Palpatine's Biggest Mistake that Doomed the Empire

Emperor Palpatine was the architect of the Empire, but from day one his military first policy handicapped the true potential of his reign.
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[@StarWarsCorner]

“Your arrogance blinds you...” Ironic. Like the Jedi, arrogance was the downfall of Palps.

[@heathward9419]

I love you Allen

[@TheRezro]

Technically Sidius was preparing galaxy for invasion of Vong/Grisk. In EU it actually did happen and those absurd spending in long run saved galaxy. In New Canon Sidius actually unwillingly help weaken galactic economy by blowing all charges prematurely due to something what was mostly a propaganda of clever enemy. Grisk weren't as much immeasurable as they didn't use hyperlines and swarm weak targets behind enemy lines, killing everyone so they cold not testify and leave only primitives who depict them almost as unstoppable force. Only Thrawn was capable to see through they lies, sadly Emperor pick Tarin over him.

[@TheRezro]

@Gaius Wyrden Expanded Universe wasn't better, so don't pretend that it was otherwise.

[@jendersonmohammed443]

Yup

[@kaijuguy19]

No kidding. He ended up being fooled by the very weakness he used against the Jedi order.

[@themanhimself3117]

I think the underlying issue is that Palpatine was, above everything, a Sith. His entire career as a politician was a facade and a tool to create what He desired - a Sith Empire in the making. With this in mind, Palpatine's apparent lack of all foresight in regards to statesmanship and the economy makes sense - He quite simply did not care as long as he was still the Dictator. When the Empire was created, Palpatine virtually stopped being the politician and became comparable to Nero or Caligula, only half-concerned with governance, yet unlike Nero or Caligula, Palpatine had decades of political experience to back himself up. He was essentially skilled enough to not give a damn, but it was obviously not sustainable. It's sort of like holding a horse's reins with one, maybe three fingers but being skilled enough to maintain control - until you get tired, that is.

[@Ows124Gul]

Jordan Cambridge you must’ve watched a different film buddy. 🤔

[@jscorpio1987]

Owain Gullam I think Jordan must’ve been in the bathroom for the scene where Palpatine and his Star destroyers get blown to pieces. It must’ve been a good long turd as well because he also missed the part where Rey moves to Luke’s old farm to become a hermit as well.

[@magoschonkers711]

@Jordan Cambridge what that was just disney fanfiction not anything that really happened.

[@Ostentatiousnessness]

The Man Himself The other big issue with Palpatine was his stupid “I am the Alpha and the Omega” attitude. He broke the rule of two because he viewed himself as the perfect Sth and that no other Sith could defeat him, or indeed even had the right to defeat him. This criminal narcissism led to him never being capable of even envisioning the Empire without him as Emperor. I played a lightside Sith in SWtoR and the arguments he makes about the Empire being more important than the individual Sith and their petty bullshit is the kind of attitude the Sith, _any_ Sith, would have needed for a stable Sith Empire.

[@tinyelephant1533]

And that is why no Sith government in the entire history of the galaxy has ever succeeded. The Sith code, when applied to governments and economies, completely fails because it is outside the realm of reality. The Sith, along with the Jedi, are simply religious orders, and shouldn't try to run governments. Sith governments were shown to survive when they had an enemy, like the Republic or Jedi, but when they don't have any, they either end up turning on each other for supposed "power" or they run into economic blunders like Palpatines Empire.

[@dionr1168]

It's simple. He promised Anakin the power to save his family from certain death, only to later attempt to kill his family 23 years later.

[@kristiepperson8494]

Good point

[@kristiepperson8494]

Jordan Cambridge *points to jar jar* he did most of work and kinda was bigger master mind, he was the reason palpatine succeeded because he is smarter. I believe jar jar would have won more easily then a pile of ash that was palpatine twice. Even if his old age effected him.

[@JRaXezs-V]

Jordan Cambridge wym he won he didn’t win technically the first order won

[@OCinneide]

@@JRaXezs-V well he controled the first order

[@mir8147]

I think Palpatine used deceit in order to get Anakin onto his side to use as his henchman. He wasn't anything more than that to good ol papa Palpi.

[@funbucket09]

"The governments SOLE purpose is to provide a safe space for its people to prosper" - truer words have never been said

[@IvanKinkle]

I absolutely love that the Christmas tree has never left.

[@donjuanpasion8607]

@David Murphy wtf???

[@SkinnerNoah]

I didn't notice until you pointed it out lol

[@predevaderjirahulkfanmodel7543]

Palpatine: "I do not seek for enemies." Rebels: "Your methods do."

[@PalmersTradingPost]

Wha...?

[@darthsidious149]

It’s treason then.

[@edwardmiessner6502]

@@darthsidious149 if it succeeds, none dare call it treason.

[@liamhogan4369]

Inspired by Isaiah 41:12?

[@matthewtuckman4447]

@@darthsidious149 What if after the clone wars and the last seperatist holdouts are crushed you demilitarized the Empire, reduce military spending and transitioned it into a civilian economy and over every decade or around that period of time you go back and forth with a war and civilian economy? Would you have succeeded or atleast did better?

[@jacktingey7886]

The Tarkin Doctrine was unsustainable, as it only leads to economic stagnation, social repression, and even more armed rebellion. Also, weak leadership leads to those things too.

[@Nubin2000]

Palpatine wanted the Empire to be used by Fear which the Dark Side feeds off of.

[@nobleman9393]

Think how many people did not fight againts the Empire because of fear, just think about it.

[@theevildrummingsithlord1492]

@Gaius Wyrden What would he gain from that?

[@justjoking5841]

Tarkin Doctrine was about Fear through projection of power and threatening immediate retaliation. Ruthless expansion worked remarkably well but they made a huge mistake. Incompetence and backstabbing was greatly rewarded.

[@tureytaino2785]

@@nobleman9393 Fear can only take you so far as a dictator.

[@nightofelements888]

I'm actually learning about economics without being bored cause it's star wars lmao.

[@Tzar1]

Now only if they could do it for math

[@bshap7107]

This is TRUTH!!!

[@unoriginal_username1]

Disgusting Keynesian economics. Austrian economic all the way. Galactic credit is useless in the outer rims while the empire improved the outer rims economy

[@jasonenns5076]

Good, you are on your way to learn physics.

