma Trade Route. After the Republic Army's first unsuccessful counterattack, the blockade was ended in 3,680 BBY, when a fleet of the Republic Navy regrouped in the Seswenna sector and launched a second assault. The attack succeeded in breaking the Empire's hold on the route, thereby allowing the Republic to ship war materiel and reinforcements to Outer Rim battlefronts.