Did the Rebellion Truly believe they were going to win against the empire?

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Did the Rebellion Truly believe that they would win against the empire in the end?
Did they believe Han and the others were going to have the Shield down, And did they believe
that Lando would destroy the Death Star?


Or did they think that they were going lose no matter what they did but they would try anyway?

 

If they didn't they wouldn't have tried in the first place.

 

They did the best they could, with what they had. If they succeeded, good. If they failed, they died, but it was preferable to living under a guy who has a Death Star.

 

I think so. The Alliance assumed that by destroying the DSII, they would eliminate the structure that held the Empire together: Palpatine (it's not mentioned, but I can imagine Alliance leadership assumed Vader would be present with Palpatine). Sure, the Alliance would still be outgunned, but it knew that with Palpatine gone, the rest of Imperial command would squabble and falter. The thing is, the Alliance threw everything it had at Endor based on the assumption Palpatine was there. The mission had to succeed or the Imperial noose would tighten even more.

 

They had already destroyed one death star. They also had secured victories against the Imperial fleet prior to ANH. The rebels also thought they had an element of surprise. Had they been right in their assumption, they would have secured the victory much sooner with only minimal loss of life.

The tougher question is how did Lando know to have faith in just giving Han a little more time.

 

But the second Death star was more powerful then the first one, and the rebels know it would not be easy to destroy.

 

But they seemed pretty confident (as part of Palpatine's scheme to lull them into a false sense of security). As skysoblue said, the real test of faith was Lando's belief in Han. The fleet had no contact with Han's strike force (that we know of), so Lando was going out on a limb.

 

Comparing it to real life rebellions, I'd have to say that they at least thought they might win. Like any war there would have been high and low points as far as morale is concerned. I imagine that during ESB morale for the rebellion was rather low and it might have looked to some as if the Empire would triumph. By RotJ the Rebellion was probably feeling rather confident again, having gained what they thought was good intelligence on the Death Star.

 

Well the question echos real life. Look at what's happenning in the world today with the war and other countries fighting each other. Some are completely outnumbered but they have faith. That motivation can carry people through wars and fight the odds. History would tell us the same thing.

 

Look at the Rebel's assembled in ANH. Now look at the rebels in ESB. Now look at the Rebels in RoTJ.

We have to go by only what we see on screen. This is the movie forum so "38943875 Mon Calamari cruisers were hidden on the other side of Yavin IV" doesn't cut it.

ANH: Very Crude base, a couple dozen snub fighters. A small amount of Rebel personel actually present.
ESB: On the run, but seemingly growing. Need several large transports to get them out. Have Ion cannons, Speeders, Frigates, and suddenly Jedi Support.
RoTJ: Many more Snub Fighters, including 2 new designs (B-Wing and A-Wing). Frigates, actual Capital ships (Mon calamari cruisers), Ground troops, non-human members (Ackbar Et. Al, Nien Numb.)

As the movies progress, the Rebels seem to get more ships, a better array of ships, stronger ships, allies from non-human systems. They were growing stronger. Was their strength enough that if they took every single ship they had against every single ship the empire had and just went toe-to-toe that they would win? No. If they made a SNEAK ATTACK and destroyed The Death Star, Emporer, and Vader and many other high ranking officers would this go a long way towards eventually emerging victorious. They didn't intend to get ambushed by the Imperial Fleet. It was supposed to be a quick Blow up the bunker, send snub fighters into the core of the Death Star, have support from their capital ships for whatever local squadrons the Death Star had protecting it, blow up the Death Star, and pull back to assess how profound their victory was before making another strike. They were pretty sure they were going to win untill they showed up and couldn't get a reading on the shield....it started to look bad after that.

Carnage

 

they did what ever they could so they tryed there hardest

 

But the Rebellion must have been a little worried!

 

Honestly, down deep in their hearts, the leadership of the Alliance must have known the odds were stacked heavily against them.

But I think that for the leaders of the Alliance, those who believed in freedom, democracy, and a staunch opposition to despotism, winning and losing wasn't the point - it was preferable to die standing than to live kneeling.

 

It wa sonly half-built and wasn't suposed fo have the superlaser operational, and the Imperial Fleet defending the station would only be a few Imperators at most

 

I think they knew the odds were stacked up aginst them but they had a fighting chance, just like America and the British in the Rev. War