Onderon Civil War

The Onderon Civil War was a dynastic conflict that struck the planet Onderon in 3,951 BBY.

Prelude
After the Mandalorian Wars, Onderon was assimilated into the Galactic Republic as a toll for the Republic's aid against the Mandalorian threat. Not all the Onderonians were satisfied with the Republic's questionable ethics. Some thought it would be best for the planet to remain independent; others did not mind being Republic citizens, but they felt that the Republic brought Onderon nothing but problems and unfair treatment of the natives.

So the society of Onderon was split into two political camps. The pro-Republic faction grouped around young Queen Talia, at that time the incumbent monarch. On the other hand, the separatist faction supported her cousin, General Vaklu, the commander of Onderon military, who was not hiding his claims to the throne. Little did the commoners know, however, about Vaklu's shadowy allies.

Nevertheless, the political situation in general remained relatively quiet. While the Queen and the General used to dispute about every imaginable issue in the Council of Lords, Onderon's deliberative body, there seemed to be hope that the confrontation would remain nothing more than confrontation, never reaching the stage of warfare.

Conflict
Everything changed when the Ebon Hawk, carrying the Jedi Exile, emerged out of hyperspace near Onderon. Vaklu and his right hand, Colonel Tobin, were expecting the vessel's arrival. They decided that by destroying the Exile they would be able to earn the allegiance of the Sith, who were in fact secretly supporting Vaklu, and that it was the time to provoke a conflict between Onderon and the Republic.

By that time, a number of Republic ships had gathered on Onderon's orbit, awaiting permission to dock at Iziz City. Tobin ordered his men to fire at the Ebon Hawk. While the Exile's ship itself survived the damage, albeit requiring the Exile to hide his presence on Dxun, the nearby moon, the event triggered a space battle (the First Battle of Onderon during the Onderon Civil War) with other Republic ships.

Meanwhile, Vaklu declared martial law and effectively spread misinformation through Iziz. The official news summaries presented Tobin as a war hero and claimed that the Ebon Hawk fired first, that it was a capital-class vessel which had destroyed 15 Onderon fighters before being taken down. (In fact, the Ebon Hawk was a light freighter and only managed to disable six fighters before taking cover on Dxun.) While Jedi Master Kavar, Talia's advisor whom the Exile had come in search for in the first place, did not believe in these lies, he understood that common people would believe in them—simply because they wanted to.

When the Exile, with the help of the Mandalorians on Dxun, finally reached Iziz and contacted Master Kavar, the Onderon military was put into disarray. Most soldiers simply did not understand what was going on when a squad of them, led by Tobin, attacked the Exile, when they heard blaster shots flying over the merchant sector and saw the defense turrets suddenly go berserk and fire at the Exile, who, however, managed to escape back to the relative safety of Dxun.

During the Exile's absence, the majority of the military remained loyal to Queen Talia; however, they were no match for the Sith armada that fought alongside Vaklu. Street battles quickly turned most of Iziz into a smoldering ruin; only the Royal Palace's defenses remained as Talia's last hope. In the fierce Second Battle of Onderon, the Exile, having returned to Iziz, breached through Vaklu's troops storming the Palace just in time to save the Queen and put an end to the civil war.

Aftermath
While Onderon suffered greatly during the conflict, its outcome was in general positive for the Republic. With the situation on Onderon stabilized and only one leader remaining, one loyal to the Republic, its position in the sector was reinforced, which, along with the stabilization efforts on Dantooine and Telos, also performed by the Jedi Exile, ensured the Republic's survival, which had previously been highly uncertain because of the damage caused by the Jedi Civil War.

However, deciding to link Onderon's fate to the Republic, Talia set a course for the ultimate dissolution of her people's culture. Over centuries, they lost their identity became the people of Onderon no longer.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords