Rebel Alliance

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Rebel Alliance
Form of Government	Resistance movement
Capital	Various Hidden Bases, Coruscant
Head of State	Mon Mothma
Supreme Commander	Admiral Ackbar
Head of Government	{{{headofgovernment}}}
Executive Branch	Chief of State (de facto), Cabinet
Legislative Branch	{{{legislativebranch}}}
Establishment	19 BBY
Fragmentation	{{{fragmentation}}}
Final dissolution	{{{finaldissolution}}}
Reorganized into	Alliance of Free Planets

The Alliance to Restore the Republic (commonly known as the Rebel Alliance) is an interstellar force formed in direct military opposition to the Galactic Empire in the fictional Star Wars universe. The Alliance was started by a group of loyalists who wished to preserve the ideals of the Old Republic. The primary founders were Senators Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, Padmé Amidala, and Garm Bel Iblis.

[edit] History

In The Force Unleashed, it is revealed that the Rebel Alliance was formed by Darth Vader's secret apprentice, Galen Marek, aka "Starkiller," and, by extension, Vader himself. Vader originally intended to use Starkiller as a pawn to gather together the Empire's enemies, manipulating his apprentice into believing that he intended to start a rebellion; in truth, Vader wanted to lure any significant rebels into a trap, at least in the eyes of Emperor Palpatine; whether or not he intended for the Rebellion to survive is unknown. However, Starkiller managed to save the principal founders from the Empire, though at the cost of his own life.

Galen's family crest would eventually become the symbol of the rebel Alliance.

The Alliance was established as the Delegation of 2000 almost immediately after the Clone Wars during the onset of the upcoming Galactic Civil War, where Supreme Chancellor Palpatine transformed the Galactic Republic into the Empire with himself as its Emperor. In Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the first resistance to Imperial rule laid the foundations of the Rebel Alliance. According to the role-playing game, however, the Cantham House Meetings on Coruscant to discuss the future of the Rebels were still ongoing; resistance was relatively quiet until the incident on planet Ghorman. A military ship commanded by Captain Wilhuff Tarkin was blocked by peaceful protesters who stood on the ship's landing pad and refused to move. With implied permission from the Emperor, Tarkin landed the ship anyway, injuring and killing many - an incident that history recorded as the Ghorman Massacre.

Senators Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, Padmé Amidala, and Garm Bel Iblis finally realized that normal political channels were useless to address the problem. With their help, an underground ragtag organization, the Resistance, was formed to plan the removal of the Emperor, but the growing ruthlessness of the state forced them into initial secrecy as they were unable to undermine the Empire's regime.

In a few deleted scenes from Revenge of the Sith, Senator Padmé Amidala Skywalker was briefly involved in the formation of the Alliance before her premature death after delivering her twin children, Luke and Leia, both of whom would later become members of the Alliance.

The video game "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" presents a differing view of the Alliance's formation, hinting that the Emperor was actually pushing secretly for its formation. The reasoning was that Palpatine needed an opposing force for a war to consolidate his power with the Empire, not imagining the Alliance would ever become a serious threat.

When the Rebels were ready to fight and had formed an official organization with countless allied systems, it became clear that the cause needed a public statement to ensure its legitimacy. Mon Mothma supplied an open Declaration of Rebellion in which the grievances of the Rebel Alliance were stated and concluded with an open threat to depose the Emperor, while the Corellian Treaty was signed at the Corellian System Meetings. With these acts, the Empire went to work to crush the insurrection, while various allies secretly made their contributions to the Alliance, slowly making the united Rebel Force even more powerful.

The most notable equipment contributions include the defection of the Incom Corporation staff and all relevant material involved in the development of an advanced spacefighter, the X-wing. Later the squid-like species called the Mon Calamari joined the rebellion and used their renowned skill in ship construction to supply badly needed capital ships that could take on the Imperial Navy.

According to the RPG, part of the Alliance's strategy was the "Doctrine of Space Denial" in which the Alliance would attack Imperial shipping in hit and run raids both to disrupt Imperial supplies and operations and to illegally confiscate desperately needed materials. Consequently, their starfighters had hyperdrive capability along prearranged routes which would allow this kind of harassment and escape before the Empire could react.

Through their intelligence network, the Alliance learned of the construction of the Death Star, an enormous battle station intended to secure the Empire's power. Operation Skyhook, a military campaign commanded by Princess Leia and involving Keyan Farlander and Kyle Katarn, was successful in stealing the schematics of the station, but her ship was crippled and captured by the Imperial fleet while attempting to deliver them. Leia was held hostage for a time by the Emperor's second in command, Darth Vader. She was rescued by Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Obi-Wan Kenobi who were able to deliver the station schematics to the Alliance. This led directly to the Alliance's glorious victory in the Battle of Yavin and also gained them Luke, their only loyal member with training in the Force.

The Alliance suffered a crushing defeat on Hoth when one of their main command centers, Echo Base, was overrun by the Empire's 501st Legion.

After the defeat on Hoth and towards the end of the movie Return of the Jedi, the Rebel Alliance regroups and is then commanded by Admiral Ackbar, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, and Garm Bel Iblis. As the Rebel Alliance makes their plans to attack Endor and other Empire controlled planets they enlist the help of various planetary creatures such as Ewoks to help them liberate the planets. The Rebel Alliance then captures the Empire's main base on Endor and liberates most of the galaxy, leading to the defeat of the Empire which results in the death of Darth Vader, Darth Sidious and most of the Imperial hierarchy and the complete destruction of the Death Star and the Empire's fleet of ships.

[edit] Important people

[edit] Original founders

• Galen Marek "Starkiller"
• Senator Mon Mothma
• Senator Bail Organa
• Senator Garm Bel Iblis
• Senator Leia Organa
• General Rahm Kota

[edit] Senior civil government and military high command

• Mon Mothma - Co-founder and commander-in-chief
• Bail Organa - Co-founder
• Garm Bel Iblis - General and co-founder
• Admiral Ackbar - Supreme Commander of the Rebel Alliance Fleet
• Rahm Kota - Commander and Jedi Knight
• Leia Organa - Senior diplomat
• Han Solo - General and former smuggler
• Lando Calrissian - General and former Cloud City administrator
• Wedge Antilles - Commander of Rogue Squadron and, following Luke Skywalker's resignation, General
• Luke Skywalker - Commander and Jedi Knight; former Commander of Rogue Squadron
• Carlist Rieekan - General and Commander of the Alliance's Echo Base on Hoth
• Jan Dodonna - General and Commander of the Alliance base on Yavin IV

[edit] Bases of operations

• Home One and Endor
• Echo Base, Hoth
• Yavin IV
• Dantooine
• Corellia
• Coruscant
• Sullust
• Ansion
• Second Chance Base, Bastion
• Commerce Point Base, Gralle

[edit] See also

• Galactic Republic
• Galactic Empire
• New Republic
• Galactic Alliance

[edit] External links

• Rebel Alliance on Wookieepedia, an external wiki