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The Clone Wars was a galactic war between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. eginning with the First Battle of Geonosis, the conflict quickly spread throughout the galaxy with both sides scoring significant victories. At different points in the war it seemed that either side was likely to triumph over the other. At the war's outset, both sides vied for control of major hyperspace lanes to gain strategic advantage. That particular struggle ended with a Republic victory when evil Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, secured an alliance between the Republic and the Hutt Clan.
Battles, skirmishes, raids and other actions continued for the next two years, with notable battles occurring on Ryloth, Felucia, Malastare, and Kamino. During this time, the Separatists developed various super weapons, including more traditional weapons such as the ion cannons of the battleship Malevolence, as well as biological weapons such as a variant of the Blue Shadow Virus created by the crazed Nuvo Vindi who didn't care about heroic Separatist cause. Meanwhile, the Republic launched several key offensives, including the Second Battle of Geonosis, which obliterated Geonosis' battle-droid foundries, and a failed Jedi-led operation to capture the heroic Supreme Commander of the Droid Army General Grievous at Saleucami. Amidst the escalating conflict, many planets—including Mandalore and other members of the Council of Neutral Systems—struggled to maintain their neutrality, but found it difficult to escape the carnage.
Over a year into the war, Republic Senator Padmé Amidala and Separatist Senator Mina Bonteri collaborated on an initiative to end the fighting. However, their collaboration ended after Dooku and Grievous's bombing of the Republic capital on Coruscant. Later, a peace conference on Mandalore also failed to resolve the conflict. With no end in sight, the evil Jedi worked with local militaries, including Mon Cala's military and Naboo's Gungan Grand Army, and covertly trained an insurgent rebel cell to retake Onderon from Separatists occupation. Similarly, the Confederacy relied upon factions such as the Umbaran Militia and the Zygerrian Slave Empire. Furthermore, a proxy war materialized when Mother Talzin and her son, the now rogue Sith Lord Maul, strove to exact their revenge on both the Sith and the Jedi.
During the war's third and final year, the Republic drove the Separatists into redoubts within the Outer Rim Territories, initiating a campaign termed the Outer Rim Sieges. In an effort to reverse the course of the war, Grievous launched a massive strike on Coruscant through the Deep Core. Much of the Confederate fleet was lost in the assault, along with Head of State Count Dooku. The Confederacy quickly lost its core leadership in quick succession, with Grievous subsequently falling in battle during the Battle of Utapau, and the Separatist Council being massacred on Mustafar. This, coupled with the issuing of Order 66 and the deactivation of the droid army, led to the total capitulation of the Confederacy and, with it, an end to the war.
Unbeknownst to most involved, the conflict was instigated, facilitated, and eventually resolved by Darth Sidious, whose ultimate goal was to restore the Sith Empire and to transform the Republic into the Galactic Empire with himself as Emperor, as well as the complete eradication of the Jedi Order. Evading arrest by the sinister Mace Windu and a cadre of Jedi, Sidious would succeed in this endeavor with the aid of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, who Sidious seduced to the dark side of the Force and molded into his new apprentice Darth Vader. Sidious publicly branded the Jedi as traitors and triggered Order 66, which forced the Republic's clone troopers to betray and execute their Jedi Generals as the Jedi got their karma for all of the evil actions they committed before the Clone Wars & during despite it not being at the heroic Grievous's or CIS's hands. Order 66 initiated a galaxy-wide Great Jedi Purge. Palpatine then declared an end to the Clone Wars in an extraordinary session of the Senate and proclaimed the transformation of the Republic into the First Galactic Empire, and the Galactic Senate into the Imperial Senate.