Grand Army of the Republic/Legends

"As my first act with this new authority, I will create a Grand Army of the Republic to counter the increasing threat of the Separatists."

- Supreme Chancellor Palpatine



The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR for short), also known as the Clone Army or Republic Army, was the armed forces of the Galactic Republic in its final years, and afterwards served as the nucleus for the armed forces of the Galactic Empire.

It was created by the Kaminoan "cloners" on Kamino, and comprised of two hundred thousand clone trooper units and their war machines, as of the start of the Clone Wars.

The template for the clones was bounty hunter Jango Fett, whose only request in return, in addition of course to an abundance of credits, was an unaltered clone by the name of Boba.

After the initial engagements, a million more clone troopers were added to the ranks of the army, followed by millions more by the conclusion of the war.

The origin of the Grand Army
At the beginning of the Palpatine government (32 BBY), the Republic had no standing armed forces, though the debate about the adoption of one had been ongoing for decades. At one time, the Republic's army and navy forces were considerable, but in the wake of the Light and Darkness War (1,000 BBY), a gradual process of downscaling began, in favor of increased support from the Jedi Order. More and more often, the Jedi were called upon to act as negotiators with teeth. But as crises piled upon each other, some within the order began to sense a coming darkness, which their numbers alone would not be sufficient to fight. The creation of a clone army was apparently secretly ordered by Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas without the knowledge or approval of his comrades, though it was actually part of a plot concocted by Darth Sidious to craft an army for the Sith Lords.

Though the clone troopers fought under Jedi lead during the Clone Wars, the army was turned against some loyalists and the Jedi when the Galactic Empire was formed at the war's end. Supreme Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine wielded executive control over the army, and transformed it into the military of his Galactic Empire.

Order of Battle
The army was split into separate Orders of Battle (ORBATs). These were regular forces, and Special Forces. Most of the structure of the regular forces was unchanged through the Clone Wars and was even used by the Galactic Empire. The special forces were highly independent Republic commandos that had specific objectives and required very little help from Jedi commanders.

Command structure of regular forces

 * Grand Army&mdash;10 systems armies plus an additional 3,000,000 troops with Supreme Chancellor as commander-in-chief.
 * Systems Army&mdash;2 Sector Armies (294,912 troops) led by a High General (Jedi Council Member)
 * Sector Army&mdash;4 corps (147,456 troops) by a Senior Jedi General (Jedi Master)
 * Corps&mdash;4 legions (36,864 troops) led by a Clone Marshal Commander and Jedi General.
 * Legion/Brigade&mdash;4 regiments (9,216 troops) led by a Senior Clone Commander and a Jedi General.
 * Regiment&mdash;4 battalions (2,304 troops) led by a Jedi Padawan Commander.
 * Battalion&mdash;4 companies (576 troops) led by a Major.
 * Company&mdash;4 platoons (144 troops) led by a Captain.
 * Platoon&mdash;4 squads (36 troops) led by a Lieutenant.
 * Squad&mdash;9 troops led by a Sergeant.

Command structure of special forces

 * Special Operations Brigade (SO BDE)&mdash;10 battalions (5,000 men), commanded by Jedi General Arligan Zey, made up of 10 commando groups by one year after the Battle of Geonosis.
 * Commando Group&mdash;5 companies (500 men), commanded by Junior Jedi General Bardan Jusik (Jedi Knight).
 * Company&mdash;5 troops (100 men).
 * Troop&mdash;5 squads (20 men).
 * Squad&mdash;4 men.

Fleet
A fleet was the total naval presence in a sector, commanded by an admiral. It consisted of 14 to 60 ships.

