PT Did the Republic have the resources and the power to create a conscript /volunteer army?

Thank You Nerdling...! Life got quite busy and distracting the last couple of months, couple that with TFA really taking a lot of wind out of my Star Wars sails, made for a good time to take a step away...

 

Tonyg wrote

For the record, the German population wasn't enjoying anything after the WWI. The treaty of Versailles was absolutely horrendous humiliating crap, by the way, as all the treaties after the war.

I wasn't referring to this particular time period, but the mid-1930's. It is on record that Germany recovered from the Great Depression much faster than other countries, but it's a lesser known fact that this (short-lived) period of prosperity was something the population did not want to give up too easily.

 

Yes, but unfortunately is Hitler who succeeded in that, I mean it happens during the times when the Nazis rule the country. ( they won the elections still in 1933, not with absolute majority, they made a conspiracy to have it, but anyway). So, my point was that not all is propaganda during their times. As is in the Empire’s time: in the beginning Luke wanted to go to the Empire Academy, after all, because the Empire gives opportunities. Sad, but realistic.


P.S. The propaganda of the Nazis succeeded also because of the humiliating treaty of Versailles. If the rest of the Europe didn't treat the Germans as piece of crap I doubt they will follow their leaders with the same enthusiasm. ( We can see references of similar processes in SW also). I’m glad that after WWII the winners learned this lesson and never did that.

 

The recovery you are referring to though (1930's) was based on fraudulent economics, nationalization of German industry, Germany illegally rearming itself, and huge national projects (i.e. The autobahn). Most of Germany's economic recovery was driven by the government funds and its low unemployment was due to this, and when Hitler and the Nazis knew that was unsustainable if they wanted to rearm, they introduced the scam called Mefo bills. Which were basically IOU's that the government gave to industries that were part of rearming Germany, because there wasn't enough real currency to pay for it. Through various creative accounting methods, these Mefo bills allowed the German economy to be propped up, artificially.

So this "prosperity" was a bunch of smoke and mirrors as the Nazis knew that the economy would eventually collapse because it was being propped up by government dollars that wouldn't last and Mefo bills that they knew they couldn't pay back, unless they were successful in their coming war.

 

You forget the Czechoslovakian industrial power. Skoda produced enough of the German goods during the war. If Hitler was smarter he would be satisfied with the annex of one of the most powerful industries in Europe without shooting a bullet. Well, he was to fixed in rise the Great German Empire again,. Anyway, my point was that temporary or not, the Nazi succeeded in what the democrats failed and that why in the beginning many people were in their side.

P.S.For the record, the nationalization has nothing to do with the industrial power, the South Korea big industrial entities have been controlled by the state, the Renault were in similar situation in their peak times, etc., etc. For a war any country will need resources and industrial power, and Germany has it, that is the main reason that in the beginning they were unstoppable, of course the other main reason were the inadequate behaviour of their adversaries, even the Russians made pivotal and stupid mistakes.

 

In ANH they never called the academy an Imperial one on screen, take it with a grain of salt but in a deleted scene, Biggs tells Luke he is leaving the academy and joining the Rebels before the Empire drafts him out as a officer. He teels Luke he has been training as a bridge officer on a freighter and plans to jump ship to find a rebel contact.

 

Ok, maybe I'm wrong. I thought it was Imperial or pro-Imperial Academy but it was no pro-rebel at all. And in the beginning Luke was just how to say it: he doesn't care if the Empire is good or bad and this means the Empire didn’t bothered his life in the farm.

 

Tonyg

I'm pretty confident that it is the Imperial Academy (if it were another one, it would probably have a name, just the "academy" suggests they all drop "Imperial" when referencing it).

According to the ANH radio drama Luke listened to alot of propaganda with job opprtunities like exploration and the Merchant Service. Yet, the best of the academy could probably be withdrawn from these jobs, i.e. drafted into other Imperial services

BIGGS I know it's a long shot, but if I
don't find them I'll do what I can
on my own... It's what we always
talked about. Luke, I'm not going to
wait for the Empire to draft me into
service. The Rebellion is spreading
and I want to be on the right side --
the side I believe in.

As it looks Biggs applied for the Merchant Service, got the commission as first mate on the Rand Ecliptic (a freighter according to the novelization) and is aware that he will be drafted sooner or later into the military and/or police service.

 

Thanx to clarifying! My point was that The Empire didn't look completely bad to all people in the Galaxy (as is in the real world). .

 

Thanks guys for the answers.

I've heard someone else say somewhere that the Clone army was a perfect army for a corrupt institution such as The Republic. With an army composed of its citizens, The Republic would have to answer to those citizens and homeworlds of those citizens serving in the Republican army. They have a duty and a liability to those citizens because they are doing The Republic a flavor. With a clone army no such duty and liability exists anymore. The Clones are ''disposable people''; they are made for one purpose which is war. Clones seemly take orders without any hesitation. It keeps The Republic from getting its hand too dirty with its populace.

 

I would say the Empire is even further corruption of the Republic under the guise of being a solution. Adopting the clone army was part of the process of the Republic becoming the Empire.

Perhaps the Empire didn't look bad to everybody, but according to the OT more and more people were seeing it as being bad.

 

The ending of the Attack of the Clone solidify that.

 

Given enough time and resources yes. But they didn't have time, they needed one instantly, and fortunately this Clone army materialized out of nowhere just as they were needed.

 

This is a good and interesting discussion. I think the Republic could probably have pulled together the funding, and scrounged up enough people to "fill the ranks" of an army, but from what we see in I, II, and III (but especially I and II), the Senate is fractured into various competing groups, where good causes (like sending help to Naboo) can be and are stymied endlessly. Furthermore, the point is underlined that those with money and moneyed interests are heavily involved in both the fracturing the government and leveraging its fractured state, as well as being open to manipulation by the genuinely evil (as opposed to greedy/selfish) Sidious. Corporations have seats in the galactic senate, and one wonders, who is exactly being represented here? I find it very unlikely the various groups making up the Republic would come to any consensus as to a large, centralized army that was not started by being dropped in their laps, as the clone army was. It would be much easier to manipulate the fractured senate we see in II into voting more money to an existing, already proven and loyal force with a "victory" (which is how pro-war politicians would sell the battle of Geonosis, heck even Obi-Wan refers to it this way) more funding, as it has no direct ties to any one interest group in the Senate.