The Symbol of the Galactic Republic - By: swmand4
The Galactic Republic, commonly called the Republic and later known as the Old Republic, was the democratic union of sovereign star systems that governed the galaxy for a millennia prior to the creation of the Galactic Empire. Its central government consisted of three branches: legislative, executive and a judicial. Centered on the Core World of Coruscant, the Republic Senate—a body of legislators who represented many of the planets spread across the galaxy—governed a Republic under the leadership of their own democratically elected Chancellor. The Office of the Chancellor was Senate's executive counterpart. The Supreme Chancellor was elected from within ranks of the Galactic Senate by its members. A judicial branch consisted of the Supreme Court and the lower Courts. Throughout its history, the Republic was guarded by the ancient Jedi Order, an organization of Force-Sensitives who served as guardians of peace and justice, this group enabled the Republic to be free of full-scale wars for most of its existence. However, thirty-two years prior to the start of the Galactic Civil War, the Republic suffered its first major crisis in a millennium during the invasion of Naboo by a Trade Federation, which ultimately led to the Clone Wars a decade later. During this galaxy-wide war, the Republic underwent a military buildup beginning with the mobilization of the Republic's Grand Army, born for war and led by the Jedi Order. As the Clone Wars continued, the Senate's authority was gradually eroded by increasing power of Chancellor Palpatine.
Throughout most of its history as the dominant galactic authority, the Republic did not style itself as a strong centralized government, but rather as a union of sovereign planets for the purposes of collective security and economic prosperity. Unbeknownst to all but few, Palpatine was in reality the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, who engineered the crisis to overthrow both the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Knights, doing so nineteen years prior to the Battle of Yavin. After the Jedi learned of his true nature, Palpatine enacted Order 66, a secretive protocol that forced the clone troopers to betray and execute their Jedi officers, effectively wiping away the Jedi Order in an instant. With the fall of the Jedi Knights and restoration of Sith dominance, Palpatine brought an end to the thousand-year Republic by proclaiming the formation of the Galactic Empire. The Galactic Republic, which had existed for a millennia, was brought down by a Sith Order of the Dark Lords, when the Sith transformed it into the Galactic Empire. Newly-anointed Emperor preserved a Imperial Senate for twenty years, but eventually he had disbanded the last remnant of the Old Republic upon the completion of the first Death Star. Within four years of the Imperial Senate's dissolution, the Empire suffered the loss of two battle stations and the death of Galactic Emperor Palpatine. The Alliance to Restore the Republic subsequently reformed itself as the New Republic and ultimately gained victory in the Galactic Civil War approximately one year after the Galactic Emperor died.