Mandalorian Civil War

"A civil war killed most of Satine's people, hence her aversion to violence."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi, to Anakin Skywalker on Duchess Satine's pacifism

Many years prior to the Clone Wars, a civil war gripped Mandalore as the New Mandalorians fought insurgents for control of their Outer Rim planet. The New Mandalorians emerged victorious, with Duchess Satine Kryze acting as ruler of Mandalore.

History
"Master Qui-Gon and I spent a year on Mandalore, protecting the Duchess from insurgents who had threatened her world. They sent bounty hunters after us. We were always on the run, living hand to mouth, never sure what the next day would bring."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

In the years prior to the Clone Wars, the pacifist New Mandalorians fought insurgents for control of the Outer Rim world of Mandalore. Many Mandalorians were killed during the civil war, bringing devastation to the planet.

During the war, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, spent a year on Mandalore to protect Duchess Satine Kryze, leader of the New Mandalorians. The insurgents attempted to kill the trio using bounty hunters, forcing the duchess and the Jedi to live on the run. Their time together led Kryze and Kenobi to fall in love.

Aftermath
"When she returned, she took rebuilding her world alone."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi, on Satine Kryze

The death toll during the war became a primary reason for why Kryze was averse to violence, a pacifist belief she held for the rest of her life. At the end of the war, Kenobi chose to return to the Jedi Order, though he would have left had Kryze asked him to. The duchess returned from hiding and set about rebuilding Mandalore herself, and she ruled over Mandalore for many years, including during the Clone Wars. Violence ultimately gripped Mandalore once again, after the warrior group known as Death Watch teamed with Darth Maul and the Shadow Collective to take control of Mandalore of the pacifist New Mandalorian government. Kryze was killed by the Death Watch insurgents during the ensuing conflict, bring an end to pacifist rule.

Behind the scenes
The civil war on Mandalore was first referenced in "Voyage of Temptation," the thirteenth episode of the second season of the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. A Mandalorian Civil War also appeared in Star Wars Legends as a conflict based around a fight for the ideology of the Mandalorian people.