Great Galactic War

"The Great Galactic War dragged on for decades. Thousands of Jedi and Sith were slain. Countless star systems were ravaged."

- Jedi Master Gnost-Dural

The Great Galactic War, occasionally called the Great War or the Sith–Republic War, was a war between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic between 3,681 BBY and 3,653 BBY, ultimately lasting for a total of 28 years.

Background
"You must go where Revan did, into the Unknown Regions, where the Sith, the true Sith, wait in the dark for the great war that comes."

- Kreia, to Meetra Surik

With the Sith Empire's defeat in the Great Hyperspace War, the Republic decided how to deal with their fallen enemy: the Supreme Chancellor ordered the Republic military to exterminate all remnants of the Sith. But one Sith Lord and a group of survivors escaped the Republic's slaughter of their kind and made it to the Unknown Regions. There, he re-founded the Empire, himself assuming the title of Sith Emperor, and created a council of other Sith Lords. Using the power of the dark side, the Emperor kept himself alive for over a thousand years after the Great Hyperspace War, rebuilding the Empire's strength and promising his people revenge on the Republic and Jedi.

The Republic, meanwhile, was challenged in a number of wars over the next few thousand years. After the war with Exar Kun, the growing Sith Empire goaded the Mandalorians to attack the Republic. A group of Jedi, led by Revan, soon joined the Republic forces in their war against the Mandalorians. During the war, Revan traveled to the ancient Sith academy on Malachor V, where the final battle of the Mandalorian Wars would later take place. During his time there, Revan learned of the True Sith's existence in the Unknown Regions. He then used a Rakatan artifact to start a war with the Republic to prepare for the Sith Empire's invasion, resulting in the Jedi Civil War. The Republic was also burdened by the upheaval of the Kanz Disorders.

In the year 3,681 BBY, the Sith Emperor saw that the chance for revenge against the Republic and the Jedi had come, and launched an invasion of the Republic.

The conflict
The True Sith's invasion caught the Republic by surprise. When Sith battlecruisers first appeared in the Tingel Arm, the Republic dispatched a lightly escorted diplomatic team to see what was going on. The Sith Emperor, in an attempt to scare the Republic, allowed the diplomats to transmit images of his forces back to their superiors before destroying them.

When the Republic fleet responded, it became trapped between Sernpidal, Belkadan and Ruuria, which had become puppets of the Empire. The fleet had to scatter in order to avoid annihilation. Meanwhile, the Sith retook their homeworld of Korriban from the Jedi. The Sith went on to seize many worlds in the Outer Rim Territories and the rich resources of the Minos Cluster, destroy the shipyards at Sluis Van, and cut off the Rimma Trade Route. The Republic suffered a major defeat above Hoth, a battle in which both factions suffered major losses, and the Republic lost several valuable prototype ships.



Battlegrounds included Ilum, Dathomir, and Manaan, the latter seeing its surface cities destroyed, despite attempts to remain neutral. The Republic was further defeated at Agamar and Utapau, and continuously harassed.

After the Sith seized the Seswenna sector, they turned their assault on the Mid Rim. Believing the Republic was still recovering from its losses, the Empire sent an invasion force to the planet Bothawui, but it was caught off guard by the Republic fleet and obliterated. Seeking revenge, the Empire sent a much larger force back to Bothawui. A heroic struggle was put up by the remaining Republic and Jedi defenders. While the Sith did destroy the defending force to the last man, the Jedi and Republic forces managed to inflict so much damage to the invading force that it had to withdraw. This stopped the Sith's invasion in the Mid Rim.

Mandalorian Blockade
However, 4 years after the Battle of Bothawui, the Empire changed tactics, and decided upon a new strategy&mdash;turn the Mandalorians against the Republic.

The Sith had long since attempted to get third parties and other factions to join their side, but with little success. However, Imperial Intelligence came up with a plan to bring the Mandalorians onto their side of the war. Taking advantage of the fact that many Mandalorians fought as gladiators for money and glory, Imperial agents began infiltrating the most prominent arenas in the galaxy, posing as managers, sponsors, and sometimes even as gladiators themselves.

