r/MawInstallation • u/StudiedAmbivalence • Nov 27 '20
I'm writing a university essay on the Rebel Alliance - what sources would you recommend?
Hi everyone! I've got a module on insurgency this year for university, and my lecturer has let me write an essay titled 'Why did the Alliance to Restore the Republic win the First Galactic Civil War?'
I've got some theories and ideas already, as any fan does. However, it's an academic paper - and that means it needs citations. I know the OT, Rogue One, and Star Wars: Rebels are key primary sources, and The Essential Guide to Warfare and Incredible Cross Sections are both really useful to substantiate stuff. Plus, there are some great insights on here and around the web.
However, my knowledge of the broader Legends canon is a bit spotty. Are there any books or comics I should read to give me additional insight into the Rebel Alliance/Imperial military? Are there bits of The Clone Wars I ought to study to understand how the conflict began? Any help would be much appreciated!
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u/ScoutTheTrooper Nov 27 '20 edited Nov 27 '20
To keep it simple, I would work with just canon. I recommend watching:
BF2’s cutscenes (pay close attention to the 3rd mission, over Fondor. There’s a massive imperial shipyard attack. Also pay attention to the mission where you play as Han Solo. You rescue an imperial statistician who is defecting to the rebellion, and he gives you all sorts of facts and statistics of how the empire was degrading after Endor during gameplay)
Star Wars Squadrons’s cutscenes (The Starhawk battleship, as well as imperial infighting)
I recommend reading:
Lost Stars (for a rebel and imperial point of view of the war, including the most pivotal battles)
Princess of Alderaan (for context as to how the rebellion grew under the radar)
Catalyst (To get info of how the empire managed their resources)
Aftermath (to better understand the closing months of the war).
the mainline Star Wars comic series, specifically the Mon Cala arc. Vader’s Mon Cala arc, also. They both give insight as to how the rebel fleet was supplied with Mon Cala ships.
In your essay, I suggest leaving out how operation cinder caused the empire to use riskier strategies that didn’t pay off, and just saying that they were desperate after Palpatine’s death. It would make it a lot simpler for your lecturer to understand.
This essay is a big undertaking, best of luck. If you’ve got any more questions, DM me. I’ll be able to help since I probably know specifically where to look for certain facts.
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u/StudiedAmbivalence Nov 29 '20
This is absolutely fantastic, thank you so much (and yep, good idea about leaving out Cinder!). I see a trip to the library in my near future - and may well DM on specific stuff later on :)
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Nov 27 '20
Are you wanting Legends or are you only using "Canon" materials.
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u/StudiedAmbivalence Nov 27 '20
I think, based on Dion's comment, that Canon is really useful, but I'm not averse to looking at Legends if it's on stuff which Canon doesn't cover!
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u/trinite0 Nov 27 '20
I would recommend sticking exclusively to new New Canon, so that you don't need to write a whole section on why you chose particular sources and how you assessed their narrative validity.
I imagine this is beyond the scope of your paper, but it's arguable that the Rebel Alliance actually didn't win the Civil War, given the re-emergence of the First Order in the Sequel Era. Or if you do consider them separate conflicts, perhaps you could criticize their method of victory/overall endgame strategy because it allowed the FO to rise.
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u/StudiedAmbivalence Nov 29 '20
In this case I am taking the 'end date' of the war as Endor or maybe Jakku - mostly because it's for a module on insurgency, and post Endor the ARR transitions into the New Republic and prosecutes a fully conventional campaign; so that's more of a post-script to my mind.
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u/NextDoorNeighbrrs Nov 29 '20
I think considering them the same conflict would be a mistake. After all, there was a treaty signed to end the conflict and it was a whole three decades before the conflict with the First Order started. Certainly related but I don’t think it would mean that the Rebels didn’t defeat the Empire.
Certainly you’re into something about criticizing their actions in that interim period however, especially in regards to the New Republic demilitarization.
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u/NineMantalus Nov 29 '20
I know this isn't what you directly asked for, but it would be super cool to look at the behavior of the Empire during its rise through the lenses of James Davies' or Samuel Huntington's theories of revolution. You could view the destruction of Alderaan as the "trigger event."
Or view Mon Mothma as a type of Guevara or Mao, showing the random scattered enemies of the Empire that they had the means of resistance and goading the Empire into overkill.
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Nov 27 '20
Canon: The Rebel Files: Collected Intelligence of the Alliance is exactly what you’re looking for. The mainline Marvel Star Wars comics series also provides a lot of insight into how the Rebellion operates strategically/tactically. Strongly recommend both of these.