[@jasonenns5076]

@@Tzar1 Do physics.

[@Mgauge]

Palpatine thought like a conqueror. He never cared about being a peacetime leader.

[@kaijuguy19]

It's what separates legit noble emperors from tyrannical despots like Palpatine too.

[@BlueFury2577]

"YOUR MOTHER WAS A DUMB WHORE WITH A FAT ARSE, DID YOU KNOW THAT?." -Palpatine Baratheon to Luke

[@SubscriberswithoutVideos-mq8kc]

10:48 Why the *Republic* lasted for *25,000* YEARS, while the *Empire* lasted for only *20* years.

[@luggy9256]

republic had the jedi to protect them for that entire time...

[@joelellis7035]

@@luggy9256 From what I understand, the Jedi order existed for only about 1000 years.

[@luggy9256]

Joel Ellis well in the old republic legends the Jedi exist so unless Disney decides to change stuff again Jedi were around long before

[@SubscriberswithoutVideos-mq8kc]

@@joelellis7035 Nah they existed before the Republic. They are basically the CIA for the Republic and the Genoharadan are the B613 ( from Scandal)

[@billclark5055]

40 in legends

[@reychop]

I always just chalked it up to a mix of sith paranoia and overconfidence. Choosing officers based on loyalty rather than talent also seem to play a role too

[@lancer737]

Not exactly, take a look at the Grand Admirals and Generals and most the higher ranked members.

[@Torlik11]

@reychop_EXE you have a point. A regime that promote loyalty to the head of state over skill is doomed to fall.

[@panzer_TZ]

Based on watching rebels, there were many good officers, it's just that most were too focused on glory and promotions than anything else. Part of the reason Thrawn was such a badass was because he could see the big picture, remain stoic, and resist temptations when a situation seemed like an easy way for more glory on the surface. Also, lets not forget about plot armor and convenient force tropes. Realistically, a trio like Thrawn, Vader, and Tarkin would be damn near impossible to beat without the Force and plot armor.

[@krispalermo8133]

@Mackenzie Bauroth You listed a lot of good points, but you really need to go back through you statement and paragraph edit it correctly if you want more people to take the time to read it.

[@krispalermo8133]

Natasi Daala at first felt someone was making fun of or was a closet femminazi and a few ex military people I met over the years told me the way the soldiers acted in that/those novels were utter bull crap. The plot points were terrible on back ground character build up. Examples : a.) The Rebels attack Tarkin's shuttle and only made off with fish head Ack Bar,you know the guy's famous line, " It's A Trap ! " Tarkin keep a Clone War fighter pilot as a personal aid who he insulted daily, gloated over and commited treason by explaining to Ack Bar how detail tactic war plans worked. When Ack Bar was rescued he had Natasi Daala war tactic guide books that Tarkin has been gloating over him for a few years. Also knowledge that the Death Star was nearly finish being built. b.) Ack Bar had the secret tactic books for the Imperial fleet brass, all new state of the art tactics. And Tarkin more or less train him how to use them. c.) Daala was ruthless in management and as a plot point killed off a lot of New Republic threats in her take over of the remaining Imperial fleets. Also she knew how to give non humans a strong sense of pride in serving in her new Empire cause the New Republic fail to follow through to aiding their worlds in rebuilding. d.) How in hell through the Vong Wars, Daala became President of the Alliance of Free Systems after Luke nephew got killed by his twin sister just gets me. e.) Empire is bad cause they don't give women in the military the same equal treatment as the men get. Yet all the women they show in rank and power are nut jobs or mass murders or both. Well, only the best rise through the ranks. f.) As a teenager the novels before the 2000's were a fun read. But when you get older with some life under your belt, you realize how bad written they are. Which makes them funnier to read at the same time.

[@lordfrostwind3151]

I agree that continuously expanding the military was detrimental, but maintaining a standing force, especially following the Clone Wars and the Jedi rebellion wouldn't have been a hard sell for people. Palpatine's mistake was using the military to abuse the populace, if you instead had some very big campaigns of them going and clearing out pirates and separatist holdouts it would have helped endear them especially to the Outer Rim which had been lawless territory. Overall I think the Imperial military's entire strategy and rule by fear mantra was its greatest detriment, you could have easily worked to establish local independent garrisons/militia that would act as a National Guard and Police force while leaving Imperial Navy and Army to more important duties and also allowing them to operate much leaner.

[@liamhogan4369]

Exactly. So as to get some economic return on all that military spending, he should have leveraged all Imperial military assets to directly promote economic growth; as you suggest, campaign abroad - conquer land and bring stuff back = and destroy pirates - security promotes the trade underpins the entire economy of Star Wars. together with establishing Planetary Defense Forces and local fleets, these are all things the Legends New Republic did, using virtually the same military and industrial assets as the Empire. Though they liberated systems and brought them into their alliance instead of conquering them.

[@billclark5055]

Its funny you say that, but the Empire wasn't oppressive to all the citizens. It ran on inequality. It showed favoritism to elites and rich humans in the core worlds. But it still treated planets in the colonies much better than mid rim and outer rim worlds. Outer rim and alien planets were treated the worst. Aliens were also discriminated at some level in richer planets. Palpatine used the Clone Wars to increase people's hate to aliens who lived more in the mid and outer rim planets. Plus most of those populations were smaller on their own but, as a group they had far more worlds than the core worlds and the colonies. The colonies were like a largely upper middle class and middle class area. While the mid rim were largely lower middle class. The outer rim were dirt poor. Of course there were poor people in large core worlds like Coruscant too.

[@liamhogan4369]

​@@billclark5055 Good observations, but it does not change the fact that in the outer rim and mid rim the policy of the empire necessitated more ships. All that matters to this consideration is that they could not allow local defense forces much power outside of the core, though that would free up forces from garrison duty in the mid rim and project power much further into the outer rim, while they needed less ships to ensure the core worlds, and their industry, stayed loyal. However, most ships freed up by the establishment of PDFs could not be sent to the outer rim: though the populace in the Core was trustworthy, the empire's control over the galaxy was effected by domination of key hyper-lanes in the Core they couldn't leave undefended. The upside to imperial policies was an abundance of raw resources: they were not at the mercy of small governments, lest it impact public opinion and undermine their rule, so they almost always got the resources they wanted. For a concrete example of this, the New Republic was incapable of producing Super Star Destroyers, or even large numbers of Star Destroyers, despite possessing a comparable manufacturing base to the Empire. This meant that captured ISDs formed the backbone of all but the 5th fleet, ISDs stayed in service for decades or more all over the galaxy, and specialized plans had to be formulated to take down SSDs ... the only dreadnoughts the New Republic had were the SSD Lusankya, a pair of Viscount Star Defenders, and maybe some Mandators and Praetors. To be fair, the splinter factions of the Empire couldn't pump out SSDs either - maybe the Pentastar Alignment of Powers could build Lukrehulks and Praetors - so they became unique flagships.

