Mandalorian-Jedi War

"I know these commandos fought in many wars, often against the Jedi."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi, on the Mandalorians

The Mandalorian-Jedi War was a series of many conflicts fought between the Mandalorians and the Jedi Order. The final war between both groups ultimately resulted in the devastation of the former's homeworld of Mandalore.

The war
"For generations, my ancestors fought proudly as warriors against the Jedi."

- Pre Vizsla

A series of conflicts fought between the Mandalorians and the Jedi Order, the Mandalorian-Jedi War saw the advancement of Mandalorian technology when they collided with the Force-wielding Jedi, whose abilities they didn't understand. In response, their arsenal and armor were designed to combat them, and they began to often win as a result. The Mandalorian crusaders fought against the Jedi during their crusades. The Mandalorians also waged war against the Old Republic, and, during the period of its fall, members of House Vizsla reclaimed the darksaber, a unique lightsaber created by Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian ever inducted into the Jedi Order, from the Jedi Temple after its creator's passing. Before the end of the Mandalorian-Jedi War, the Mandalorians turned Concordia, a moon of their homeworld of Mandalore, into a mining base.

The last great struggle between the Jedi and the Mandalorian warlords resulted in a large battle on Mandalore. This caused a cataclysm that scorched much of the planet's surface into lifeless white desert and ending the conflict, the Jedi emerging victorious.

Aftermath
"The Jedi are no different from Dooku, and this one shall pay in part for their crimes against Mandalore."

- Pre Vizsla resented the Jedi for their actions during the Mandalorian-Jedi War

The final battle of the Mandalorian-Jedi War rendered Mandalore uninhabitable outside of hermetically sealed dome cities. In addition, the Concordian moon was strip-mined to such an extend that its forests were only just recovering by the time of the Clone Wars, by which point some Mandalorians still held a grudge against the Jedi for their perceived crimes against Mandalore. The Peace Park, a memorial to the victims of Mandalore's violent past, was erected in Sundari, Mandalore's capital city, during the reign the New Mandalorians, a pacifistic movement that arose after local conflicts between the many Mandalorian clans. The warrior clans of Mandalore were believed to have been wiped out during the conflict, their tattered remnants exiled to Concordia, though they were resurrected by Pre Vizsla, the moon's treacherous Mandalorian governor and leader of Death Watch whose ancestors as warriors proudly fought against the Jedi for generations, during the Clone Wars. Backed by Count Dooku and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, he began building an army to retake Mandalore from the control of pacifists who were trying to bury violent Mandalore's past and carry on its warrior traditions.

However, Death Watch, with assistance from former Sith Lord Darth Maul and the Shadow Collective were able to take control away from the New Mandalorians. Vizsla was killed by Maul and the Republic, which later became the Galactic Empire, occupied Mandalore.

Behind the scenes
"The Mandalorian-Jedi War that I have in my mind is very much derived from the oldest style of thinking of Mandalorians, which was that their weapons, their arsenal, their technology had a massive increase once they collided with the Jedi and found these force-wielding people that had abilities they didn't understand. Their armor is a reaction to the Jedi, and I've always believed that because that seemed to be something that would be in the DNA of the Joe Johnston designs of them as super commandos. Their arsenal was very much designed to combat the Jedi. For example, I wouldn't know the details of the conflict that the fans have referred to. I played the video games though, so I'm aware of it in the games, and I like a lot of the things in there. So, when there are all these things in common and there's stuff that people know, I think 'Well, why don't we use that?'"

- Dave Filoni

The conflict between the Mandalorians and the Jedi was first mentioned, albeit indirectly, in "The Mandalore Plot," the twelfth episode of the canon animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars' second season, which originally aired on January 29, 2010. Identified as the Mandalorian-Jedi War by Dave Filoni, it included all canon conflicts between the two factions, comprising what Star Wars Legends sources referred to as the Mandalorian Crusades, the Mandalorian Wars, and the Mandalorian Excision.