Galactic Empire

The Galactic Empire—also known as the First Galactic Empire, the New Order, the Empire, the Order, or the Old Empire—was an autocratic government that ruled the galaxy during the reign of Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith who proclaimed himself Galactic Emperor in 19 BBY. The new regime replaced the Galactic Republic, a democratic state that existed for a millennium until the end of the Clone Wars. The planet Coruscant, an ecumenopolis located in the Core Worlds, retained its status as the galactic capital under the Empire. At first the Empire was seen only as an extension of the Republic; and therefore, the Emperor grudgingly tolerated the existence of the Imperial Senate, an evolution of the Galactic Senate of the Republic.

The Age of the Empire lasted only two decades compared to the centuries of the Republic Era. By the time the Republic was in its death throes, Sidious gradually amassed power through his guise as Sheev Palpatine, a Naboo politician whom the Senate elected to the post of Supreme Chancellor in 32 BBY. At the same time he manipulated thousands of disaffected star systems into seceding from the Republic in order to form the Confederacy of Independent Systems, resulting in a political crisis that culminated in the advent of the Clone Wars by 22 BBY. Using emergency powers bestowed unto Palpatine by the Senate, the chancellor authorized the creation of the Grand Army of the Republic. However, throughout the conflict the Republic became an increasingly militarized state while the Senate's authority eroded under the growing influence of Chancellor Palpatine, whose rise to power was complete following the execution of Order 66. Across the galaxy thousands of Jedi Knights were betrayed and killed by the clone troopers under their command. With the Jedi Order all but destroyed, Sidious further marginalized the Senate while the armed forces underwent a massive expansion program, thereby strengthening the Emperor's rule over the galaxy.