Rebel Alliance

The Alliance to Restore the Republic; colloquially known as the Rebel Alliance, is an interstellar pro-democratic republic revolutionary faction in the fictional universe of Star Wars.

As a direct reactionary to the formation of the Galactic Empire, the Alliance insurgency conducted covert operations on Imperial garrison-worlds and guerrilla warfare against the Imperial Fleet throughout the Star Wars galaxy. Their goal was to seize the Alliance forces. The Rebel Alliance was first featured as the main protagonist-faction in the 1977 film Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). The faction's origins were alluded to in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), and their early activities are featured in the Disney XD television series Star Wars Rebels and the 2016 anthology film Rogue One. With the advent of the First Order decades later, an army backed by the New Republic called the Resistance is formed to counter their progress, including members of the old Alliance among their ranks.

The Alliance is described and portrayed in various Star Wars media as a resilient freedom fighters, one based on toleration, empowerment in diversity, insurgency weapons and tactics, and a hope for a better future.

Flag of the Alliance
to Restore the Republic

Use	Faction wide banner and ensign
Design	White banner with two black horizontal stripes and red emblem in the center

Depiction

Origin and early insurgency

The origins of the Alliance to Restore the Republic are told during the events of Revenge of the Sith. It is explained that the Delegation of 2000 is a group of Senators who are disgruntled about the already unjustified extraordinary powers of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, as the Clone Wars were waning. The group included Bail Organa, Padmé Amidala, and Mon Mothma, amongst others. At the time, Amidala was the most famous and prominent of the group, and was thus their spokesperson. She realized that this made her a target and later advised the others to go quiet in their dissent and exclude her from any future proceedings. The young senator died in premature childbirth not long after her last-ditch attempt to prevent Anakin Skywalker's fall.

The TV series Star Wars Rebels, set five years before A New Hope and fourteen years after the fall of the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order in Revenge of the Sith, begins with the rebellion against the Galactic Empire. The show focuses on a motley group of rebels (all of whom have been affected by the Empire in one form or another) that band together aboard a freighter starship called Ghost. By the end of the first season, it is revealed that there are various cells that are resisting the Empire. Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan and former Jedi Ahsoka Tano both play a pivotal role in coordinating them.

Formal Declaration of Rebellion

Near the end of the third season of Star Wars Rebels, one of the Alliance founders, Senator Mon Mothma, escaped assassination for speaking out against the Emperor. She calls out to the various rebel cells and insurgency factions to unite into a unified coalition:

We, the beings of the Rebel Alliance, do this day send forth this Declaration to His Majesty, the Emperor, and to all sentient beings in the Galaxy, to make clear to all the Purposes and Goals of this Rebellion.

We believe that the Galactic Empire has willfully and malignantly usurped the rights of the free beings of the Galaxy and therefore, it is our unalienable right to abolish it from the Galaxy. We, the Rebel Alliance, do therefore in the name—and by the authority—of the free beings of the Galaxy, solemnly publish and declare our intentions:

To fight and oppose you and your forces, by any and all means at our disposal;

To refuse any Imperial law contrary to the rights of free beings;

To bring about your destruction and the destruction of the Galactic Empire;

To make forever free all beings in the galaxy.

To these ends, we pledge our property, our honor, and our lives.^[1][2]

— Chancellor Mon Mothma, Commander-in-chief, Formal Declaration of Rebellion from the Alliance to Restore the Republic

Many Rebel ships arrive at a rendezvous point above Dantooine to unite and form the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

Galactic Civil War

Unlike the Galactic Empire, the Alliance lacked the means or resources to build and crew thousands of capital ships. The Alliance's grand strategy avoided attrition and conventional engagements with the Imperials at all costs. The Imperials considered collateral damage as "acceptable margins" in rooting out insurgents, contrasted against the Alliance's surgical precision to avoid civilian casualties. To minimize losses, the military leadership heavily favored carrier battle groups and starfighter strike crafts for fast-attack style of warfare and emphasized depredation and delayed actions, covertly relocating compromised bases to another system, interdiction in slowing down the Imperials' momentum, and inflicting maximum damage on the enemy without, in principle, becoming decisively engaged.

The Star Wars Rebels episode, "Zero Hour", demonstrates the Imperials' absolute naval supremacy when they successfully entrapped the "Phoenix Fleet" during the Battle of Atollon, and forced them in engaging on equal footing; resulting a decisive victory for the Imperials and the total decimation of the Rebel fleet.

