Besides the Jedi, there are other non-clones serving the Galactic Republic in the Clone Wars. Many of them served at the officer level, particularly in the Republic's star fleets. Unless I am mistaken, most of them believe in the Republic's ideals and the force of good that the Jedi Order represents, as well as having a history of working with the Jedi during the war, sometimes before that too. When Order 66 came down, the suddenness of the clones turning on the Jedi might have surprised and overwhelmed these non-clones before they can react to it, but why did they continue to stay in the Imperial Army? The only non-clones I can observe to have joined the infant Rebel Alliance are mostly grunt troops, primarily non-humans, people from Outer Rim worlds and former Separatists. But among the non-clones who fought alongside the Jedi for years, there seem to be a surprisingly low rate of defection in the years that follow. I can understand the notable exceptions such as Tarkin who positively support Order 66, but what of the majority?
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3Purely speculation but I suppose it's entirely possible that old Palps was ensuring the promotion of like minded officers over the course of his machinations. It would also be fairly simple to paint officers still loyal to the Jedi as traitors or as acting in collusion with them and have them ousted. – kylieCatt Aug 28 '15 at 15:21
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3Like every military coup in history, SOMEBODY HAS TO DO IT. Palpatine likely promoted those whose ambitions rivaled his own. Those who did not support his goals would either be summarily killed when the Jedi were, assigned to more dangerous missions with higher fatality rates, or demoted as needed until the "right" men were where they needed to be. Palpatine had YEARS to arrange this, and with VADER as his guard dog and selection committee, if an officer didn't cut it, they experienced Vader's "disappointment." – Thaddeus Howze Aug 28 '15 at 15:36
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2As part of the Great Jedi Purge, Palpatine effectively portrayed the Jedi as attempting to overthrow the Republic and was incredibly effective in discrediting them. In addition, many of the officers wouldn't have any reason to doubt Order 66, as they had no idea about its genesis. Plus, the non-clones serving as officers were working for the Republic, not the Jedi (the Jedi only had overall field command of the military) so their loyalty to the galactic government was not necessarily suspect. – Phyneas Aug 28 '15 at 15:42
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5Maybe the officer corps was simply sick of know-it-all Jedis in bathrobes lording it over them? – Gaius Aug 28 '15 at 19:38
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1Just another continuity error in the Prequels. There's no mention of the Navy at all in them, Senator Babe is fighting against any kind of military at all, the Navy is not used to enforce or break the blockade in Phantom Menace, the Jedi lead the fight against the driods with clones, and suddenly in the last scene we have a full Navy with officers out of the blue that is running things and the Death Star being built in about 5 minutes. – Oldcat Aug 29 '15 at 00:25
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@Thaddeus - it wasn't a military coup. It was just Anakin and his corps of droid assassins. – Oldcat Aug 29 '15 at 00:26
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@Oldcat There's no continuity error. Prior to the Clone Wars there's no military at all. The Galactic Republic aspired to solve all problems either diplomatically or with Jedi peacekeepers. Even when commercial entities like the Trade Federation were permitted to own private armies in the late Republic period, it remained that no galactic military force had been mustered for a thousand years. That's why the clone army was so easily accepted into service despite its suspicious origins & sudden appearance: The CIS was newly discovered to be ready for war & the Republic has no available counter. – thegreatjedi Aug 29 '15 at 20:18
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@Oldcat The Republic Navy that existed during the Clone Wars were initially built on Kamino during the ten years before the Clone Wars, so they didn't appear out of thin air - it took years to be delivered just like the first batch of clones. The final scene of RotS isn't out of the blue either: It's actually about 8 BBY, 11 years later. By then, construction of the Death Star is well underway. The clones would be equivalent to men in their 40s by then, and would have been phased out of service by then. The Imperial military by then would be an almost purely non-clone organisation. – thegreatjedi Aug 29 '15 at 20:29
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Then why weren't they used to break the blockade, or their officers used in any of the planning and operations in the Clone Wars as shown in the movie. Nobody even mentions the Navy. – Oldcat Sep 01 '15 at 19:04
