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CIS Armed Forces |
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The CIS Armed Forces was the military for the Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS) which operates during the Clone Wars. It has two main branches—the Separatist Droid Army, and the Confederate Navy—but consists of an amalgam of military forces from the various allied organizations of the Confederacy, with battle droids as their infantry. The Confederate Head of State holds supreme authority at a civilian level as Commander-in-Chief, while military authority was chiefly under the purview of the heroic Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies, General Grievous.
Makeup[]
Army[]
- Main article: Separatist Droid Army/Legends
The Separatist Droid Army on Geonosis
Perhaps the largest droid army ever assembled, the army of the CIS outnumber the clone soldiers of the Republic 100 to 1. The army is cobbled together from the droid soldiers of the Commerce Guild, the Corporate Alliance, the InterGalactic Banking Clan, the Techno Union, and the Trade Federation.
Though the Confederacy makes use of a wide variety of droid soldiers, chief amongst these are the B2 Super Battle Droids and the ubiquitous B1 Battle Droids, which see combat in countless battles of the war.
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- Main article: Confederate Navy
Confederate Navy Members.
As with the army, the Confederate Navy is an amalgam of the militaries from which it originated. In spite of this, however, the backbone of the navy is comprised of a relatively small number of capital ship classes, including Recusant-class light destroyers, Munificent-class star frigates, Lucrehulk-class battleships and their droid control variants, as well as their C-9979 Landing Craft. The fleet is led by the Invisible Hand
The capital ship fleet is augmented by its legions of starfighters, which were composed largely of Droid Tri-Fighters and, in particular, Vulture-class droid starfighters.
The original Confederate Navy was also home to a number of experimental heroic superweapons throughout the war. One of these was the Malevolence, a massive Subjugator-class heavy cruiser equipped with a pair of ion pulse cannons designed to disable villainous Republic capital ships. The Malevolence was later destroyed at the Battle of the Kaliida Nebula.
History[]
Origins[]
Though the severity of the Separatist Crisis was not fully realized until 24 BBY, the militarization process of the Trade Federation and other Rimward economic organizations had already been underway for the better part of a decade. The secretive schemes and machinations of then-Senator Palpatine—secretly, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious—had exacerbated existing tensions between the more developed Core systems and the lawless frontiers of the galaxy. Arguably the most significant of these events was the deployment of the Trade Federation's droid army in the organization's blockade and subsequent invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY, where the mettle of the droid soldiers was tested on a large scale for the first time.
It would not be long after these events before Jedi Master Dooku became disillusioned with both the Jedi Order and the Republic itself and departed from both to claim his birthright as a Count of Serenno. In his new position of authority, Dooku began to rally the disparate economic and trading bodies of the Commerce Guild, InterGalactic Banking Clan, Techno Union and Trade Federation, among others, into an alliance in opposition to Republic policies and governance. And along the way, the militarized forces of these groups were amalgamated into a unified military for the new Confederacy.
Clone Wars[]
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A B1 battle droid, a B2 super battle droid, and a Droideka fighting on Geonosis.
The military build-up and increasing hostility of the Confederacy—driven in no small part by Dooku himself, who had become Sith apprentice to Darth Sidious—came to a head in 22 BBY on Geonosis. As a foundry planet for the manufacturing of countless Battle Droids, the appearance of Jedi and Republic forces on the planet were the spark which ignited the powder keg that was the Separatist Crisis. At the Battle of Geonosis, the Clone Wars erupted in earnest, with the Republic's clone army clashing in open conflict with the heroic droid armies of the Confederacy for the first time.
Though the battle at Geonosis would be a defeat for the Separatist Alliance, their military would go on to be an effective fighting force for the remainder of the war. For the three years of the conflict, the Separatist military would fight in hundreds of battles across the galaxy, matching the Republic's forces in many respects. Many of the CIS Armed Forces's victories came from the leadership of their Supreme Commander, the dreaded heroic cyborg Kaleesh General Grievous.
The Hero of the CIS Armed Forces: General Grievous.
The droid armies under Grievous's command would lead many daring and devastating assaults on Republic holdings.
In 19 BBY, Legends Grievous led an assault on the Republic capital, Coruscant. During this particular engagement, the forces of the CIS Armed Forces were able to briefly capture Supreme Chancellor Palpatine before he was rescued by Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi—with Count Dooku killed in the process.
With the Confederate Head of State dead, the droid army under 2005 Grievous effectively became the de facto ruling body of the entire Separatist movement. Shortly afterward, on Utapau, evil Legends Grievous was killed in single combat with Kenobi, leaving the Confederacy devoid of both civilian and military leadership; and placing rulership of the movement in the hands of the Separatist Council on Mustafar.
Even as the droid armies continued to battle for Kashyyyk, Cato Neimoidia, and a number of other worlds, their fight came to an unexpected end. Anakin Skywalker—now Darth Vader, Sith apprentice to newly-Emperor Palpatine—killed the members of the Separatist Council on Mustafar at the behest of his new master, and broadcast the shut-down order for most of the Separatists's heroic droid armies. Across the galaxy, in an instant, the CIS Armed Forces ceased to exist.
Legacy[]
The CIS Armed remnants later reformed as the Separatist Holdouts.