[@Jin-di9zv]

Basically, if Palps invested in more propaganda tactic then the populace would've crowned them as actual goverments to back up. Not to mention making the rebels look like terrorists would also lessen the amount of people going to the rebel alliance.

[@liamhogan4369]

@@Jin-di9zv Propaganda? Like I.M.P.S.? ;)

[@jacktingey7886]

Rule by fear can only go so far...that’s why the Sith Empire fell, and people are fight back.

[@samueltheblonde]

Agreed. If you're mean enough to hit a dog, and keep doing it, sooner or later, it's going to fight back.

[@Julian-pw5mv]

Yeah, that's why it is impossible to run such a large empire for long times.

[@T3utonicus]

Wasn't it the roman emperor Caligula, who said "May they hate me, as long as they fear me"?

[@Julian-pw5mv]

@@T3utonicus that sounds like something he would say lol, and that just proves the point because eventually his guards killed him because he was just that big of a dick

[@FoAmY99]

Machiavelli wrote in "The Prince" that it preferable to be both loved and feared, but better to be feared if you can't have both. Palpatine's problem, was that he was SO cruel, and evil, he didn't give a shit about people loving him, and eventually the people's fear of him, turned into hatred. And when the people hate you enough, they forget their fear of you, and strike you down.

[@spencermammen9658]

I love how you effortlessly tie in real-world examples of whatever the relevant Stars Wars topic is. It highlights the way our world influences the Star Wars universe.

[@johnmartin122187]

His biggest mistake was choosing the emotional train wreck known as Anakin Skywalker as his apprentice. Even as a Jedi Anakin let his emotions get the better of him all to often. On top of that he was arrogant egomaniac even as a Jedi. Add all that together with the Sith basically worshipping embracing your emotions, and you got a BBQ Vader on Mustafar. Fast forward 20 years after losing everything, and gaining nothing you a broken rage machine that just found he has a son. If anything ever mattered to Anakin above everything else it was family. It's all he ever really had. It's no surprise he turned back, and chucked Palpitine down a shaft.

[@saphiriathebluedragonknight375]

He should have used Luke as a bargaining chip to control Vader. And/or vise versa.

[@HouseOfAlastrian]

Well to be fair 'letting emotions get the better of you' is central to the Sith Code: Peace is a lie, there is only Passion. Through Passion I gain Strength. Through Strength I gain Power. Through Power I gain Victory. Through Victory my chains are broken. The Force shall free me. Passion, being the most powerful emotion is held up by the Sith to be the ultimate source of one's strength. Anakin was most definitely a passionate individual. Passionate about saving those he cared about from dying. Passionate about his resentment for slavery. Passionate for his hatred of his former life on Tatooine (which is most likely the source of his dislike of sand). So yeah... Vader discovering his son and daughter are alive and well and his son is training to be a Jedi certainly threw a spanner in the works for Palpatine's plans for him... which is where the entire Sith ethos implodes in on itself. They have, in the past, tried to get around this by having a new prospective apprentice kill those he cares most about... like Palpatine murdering his entire family before being confirmed as Darth Plagueis' apprentice. There was also that time when Darth Malgus murdered his Twi'lek girlfriend Eleena Daru because he believed his relationship with her made him too weak to be a proper Sith... even with romantic feelings being another source of emotions tied to passion.

[@jeremyallen5974]

That's because the Jedi weren't properly training him to actually HANDLE HIS EMOTIONS, dumb ass.

[@benfarrar741]

I agree with this assessment. However, if Palpatine had demilitarized and become a good and just ruler who didn't oppress his people, he wouldn't have been Palpatine. In the mind of the Sith, what's the point of wielding power over others if you can't exploit and oppress them?

[@BudokaiMan-mr9tw]

And that's exactly why he and his empire fell, such ideals and his apparent need of not caring is not sustainable in the long run, eventually his empire would've fell.

[@ravanpee1325]

@@BudokaiMan-mr9twThe US didn't demilitarize but started the Korea war in 1950

[@StevenRamos248]

​@@ravanpee1325No, it was North Korea with the support of the USSR.

[@ravanpee1325]

@@StevenRamos248The US prevented a free and democratic election in whole Korea in 1948. Same mistake again and again like in Iran or Vietnam

[@Kacper-Mapping]

@@ravanpee1325 The USSR under Stalin prevented elections in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, making them all Soviet communist puppets.

[@EvilSmonker]

Damn who knew Generation Tech had a solid understanding of economies. Historian, economist and celebrity: a tripple threat.

[@Siptom369]

Everytime someone tries to rule a country or empire with hard suppression it never ends well in the end.

[@jeremyallen5974]

Yet there will STILL be those retards afterwards who say that it WOULD work if people would just try harder next time

[@mark2543]

Palpatine only cared about becoming more powerful in the Force and cared not for actually ruling. Ruling the Galaxy was only a means to an end for Palpatine. By ruling the Galaxy Palpatine was able to cause huge amounts of death and fear throughout the Galaxy. This gave Palpatine huge amounts of power within the dark side of the force and after doing this for so long he became the equivalent of a drug addict. Therefore the downfall of the empire was one of overconsumption.

[@texaspatriot2038]

Let's not forget kids, Palpetine is your friend, and the Empire is your family

[@runtodagobah8199]

The Empire did nothing wrong

[@texaspatriot2038]

@@runtodagobah8199 You speak the truth. Heil Emperor

[@aevoke9759]

Hail Emperor Palpatine

[@texaspatriot2038]

@@aevoke9759 Heil Emperor

[@krispalermo8133]

The Sith serve the Emperor, The Emperor is the Empire, The Empire is the Sith, Join,...us.