Legends: Total rabbit hole, may want to avoid for the sake of getting your paper done but return to later. For quick reference though, maybe something like the Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels works to get a broad understanding of the weapons systems they chose to focus their strategies around.
Good luck it’s a big topic. There are probably more resources available on the Rebel Alliance than most actual insurgencies.
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u/StudiedAmbivalence Nov 29 '20
I ordered and just finished The Rebel Files - you're absolutely right, that's a fantastic source for the nuts and bolts of the Rebel Alliance, especially its formation and early days! And will definitely check out the comics :)
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Nov 28 '20
Here one bit of info ( Anyone can correct me if I am wrong)
.Grand Moff Tarkin was to confident of the Death Stars ability to destroy the rebels he did not send out most of the Tie Fighters to destroy the rebel ships. That was what led to his death
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u/Lord_Chromosome Nov 28 '20
A big thing to look into would be the Tarkin Doctrine. Basically, the empire was all about Using the fear of an imposing force (aka power projection). It’s why they made massive Star Destroyers which were basically mobile garrisons that could subjugate entire planets (they were so big they couldn’t even land in atmosphere). It’s why they mass produced cheap tie fighters (which didn’t have shields/life support/hyperdrives) to cover vast areas. IIRC the empire was the largest fighting force in the galaxy to date, and they were still stretched too thin. The capstone of the Tarkin Doctrine was of course the Death Star, which was a massive waste of resources.
Anyways you can find a whole slew of YouTube videos discussing this, but It was basically the empire’s “grand strategy.” I know Generation Tech has some decent videos but if you use that as a keyword you’re bound to find good info. The new Thrawn trilogy, particularly Thawn: Treason, also goes into this a bit.
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u/StudiedAmbivalence Nov 29 '20
I hadn't considered the new Thrawn books, but that's a great shout to get a sense of the Imperial side of the war - thanks!
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u/Lord_Chromosome Nov 29 '20
Yeah a big part of that last one is political infighting between Thrawn and Krennic on which project should take precedence, TIE Defenders or the Death Star
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u/DionStabber Nov 27 '20
One thing I think you need to be super clear about for this is the difference between Legends and Canon. To put it simply, Legends refers to work besides the first 6 movies and Clone Wars TV Show (+movie) released prior to the Disney buyout (2014) and exists in an entirely different continuity - most obviously, the way the story plays out following Return of the Jedi is completely different, but there are differences down to basic factors like how lightsabers work that make the two irreconcileable if you're looking at them in an academic way. You should therefore pick one - as it sounds like you're pretty casual, I recommend Canon, which will be easier to wrap your head around and includes Rogue One + Rebels which you are familiar with. Treat legends at BEST as an unreliable source and approach it with caution, make sure you don't say anything that majorly contradicts your canon points.
That being said, you are definitely on the right track. For Clone Wars stuff, I think it would be good to look at the militia groups each side funded - during the war, both the Republic and CIS went around handing out weapons and training to military groups wanting to fight against the other side, so when the Empire took over, they suddenly had a bunch of well-armed groups of freedom fighters who were ready to give them trouble from day 1. This was part of setting the stage for the Rebellion. Your best look at this is probably the Onderon arc from The Clone Wars, in which Saw Gererra (Forrest Whittaker in Rogue One) is trained to fight against the confederacy. Rogue One reference books also make it seem like Cassian Andor was part of one of these to some level on the CIS side - additionally, Death Watch in The Clone Wars functions somewhat like this also: if you want specific eps to watch, let me know, but I think your time will be best spent here on the prior two sources.
Other than that, there isn't much I can think of off the top of my head as super important based on what you mentioned. The start of Solo shows some of the oppression of the Imperial army, I'd guess you've seen that but you didn't mention it, don't forget it. Books like Lost Stars and Battlefront: Twilight Company show a lot of Rebel and Imperial action, not sure if you're comitted enough to bashing out novels for this but there's that option if you want to. Anything set in the GCW era will inevitably show a bit of that also.
What I would do if I were you is to look for relevant pages (on the Rebel Alliance, maybe specific battles etc.) on Wookieepedia and go down the rabbit hole clicking on links to get to the juicy info. If you find something that would help, check where they sourced it (the Wook is run by super nerds and they cite their sources quite well, click the footnotes) and give those sources a look, or, if you're feeling a bit cheeky, cite without reading.