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In the fictional Star Wars universe, the Galactic Empire is the regime established by the series' leading antagonist, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, to replace the Galactic Republic in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. more...

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The Galactic Empire is introduced in A New Hope as the totalitarian, galaxy-spanning regime. The Empire also appears eponymously in The Empire Strikes Back, and in Return of the Jedi.

The Empire's origins are explained in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, where it replaces the Galactic Republic in the midst of a crisis orchestrated by Chancellor Palpatine. In a scene towards the end of the film, the Republic's Senate votes in Palpatine as Emperor, so that he can better deal with the political instabilities depicted in the three prequels. By the time of A New Hope, the Empire has transformed into a totalitarian regime, still struggling with a rebellion, now known as the Rebel Alliance.

It is stated in the Star Wars literature that the Empire consists of over one million member worlds and fifty million colonies, protectorates and governorships.

Origins of the Empire

The Galactic Empire was born out of the old Galactic Republic. However, the seeds of change were planted during the Clone Wars, the epic war between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

When the extent of the Separatist threat became clear, the Old Republic Senate, the legislature of the Republic, granted (Supreme) Chancellor Palpatine emergency powers to deal with the Separatist threat. This conflict allowed Palpatine to remain in office well past the limits set forth by the Galactic Constitution. Palpatine promised to return his powers to the Senate once peace was restored to the galaxy.

Palpatine took advantage of the conflict to greatly increase the Chancellor's power. The Jedi began to distrust the Chancellor's motives, fearing he had come under the influence of the Sith lords. However, Palpatine was, in fact, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, and had been manipulating the Republic and the Separatists against each other.

As the war dragged on, the Chancellor's power continued to grow until he became effectively a dictator. When the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker discovered Palpatine's true Sith identity, the Jedi tried and failed to arrest him. However, he had lost a physical battle against the Jedi and was about to be killed, when Anakin Skywalker helped Palpatine defeat Jedi master Mace Windu. His appearance was severely disfigured during this duel. Whether this apparent disfigurement was, in some sense, a revelation of his true appearance, or if it was a genuine injury inflicted by the Jedi, is a matter of intense debate. However, in an emergency Senate session, Palpatine claimed that the latter cause was correct. The Jedi, having attempted to assassinate Palpatine, were declared by him to be traitors and enemies of the Republic. Secure in his power and position, Palpatine issued the Declaration of a New Order and declared himself Emperor almost nineteen years before the Battle of Yavin.