Old Republic military uniforms

This is a brief guide to the available evidence on Old Republic military uniforms', the regulation dress worn by the Army, Navy and paramilitary forces of the Galactic Republic before the Declaration of a New Order in 19 BBY. It covers the evidence both for styles of uniform, and for rank insignia.

Age of the Great Sith War
The earliest available information on military uniforms in the Republic dates from around the time of the Great Sith War. During the conflicts of c. 4,000 BBY officers of the Republic Navy like Captain Vanicus wore armoured helmets and heavy ochre/brown dusters, perhaps of leather or some other reinforced material, with metal shoulderstraps apparently indicating rank.

A few decades later during the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War, Republic uniforms had developed somewhat. Some officers, such as Commander Carth Onasi and Ensign Trask Ulgo aboard the Endar Spire, still wore leather jerkins, but these were notably lighter than before. The most distinctive elements of uniforms in this timeframe seem to have been green jackets or tunics, usually with a very low collar and red facings. A number of different uniform variations are recorded, however, and the avaliable evidence is not extensive enough to offer any clear indication of the reasons for the discrepancies. For example, Admiral Forn Dodonna wore a double-breasted tunic with a high collar, fastening on the left, while Admiral Saul Karath wore a single-breasted tunic with unusual grey turnbacks and grey stovepipe trousers. Both these officers wore service caps with little or no brim and a crown in the facing color, but apparently of somewhat different design.

Some elements did recur widely on different types of uniform, albeit with minor variations. First, there were shoulderstraps in the facing colour (i.e. usually red), which extended over the uper arm of the tunic somewhat like epaulettes, and which were also worn by on their non-regulation robes and jumpsuits. Then there was also a distinctive design at the throat of the jacket, which usually consisted of pairs of upright bars arranged on small panels either side of the fastening, below the band of the collar: variations of this device were worn by both Ensign Ulgo and Admiral Cede, while Admiral Dodonna wore a version on her upright collar. Saul Karath's bars, unusually were horizontal.

A depiction of Jedi Master Xamar serving with the Republic Fleet during the Mandalorian Wars shows him wearing a khaki uniform surprisingly similar to those used by the Imperial military four thousand years later, but this is different from other representations of Republic military uniforms at this time, and it is not clear how much weight can be put on this single depiction.

Rise of the Empire
Little further evidence for uniforms or rank insignia is available until the last years before the Clone Wars, when the precursors of the suibsequent Imperial military uniforms are first recorded. A version of the familiar officer's uniform, consisting of a belted lancer tunic, breeches and boots, was in use by 44 BBY, along with what seem to be prototypical rank insignia, but this date is merely a terminus post quem. Although there is no extant evidence that versions of the same insignia and uniform were used at any earlier date, it cannot be proven that they were not: with the exception to the incongruous image of Xamar mentioned above, little or no relevant evidence is currently available one way or another.

Before the Clone Wars
In the last years of the Old Republic, officers acting under Judicial Department authority typically wore blue tunics, but a few variant colors are seen in extant material. Ranulph Tarkin sported a red tunic with blue breeches, which he wore as a Senator even before he proclaimed himself commanding General of a united Republic Navy, while the captain of a Judicial ship destroyed above Ova in Quelii Sector in 31 BBY wore a red tunic and red breeches. The uniforms of this same ship's bridge crew appear green in surviving images, but this hue seems to be due to the glow from the screens at their duty stations, and these personnel may likewise have worn red, or simply standard blue, as did the Judicial crew of Tarkin's command ship, the Invincible. No explicit explanation for the red uniforms is offered, but they may have denoted personnel from the Outland Regions Security Force, or perhaps officers assigned to local sector fleets rather than Judicial forces. The existence of red uniforms is an indication that range of different uniforms may not be fully reflected in the available sources, which tend to focus on Coruscant and the crews of consular ships working with the Jedi Order. As an indication of the possible variations outwith the scope of available evidence, it should be mentioned that one source of uncertain accuracy also claims that some Republican Army units already wore grey before the Battle of Naboo, as the Imperial Army later would.

