Clone Wars (Smashb1996)

"Billions dead, countless planets devastated; and for what? The limitless ambition of a single man who wanted to rule the galaxy because he thought himself superior to others?"

- Padmé Naberrie Skywalker, to Anakin Skywalker

The Clone Wars (– ), also known as the Clone War, the Great Clone War, the Clone-Droid War, and less commonly known as the War of Secession, the Separatist-Republic War, and Darth Sidious' War, was the name given to the major conflict that featured the Galactic Republic, and, fighting against a seccesionist movement&mdash;Confederacy of Independent Systems.

The war was named after the s utilized by the Republic, who battled the forces of the CIS. These armies, the and the, were two of the largest ever pitted against each other in galactic history, since each side possessed massive amounts of their own types of soldiers.

The fighting between them rapidly spread to countless populated, and starting with the , both sides scored major victories over the other, and at different periods of the war, either seemed likely to achieve victory. As a result of the conflict, numerous worlds were laid to ruin in the war's numerous battles.

However, in 16 AGS, the death of, the Separatist , during the , and that of  , the , during the , coupled with the deactivation of the droid army, brought about an end to both the fighting, and to the existence of the Confederacy. At the time, it was the largest galactic war to date.

Unknown to most of those involved, the conflict was set in motion, and, for the five years of it's duration, preserved, by the, Darth Sidious, whose ultimate goal was the transformation of the Republic into an with himself as ; also, as a , Sidious' sought the complete eradication of the Jedi Order, the 's ancient enemies.

Despite controlling the Republic as Palpatine, and the Separatists through Dooku, who was his secret, Sidious' plans were ultimately thwarted, and he was forced to flee known space.

Preamble
"I will not let this great Republic&mdash;which has stood for over twenty-five thousand years&mdash;be split in two; my negotiations will not fail.''" "But if they do, you must realize there aren't enough Jedi to protect the entire Republic; we are keepers of the peace, not soldiers''."

- Palpatine and

Crisis on Naboo and Palpatine's Rise
"We shall bring peace and prosperity to the Republic."

- Palpatine, to Padmé Naberrie of

Although the Clone Wars officially began in  at the, it's beginning could be found , during the  of the planet of Naboo by the , in response to Outer Rim trade route  imposed by the. The aftermath saw the ascension of  Palpatine to the  of Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. He promised to bring an end to the corruption that had so often plagued the Republic's Senate.

However, the four years of his first term saw barely anything to fulfill that promise. The demilitarization of the Trade Federation was viewed by many as little more than a slap on the wrist, and, of the Trade Federation, managed to evade any serious charges against him, due to his role in the Naboo conflict, despite opposition from Padmé Naberrie, Queen of Naboo.

Dooku's Fall
"Can you do what must be done? Will you aid me in the restoration of the galaxy?" "Yes." "Then, from this moment forward, Dooku shall cease to exist. From now on, you are Darth Tyranus&mdash;a lord of the Sith. Rise, apprentice."

- Darth Sidious and Dooku

During this time, Palpatine, through his true persona&mdash; that of the Darth Sidious&mdash;had contacted the former  Dooku, now the Count of Serenno; this was due to the fact that, Sidious' first , had been slain by  during the final battle of the Naboo conflict. Now, Sidious was in need of a new apprentice&mdash;Dooku, an accomplished, who had long criticized the corruption in the Republic's Senate, and had blamed the for turning a blind eye to the Senate's unscrupulousness, had just resigned from the Order; he held the Jedi Council responsible for the death of his old , Master , at Maul's hands.

Taking advantage of Dooku's disillusionment, Sidious convinced the ex-Jedi that the galaxy needed to be reforged; the Republic needed to be destroyed, along with the Jedi, so that a could rise, free of the blood and carnage of the past. After seventy years in the Jedi Order, Dooku gave up the Jedi way, and embraced the.

Apprenticing himself to Sidious, Dooku was renamed Tyranus and became a Dark Lord of the Sith. With his family holdings on, Dooku possessed vast quantities of wealth that he used in the service of his new Master.

Just after Dooku left the Jedi, his old friend, Master, secretly made an order from &mdash;a planet inhabited by a of &mdash;for an army to be cloned for the Jedi and the Republic. Sidious learned of this, and informed Dooku, instructing him to eliminate his former friend and gain control over the army. Dooku obeyed, murdering the Jedi Master, then paying for Sifo-Dyas's clone army under his Sith name.

Later, Dooku returned to the, in secret, to erase Kamino, and thirty-seven other star systems from the , preventing the Jedi from discovering the clone army&mdash;an army being grown for them, without their knowledge&mdash;until the time was right for them to discover its existence. Dooku also stole information about secret Jedi hyperspace routes through the region in the center of.

After being deemed worthy, the  was commissioned by Dooku to be the template for the clone army.

Orchestrating a Crisis
In AGS, Dooku appeared on, announcing his intent to establish the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a group of organizations and governments whose goal was to secede from the Republic due to their common belief that they'd been cheated by the Republic and its corruption.

