PT So the Clone Wars were pointless, right?

The droids and the clones were both working for Palpatine, so the entire war was just staged. He just wanted to create fear so he could basically pass martial law, correct?

Why go through all that trouble to ask permission when you have 2 armies that could just take it?

 

Because he wanted to delay the Rebellion problem as much as possible - and have people in place to shoot every Jedi in the back at the critical moment.

Had he acted like a more conventional warlord - he'd have sparked rebellions all over the galaxy - and have to contend with about 10,000 Knights and Masters leading those rebellions.

 

Because the way he did it, was technically totally legitimate. He got himself voted into dictatorship for life. Oh and got to wipe out the Jedi politically, morally and of course literally. And turned the prophesied Jedi 'Chosen One' into his very own Sith Apprentice. He was never 'asking permission' - he was spinning the whole situation to create a lawfully accepted and democratically approved dictatorship. As of the end of Episode 3, the Senate was literally cheering him telling them 'I am now in charge... forever.'

Or alternatively... what Iron_lord said. Curse my fractionally slower typing skills....

 

Splinter the galaxy so no one could stand against him and fight each other instead, kill the Jedi, make it look like the Republic was ineffective so people would cheer for the new Empire, and the ultimate Jedi trap.

 

On the other hand... yes, it WAS completely pointless from the perspective of everyone who wasn't Palpatine. Literally everyone else lost, to various degrees. But that was the whole point of the operation - not just for him to BECOME Emperor but to set it up so that he remains Emperor, until he dies (which if he manages to work out Plagueis' secrets, won't ever happen). No unified opposition, no military alternatives, no will to fight him. And he succeeds completely. It takes around 15-20 years for the Rebellion to score any kind of military success (the first Death Star battle) and after that point they are on the back foot for a long period.

 

Ever hear the saying, "Divide and conquer"? That's what Palpatine does in the PT. He divides the Galaxy- Republic and CIS- and conquers them. He wipes out both the Republic and CIS, and makes himself Emperor.

Palpatine may have been able to make himself Emperor in AOTC, the Senate was already corrupt then. However, the biggest obstacle in his way would be the Jedi. No way the Jedi would have allowed such a thing to pass. He uses the war to weaken, exploit, and spread the Jedi thinner and thinner.

 

ROTS Novel

Clone Wars have always been, in and of themselves, from their very inception, the revenge of the Sith.

They were irresistible bait. They took place in remote locations, on planets that belonged, primarily, to "somebody else." They were fought by expendable proxies. And they were constructed as a win-win situation.

The Clone Wars were the perfect Jedi trap.

By fighting at all, the Jedi lost.

With the Jedi Order overextended, spread thin across the galaxy, each Jedi is alone, surrounded only by whatever clone troops he, she, or it commands. War itself pours darkness into the Force, deepening the cloud that limits Jedi perception. And the clones have no malice, no hatred, not the slightest ill intent that might give warning. They are only following orders.

In this case, Order Sixty-Six.

Hold-out blasters appear in clone hands. ARC-170s drop back onto the tails of Jedi star fighters. AT-STs swivel their guns. Turrets on hovertanks swung silently.

Clones open fire, and Jedi die.

All across the galaxy. All at once.

Jedi die.

Order Sixty-Six is the climax of the Clone Wars.

Not the end-the Clone Wars will end some few hours from now, when a coded signal, sent by Nute Gunray from the secret Separatist bunker on Mustafar, deactivates every combat droid in the galaxy at once-but the climax.

It's not a thrilling climax; it's not the culmination of an epic struggle. Just the opposite, in fact. The Clone Wars were never an epic struggle. They were never intended to be.

What is happening right now is why the Clone Wars were fought in the first place. It is their reason for existence.

