Confederacy military/Legends

The armed forces of the Confederacy of Independent Systems was the military branch of the CIS of the during the Separatist Crisis and subsequent conflict. It had two main branches&mdash;the Separatist Droid Army, and the Confederate Navy&mdash;but consisted of an amalgam of military forces from the various allied organizations of the Confederacy, with battle droids as their infantry. The Confederate Head of State held supreme authority at a civilian level as Commander-in-Chief, while military authority was chiefly under the purview of the Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies, General Grievous.

The armed forces were dissolved when Darth Vader killed the Separatist Council on Mustafar at the order of newly-crowned Emperor Palpatine, and subsequently gave the command for all droid forces to shut down. Later, the droids of the former Confederacy would be reactivated for the duration of Gizor Dellso's rebellion during the Imperial Period.

Origins
Though the severity of the Separatist Crisis was not fully realized until 24 BBY, the militarization process of the Trade Federation and other Rimward economic organizations had already been underway for the better part of a decade. The secretive scemes and machinations of then-Senator Palpatine&mdash;secretly, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious&mdash;had exacerbated existing tensions between the more developed Core systems and the lawless frontiers of the galaxy. Arguably the most significant of these events was the deployment of the Trade Federation's droid army in the organization's blockade and subsequent invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY, where the mettle of the droid soldiers was tested on a large scale for the first time.

It would not be long after these events before Jedi Master Dooku became disillusioned with both the Jedi Order and the Republic itself and departed from both to claim his birthright as a Count of Serenno. In his new position of authority, Dooku began to rally the disparate economic and trading bodies of the Commerce Guild, InterGalactic Banking Clan, Techno Union and Trade Federation, among others, into an alliance in opposition to Republic policies and governance. And along the way, the militarized forces of these groups were amalgamated into a unified military for the new Confederacy.

Clone Wars
The military build-up and increasing hostility of the Confederacy&mdash;driven in no small part by Dooku himself, who had become Sith apprentice to Darth Sidious&mdash;came to a head in 22 BBY on Geonosis. As a foundry planet for the manufacturing of countless battle droids, the appearance of Jedi and Republic forces on the planet were the spark which ignited the powderkeg that was the Separatist Crisis. At the Battle of Geonosis, the Clone Wars erupted in earnest, with the Republic's clone army clashing in open conflict with the droid armies of the Confederacy for the first time.

Though the battle at Geonosis would be a defeat for the Separatist alliance, their military would go on to be an effective fighting force for the remainder of the war. For the three years of the conflict, the Separatist military would fight in hundreds of battles across the galaxy, matching the Republic's forces in many respects. Many of the Confederate military's victories came from the leadership of their Supreme Commander, the dreaded cyborg Kaleesh General Grievous.

The droid armies under Grievous' command would lead many daring and devastating assaults on Republic holdings, culminating with an assault on the Republic capital, Coruscant. During this particular engagement, the forces of the Confederate military were able to briefly capture Supreme Chancellor Palpatine before he was rescued by Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi&mdash;with Count Dooku killed in the process.

End of the war
With the Confederate Head of State dead, the droid army under Grievous effectively became the de facto ruling body of the entire Separatist movement. Shortly afterward, on Utapau, Grievous was killed in single combat with Kenobi, leaving the Confederacy devoid of both civilian and military leadership; and placing rulership of the movement in the hands of the Separatist Council on Mustafar.

Even as the droid armies continued to battle for Kashyyyk, Cato Neimoidia, and a number of other worlds, their fight came to an unexpected end. Anakin Skywalker&mdash;now Darth Vader, apprentice to newly-Emperor Palpatine&mdash;killed the members of the Separatist Council on Mustafar at the behest of his new master, and broadcast the shut-down order for the Separatists' armies. Across the galaxy, in an instant, the military of the Confederacy of Independent Systems ceased to exist.