Imperial Intelligence singled out a young Mandalorian gladiator on Geonosis to be their pawn. Sith agents began rigging fights and drugging the competition to ensure that the young gladiator would be unstoppable. With his new Imperial allies, he was able to establish himself as the galaxy's most powerful warrior and claim a title that not been heard of for centuries&mdash;Mandalore.

After uniting the scattered Mandalorians, the new Mandalore encouraged his followers to make war upon the Republic and confront the greatest challenge of all&mdash;fighting the legendary Jedi Knights. Following orders from his Sith superiors, he ordered the Mandalorian fleet to blockade the Hydian Way, the Republic's most critical trade route. With that, the Core Worlds found themselves without raw goods or supplies. After several pleas from the Republic, the Jedi confronted the Mandalorians, and were soundly defeated.



The Mandalorians continued the blockade, denying the Republic raw goods and setting the Republic war effort back. Eventually, the blockade started riots on Coruscant and the Senate began to talk about surrendering to the Sith. The blockade, however, was broken by a combined Republic-Smuggler alliance led by Hylo Visz.

Assault on Coruscant
"It's all going to burn."

- Darth Malgus, right before killing Jedi Master Ven Zallow



After the Mandalorian blockade was broken, the Sith's tactics in the war became far more aggressive and desperate.

Decades after the war started, the Dark Council gave the Republic a surprising offer: the chance to negotiate peace. The Republic could not afford to ignore this opportunity, and the Jedi Council agreed to it, seeing the war as unwinnable. Diplomats on both sides came to Alderaan and began discussing terms of peace. But the Sith had one last trick to play.

An elite Sith army invaded Coruscant. After a team of Sith, led by Darth Malgus, destroyed the defense grid in the Jedi Temple, Darth Angral ordered an invasion and bombardment of the planet. After Coruscant's defenses were defeated, the Sith destroyed the Jedi Temple and held the planet hostage.

With no other choice, the Republic diplomats on Alderaan signed the uneven Treaty of Coruscant.

Aftermath
"Thus began the unprecedented stalemate. The Jedi reconnecting with their roots, the Republic nursing its wounds, the Sith consolidating their power in a galaxy divided between darkness and light."

- Jedi Master Gnost-Dural



The treaty forced the Republic to give up many outlying systems to the True Sith Empire.

However, there were forces in the Republic that didn't accept the treaty. There were Republic troops, namely on Dantooine and Balmorra, who refused to withdraw and mutinied to continue the war while another group within the Republic, led by the Jedi Master Dar'Nala, bombed the Senate building to assassinate the Senators who supported the treaty, believing them to be Imperial spies while also planning on ruining the treaty. Dar'Nala also orchestrated a supposed Sith attack on the Envoy in an attempt to neutralize the treaty. However, when Dar'Nala attempted to put the last phase of her plan into action, her madness was revealed to her supporters and they abandoned her, which led to her death. The peace held through after this.

Although his Empire was stronger than ever, the Sith Emperor no longer seemed to desire total conquest. He handed over control of the Empire to the Dark Council, who would oversee the day-to-day affairs of state, and went on to pursue his own mysterious goals as the Sith consolidated their power.

By the end of the war, thousands of Jedi were dead. The Galactic Republic focused its anger on the Jedi, blaming the order for its defeat at the hands of the Sith. Though they were still committed to defending the Republic, the surviving Jedi chose to return to their ancient homeworld of Tython in order to rebuild their strength.

The end of the Great Galactic War set the stage for a Cold War between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic in the years that followed. This cold war saw a number of border skirmishes and proxy wars, pushing the two super powers to the brink of another war.

Behind the scenes
The term Great War is an obvious reference to the real-world Great War, which used to be the most common nickname for World War I in the interwar period. After World War II the term fell into disuse though occurs in historical discourse.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic, Blood of the Empire
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic, Threat of Peace Act 1: Treaty of Coruscant
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived
 * Timeline 1: Treaty of Coruscant
 * Timeline 2: The Mandalorian Blockade is Broken
 * Timeline 5: The Battle of Bothawui
 * Timeline 6: Onslaught of the Sith Empire
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic