Imperialization/Legends

"What good is all your uncle's work if it's taken over by the Empire?...You know they're starting to nationalize commerce in the central systems...it won't be long before your uncle is merely a tenant, slaving for the greater glory of the Empire."

―Biggs Darklighter

Emperor Palpatine, ruler of the galaxy.

Imperialization is a term for the process by which the Galactic Empire established a system of control over the individual, instructions, commercial enterprise, or planets, and tight coordination over all aspects of society and commerce.

Overview

"The Jedi Order is a lesson to us that we cannot permit any agency to become powerful enough to pose a threat to our designs, or the freedoms we enjoy. That is why it is essential we increase and centralize our military, both to preserve the peace and to protect the Empire against inevitable attempts at insurrection. To that end I have already ordered the production of new classes of capital ships and starfighters, suitable for command by nonclone officers and crew, who themselves will be the product of Imperial academies, made up of candidates drawn from existing star system flight schools. No less important, our present army of clone troopers is aging at an accelerating rate, and will need to be supplemented, gradually replaced, by new batches of clones."

―Palpatine

Palpatine's desire for control required the elimination of all other forms of influence, especially the Galactic Republic. The period following the Declaration of a New Order was characterized by the systematic elimination of Galactic Republic organizations that could potentially influence people. All the institutions of the Old Republic found themselves either dismantled or changed beyond recognition.

The Imperialization also included the formation of various organizations with membership for segments of the population, in particular the youth. The Commission for the Preservation of the New Order (COMPNOR) was created as an umbrella organization for those groups that were designed to maintain support for Emperor Palpatine's New Order.

Specific measures

"Half the budget is going to the production of these enormous Star Destroyers. He's having new stormtroopers grown. And that's not the worst of it. The Finance Committee can't even account for some of the spending."

―Mon Mothma

In a more specific sense, Imperialization refers to the measures taken by the Empire to strengthen its control over the galaxy.

The Coruscant sector was renamed the Imperial Sector, Coruscant itself was renamed Imperial Center, and Galactic City was renamed Imperial City. The Galactic Senate was reorganized into the Imperial Senate. The Grand Army of the Republic became the Imperial Army, and the Republic Navy became the Imperial Navy. The Special Operations Brigade was terminated and its elite clone commandos and ARC troopers reorganized into the Imperial Commando Special Unit, itself part of Lord Vader's 501st Legion. The four decrepit intelligence agencies of the Republic were merged into Imperial Intelligence. The Grand Army mainframe and Republic networks at large were overhauled, and everything from data flow to communications were given entirely new interfaces with new coding and new passwords. The Palace of the Republic was rebuilt and expanded, becoming the Imperial Palace, eclipsing all other buildings on Imperial Center.

The Imperial-class Star Destroyer was a symbol of Imperialization

Vast resources and quintillions of credits were now dedicated to expand the Imperial Military and to fund new scientific developments. This military buildup would eventually result in the Imperial Navy fielding millions of starships, the Imperial Army being comprised of tens of trillions of soldiers, and the creation of a vast force of stormtroopers. Major scientific breakthroughs and advances during the Imperial Period include, but are not limited to new superweapons, gravity well projectors, cloaking devices, and hypermatter reactors.

Palpatine deployed one Moff in each sector. These officers were supposed to efficiently govern individual sectors and regions of the Empire. Though Imperial governors and Moffs were dispatched to oversee many of the planets and sectors of the galaxy, they largely maintained a policy of non-interference with respect to local politics. The vast majority of the planets within the Empire maintained their own sovereign governments and everyday life for an average citizen was not very different from the days of the Old Republic, especially for those who strongly supported the New Order. However, if the Empire desired to obtain resources from a particular planet it would not hesitate to take it by force. Planets that had their government entirely supplanted by an Imperial governor were usually Non-Human or those who supported the Rebellion. Additionally, the planets located between the least restrictive areas of the galaxy, the Core Worlds and Outer Rim territories, bore the brunt of Imperial authority and scrutiny. Overall, less than one in 80 planets experienced some sort of modification to their local governmental procedures or had members of a ruling body removed from office to better conform to the will of the Empire. Other planets that were discontent with Imperial rule were kept in line with the Tarkin Doctrine of "rule by fear of force rather than force itself" although if the threat failed naked force would certainly be used.

There were also certain increases in the state control and centralization of economic procedures. This included the nationalization of commercial enterprises like the Trade Federation, the Techno Union, the Commerce Guild, the Corporate Alliance, the Hyper-Communications Cartel, and other commerce within the Empire. In addition, one of the first actions of the Empire was, upon nominating Gahg to Minister of Finance, to completely annex the seized holdings of various defeated Separatist worlds, which had been nearly completed a few months later. The InterGalactic Banking Clan managed to avoid the fate of its co-conspirators and wasn't completely shut down, though the Empire exerted a considerable degree of control over it. The Empire would also later go on to nationalize the Fondor Shipyards around the time of the Battle of Yavin. This was due to the complications involving the construction of the Star Dreadnought Executor, though the Fondor Guild of Starshipwrights would remain in place to oversee the project.

The Empire did continue to nationalize some corporate entities, but such actions were primarily reserved for those companies that were part of or supporters of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and later on those who favored and aided the Rebellion. The Empire did assume direct control over some of the spoils of war from the Separatists, but most of the assets were actually given over to loyalist companies such as Kuat Drive Yards, Sienar Systems, TaggeCo., and Merr-Sonn. Unless acting in opposition to its interests, the Empire largely left loyal companies alone and even expanded the territory of the Corporate Sector Authority to encompass 30,000 star systems.

Appearances

• Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel
• Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization (First appearance)

Sources

• A Guide to the Star Wars Universe
• Dark Empire Sourcebook
• Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook
• The Force Unleashed Campaign Guide
• Rebellion Era Campaign Guide
• Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Essential Atlas
• Mustafar in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)
• Mungo Baobab in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)
• Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side
• The Essential Guide to Warfare

Notes and references

In other languages

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