[@honkeykong4049]

"Palpatine wasn't building his military up to fight any external threat... he should have demilitarized..." *The Yuuzhan Vong have entered the game.*

[@artathazuris]

Exactly thats a part of why he built up the military he knew what was coming

[@evilnet1]

Not Canon though.

[@OtterTreySSArmy]

@@evilnet1 yeah without that being the case, it kind of makes the whole canon fall apart.

[@aleccampbell7707]

will need an army of editors to make the NJO into screenplays and an R rating - too bold for Disney

[@Nemo12417]

"I fight because that is what I was made to do and the Empire is the instrument through which I realize my purpose. The Empire's war made manifest. That is why it is perfect." - Darth Malgus "You are a mongrel, Adraas. Angral's mongrel and you and those like you have mongrelized the purity of the Empire with your pollution, trading strength for wretched peace." - Darth Malgus Conflict is a central part of Sith philosophy. Arguably, the Jedi have that more than they might care to admit, but for the Sith, it is paramount. Would they even know what to do if they achieved peace and stability? Would they even be Sith at that point?

[@Janoha17]

Jedi will settle their differences via philosophical debate. Sith will settle their differences by annihilating anyone loyal to the other Sith in a power play that ends with, at best, one dead Sith, usually dozens, and worst case the entire Sith Empire implodes. The Sith Warrior and Sith Inquisitor of SWTOR kill more Sith during their class stories than they do Jedi, with the final boss for both being a member of the Dark Council who just had their power base chopped up or electrocuted by the upstart.

[@LadyDoomsinger]

Remember the Sith Code: "Peace is a lie."

[@cliffhanger5848]

0:20 Ahh yes... the dark side included dancing cant forget about the most powerful Sith technique

[@GuyOnTheInternet634]

Palpatine really should have integrated the CIS after the reconquest of the rim. The seperatist cause was based around the republic neglecting the outer rim and not enforcing law and order in the area, allowing pirates and mafias (trade federation) to pillage and raid the area. The empire was also founded on the principles of law and order across the galaxy. While the Empire did enforce law and order in the outer rim, they enslaved and brutally oppressed large numbers of people in the outer rim and forced them to build the death star. Droids should have been used instead and if the empire didn't oppress the outer rim they would not have so much rebellion.

[@tanukidrummer]

Actually when it came to the Outer Rim, like the Glactic Republic, the Empire actually had no real power out in this region of planets. In fact when it came to Vader aiding Bobba Fett in the capture of Han Solo, he done it in hopes that it would persuade the Hutts to help the Empire aquire more resources. However aiding Bobba Fett in getting Solo actually resulted in nothing being gained since the Empire didn't have enough influence within the Outer Rim to convince the Hutts or any other gangsters to do them any kind of favors.

[@RCE491]

The amount of actual history and economics in this video is so refreshing

[@DarthNoshitam]

Palpatine's priority was not the Empire, it was the pursuit of power: "unlimited power!!!". He may have been defeated, but if his primary objective was increasing his power, his actions were not a mistake. He had already literally maximized the power he could achieve democratically!

[@andreiaromanesei9270]

UNLIMITED POWAH-Palpatine 19 BBY

[@Wedgekree]

Palpatine's priority was always himself! He cared not for the galaxy or the Empire so long as he ruled it and had total power and immortality. The Empire was a means to an end. Also another two decades of total military occupation and a war footing economy and suppression of dissent would have the galaxy at a boiling point even more. For the Vong agents, it would be immensely easier to cause a massive civil war in the Empire. The enslavement of quadrillions of beings along the outer rim for the benefit of the Core would be far, far worse at this point, the defeat of the Rebellion or not. It would be far easier to make the Empire disintegrate at tihs point in time. Palpatine at most was known to have mentioned to a few dozen people the threat of the Vong. Plus Nom Amor was a member of the Imperial court and advised Palpatine during the Dark Empire saga and beyond. That doesn't bode well for the Empire's ability to notice infiltrators ifone working personally wtih Palpatine went unnoticed.

[@mitthrawnuruodo1730]

As one of his closest advisors I myself agree, it would have been better if instead of the Death Star we went ahead with my tie fighter project, which would have been a success if not for plot armor.

[@Grubnar]

Tarkin, and his doctrine, was stupid! A "Death Star" can only be in one place at a time, and can only do two things, inspire fear and blow up planets. Even if you then build another one, you can now be in only two places at a time. Woopdee-fucking-doo! The TIE Defender program was much smarter, since thousands of TIE Defenders can be in thousands of different places at a time, and can perform a wide variety of tasks. Also, flying it is like a dream!

[@honkeykong4049]

*As one of his closest advisors, and the founder of the Empire of the Hand, you should know exactly why Palpatine was building up his military.*

[@Dezzyyy]

@@honkeykong4049 *Yuuzhang Vong Fear Intesfies*

[@DavidbarZeus1]

@@honkeykong4049 I'm sure he does, but that doesn't eliminate the fact that the rest of the galaxy doesn't know why Palpypie continued to keep the military growing, or that they might not have believed him if he did reveal it.

[@honkeykong4049]

@@DavidbarZeus1 Am I talking to the rest of the galaxy, or am I talking to a single person?

[@weik-2936]

To further go into the WWII analogy, after the war the massive amount of men returning home to work and/or attend college (specifically using the GI bill) helped the economic boost, Clone production might have been discontinued, but they would still serve until there were enough non-clones to replace them, not to mention that clones were being created between 32 and 19 BBY, and though they weren't producing any new clones after, they still were finishing up the training of new ones and sending them into service, meaning the last created clones did not enter service until 10-9 BBY

[@ironwolfF1]

Hmm, an additional factor that stressed the Empire, _AND_ fueled the rebellion was it's 'human-centric' policy. Within the Empire, non-humans were generally viewed as 2nd-class citizens at best, slaves at worse. For the most part, economies of non-human worlds didn't have equal standing (and were often ruthlessly exploited) which further stressed the stability of the Empire at large. A system that injects instability into itself is destined to collapse...it's only a question of time.

