Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/Week 27, 2013/1

The Mandalorian Excision of 738 BBY was a brief but brutal conflict that saw the devastation of Mandalorian Space at the hands of the Galactic Republic. Following the Republic's enactment of the Ruusan Reformations in 1,000 BBY, the Mandalorian people experienced a growth in technological prowess and military power, but they refused to join the Republic due to their traditional warrior ways. Alarmed by the rising threat of the Mandalorians, the Jedi Order organized the Republic's Judicial Forces and Planetary Security Forces in a preemptive strike on Mandalorian Space. The Mandalorians had no hope of winning a war against the Republic and suffered greatly in the resulting battles, with a number of planets including Concord Dawn, Ordo, Fenel, and Mandalore itself crippled by bombardment. The damage lasted for centuries, with entire sections of Mandalorian worlds remaining barren deserts.

Following the Excision, the Republic disarmed and occupied Mandalorian Space, installing a provisional government to oversee sectoral affairs. The Mandalorians preserved their distinctive culture, as well as their resentment of the Republic and the Jedi who had defeated them, while rebuilding the worlds left scarred by the war. The Excision led to the formation of the pacifistic New Mandalorians, who prevailed over the warrior clans in many areas of governmental operation and society, becoming the new rulers of Mandalore. Nevertheless, many unrepentant warriors continued their traditional practices, eventually leading to the formation of such splinter groups as the Death Watch. The schism in ideology ensured that further conflict would ensue, as it did well into the time of the Clone Wars.