By 11 AGS, after many systems had left the Republic to join the Confederacy, the Senate, fearful of this growing Separatist movement, passed the, an amendment to the that eliminated the two-term limits for the position of Chancellor, and allowed Palpatine to remain in office until the crisis had passed.

Dooku's Minions
Dooku, though unable to openly take his own apprentice due to the, did seek out several s to serve him as. These beings included, , , , , , , , , , and even, for a time, Jedi Master. All, with the exception of Vos, were killed during the war.

In addition to this group of, he recruited the warrior , as well as the  bounty hunter Durge, who, if for no other reason than to destroy the Republic's army of clone troopers bred from the DNA of  Jango Fett&mdash;as Durge hated Mandalorians&mdash;joined the Confederacy.

The most important&mdash;and most notorious&mdash;of Dooku's allies was the warrior, whose body had been horribly maimed in a shuttle crash&mdash;one arranged, though not known to Sheelal, by Dooku himself. His broken body was taken to Geonosis where he was offered a new life and the help of the InterGalactic Banking Clan for his people by the its,. All the Kaleesh had to do, in exchange, was lead the Separatist Droid Army against the Republic who had wronged his people.

Sheelal took the opportunity iven to him, merged with his new droid body and he became the feared Grievous,.

Escalation
,, , and  were some of the first worlds to secede from the Republic. They would be joined by the, , and s, bringing most of the Rimward leg of the  under the control of the CIS. These sectors would be followed by the, which provided the Separatists with over two-hundred agricultural worlds, and the , which gave , and the  to the Confederacy. Though joined the CIS, the  remained loyal to the Republic. Later, these sectors and planets would be joined by the corporate entities of the galaxy&mdash;the, the , the , the , the and the.

At this time, the Republic capital world of found itself the target of many terrorist attacks, including an attack on Padmé Naberrie&mdash;the Senator of Naboo, who used the regnal name Amidala&mdash;ordered by Dooku and Nute Gunray, Trade Federation Viceroy, and carried out by Jango Fett and, upon her return to vote on the , which would give the Chancellor the authority to constitute an army to defend the Republic against the threat posed by Separatists.

After a second attack on Naberrie's life, the Jedi Council selected Obi-Wan Kenobi to investigate who was behind the attempted assassinations on the Senator, while his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker escorted Naberrie back to Naboo. Kenobi's search took him to Kamino, where he discovered the clone army, already with two hundred thousand units combat-ready, and a million more in production. He also encountered Jango Fett, who attempted to escape with his to Geonosis, but was pursued by Kenobi, who managed to send a message to the Jedi Council, before being captured. On Tatooine, Skywalker was directed by Mace Windu to stay where he was, and protect Naberrie. However, Padmé decided to travel to Geonosis to rescue Kenobi, and Anakin came with her. However, they both were captured, as well, and, along with Kenobi, were, by order of, a prominent Separatist leader, to be executed.

With the knowledge that a Confederate was in production, the Senate, at behest of  &mdash;who had been manipulated by  &mdash;gave Chancellor Palpatine emergency powers, effectively making him a dictator. With this newly-granted power, Palpatine legalized the creation of the clone army to serve in the.

Meanwhile, had prepared the designs of the ""&mdash;a spherical battle station capable of not only destroying Republic military forces, but entire planets, as well.

The Battle of Genosis
"I have good news for you, my lord&mdash;the war has begun." "Excellent; everything is going as planned."

- Count Dooku and Darth Sidious

The battle of the Clone Wars occurred after Separatist forces captured Obi-Wan Kenobi on Geonosis and charged him with espionage. Anakin Skywalker and Senator Padmé Naberrie attempted to rescue Kenobi, but were also captured and sentenced to death. A Jedi led by Mace Windu stormed the, where the prisoners were to be killed. The ensuing battle resulted in the deaths of many Jedi and the bounty hunter and template of the clone army, Jango Fett.

The Jedi managed to hold their own for some time, but were beaten back by the enormous amount droid forces. Rejecting Count Dooku's offer of surrender, the Jedi prepared to fight to the death, the clone army, under Jedi Yoda's command, dropped from the sky in Republic. After rescuing the Jedi from the arena, the clones engaged the droid army on the fields of Geonosis.

The battle on the surface was not the only conflict; in the space battle, the clone pilots, led by, destroyed valuable Trade Federation battleships, and in the subterranean battle, fought between clone commandos&mdash;most notably the commandos of &mdash;and Separatist forces, saw victory for the Republic due to the annihilation of Separatist foundries and Geonosian leaders, such as.

Dooku, seeing that the battle was lost, took the plans for the Separatists' Ultimate Weapon and fled to a secret. Intercepted by Kenobi and Skywalker, he managed to best them both, even Skywalker's right arm at the elbow.

Traveling to Coruscant, Dooku met with Darth Sidious at. It was clear to the two s that, while the Battle of Geonosis was a defeat, it was merely the first move in a much larger game.