[@andrewruck5516]

The fact of how deep you can go in Star Wars is just absolutely amazing

[@alyssinclair8598]

The whole finding enemies thing kinda shows why fascism never works. Even if you win, which is never assured, you need to keep finding bigger and bigger enemies to keep the whole facade stable

[@discordadmin9796]

I love how this video basically turned into a lesson in economics

[@olafgurke4699]

That's what Valkorion did right in comparisation. He treated his Citizen like his children - better than his children - and they loved him for that. Too bad he had to be a dick to the rest of the Galaxy, which came back to bite him. Also, if Palps knew about the Vong like he did in Legends, why didn't he tell the poulation about it? "There are Xenos coming. We don't know who they are. We don't know where they came from. But we know that they are hostile and very powerful. So we build up our defences. YOU can be a part of this Defence. Join the Empire." Would've build up understanding for the massive Military and maybe even have motivated Aliens to work with them. Maybe NOT trying to be the meanest bully in the hood would've helped as well.

[@ASNS117Zero]

To be completely fair to Valks, he only lost because he decided that killing himself in order to get a better body was a good strategic decision. AKA because stupid. Same as Palps really.

[@lukedalton]

He had told nothing to the population, because frankly he don't believed they were a real menace he only entertained Thraw because he was usefull. Plus be the meanest bully in the hood is the aspiration of almost every Sith

[@LadyDoomsinger]

The "Aliens are coming!" line would not have won him sympathy, I think - only a padded cell. I mean, who'd want to be governed by a tinfoil-hat wearing conspiracy theorist...

[@aleccampbell7707]

Proving it might have been difficult without Nom Anor

[@Warhammered]

Because: He put "Humanity First". Don't alienate aliens. Human supremacy is short-sighted and will topple your Empire. Looking at you Generation Tech, who even proved Chiss are superior. :P

[@_boils_8492]

People like you are why God made blasters

[@thenugget7034]

chiss are an offset of the human species its pretty obvious why he likes chiss more than other alien races

[@mjfan8704]

I believe that Generation Tech is using media like Aliens, Independence Day, and others to justify that the majority of alien species' are going to kill humanity and to be fair, they've got a point. Aliens don't exactly have human rights. Maybe sentient rights but like I said, there is a large amount of movies/books/video games/etc. that depict aliens as these hostile beasts that need to be put down.

[@chriswilder9719]

Liking thrawn is in humanities interest. That chiss was willing to do anything for the human emperor as long as his people were left alone and when you got the golden goose the rest of the flock doesn't matter

[@Jin-di9zv]

In this universe, aliens are not to be alienated. Cause they seem to live around everyone and it ain't good if they feel offended.

[@rhyscallinan203]

I'm honestly impressed. The actual research and timing that went into this explanation is quite extensive. I mean, I have watched a fair amount of GT, but the amount of work they put into this is beyond anything I have seen. Guess it shows just how much of a fan Alan (and the GT crew) are of the Star Wars Universe

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

Palpatine is one of the many proofs as to why a dictatorship would never work lol

[@nobleman9393]

*Stalin wants to know your location*

[@Torlik11]

@@NightRaven-lh1bf it's stil there but will it last? I don't think so. The main flaw of dictatorship is that it concentrate power in the hand of a single individual. Once you loose that person, it is hard to maintaint the regime in place. You can make a lot of comparaison between north korea and soviet russia or communist china. They all had a strong and charismatic leader (kim jong-il, Stalin, Mao tse tung) who rule the country with an iron fist. And after their death, the following leader had to make some compromises to be able to keep power. It doesn't mean the regime will fall tomorow but that kind of system can't work on the long run.

[@FabiTheNoob]

Today is obviously way different than back than, but keep in mind that European monarchies (feudal - absolutistic) lasted for centuries, so they can be stable in the long run.

[@QarthCEO]

@@Torlik11 North Korea is on it's 3rd hereditary dictator. It started with Kim Il-sung, then his son Kim Jong-il, and now his grandson Kim Jong-un. The power transition in the Kim family seems to be working just fine.

[@arthurfisher1857]

Actually dictatorships work great! IF you have a competent leader in charge. They're efficient, have clear goals, and don't get bogged down with pesky things like "political opposition" or "human rights." The vast majority of governments in history have been dictators. BUUUT.... that doesn't mean it's nice to live in a dictatorship.... your life holds no value and your voice is non existent. So they work. But they're also awful and must he avoided at all costs!

[@fazbrogaming7776]

I’ll be honest, I never understood what the Empire meant when they said: *We will bring Peace and Order to the galaxy* I just don’t understand how terrorizing people, and taking away their freedom is considered *Peace* 🤔 I love Democracy 🥰

[@themanhimself3117]

Peace, in the imperial view, is preventing uprisings by repressing the people so they're too scared to rebel.

[@lookinforgoodshowsz]

Well first off peace and order are not the same thing even if people think they always go hand in hand. The empire did bring order to a certain extent but when I comes to peace I believe the old saying of "The peace of the slave house is not true peace" fits them very well.

[@chaospilot2142]

I love democraty too. And the Republic.

[@branphillips9546]

Peace is a lie.....

[@azure9809]

@@lookinforgoodshowsz Except the Empire didn't bring order in any respect. Its very methods of attempting to bring order and peace through the terror, pain, and exploitation of its citizens brought conflict and disorder. People are peaceful and orderly when they have good lives that make them happy. Full of good things. When people care for each other and learn to work for the betterment of each other's lives. The empire brought disorder and pain. There was no peace or order or way of betterment for life in the regime and the only option was to overthrow it and start anew.

[@Killacam1992]

bro your videos are amazing. you basically just gave a full lesson on economy and business in relation to Star Wars and the real world, and your presentation skills and how you articulated it all.. incredible man!

[@aaronslater470]

Reagen's Star Wars project may have been a failure but due to the classification of the US military's most advanced systems means it is impossible to tell if it was a complete failure. There are probably numerous branches that broke off from the Star Wars project that were successes. You don't tell your enemy about that ace up your sleeve.

[@AREderp]

“And the emperor’s belief in dark magic” *shows palpatine dancing with 2 royal guards under a disco ball*

[@ChadDidNothingWrong]

Destroying a whole planet _out of nowhere_ will still, to a decent extent undermine every last bit of your support.

[@GeneralBlackNorway]

Why does everyone assume Palpatine was seeking support?

[@lelouchvibritannia4028]

@@GeneralBlackNorway Why do you assume that everyone assumed that Palpatine was seeking support when it's obvious he wasn't?

