How powerful was the Rebel Alliance?

Hi all!

How powerful do you think the Rebel Alliance was. At the time of the Galactic Civil War (Original Trilogy), that is.
As I see it, they were far weaker than the Empire in military might, obviously. I also believe they were less powerful than the Separatists or the Republic in Episode II. Actually, for an organization that spanned all over the galaxy and managed to achieve what they did, they were not strong at all. It is not like they could lose thousands of troops and it would make little difference, like the case would be for the other galaxy-spanning organizations.
On the other hand, I think they would be stronger than most local system authorities when it comes to overall strength (except maybe for Coruscant in Imperial times). Otherwise, I don't even think they would be able to put up any sort of fight against the Empire.

What do you think?

 

Hi!

Well, in terms of strength against the Empire, they were outnumbered by a huge margin. If I recall rightly, the Empire had around 10,000 Star Destroyers in operation, not to mention great numbers of cruisers, dreadnaughts and at least one Super Star destroyer. In comparison, the full Rebel fleet was amaased at Endor, which comprised of a couple of hundred ships. I think the Emperor's overconfidence was the only reason that the Alliance won.

 

Well the rebels had more heart.

 

Thee Emperor's overconfidence and the Rebellion's spirit were major factors, but the numbers are astounding. I read in Heir to the Empire that the Rebel fleet at Endor was outgunned ten to one. If that is true, then the Rebellion did have to overcome a large gap.

The Emmpire controls vast resources, but the Rebellion was able to earn the support of various systems and gain their own resources as well. Mon Calimari, the Bothans, General Madine, and possibly Bespin became part of the Alliance, so the defection of resources is also something to take into consideration.

The increases of Alliance support also can be linked to their victories over the Empire. Yavin and Endor were their major victories, but the Rebellion was able to survive Hoth. Their morale soared after this, so their spirits had to be positively affected. Do you remember the celebration at yain in ANH or the cheers in ESB when the first transport bypassed the Star Destroyers?

The Empire is merely driven by the will of the Emperor, and when he died, their will came to a halt, though some of their higher officers did survive (Thrawn, Daala, etc.) Endor. The Rebellion is driven by the will of individual people, and their hearts. The Rebels were fighting not ust for their survival, but for what they felt to be a just cause.

 

How powerful was the Rebel Alliance?

They got their job done.

 

The rebels survived by staging a guerilla war, using hit-and-run tactics (their hyperdrive-equipped starfighters coming into play, to make up for their relative lack of capital ships), and commiting acts of sabotage. I believe it was stated in a profile on General Madine that the rebels would never get into a face-to-face confrontation with the Imperials, because in most cases they would lose.

The Battle of Endor is a special case. The rebels massed their forces for the first time. The Mon Calamari, recent additions to the Alliance, brought their formidable-and underestimated-fleet of capital ships into the battle. And the rebels by this point have many new allies: Sullustans, the aformentioned Mon Cals, Prune Faces, Bothans, etc. They also have squadrons of new fighters. Judging from the unique flightsuits the pilots of these new fighters wore, I imagine they come from worlds who have thrown off their Imperial rule and joined the rebels, too, taking their entire military and merging it with the rebels existing forces.

But basically, the rebels strength was their ability to stay mobile and use sneaky tactics.

 

What i want to know is how many X-Wings, Y-Wings, and A-Wings the Alliance had. Because in ROTJ they looked there were around 50, anyone one know specifically???

 

Well, the Rebellion did have a Jedi on their side. I know, I know, so did the Imps but good is stronger then evil. Possibly intellectually challanged, but stronger.


"Evil will always win because Good is dumb" Dark Helmet.

Seriously, since the Rebellion was open to pretty much anyone who wanted to fight the tyranny of the Empire i figure they have the strenght hands down. The Empire concripted or cloned the soldiers they needed. The Rebellion took volunteers. The army with their heart in it is alwasy stronger. Look what happened in the American Revolution. We were outgunned, out manned, and out supplied, out fought on alot of occasions, by the British Empire but we still won because we wanted it more. We were defending what we believed in. Very much like the Rebellion.

 

Well if one goes by the EU, then the Rebel fleet at Endor was quite large, but then again so was the Imperial fleet. Here is a thread in Lit. that lists all of the Imperial and Rebel ships at Endor, please note that is of course EU. Participants of Endor

Wether one reads the EU or not, one thing is for certain and that is the Empire out manned and out gunned the Rebels by a huge percentage.

 

One advantage the Alliance had was a vastly superior pilot corps, and the ironic thing is that many of them defected from the Empire (Biggs, Porkins, Hobbie, etc). Combined with powerful starfighters (X-wings, A-wings, B-wings), groups like Rogue Squadron could perform hit-and-runs even though they are outnumbered and outgunned.

 

"One advantage the Alliance had was a vastly superior pilot corps, and the ironic thing is that many of them defected from the Empire (Biggs, Porkins, Hobbie, etc). "

Good point. Makes sense too. You'd have to be a heckuva pilot to survive TIE fighting long enough to join the Rebellion.

 

It's hard to tell, for two reasons:
1. The Alliance, from what we've seen and what has since been written, was spread out over an entire galaxy. They had a central command structure, but a given sector had a lot of autonomy.

2. What would have been the best show of Rebel might, the battle of Endor, was reduced because the filmmakers were running out of time and money to do what was described in the novelization (the entire Alliance spaceforce, stretching as far as the eye can see, with an incredibly diverse composition, which by the way faces off against an Imperial pincer, so you can double the Imperial numbers as well), and we were left with maybe seven-ten cruisers, as many frigates, as many corvettes, and as many transports, plus a few oddball ships in the background of scenes, and a lead fighter wing of a couple dozen ships (later augmented by cruisers launching fighters once the battle was joined). Matters were not helped any by the entire complement of B-wings going AWOL seconds into the fight.

 

I would say that the Rebellion was pretty powerful. Especially since they did beat the Empire.

 

I agree that the Alliance was powerful but how powerful can you be when you have 10 X-Wings, 3 Y-Wings, and an A-Wing???

 

One advantage the Alliance had was a vastly superior pilot corps, and the ironic thing is that many of them defected from the Empire

Through the Empire was probably the only way to get trained on military ships, so just about every Rebel pilot must have either been a defector or have known one personally. Another advantage of that is it means the Rebels are more familiar with Imperial tactics.

 

Actually, I'm more inclined to aruge that the Empire had the better pilots to a certain extent. Sure the TIEs had no shields or hyperdrive, but if one could last even two missions in one, they have got to be good. Sure the Rebels had better ships, and the fact that more pilots made it home increased the overall experience pool, I still think that is inferior to the Empire.

If you take on Imp pilot who has a hot hand and go against a rookie X-Wing pilot and the Imp. will win. You take a Imp pilot who is good against a mediocre Rebel pilot and the Imp. will probably win. However if you take a hot Imp. pilot and go against a hot Rebel pilot (181st/Rogue for example) then the Rebel will probably win only because of shields.

 

I can't beleive I didn't think of it. The Rebellion has to be stronger. They're armed with Ewok Power!!!