What kind of empire lasts only 30-40 years?

This was an Empire that also managed to blow up a planet during its brief existence. The amount of years they existed doesn't matter when they have that kind of military power.

 

They did topple an empire that had lasted for thousands of years. Remember that the Empire is just the Republic with a slightly different executive branch.

I agree here. There's more about political system than just the exectutive branch. In a state (?) as enormous as the Republic was, it didn't make much difference who gave the orders. They must have had big administration anyway, Palpy just took it over and added more means of constraint. The system became more oppresive, but I wouldn't say it really was that much of "new entity".

 

There's more about political system than just the exectutive branch.

True, but beyond Palpatine himself, power went to the Moffs and Grand Moffs, and of course the military officers who scarcely even existed during the Republic but had great power during the Empire. And as I said before, anyone declaring himself Emperor is clearly establishing a new system of government, and doing so quite openly at that point.

 

Why? Why should the amount of years matter?

 

I agree. The matter of years shouldn't matter. As we see from the PT now, the rebel victory over the Empire was quite impressive. The time and calculating it took by the Sith mastermind to conquer the galaxy was quite long and the rebel toppled the Empire in one battle. I have more appeciation for the rebel's victory after watching the PT.

As for why it couldn't be like a 1000 year Empire, it would decrease the significance of Vader's part in creating the Empire. He's the chosen one and he could have stopped the birth of the Empire and destroyed the Sith, instead he joined the Sith and helped raise the Empire. If the Empire was like a 1000 years old, Vader would have just helped destroy it. Instead, he helped build and destroy it.

 

There you go. It ain't like the Nazi's were around for thousands of years. Besides the Republic was around for thousands of years does that make you feel better?

 

An empire that had been around for a "couple of thousand years" would likely be on the verge of colapse by itself, so no, it would not be more epic.

And good grief. Even the Roman empire only lasted a few thousand years?

 

Roman Empire lasted a few hundred years, not thousand.

 

Even the Roman empire only lasted a few thousand years?

Even less, actually. From (the traditional date for) the founding of the city of Rome to its fall was 1229 years, and from the establishment of the Roman Empire to its fall was a mere 503/7 years, depending on which date is used.

Which reinforces your point.

 

The more oppressive the regime, the shorter the lifespan.

 

Then why was the British Empire around for so long?

 

lol, relatively tame compared to the Nazis or the Khmer Rouge.

 

well,
the Empire was kind of just a product of the Sith
So one way to look at it is that they overthrew the Sith which HAD been around for 1000s of years

 

Back before the prequel trilogy, I just took it for granted that the Empire had been around for hundreds of years (and that Palpatine was 100+ years old). Granted, there are statements in the movies themselves that flat out disprove that idea (but I was really too young to really pay attention to all the dialogue and pick up on it). Personally, I DO think that it would have been better if the Empire was a bit older. As it stood, we get the formation of the empire in the PT and the destruction of it in the OT, and in between was some of the Civil War we didn't see. Palpatine never really appeared to consolidate his Empire, he was opposed by some immediately. It was never ending war.

The (again, false) impression I had as a kid was that this Empire had been around for a LONG time, and that with people like Han Solo, who didn't believe in the force and what not, I thought it demonstrated a certain hopelessness; that after spending 100s of years under the regime people took the Empire for granted, that the Jedi who opposed it almost seemed mythical, etc.; that the Empire was seen as "Big Brother" protecting the universe against the "terrorist rebels" (I used to think that prior to the deaths of his aunt and uncle, that Luke wanted to JOIN the Empire). I perceived it to be the story of the brave few that rose up and faced down a powerful Empire while everyone else despaired. However, instead we have an Empire that never had total control.

 

Darthgordon: Incorrect. The Soviet Union lasted, depending on how you count, about sixty-nine to seventy-one years (1920-21 to 1989-1991).

 

...The kind that sets itself up with one, ultimate leader. Once he goes, it all goes. You then have peoples of equal power fighting to seize control of everything.

 

I can't remember if it was said in the film or I read it in an EU, but somewhere Sidious mentions to Darth Vader how they will rule the galaxy with fear- fear will keep all the worlds in line.
Now, what Sidious doesn't understand like many supervillians before him (real life and fictitious), is that this will work for a while but not forever. Making people hate and fear you gives at least one person the incentive to not do what they are told. Everyone will hate you, but only a few will have the courage to disobey you (ie. Rebellion).
If you treat people well, they will admire and have great respect for you and go out of their way to do things for you!

But they never get that. These people/characters usually aren't very smart.

 

I think you're thinking of the scene in anh where tarkin says to vader something like "Fear, fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battlestation."

 

I think it all depends on what you call an empire. If you are talking about one government ruling a whole bunch of people, then the United States technically is an empire. If you add the element that the leaders cannot be democratically elected but had to take power (or keep power) through military power, then the British Empire is partially eliminated. (The British Empire was also never all unified, often during its history it lost and gained colonies)

There really is no ability to compare past "empires" on this planet with Star Wars. In Star Wars, the entire known galaxy was under the control of one person. No empire in world history ever laid claim to the entire known world.