[@GeneralBlackNorway]

@@lelouchvibritannia4028 good question brah. I guess it's because everytime I see people bringing up thematter nobody in the comments goes against this assumption. It's the basic premise of the question that Palpatine wants support, otherwise it's a pointless question.

[@lelouchvibritannia4028]

@@GeneralBlackNorway He only needed support for a certain period of time before the Empire and the events of ROTS, but by the time of ROTS, he stopped caring about democracy as he began showing who he really was through the continuous consolidation of power.

[@GeneralBlackNorway]

@@lelouchvibritannia4028 I know that, but do those who keep asking the question know that?

[@ryancoleman4151]

I like how he brings real world examples into Star Wars. I don’t think he used to do that. But I have found myself watching more recently.

[@pyeitme508]

Forth and that's why he created the First & Final Order to take over the Galaxy again, then he failed again plus this time killed by his granddaughter Rey.

[@Poke-ladd]

Seeing how he had clones in those tanks I assume there are more offworld given how much time has past

[@lancer737]

@@Poke-ladd that and he can possess people.

[@TheRezro]

Xyston were clearly designed against world ships...

[@Imperius254]

@@TheRezro while I understand and see where your coming from with your deduction, there is a flaw with your conclusion with that being as far as we know in the current canon the Vong don't exist and have basically been replaced with the Grysk. Which that's to say nothing regarding the herculean leap in technology that isn't really explained as to how a 2.4km size ship could destroy a planet on it's own. Heck as far as I can recall the closest Legends ever got to that was the Desolator superweapon from SWTOR but that required hours to destroy a whole planet and still suffered major flaws like power generation issues and recharge time.

[@Gothic7876]

@@Imperius254 Sith Magic. Sith Magic in Legends was capable of a great many feats deemed impossible. So canon using Sith Magic to enhance technology isn’t that unlikely.

[@wwobbles]

This is why I love this channel so much, they can talk Star wars and still teach us something like economics

[@yourseatatthetable]

It's been asked before, "Why does technology seem to stagnate and develop slowly in the Star Wars universe". I suspect that its tied into the fact that the galaxy seems to be at war, with someone, nearly all the time.

[@honkeykong4049]

Except that in real life, warfare speeds up technological progression - it doesn't stagnate it.

[@thorshammer7883]

How many Capital ships did the CIS navy have during the Clone Wars the Expanded Universe version? I saw the wiki about the Expanded Universe CIS navy and it seems to suggest that they had like a million because in section when it is talking about the fleet formation and number the largest CIS fleets had like 4,000 ships and they had hundreds of these large fleets. And the CIS navy was said to be four times larger then the GAR. In the Expanded Universe.

[@silentsurvivor2197]

I appreciate your constant use of logic and reason to explain things

[@metrozeegle4985]

So you’re telling me that Palpatine is less competent as a leader than Kim Jong Un... No wonder the rebels won !

[@metrozeegle4985]

@Gaius Wyrden Tarkin died in a New Hope, Palpatine has no excuses for the next two movies !

[@metrozeegle4985]

@Gaius Wyrden Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi ?

[@metrozeegle4985]

@Gaius Wyrden I was talking about those movies. I never brought up the prequels. In fact, I think Palapatine's actions only makes sense in the prequels, as he successfully rose to power using political strategies used by real life dictators. It's in the OT where the Emperor is a pretty poor leader who seems to be evil just for the sake of being evil. The prequels greatly improved this character, adding to him more element than just a one dimensional villain who's an excuse for Darth Vader to redeem himself ! In fact, the prequels made palpatine so cunning and developped that it clashes with the personality of the OT Emperor at a level that they now feel like two different characters ! You may have many things to say about the prequels, but there is certain things that they were able to handle masterfully, Palpatine's arc is one of those !

[@BadBomb555]

Well to be fair, Palpatine had keep up the war time economy to secure his position as a dictator.

[@sintenal4078]

I really am loving the Jedi bathrobe but I love your content more. Keep it up, Alan.

[@D6save]

This channel is growing into something much better than a Star Wars fanzine Good onya Allan.

[@markabele8794]

Great video and great history lesson. Your discussion of this topic makes a lot of sense. I enjoyed it, thanks.

[@hoopsonwheels]

Had palpatine revealed his knowledge about the yuzahn vong he would have had a bit more legitimacy to his rule but he chose not to reveal it.

[@barbiquearea]

Except he had no proof of their existence outside of mere premonition. It would have been a hard sell, and its likely the reason he sent Thrawn into the unknown region to get intel on them.

[@godlikemachine645]

@@barbiquearea idk... from what I remember, Yuzahn Vong scouts arrived 50 years before the battle of Yavin, so there may have been Intel already on them.

[@mohammadrezapahlavi4578]

@@godlikemachine645 50 years? Try a few thousands. Still, they were very scattered reports and they would be hard to sell to the galaxy at large.

[@lelouchvibritannia4028]

Is it pronounced YUZ-ON or YU-ZHAN Vong?

[@hoopsonwheels]

@@lelouchvibritannia4028 I’ve heard it usually be pronounced Yuz-on vong

[@thorshammer7883]

How big was Vitiate's Sith Empire's navy and how were they able to continue the war against the Old Republic for long when you realistically look at the war in detail the Old Republic had a far larger population, a far bigger manifractioning capacity, 2 million systems while Sith had only a couple thousand. This means if a single battle goes wrong or the wrong target are picked in the long run this will spell complete utter disaster for the Sith in the war because they would be massacred and outnumbered like a thousand to one.

[@Torlik11]

It remind me a lot of Germany during WWII. They had the advantage of surprise but the allies where able to crush them with larger manpower, more ressources, more production, etc. That's why they tried to take control of the oil fields of the Caucasus and failling that spelled doom for them.

[@thorshammer7883]

@Mackenzie Bauroth But the Sith would of have to be completely 100% perfect in their strategy like Grand Admiral Thrawn levels perfect with no errors which they did have later in the war. They would of been suffering massive manpower and production issues along with mutiple insurrections in their newly captured territories.

[@thorshammer7883]

@Mackenzie Bauroth Six million soldiers is ungodly small if you ask me. We are talking about over 2 million systems here. You know what that means? Only 3 soldiers per system. It's literally impossible for the Sith to conquer the galaxy with numbers like that. Even the UNSC from Halo had like over a billion soldiers. Reach was defended with 300 million soldiers. Even if the Outer Rim and Mid Rim together had like 200,000 systems they are still too thinly stretched out only a dozen soldiers per system. Six million soldiers are like ww1 numbers.