Notable Fleets

 * Open Circle Fleet
 * Victory Fleet

Planetary Naval Forces
The Galactic Republic Navy, while having a standing military force throughout the galaxy, did include many volunteer/reserve forces of planetary forces, including:


 * Chandrilan Defense Fleet
 * Corellian Defense Force
 * Freeworlds Common Navy
 * Koros/Tetan Navy
 * Onderon Navy
 * Royal Alderaan Civil Fleet

Artillery

 * All Terrain Attack Pod
 * All Terrain Experimental Transport
 * Self-Propelled Heavy Artillery
 * Unstable Terrain Artillery Transport

Armor

 * A4 Juggernaut Heavy Assault Vehicle/wheeled
 * A5 Juggernaut Heavy Assault Vehicle/wheeled
 * A6 Juggernaut Heavy Assault Vehicle/wheeled
 * All Terrain Armored Transport
 * All Terrain Heavy Enforcer
 * All Terrain Tactical Enforcer

Heavy cavalry

 * All Terrain-Personal Transport
 * Infantry Support Platform
 * TX-130s fighter tank

Command and combat support

 * CMD-1 command speeder

Combat service support

 * Low Altitude Assault Transport/cargo
 * Low Altitude Assault Transport/vehicle

Aerial assault

 * HAET-221 gunboat
 * Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry

Mechanized infantry

 * All Terrain Open Transport
 * Republic Troop Transport

Reconnaissance

 * 74-Z speeder bike
 * All Terrain Recon Transport
 * All Terrain Scout Transport
 * BARC Speeder
 * Republic recon speeder

Starfighters

 * ARC-170 starfighter
 * Alpha-3 Nimbus-class starfighter
 * CloakShape fighter
 * Cord-class Starfighter
 * Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor
 * Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor
 * T-19 Torpil
 * V-19 Torrent starfighter
 * Z-95 Headhunter

Capital ships

 * Acclamator I-class assault ship
 * Acclamator II-class assault ship
 * Centax-class heavy frigate
 * Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser
 * Mandator-class Star Dreadnought
 * MedStar frigate
 * Praetor-class Star Battlecruiser
 * Tavya-class Armored Picket
 * Tector-class Star Destroyer
 * Venator-class Star Destroyer
 * Victory I-class Star Destroyer

Transports

 * Consular-class space cruiser
 * Corellian Star Shuttle
 * CR20 troop carrier
 * Jadthu-class landing ship
 * Kappa-class shuttle
 * Theta-class T-2c shuttle

Support Ships

 * Amphibious Interstellar Assault Transport/infantry
 * Consular-class space cruiser
 * Corellian Star Shuttle
 * Jori Daragon's Armed Courier
 * Kappa-class shuttle
 * Koros Spaceworks Courier
 * Low Altitude Assault Transport
 * Rocket-jumper troopship
 * Telosian orbital shuttle

Special unit divisions

 * 41st Elite Legion
 * 91st Reconnaissance Corps
 * 212th Attack Battalion
 * 327th Star Corps
 * 501st Legion
 * Galactic Marines
 * Homeworld Security Command
 * Sky Corps
 * Squad Seven
 * Lancer Battalion
 * 9th Assault Corps
 * 7th Sky Corps

Behind the scenes
The GAR is actually the second armed force in the prequels to be given the name "grand army." The first was the Gungan Grand Army from The Phantom Menace. No one has yet explained Lucas' penchant for using this term for his military organizations, though it can be speculated that he was fond of the name of Napoleon Bonaparte's imperial armed forces, the Grand Army or La Grande Armee.

Also, the name "Grand Army of the Republic" uses the same formalized language as armed forces used in the American Civil War (1861-1865). Though the overall Union Army (also known as the Northern Army or Federal Army) was named simply, its major units were given formal designations based on rivers. Thus, they were named Army of the Potomac, Army of the Ohio, Army of the Tennessee, and so on. One unit in particular, the Grand Army of the West, was commanded by General William Tecumseh Sherman during his march through the South, and it may be this that inspired Lucas as well as the Napoleonic model.

The Confederate States Army, or CSA, named its units after states or geographic regions rather than rivers, such as the Army of Northern Virginia, the Army of the Peninsula, and the Army of the Northwest.

The ongoing references to the American Civil War may be one of Lucas' subtle ways of utilizing the language of the actual Civil War to flesh out his own fictitious civil war. This is likely also why he used the name "Confederacy" to refer to the breakaway segments of the Republic, as opposed to some other name.