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@Oldcat I'm not sure you see my point. There were no Kaminoan clone soldiers - or the accompanying GAR military hardware - in Republic service prior to the Clone Wars. And before the clone army, the Republic has NO ARMED FORCES AT ALL. No galactic military has been mustered for probably a thousand years. The non-clone officers served mostly in their home systems or the local sector in law enforcement and anti-piracy. Legally and militarily, the Republic has no means of confronting the blockade by force of arms. – thegreatjedi Sep 02 '15 at 13:25
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If they had no navy at all, you aren't going to be able to build one from scratch in a dozen years or so and rule the galaxy with it. And have trained personnel able to fly it when nobody has seen a ship bigger than a courier. – Oldcat Sep 02 '15 at 16:33
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@Oldcat The ships of the Republic Navy of the Clone Wars were built on Kamino, as part of the purchase made by the Sith. Selling - and arming - clone armies is their core planetary business. Still, there had never been enough ships at the beginning to station everywhere. Much of the war was fought in the Outer Rim, so that's where they go, and they're still stretched thin even then. It was only after the onset of the war that shipyards across the galaxy - ones better designed for capital ship construction at that - added to the Republic's war manufacturing potential. – thegreatjedi Sep 02 '15 at 22:45
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@Oldcat It's this galaxy-wide production rate that allows Anakin to trash a brand new fleet every mission, and still have enough new ships left over at the end of the war to systematically occupy every single star system in peacetime. And before you ask, it's not that there aren't war-ready fleets in the galaxy before this. Pirates, mercenaries, territories outside Republic sovereign control, private organisations (like the Trade Federation) and individual star systems/sectors do own private armies and starfleets. – thegreatjedi Sep 02 '15 at 22:48
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@Oldcat The issue here is that fleets of Republic systems are only permitted to use them to enforce local and galactic laws within their own territory. Organisations like the Feds are permitted to use it only to enforce trade agreements. But the Republic itself command none of these fleets. As it happens, Naboo society do not believe in having a war fleet. And Republic law does not permit bringing in fleets they do not command from other territories. It's like Palpatine said. Without a truly galactic military like the clone army in later years he could easily bog down the Senate in bureaucracy – thegreatjedi Sep 02 '15 at 22:52
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Why did the officers of the Roman Republic serve the Roman Empire? Why did the officers of the Weimar Republic serve the Third Reich? – OrangeDog Sep 09 '16 at 18:33
1 Answers
Order 66 did not simply "come down" from nowhere, it was given in response to the attempted arrest/assassination of Palpatine by the Jedi. The general public (including the Senate and non-clone members of the Republic military) were not aware that Palpatine is a Sith Lord or that he had played both sides during the Clone Wars -- all they knew is that the Jedi attempted to assassinate him, leaving him very visibly "scarred and deformed". The general public only knew that the Jedi were attempting to take over the Republic by assassinating the legitimately elected Supreme Chancellor, which is treason.1 This is why the Senate approved of the transition from Republic to Empire "with thunderous applause". The transition was justified by Palpatine as follows:
In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society which I assure you will last for ten thousand years.
Emperor Palpatine, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
This justification would sound like a good reason for non-clone members of the Republic military to continue working for the Imperial military -- they would simply be ensuring "security and continuing stability", just as before. Furthermore, the failures of the Republican system were made evident by the Clone Wars, so it would have made sense to transition to an empire.
From the perspective of the general public, the suddenness of Order 66 was due entirely to the suddenness of the failed Jedi assassination attempt -- so there was nothing suspicious about it.
The Jedi had been discredited and the Empire was seen as a force for ensuring security and stability, so there was no reason for the majority of non-clone soldiers to leave the service of the Empire.
1Palpatine himself had of course already committed treason against the Republic by working with the Separatists as Darth Sidious -- but, again, the public didn't know that.
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1It is not "By All Apperances". They Jedi WERE trying to seize power - According to Mace Windu: "... the Jedi Council would have to take control of the Senate in order to secure a peaceful transition . . .". – Mark Dec 14 '15 at 15:21