[@thanghoang3198]

This argument IMO also applies to the Mandalorian War. We are fed by KOTOR & KOTOR 2 writers via NPCs (only Carth seemed to disagree) that the Republic was close to be destroyed by the Mandalorians and only Revan was able to save the day. But then, Canderous straight up said to Carth that the Republic had 5 times more men, 5 times more ships.

[@superomegaprimemk2]

I think Palpatine didn't really care about the galaxy after the Jedi order was destoryed, he obtained all of the power and ruled the galaxy, then he began focusing on how his new order would reign for a thousand generations or more, he cared not for the little people.

[@avalla5097]

Now this was one hell of a video. Well done

[@michaelrobertson4896]

Another thing that definitely put a strain on the Galactic Economy was the Death Star itself. According to the Imperial Handbook it cost the Empire 1 Trillion Galactic Credits to build. That was just the first one. The second one probably would have cost even more because it was supposed to be better and more powerful than the other one. So that’s at least 2 Trillion credits for 2 Death Stars. And in both cases the Rebels blew them both up. After that it’s a miracle that the Empire didn’t go bankrupt from the loss and waste of all that money.

[@codejedi8289]

When you turn to legends material the Yuuzhan Vong justifies Palpatine's actions. Palpatine is powerful enough to sense a disturbance in the force from the unknown regions. He did not know what is bothering him thus justifies the permanent war economy

[@ItatsuMagnatsa]

I want to know what the End Goal was for Palpatine. Like he Got everything he Wanted. But what was he doing for the Citizens of the Empire? What was he Planning For?

[@the_hoodkage]

I just learned more about actual world economics and history than I did about Star wars. Awesome video man.

[@1701basil]

If Palpatine was allowed to use Cannon. He could have used the uzong Vaughn as the enemy to legitimize a war time economy

[@Grubnar]

I understand that we will never get a straight answer, sine Disney foolishly discarded the Expanded Universe, but I really, REALLY want to know if Palpatine KNEW the Yuuzhan Vong were coming.

[@LadyDoomsinger]

@@Grubnar I believe he did - or at least suspected it, but as he had no concrete proof, or even personal certainty, it could hardly be used to justify his authority to the populace... Not until the Yuuzhan Vong actually showed up in force.

[@Grubnar]

@@LadyDoomsinger Yeah. (Sigh) Oh what could have been!

[@JaelaOrdo]

The tree needs a name at this point

[@hydrogenmissle]

im loving the construction safety video music in every video

[@darthmeta6445]

Thank you Generation Tech for this. I would have never considered this aspect of why Palpatine’s Empire failed had you not pointed this out to me.

[@akumaking1]

The Senate screwed-up by getting lazy.

[@lukedalton]

The senate has been manipulated by the SIth for decades

[@LadyDoomsinger]

Most systems of control tend to go that way, when it has been in effect for any extended period of time. When things seem to run smoothly, there is no cause for introspection.

[@chickenusgoddus464]

Do you think they would have been better off if the did have a super powerful outside threat to focus all their resources and the anger of their poeple against like the yuzong vong? Also third :)

[@raw6668]

Actually, I think it would have been better if he let the CIS remain after the war as a legitimate threat. It creates a legitimate threat that could be comparable to the USA and the Soviet Union. Using the excuse of what the CIS promotes as a reason the Empire is different as it is more a war of ideology, which leads to fanatics that will fight the Empire to the death.

[@TheRezro]

No. Because it is cheap excuse for something what should be incompetent politic. New Canon actually solve problem in superior way with Grisk.

[@GenerationTech]

The yuuzhan vong would’ve been the only justification for palpatine’s military

[@pheasantactual6972]

Or rather than hide the extent of the Rebellion, play them up as an existential threat and have every atrocity they commit (real or no) broadcasted throughout the core worlds. Plus "What have YOU done to stop the Rebs?" posters would be cool.

[@QarthCEO]

They could have just invented an enemy and used fake videos and press to promote the great threat. False flag attacks by some invented great enemy would have worked for the Empire in spades. How would the people have ever known any different?

[@gregbone8149]

Great in depth video! I love the tying in real life issues and history

[@stephaniegeorge6444]

I think the analysis was spot on sexy. I love seeing you make real world comparisons. Cheers 🥂 man.

[@sockosophie3132]

It's pretty damn ironic and sad that it mirrors to some degree what actually happens in many countries.

[@GoonaTVhi]

"True Evil doesn't enforce its True Evilness"

[@studole154]

Keep making, awesome video's. There are, really interesting to watch.

[@burakdurmus4898]

You make the best videos for star wars. Keep it up

[@silentstorm509th9]

When you realize Alaska relies on the military for its economy.

[@skyranger1366]

And oil

[@silentstorm509th9]

@David Murphy I don't disagree with you, but Alaska is still very reliant on the military. For instance back in 2015 when the USAF planned on shutting down Ft. Eielson it was projected that the nearby area and Fairbanks woulf have to close nearly 80% of its business. Also, Alaska has some of the most and most strategic US military installation.

[@tharunthiruseelan4252]

You are starting to be more like Film Theory, going into economics like the problems with GDP and the multiplier effect lol.

[@johnennis7716]

Very good analysis. I liked the comparisons with Earth nations and recent historical examples.

[@JaredLS10]

Came for a star wars video and got a econ, history and geopolitical lesson. Not mad actually. Well done.

[@RGC-gn2nm]

bad wifi on the death star 2 interrupted his clone essence transfer. Something about sand through his fingers.

[@twilightodin4977]

I recon if Darth revan was in this time period and he was in control of the empire the rebels would have lost and the empire wouldnt have wasted money on the death star. he was the most bad ass Sith lord in all of star wars. (In my opinion) the empire failed because palpatine was over confident.

[@honkeykong4049]

I would counter this by saying that Palpatine could have asserted far more control over the galaxy if he had the Star Forge pumping out countless war assets for him.

[@LadyDoomsinger]

Overconfidence is the pitfall of many rulers, both real and fictional. When you have "Unlimited Power!", you tend to loose sight of your personal limitations.