During the events of Rogue One and the original Star Wars, the Alliance learns of the construction of the Death Star, an enormous battle station intended to secure the Empire's power. With the help of the Rogue One squad led by Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, the Rebels successfully steal the schematics of the station and win its first major battle against the Empire on Scarif; but at terrible cost as all remaining rebel forces decimated. After successfully downloading the Death Star plans, Alderaanian soldiers aboard a Mon Calamari flagship barely manage to escape Imperial forces with the stolen data plans. Right after the battle, the Tantive IV, an Alderaanian corvette carrying Princess Leia Organa is captured by the Imperial fleet while attempting to deliver the Death Star Plans to Bail Organa on Alderaan. All members of the Alderaanian Consular Security onboard are either killed or taken prisoner and Princess Leia Organa is held hostage for a time by Darth Vader. In order to punish both her and her home planet's central involvement in the Rebel Alliance, Leia is forced to witness Alderaan's destruction by the Death Star. The Princess is subsequently rescued by Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who then deliver the station schematics to the Alliance. This leads directly to the Alliance's victory in the Battle of Yavin and the loyalty of Luke Skywalker: the Rebellion's only remaining member with training in the Force.

In The Empire Strikes Back, the Alliance suffers a crushing defeat on Hoth when one of their main command centers, Echo Base, is overrun by the Empire's 501st Legion. The remaining forces of the Rebellion are forced to stay mobile, using Admiral Ackbar's flagship, Home One, as their headquarters.

By Return of the Jedi, the Alliance has regrouped and learned that a new Death Star is being constructed, and will be completed under Emperor Palpatine's personal supervision. Mon Mothma has Admiral Ackbar and Lando Calrissian command the Alliance fleet and dispatches Han Solo and Princess Leia to disable the station's defenses, while Luke distracts Vader. The Alliance subsequently wins the Battle of Endor, in which Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, and much of the Imperial hierarchy are destroyed.

By The Force Awakens, the Alliance had decisively defeated the Imperials during Battle of Jakku; the largest naval battle in the galaxy's recorded history. Thus, the Empire is essentially defeated, with Remnants forces succumbing to warlordism, and the Rebellion liberates most of the galaxy.

Successor

By The Force Awakens, the New Republic has formed from the Rebellion. The Resistance, an army backed up by the New Republic and successor of the Alliance, is formed to stand against the First Order, a new military power formed by remnants from the Old Empire.^[3]

Expanded universe

• According to Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, the Cantham House Meetings of Coruscant, including the participation of Senators Mon Mothma and Bail Organa, take place with the purpose of discussing the formation of a Galactic Alliance in opposition to Palpatine's Galactic Empire. In addition, the RPG tells that although throughout the galaxy many sectors are already fighting against Imperial interests, resistance is relatively quiet until the incident on the planet Ghorman, which takes place 18 years before the Battle of Yavin. The incident begins when an Imperial military cruiser commanded by Captain Wilhuff Tarkin is blocked by peaceful anti-Empire protesters who refuse to move off the ship's landing pad. With implied permission from the Emperor, Tarkin lands the ship anyway, injuring and killing many, an incident that history would record as the Ghorman Massacre.^[4] The myriad of civilizations which are fighting the Empire continue to grow in number and progressively coalesce into a ragtag organization known as the Resistance. They intend upon removing the evil Emperor, but the growing ruthlessness of the Imperial state forces them into secrecy, as they are initially unable to undermine the Empire's regime. The RPG tells that part of the strategy of the Rebel Alliance is the Doctrine of Space Denial, wherein the Rebellion would attack Imperial shipping frigates in hit and run raids, both to disrupt Imperial supplies and operations, and also to loot desperately needed materials. These Rebel starfighters were equipped with hyperdrive capability along prearranged routes which would allow this kind of harassment and escape before the Empire may react.^[4]
• The video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed presents a differing view of the Alliance's beginnings, hinting that the Emperor actually secretly pushed for its formation. Palpatine clandestinely bids for the creation of another opposing force, intent on starting yet another war in order to consolidate his power with the fledgling Empire, just as he had done earlier with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The Emperor orders his apprentice Darth Vader to use his own secret apprentice, Galen Marek (called "Starkiller"), as a pawn to gather together the Empire's enemies, manipulating him into believing that the intention is to start a rebellion. Vader quickly realizes that this is obviously a ploy by Palpatine in order to lure any significant rebels into a trap; however, it is unclear whether Vader (or the Emperor) had intended for the Rebellion to survive. At the supposedly secret meeting known as the Corellian Treaty, Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, Garm Bel Iblis, Jedi-General Rahm Kota, and others meet to formally create the Rebellion against the Empire. However, the proceedings are ambushed by Vader under orders from the Emperor, whom had actually secretly orchestrated the Treaty himself in order to gather all the Rebel leaders together and eliminate them. Starkiller, now aligned with the Rebellion after two betrayals by his former master, manages to save the principal founders from the Empire, though at the cost of his own life. Regrouping on Kashyyyk, the Senators formally proclaim an open Declaration of Rebellion, which states the grievances of the Empire against the Alliance to Restore the Republic and concludes with an open threat to depose the Emperor. This marks the formal "founding" of the Rebel Alliance, and Galen Marek's family crest becomes its official symbol.^[5] Thus, the Rebel Alliance is effectively founded by Darth Vader himself, and, by extension, Emperor Palpatine, though it is clear neither had imagined that the Alliance would actually ever become a serious threat. The Galactic Civil War consequently ensues, during which the Rebellion confronts the Empire many times throughout the galaxy.
• Star Wars: Empire at War depicts various allies contributing secretly to the Alliance, slowly making the united Rebel Force 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.^[6]

