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What was the Confederacy of Independent Systems? – JNR Holkor Selrith
More than a decade before the creation of the Galactic Empire, unrest had set in deep in the Galactic Republic. Despite the 1000 years of success, the Republic had started to decay. Many senators had become corrupt and were no longer bothered to make any attempts at reform. It was inevitable that dissatisfaction spread throughout the galaxy, especially in the neglected Outer Rim systems.
Several years before the Clone Wars, a debonair and charismatic former Jedi, Count Dooku of Serenno attempted to introduce radical change in the galaxy and his Separatist movement was very popular among systems were the effects of stagnant bureaucracy were taking their toll. In a couple of years time, a few thousand solar systems were under his control.
The violence instigated by the Separatists was too widespread to be controlled by the small number of Jedi Knights and Chancellor Palpatine seemed to believe in peaceful negotiating tactics. Some Senators however wanted a new Army of the Republic to be created. The senators were going to put the Military Creation Act to the vote but it needed to be delayed due to the attempt on the life of senator Padme Amidala, who believed that an army would make a civil war even more likely.
The Separatists however, were already planning to go to war. The great commerce barons of the Trade Federation, the InterGalactic Banking Clan, the Techno Union, the Corporate Alliance and the Commerce Guild were promised to be given reform as well as a more capitalist-inclined system in exchange for the vast armies of the companies which would be put to use by the Separatists. In a meeting room on Geonosis, Dooku signed a treaty with the commerce barons, and this was the start of the Confederacy of Independent Systems The Count was sure that another 10000 solar systems would flock to join the Separatist cause and that their droid armies would crush the Republic. The meeting was unfortunately overheard by the eavesdropping Jedi Obi-wan Kenobi who told everything to the Republic.
Obi-wan and his Padawan Anakin Skywalker were captured by the Geonosians and in a turn of events, the newly created Clone Army of the Republic clashed with the Separatist droids in the Battle of Geonosis, leading to a decisive victory for the Republic.
For three years the Clone Wars raged. General Grievous, part-alien, part-droid joined the Separatist movement and proved to be a clever and ruthless tactical genius. His daring strikes against the Republic and successful attacks struck fear at the hearts of the people of the Republic. General Grievous took pride in butchering Jedi and even kept their lightsabers as prizes. His mechanised body gave him a clear advantage in lightsaber duels as each of his arms could separate into two, meaning he could wield 4 sabers at once. Few Jedi who fought him lived to tell the tale.
Nearly three years after the Battle of Geonosis, Grievous led an attack on the Republic capital of Coruscant, where a huge fleet of destroyers attacked the Republic fleet in the upper atmospheres. The droid general even managed to take Supreme Chancellor Palpatine hostage, but Palpatine was saved by the Jedi Anakin Skywalker and Obi-wan Kenobi.
When Chancellor Palpatine revealed himself as Darth Sidious, the de facto leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, he issued Order 66 to all the clone troopers fighting for the Republic – the order to exterminate all Jedi. In what became known as the Great Jedi Purge, the Jedi generals were mowed down by the sheer number of troops against them, having to face both the clones and the droids of the Separatist armies.
Just prior to these events, the Separatist council, consisting of the leaders of the Confederacy of Independent Systems were ordered by Palpatine a.k.a. Darth Sidious to leave their headquarters at Utapau and move to the lava-filled world of Mustafar where Darth Vader, his apprentice, would ‘take care of them’. None of the council members knew that Vader was in fact sent to kill them. After having served their purpose of providing troops to fight for his cause, Palpatine now had a new clone army to fight for the Empire he had created and the Confederacy was no longer required. Vader butchered the Separatist council and their businesses were absorbed by the New Order – Palpatine’s Empire. The short-lived Confederacy thus came to an end.
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