The Star Wars Prequels are about a Republic
that turned into an Empire, about a democratic society that gave into fascism. This process was
gradual, unnoticed by far too many people until it was too late. On paper, the Republic became the
Empire three days after the end of the Battle of Coruscant in 19 BBY, when the Senate officially
approved the change in government. But in reality, the Republic had fallen long before
that. In this video, we’re going to be examining Palpatine’s rise to power and
pinpointing when exactly the Empire was born. Star Wars: The Clone Wars covered the rise
of the Empire in the Siege of Mandalore arc, which was perhaps the best arc the
show could ever have hoped for, filled with too many amazing scenes to count.
Among the most well-known scenes from the finale arc is the battle between Maul and Ahsoka
Tano, as well as the conversation between the two characters which preceded it. In that
conversation, one particular exchange stands out: A lot of people have called Maul’s comments
here foresightful, taking them to mean it was inevitable the Republic would fall. But
while Maul was definitely foresightful in this arc - literally, considering his visions of the
future - that’s not what he was expressing here. These were less visions of the future
and more observations about the present. That’s because, at that point in time, the
Republic had already ceased to exist. It was the Empire in all but name, even before Order 66.
In fact, it had been that way for quite some time. Let’s go back to the beginning. In 32 BBY, the
Sith infiltrated the highest echelons of Republic government when the Battle of Naboo propelled
Darth Sidious, in his guise as Senator Palpatine, to the Supreme Chancellery. Sidious quickly
filled the Chancellor’s Office with his allies, including many who knew who he really was and
were on board with his plans. In a matter of days, the Sith had de facto control of the whole galaxy,
albeit in secret. Once in power, Sidious began preparing for the endgame of the Sith Grand
Plan, planning for the end of the Republic. With that said, the Republic had already been
crumbling for centuries before Sidious came to power. Technically speaking, the Rise of the
Empire Era covers the entire Golden Age of the Republic, and for good reason. Throughout
the Golden Age, even as the Republic thrived on the surface, it was rotting at its core. The
machinations of the Sith, who worked from the shadows according to Darth Bane’s grand plan, were
a large part of this, but they weren’t the sole contributors to the Republic’s steady decline,
either. The Ruusan Reformations, which reshaped the Republic after the Dark Age, did a lot to make
the Republic more efficient, but they ultimately failed to solve many of the problems that had led
to the Dark Age in the first place - Core-centric approaches to governing, overwhelming corporate
power, and tremendous economic disparities between the Core and the Rim. Those problems worsened on
their own, and the Sith merely exploited them. When the Sith took over the Republic in 32 BBY,
those problems were intensifying to the point where some form of conflict was inevitable.
Over the course of Palpatine’s two terms as Supreme Chancellor, he and Count Dooku, his
apprentice, made sure the coming war would serve their interests. Dooku courted greedy
corporations and disaffected Rimworlds alike, while Palpatine made life worse for both of
them, fuelling their resentment of the Republic. In 24 BBY, Dooku and the allies he had gathered
declared themselves as the Confederacy of Independent Systems and seceded from the
Republic, sparking the Separatist Crisis. Two years later, that crisis
would turn into the Clone Wars. It should be noted that, for nearly the entirety
of Palpatine’s first eight years, he did nothing to change the structure of the Republic.
He radicalized the soon-to-be-Separatists by just continuing to do what the Republic
had already been doing. That only changed in the final days of his term, when the Confederacy
declared itself. It was no coincidence that Dooku delivered his fiery Raxus Address mere weeks
before Palpatine’s term was set to expire. The start of the Separatist Crisis allowed Sidious
to push the Emergency Powers Act into law, a bill that eliminated term limits for the duration
of the Separatist Crisis and gave the Supreme Chancellor a number of other emergency powers.