[@lelouchvibritannia4028]

Yes, recon, not reckon. Your English needs work.

[@moekhainecroxx33]

I think this was pretty interesting with real time comparisons. Good job

[@brknglasses2734]

The opening statement in this video is BEAUTIFUL!

[@jamesbrennan6121]

The economics lesson is actually really well done

[@MrMReed7]

Amazing analysis and spot on correlation between the empire and global governments around the world. Well done!

[@danteransom120]

Love your videos my dude

[@AngryAsian69]

I thought the whole reason he created the Death Star, among other super weapons, was because he understood that the Sith could only ever have two members and thus, to fight against the multiple Jedi that could exist at any one time, they'd need a weapon that was overwhelmingly powerful considering even if there's a large fleet against a smaller fleet, Force Battle Meditation could potentially allow a smaller fleet to win against the larger fleet thus needing a powerful super weapon that would eliminate the reliance upon the force for victory

[@ethanquirk28]

Once the Empire was made anew, technically the rule of 2 had completed its purpose and no longer needed to be followed. The rule of 2 was only founded because infighting between Sith Lords was weakening their power structure as a whole to the point where it was obvious they’d never be able to truly defeat the Jedi while it was going on. However, if there were only ever 2 Sith, a student and a teacher, there would be no assassinations, sabotage, power grabs against rivals etc, allowing power and focus to be concentrated into one master. As the Jedi were defeated, technically the Sith Academy could have been reopened if Sidious had so wished, allowing Sith to vastly outnumber the remaining Jedi while also taking up any new or remaining force sensitives and turning them to the dark side, preventing any chance for the surviving masters to rebuild the Jedi order

[@brianrunyon266]

Ah, Palpatine, the Star Wars version of the Kim's of North Korea.

[@marrqi7wini54]

Except NK is hardly a superpower while the galactic empire was the only true power at the time. No external rivals.

[@brianrunyon266]

@@marrqi7wini54 True, but, the military first policy and the personality cult around him...

[@aevoke9759]

I see him as the Star Wars version of Hitler.

[@brianrunyon266]

@@aevoke9759 Same. Stalin, too.

[@dylanblack3279]

More like Julius Caesar, turning a republic into a totalitarian system.

[@mari0664]

I need a Jedi robe like that lol

[@HopeFaithLove4]

Me too

[@timclark6439]

Y'know what. I have an undergraduate in politics and this is the video that made me subscribe to the channel! Good job!

[@spd579]

Great analogy and sharing.

[@IsaiahRichards692]

I think you’re very misled here! I think Palpatine’s biggest mistake was when he straight up ALLOWED the rebels to form and become a threat, all because he was bored of ruling and needed challenges to his power to keep him entertained! I think Palpatine building a strong central government was a masterstroke, not an error, and the New Republic learned the error of their ways when the small faction, known as the First Order, toppled their entire government in a couple of months!

[@RebelCannonClub74]

Personally, I don't think in the starwars universe that military equipment would lose value. You have to remember they live in a galaxy that is teeming with hostile wild life and well organized crime lords. So having military grade hardware and a strong central government would probably be a good thing. I think what really ended up becoming Palpatine's fall is his general disregard for the empire itself, and was more in love with the idea of attaining one. It's that awkward feeling when you win total war and there's nothing really left to do.

[@gregl4645]

Decent video idea: How you would bring about a successful Sith ruled galaxy. Doesn't have to be constrained to any specific time period or Sith lord, it doesn't even have to be a political strategy if you can think of a more brute force method. You could even point out what other Siths could have done to not mess up their evil plans. Could Maul have succeeded if he didn't do a thing, could Plagus have lived on as an immortal master, could Jar Jar have betrayed Palpatine and claimed total control over the senate for himself?

[@michaelsargeant5923]

Very enjoyable and informative.

[@mjfan8704]

People have said that Luke is the biggest murderer of the Star Wars universe thanks to the destruction of the Death Star MK. 1. But if you think about it, Palpatine and Tarkin are even worse, considering they had made not one, but two space stations doubling as Super weapons. Along with Tarkin's eagerness to show off the Death Star to the galaxy, Palpatine's second base was probably even more costly due to the size increase. And let's not forget The First Order's Starkiller Base and that dreadnought of a Super Star Destroyer. And they had less stable funding than the Empire that came before it. Talk about short term goals to long term problems.

[@alexander9703]

Two peace keep facilities, and Luke didn't care about the perfectly innocent non combatants on either space station when he participated in terror attacks on them. The Empire aren't to blame if truthers baselessly accuse them of being behind the Alderaan mining accident.

[@mjfan8704]

@Alex Saunders Peacekeeping..... sure. And all those civilians on Alderaan deserved to die for the actions of a select few? I'm not excusing the fact that the destruction of the two Death Star's affected millions of lives across the galaxy, but who's to say that Tarkin or the Emporer would be satisfied with just the destruction of Alderaan? If groups of beings across the galaxy were like, "Hey, what's up with the giant space station with a super laser? Are you going to use it just on the Rebellion or are you going to use it on other targets to set more examples?", would the two power hungry sadists let that go? Just saying, a society is not that stable when the leaders are willing to blow up planets to keep people in line and squash a rebellion.

[@laptoples]

Wow, that was really great man !!!!! Comparing Star Wars to our own government is what Lucas always wanted to show. You did it justice !!! Great representation for both sides of the political spectrum. Thanks !!!

[@shokmusic_AC]

Excellent break down on the macroeconomics of the Empire.

[@littlebeefbeefpro1920]

“And the emperor’s use of the dark arts” shows a clip from the Star Wars Kinect game where he is dancing caught me off guard and was super funny 10/10 ign

[@emperorryanii]

Simple mistake, he gave Obi Wan the high ground.

[@jamiepeterson2230]

I think it would interesting to see if anyone in corescant tried to impeach palpatine

[@jamiepeterson2230]

i think that would make for a funny sketch for a comedic turn for such a thing. Seeing someone on the prosecution side trying to convict him of war crimes and betraying the Republic Consiitution and him siting there and saying “Unlimited Power” and shocking him and the court room with his lightning bolts from his hands. lol

[@karrasjohnson1217]

Dude, ya do this well. Thank you!!!!

[@mr.squidward6947]

I kept forgetting this was about Star Wars and not the worlds economy during war times