Rebel Alliance

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From the Movies

The more the Empire tightened its grip on the people of the galaxy, the harder the Alliance to Restore the Republic fought. Born shortly after Palpatine's transformation of the Old Republic into the New Order, the Alliance started as little more than a rag-tag group of freedom fighters woefully under-equipped to challenge an enemy as mighty as the Galactic Empire. The continued injustices of the Empire, however, brought many into the Rebellion's fold.

As it grew, so to did its arsenal. To combat the Imperial starfleet, the Alliance's hotshot pilots made do with battle-worn yet effective craft like X-wing and Y-wing starfighters.

The Rebel Alliance scored a major victory over the Empire by using stolen technical plans to formulate an attack strategy capable of destroying the Empire's most fearsome weapon: the Death Star. During the next three years, the core group of Alliance commanders fled from base to base, constantly eluding the Empire's forces.

The Alliance eventually established a central base on the ice planet of Hoth. Imperial probes soon discovered the outpost, code-named Echo Base. The discovery precipitated the Battle of Hoth, wherein the High Command group was nearly destroyed. After the evacuation of the base, the Rebel leaders, including the Alliance's architect Mon Mothma, stayed with the ever-mobile and always-growing Alliance Fleet.

The joining of the Mon Calamari people into the Alliance bolstered the Rebellion's ranks, and brought badly needed capital ships into the fleet. Finally, about a year after the defeat at Hoth, the Rebellion was poised to make an all-out strike against the Empire. The opportunity came at the Battle of Endor. Despite it being an Imperial trap, the Rebels persevered. The conflict ended with the death of Emperor Palpatine, the destruction of the second Death Star, the scattering of the Imperial Fleet, and end of the New Order's long reign of oppression.

From the Expanded Universe

The Alliance began as a union between the scattered, ragtag groups of the Resistance, and the exiled leaders and nobility of the senate. During the early days of the Empire, the Resistance had waged battles against the New Order, but lacked the galactic scope or unity to truly affect Palpatine's regime. Senators like Bail Organa of Alderaan, Garm Bel Iblis of Corellia, and Mon Mothma of Chandrila united the Resistance groups into the Alliance.

The process began with the so-called "Cantham House Meetings." On Coruscant, Organa and Mothma discussed the future of the Republic. While Mothma advocated revolution, Organa was more of a realist. It was not until the Ghorman Massacre, where many peaceful protesters were killed by Palpatine's underlings, that Organa and Mothma agreed on a strategy and put their plans into motion. Organa's positions on such committees as Finance, Appropriations, and Intelligence Oversight allowed him to funnel supplies, money and information to the fledgling Alliance.

The Alliance truly formed with the Corellian Treaty. The result of the Corellian System Meetings, three major Resistance groups agreed to ally with the Rebellion. They swore to fight either to the death, or to the end of the Empire. Mon Mothma was instated as supreme ruler of the Alliance, along with her Advisory Council. While it may have seemed she had dictatorial powers over the Rebellion, it should be noted that every two years Alliance representatives had to vote on her continued role as leader. In all the years of Rebellion, she had never been challenged.

The Corellian Treaty outlined the command structure of the Alliance, and the roles of the Allies. While each member was free to govern themselves, and their territories, Mon Mothma and the Advisory Council was in command of supply, recruitment, training, inter-Ally communication, intelligence, and all space operations.

The Rebel Alliance was made up of two main organizations -- the Civil Government, and the Military. The Civil Government handled supply, transport, taxation, diplomatic relations, and so forth. Military, of course, controlled the Alliance fleet and ground forces. Both branches were governed by Mon Mothma, though she tended to concentrate more upon Civil duties, leaving control of the Military to those better suited to the work.

From the Corellian Treaty, the Alliance grew, and its first headquarters was in the remote Chrellis system. Since then, scores of Rebel bases were established throughout the galaxy, with the Alliance High Command base constantly on the move. During the course of the Galactic Civil War, it inhabited bases on Dantooine, Yavin 4, Thila, Hoth, Golrath, Arbra as well as being posted with the fleet.

While history has recorded much of the activities of the core group of Rebels attached the Alliance High Command, the efforts of the many sector groups scattered throughout the galaxy should not go forgotten. These groups, the Sector Forces, proceeded with feint attacks, spreading the Emperor's forces thin, and giving the heart of the Alliance time to regroup and develop its final thrust against Palpatine.

With the Galactic Civil War over, the Alliance to Restore the Republic ceased, becoming -- for a time -- the Alliance of Free Planets. This eventually paved the way for the New Republic. Many of the heroes of the Alliance would again brave remnants of the Empire and other threats to become heroes of the New Republic as well.

Behind the Scenes

The opening crawl of the 1975 second draft script of Star Wars describes the tragic "Holy Rebellion of '06'," wherein the Jedi Bendu of Ashla were rendered "all but extinct." In their place came the Empire protected by "the Black Knights of the Sith." In answer to this tyranny comes the Rebel Alliance led by a near-mythical warrior named The Starkiller.

Early material published around the release of A New Hope suggests that Alderaan was the birthplace of the Rebel Alliance, though this has yet to be conclusively proven.