 

They were ends to a mean, like the war itself. The whole point of the Clone War was to siphon power away from the Senate and into the Office of the Chancellor aka Palpatine. So long as the War raged and the Separatists remained a threat, Palpatine could siphon power. Once Palpatine had all the power he needed, nobody would question him or his motives: except the Jedi. Because it was already the Siths plan to destroy the Jedi, all Palpatine had to do was make them look bad and like they started the War (think about it: 2 Jedi caught on a planet that they weren't supposed to be on that turns out to the starting point for the war - not hard to make the Jedi look bad).

 

And then blame Dooku as the Jedi's agent for the Separatists.

 

Yep, it's no accident Dooku was a former Jedi or that the Separatists were non-humans.

 

That is why Palpatine is the best character in the PT. Everyone else was dumb as heck.

 

Palpatine did sort of benefit from pretty much every other character ODing on stupid pills mind you. It makes sense for someone like Anakin who is impulsive and emotional and thinking too deeply would actually slow him down and make him less effective but literally everyone acts in the most stupid ridiculous ways so Sidious/Palpatine gets away with it. Just off the top of my head... Obi-Wan realises that 'Sifo-Dyas' apparently ordered the clone army a few years after his death. This is then never even mentioned again, ever. And there's the Council's blunt dismissal of the prospect that maybe Dooku wasn't quite so noble as all that and DID have something to do with Padme's attempted assassination, because they would know if it was him. Except it was, and they didn't. There are more examples I am sure...

 

means to an end.

 

What he said.

 

I could easily see the plot where Palpatine who created a secret clone army right under the nose of the Jedi in the first place simply uses it to invade the Republic, destroy all of the Jedi in the war, and use it as a means of having direct control by usurping power and forcing the Senate to make him Emperor for life. There would be no need for Stormtrooper ranks later if Sidious simply had a fully obedient clone army to rule the Empire with. It's a much simpler plan to put into action.

 

That's the thing, the Jedi are numerous and resilient fighters. If Sidious comes after them openly he won't win. He's powerful, but not that powerful. It has to be a stab in the back.

 

Even if he had created millions of clones to overwhelm them with? I don't think the Jedi could go very far on their own this way.

 

The Jedi aren't all hanging out in the Temple. Just a minority of them are. The rest would be scattered all over the Galaxy. When word comes out the Clones wouldn't even be able to find most of them. Then hundreds or thousands of them would descend on Palpatine and take care of the Sith like they have done so many times before.

 

And creating 'millions' of clones would be much harder than just popping over to Kamino and placing an order. Even the relatively small amount (tens of thousands compared to the size of the droid armies) was a serious financial strain on the republic and whilst he can play the senate with ease even he can't literally conjure up money out of thin air - and with the Jedi openly against him the war would go pretty badly. The clones were so successful against the Jedi because of the bond between them; without that they lose both the element of surprise and any reluctance on the Jedi's part to fight back. And Jedi surviving and forming an organised resistance is bad news for Palpatine as he can no longer control/manipulate the Council. His success is entirely due to being able to play every side against each other; provoking outright rebellion is a whole different story and he will lose a lot of his power in the Senate too.

 

He also becomes Emperor through a legal way by having the senate vote him in sure he killed lots of people to do it but does the Republic know about it no.

Also he would have no force to wipe out the jedi in an instance.

 

He also legally creates a standing military that answers to the position of the Emperor alone.

 

Or they would be all fighting a huge hoard of clones invading the Republic and be mostly killed off. Unless they Jedi have an army to repel a surprise invasion this won't happen.

 

Here's an exerpt from Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover, it explains exactly what the Clone Wars are for.

 

Let's not forget that Sidious clouded the vision of the Jedi as well.

 

I think that line from the novel above said it best, "War itself pours darkness into the Force". I guess if you think about the war as a tool to get the galaxy on his side, diminish resources that could be used against him, AND assassinate all Jedi (fairly) instantly, it was a pretty good plan.

Still, I watch the Clone Wars cartoon with my kid, and I just can't help feeling how pointless are the battles and stories are, in hindsight...