This was the beginning of the birth of the Empire. Over the course of the five years, between the
start of the Separatist Crisis and the Declaration of a New Order, the Republic slowly became the
Empire through hundreds of reforms passed by the Senate, which Palpatine was always sure to approve
with “great reluctance.” Six acts, in particular, were instrumental in this transformation. First
was the aforementioned Emergency Powers Act, and second was the Military Creation Act of 22
BBY, which formally adopted the Grand Army of the Republic and essentially declared war on
the Confederacy. During the war, in 21 BBY, two oft-overlooked measures followed: the Enhanced
Security and Enforcement Act, which basically created the Imperial police state, and the Reflex
Amendment, which allowed Palpatine to bypass the Senate to direct the war effort, much like the
real-world Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Right after the Battle of Coruscant came a pair of amendments
to the Security Act -- the Supreme Command Amendment and the Judicial Amendment, which made
Palpatine the undisputed leader of the Republic Military, including the Jedi Order. A day later,
the Sector Governance Decree was passed as well, assigning military governors to every sector in
the Republic, making the Senate all but powerless. With these measures and the smaller ones that
built up to them, the Republic was transformed into an Empire without Sidious even needing to
wipe out the Jedi or declare himself Emperor. Maul saw as much, but the vast majority of the
galaxy didn’t, disturbingly enough. Those who did were branded either as Separatists or violent
anarchists, and quietly assassinated. A disturbing number of people wouldn’t even have cared if they
became aware of it. So, to return to our original question: when did the Republic become the Empire?
We can pick out the exact moment when the Empire supplanted the Republic, and we can also pick
out an earlier point when it became inevitable. The Military Creation Act was the point of no
return -- when it became a matter of when the Republic would imperialize, not if. A little
over a year later, with the Enhanced Security and Enforcement Act, the transition was
made, even if only a few realized it. By remilitarizing the Republic, the Military
Creation Act essentially declared war on the Separatists and put one man in charge of directing
it. Both of these factors made the rise of the Empire inevitable. Firstly, it established
the supporters of a rather broad cause, one that was still largely nonviolent,
not just as enemies of the state but as enemies to be met with deadly force, setting the
Republic down the path towards a police state. Secondly, it set up Palpatine
as a sort of savior figure, the only one who could stop the Separatist threat,
opening the door to dictatorial emergency powers. The seeds sown with the Military Creation
Act blossomed into the Enhanced Security and Enforcement Act, which truly turned the
Republic into the Empire. The Security Act created a massive police state with virtually no
oversight for Palpatine’s near-exclusive use -- a police state that would not hesitate to throw
any and all civil liberties to the wind. With the powers granted by this act, Palpatine’s
enforcers put Loyalist cities under curfews enforced by armed troops; executed
millions of warrantless searches, seizures, and arrests; deported entire
species for supposed disloyalties; and kidnapped or even murdered antiwar
protestors and Separatist sympathizers. But the Enhanced Security and Enforcement Act
was the moment when the Empire was born not so much because of the content of the act itself but
because the act was virtually unopposed. Only two people are known to have spoken out against the
act - former Supreme Chancellor Valorum, who was killed shortly before it passed, and Senator Bail
Organa. Everyone else wholeheartedly supported it. A supermajority of the Senate --
and, disturbingly, many Loyalist citizens -- cheered the passage of the act, even
as it stripped them of most of their rights. Even the Jedi Order said and did nothing
about it, or about the resulting abuses. That is what killed the Republic. As Padmé Amidala
observed, it died with thunderous applause -- only that applause came a full two years before she
said as much. The Empire was born not because Darth Sidious forced it on the galaxy but because
the galaxy accepted it when he made the offer. It was born when Loyalists across the
Republic turned on their fellow beings, allowing them to be brutalized or even killed, all
in the hope it would make them feel secure. They valued their comfort -- their desire for things
to just make sense again -- over everything they supposedly believed in. The Republic was killed
not by malicious action, but by failure to act. What’s worse, most of the Republic didn’t even
have good hindsight on this one either. It took decades for most of the galaxy to see the Security
Act for what it truly was. The Jedi kept fighting for the Republic all the same, oblivious to the
fact that the Republic had ceased to exist. That, in particular, is a tragedy, as the Jedi should’ve
known better. The self-proclaimed defenders of the Light and the balance of the Force stood idly by
as the civilization they claimed to protect died, and they kept fighting for the monstrosity
that replaced it, hyper-focused on “saving” something that, by the end of the war,
hadn’t existed for nearly two years. When Darth Sidious finally declared
himself Emperor of the Galaxy, virtually the entirety of the former Republic
supported him. For some, perhaps, it might seem unbelievable that so many people would cheer on
a transition from Republic to Empire like that. But the fact of the matter is what they were
cheering on was really just a change of image. Everything evil about the Empire, from its
oppression of civilian populations to its endless militarism to its countless atrocities,
began during the final years of the Republic. So, that was when the Republic truly fell and
became the Empire. But what do you think? Had you considered this before? Feel free to
post your thoughts in the comments below.
