Great Jedi Purge

The Clone Wars, occasionally referred to singularly as the Clone War, are conflicts in the Star Wars science fiction franchise by George Lucas. They are mentioned briefly in the first Star Wars film (1977), but the conflicts themselves are not depicted until Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005). The Clone Wars are also the setting for three eponymous projects: a 2D animated cartoon (2003–2005), a 2008 CGI film (2008), and a 3D CGI series (2008–2014). They have been featured in numerous Star Wars books and games.

Within the Star Wars narrative, the Clone Wars are fought to prevent thousands of planetary systems from seceding from the Galactic Republic and forming the Confederacy of Independent Systems, often referred to as the Separatists. The Republic uses an army of clone troopers, the namesake of the conflict, led by the Jedi Order against the Separatists' battle droid army. The conflict is manufactured as a scheme for the Republic's Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, secretly an evil Sith Lord, to gain power and ultimately convert the democratic Galactic Republic into the dictatorial Galactic Empire featured in the original trilogy.

Lucas used the Clone Wars to answer questions about the original trilogy, such as how the Empire came to be and how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. The political and military events of the Clone Wars draw inspiration from real-world conflicts and historical events, such as World War II and Adolf Hitler's rise to power.

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