Most Judicial officers wore no obvious rank badges whatsoever, and where insignia were used, these could be quite different from those later adopted by the Empire. For example, among company-level officers in some militia units on Coruscant, two zig-zag stripes of gold braid on the cuff indicated a Lieutenant, while shoulder-knots and an aguilette distinguished a Captain. In a few rare instances, however, officers did bear insignia broadly comparable to those worn by later Imperial officers: Ranulph Tarkin's tunic had three metalic chits at the right shoulder, somewhat reminiscent of code cylinders, and a row of three long vertical lozenges, colored red, blue and red, on the left breast where the Imperial rank plaque would later typically sit. In 22 BBY, Laslo Dorits, a senior representative of the Stark Veteran Assembly and a former subordinate of Tarkin's, wore a blue Judicial uniform with two code cylinders in the right-hand pocket, and red and blue chits on the right-hand corner of the plastron. Dorits also wore a braided aguilette similar to those of militia officers on Coruscant, but no cuff insignia, and his uniform sported further unique details including an ornate pendant hanging from the throat of his collar, a red sash with a Republic insignia, and a red armband on the right arm; the sash hid the left-hand side of the tunic, making it imossible to ascertain if he wore any further badge or code cylinders there.

It is not known whether Dorits was still a serving soldier at this time, or what rank he had attained, and at least some of his uniform's features may have reflected the paramilitary posturing of the SVA; but his use of code cylinders and red and blue tabs provides one of the firmest precedents for the later Imperial rank insignia, and also suggests that such badges could be worn with the standard blue Judicial uniform. The lack of insignia on the red uniform of the captain at Ova, in contrast, shows that not all red-uniformed personnel necessarily wore insignia as Senator Tarkin did. Given Tarkin's position as Senator and General, and Dorits' role as a senior SVA member, it may be that early rank insignia were limited to senior personnel; alternatively, they may have only been appropriate at this stage to local forces on Eriadu and in the surrounding Seswenna Sector, where both Tarkin and Dorits were based.

Uniforms during the Clone Wars
During the conflict, front-line officers rapidly adopted the khaki and field-grey uniforms that would soon come to symbolize the Empire, and with these new uniforms, the basic visual vocabulary of Imperial rank plaques and code cylinders became common. However, the old blue uniforms continued to be worn by some paramilitary personnel until at least the end of the Clone Wars, probably including the "boys in blue" of the Coruscant Security Force.

At least four rank badges are known from the Clone Wars, all born by officers addressed as Captain, but all different from one another. The earliest occurrence is also the first recorded appearance of a khaki uniform: at the Battle of Jabiim, a captain who arrived aboard a Consular-class cruiser to supervise the evacuation of Republic troops wore one red and one blue pip side-by-side on the left breast of the tunic, with no clear indication of a metal backing plaque, and also a circular bronze button on his collar, although this may merely have served to fasten the throat of his tunic. At the Battle of Merson, Captain Pellaeon, commanding the assault fleet supporting the GAR forces, wore an actual rank plaque on the collar of his uniform, with two red and two blue pips. A little later, during the events surrounding the abortive defection of the Rendili Home Defense Fleet, Captain Jan Dodonna wore a plaque on the left breast, with a row of six rank squares – two blue, two red and two blue. During the Siege of Saleucami, fleet commander Captain Sagoro Autem wore three red squares above three blue on his plaque, with two code cylinders in either pocket. It is unclear, however, whether the differences between these four men's insignia represent gradations in rank, rapid evolutions of the system of insignia, or a combination of the two.

Clone Troopers
Clone troopers had undress jumpsuits in red, while some Clone Commanders in the Grand Army of the Republic wore similar insignia to line officers on their armor. Cody, apparently a Clone Marshal Commander, wore a plaque with one blue square, one gold, and two lighter blue in a row, with a narrow solid bar underneath. On present evidence, however, it is impossible to say what relationship, if any, there was between the rank badges of clone and line personnel.

The Rise of the Empire
At the end of the Clone Wars, the Republic was reconstituted as the Galactic Empire, and information on subsequent developments in uniforms and rank insignia can be found on this page.

Appearances

 * Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Republic
 * Republic Commando: Triple Zero