Symbol

The symbol of the Alliance is the "Starbird", which in the old canon was the crest of Galen Marek's family. Princess Leia selected it to honor Marek's sacrifice, declaring it a "symbol of hope".

Notable characters (from Canon & Legends)

Star Wars Canon members

Founders

• Senator Mon Mothma – Co-founder; current commander-in-chief
• Senator Bail Organa – Co-founder; early constituting member
  • Deceased during Episode IV: A New Hope, when the Death Star destroys Alderaan.
• Senator Padmé Amidala – Co-founder; early constituting member
  • Deceased during Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, while giving birth to Luke and Leia.

Senior civil government and military high command

• Gial Ackbar – Supreme Commander of the Alliance Fleet.
• Cassian Jeron Andor – Pilot and Intelligence Officer.
• Crix Madine – General of the Alliance Special Forces.
• Ahsoka Tano – Former Jedi Padawan; covert operations spymaster.
• Breha Organa – Adoptive mother of Princess Leia Organa; ruling monarch of Alderaan; played a pivotal role in securing Alderaan's support for the Rebel Alliance as its primary galactic advocate.
• Wedge Antilles – Commander of Rogue Squadron; General of the Alliance Starfighter Corps.
• Raymus Antilles – Captain of the famous Alderaanian cruiser the Tantive IV. Escort to members of the Royal House of Alderaan.
• Lando Calrissian – General and former Cloud City administrator.
• Carlist Rieekan – General and Commander of the Alliance's Echo Base on Hoth.
• Jan Dodonna – General and Commander of the Alliance's Base One on Yavin IV.
• Hera Syndulla – General and pilot of the Ghost.
• Luke Skywalker – Commander and Jedi Knight; former Commander of Rogue Squadron and former Grand Master of the New Jedi Order.
• Leia Organa – Representative of the planet Alderaan in the Imperial Senate and Senior diplomat of the Alliance; General of the Resistance.
• Han Solo – General and former smuggler.
  • Deceased in Episode VII: The Force Awakens, killed by his own son Kylo Ren (Ben Solo).

Star Wars Legends members

The list of characters featured within the non-canonical Expanded Universe / Legends story-line.

Founders

• Senator Bana Breemu – Co-founder; early constituting member (deceased)
• Senator Garm Bel Iblis – Co-founder; financed private army to fight against the Empire; rejoined Alliance during the Thrawn campaign.

Senior civil government and military high command

• Col Serra – Commander of Renegade Squadron
• Ylenic It'kla – Commander and Jedi Knight who escaped Order 66, serving as a personal aide to Bail Organa.
• Qu Rahn – General and Jedi Master who survived Order 66, mostly due to his connection and training with Yoda.
• Rahm Kota – General and former Jedi Master who survived Order 66, thanks to the aid of his own private militia.
• Echuu Shen-Jon – General and Jedi Master who survived Order 66, thanks to his exile on Krant.
• Talon Karrde – General and former smuggler who aided the New Republic during the Thrawn campaign.

See also

• Galactic Republic
• Galactic Empire
• New Republic

References

External links

• Rebel Alliance in the StarWars.com Databank
• Rebel Alliance on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki