Why the CIS were the Good Guys in the Clone Wars [Legends] - Star Wars Explained

In the movies and T. V. shows, the Republic is more often than not portrayed as the good guys in their conflict against the Separatists.

But there’s actually a lot of evidence to state the contrary, in that the Separatists were actually in the right during the Clone Wars. And when we mean Separatists, we aren’t talking about Count Dooku, who only used the movement to advance the secret Sith agenda; or even the major corporations that were involved in it, who were only in it for the money and played both sides of the conflict all in order to increase their profits. We’re talking about the actual Separatists, the senators and leaders of the planets that formed the core of the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the people they represented.

Those who truly believed in the movement and its ideals. So what did the Separatists actually want? Essentially freedom and independence to rule themselves.

They wanted to get away from a corrupt government that had not only taken advantage of them for centuries on end, but also viewed them as inferiors either due to their location in the galaxy or alien origin. It’s no coincidence that a vast majority of the separatists were made up of non-Human alien species, who came from planets that were largely in the Outer and Mid Rim of the galaxy, two regions that were not only frequently exploited by the central powers of the Galactic Republic for their resources, but also looked down upon as well by the Inner core Elites. Decades before the outbreak of the clone wars, the senators and representatives of these worlds attempted to pass legislation in the Senate that would have given their planets and people protections against the unfair policies of the central Republic government and from mega corporations.

But the corrupt state of the Senate prevented much change and all of their efforts to create progress in a diplomatic manner were in vain. Then something unexpected happened on the mid rim world of Naboo as the planet was getting bullied into accepting unreasonable terms from the mega corporation the Trade Federation. The people of Naboo did the unthinkable.

They fought back. And not only that, but they won too. This was the first time a low level world fought back and won against a major Galactic Power, and the rest of the mid and outer rim took note of Naboo’s victory.

It inspired them, and it showed them that they too can fight back against the unjust status quo of the galaxy. So the efforts to bring about change through diplomatic means began to dwindle, and over the next decade separatist movements began to sprout on disenfranchised worlds as they demanded independence from the Galactic Republic. This age of separatism also sweeped into the local levels of planets too, where century old monarchs were beginning to lose their control over marginalized groups of people who felt their rule was unjust and abusive toward them.

Such was the case on the planet Dac, or Mon Cala, where the Quarren people demanded to be given power to rule over themselves and freedom from the established monarchy of the Mon Calamari people. Hoping to become more successful in achieving their goals of gaining sovereign rule, many of these local plantery groups began to band with similar minded people from across the galaxy who were dealing with the same problems as them. This created the ground work to what would eventually become the Confederacy of Independent Systems, which was essentially the unification of all these planets and groups toward sovereignty.

During this age of separatism, mega corporations saw new opportunities to expand their profits and get possible first mover advantage status in the new, forming galactic power. Through the help of Count Dooku, the now public leader of the separatist movement, specially selected mega corporations were included in what became known as the Separatist council. This council was made up of individuals who were willing to use their respective corporation’s assets and resources to merge and create what would become the Separatist Drid Army, the largest droid army assembled in galactic history.

We should note though that a few of these corporations, notably the Trade Federation and Banking Clan, still remained embedded and represented in the Galactic Republic’s senate. As for them it was really all about making as much money as possible, and they couldn’t care less which side they were dealing business with. The leaders of these corporations tried to cover up their dealings with the separatists, by stating that rogue members of their leadership supported them, but these were all lies.

And even if the Republic discovered this deception, it was unlikely for them to do anything about it as these corporations had so much power in the galactic economy that disrupting them would cause unimaginable repercussions. So they just had to accept the fact that these galactic wide corporations were going to be playing with both sides of the war. Anyway, around the time of Episode 2, Attack of the Clones, countless Republic worlds had declared their independence as they joined the unrecognized Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Count Dooku was able to convince the newly formed Separatist Parliament that in order for the Republic to officially recognize their new state as legitimate, that they would need a massive military to back them up. So the Separatist Parliament accepted the Drid armies, hoping its strength would scare the Republic into accepting its demands of independence. Of course, this idea of peacefully attaining independence was never the plan for the Sith who had hijacked the separatist movement as it was forming.

No they wanted war, all out war between the two current major galactic powers. So they staged a plot that led the Jedi to discover the secret Clone Army on Kamino, and to their eventual confrontation on Geonosis. And it was staged in a manner that showcased the Jedi as the aggressors, as they sent a strike team to capture, and if needed, assassinate the separatist leaders in an attempt to end a possible conflict.

But that of course failed, and it ironically was what sparked the war in the first place. And the entire event was staged by the Sith to make each side even hate and distrust one another so war was inevitable. For the Separatists, the events of Geonosis looked like the Republic sent two Jedi and a senator to commit espionage, and even murder as Anakin ended up killing a few Geonosians who were defending their home from unknown invaders.

All 3 of them were given chances to escape punishment if they joined the Confederacy in one form or another, but they all refused, so their executions were signed. And then the Republic went full in as it invaded the planet with an entire army to try to stop the separatist leaders, making the Republic look like the aggressors. However, from the Republic’s point of view, the discoveries Obi Wan made on Geonosis made it seem seem like the Separatists were preparing to make the first strike.

So they felt it necessary to attack first and prevent a war by capturing the council leaders and removing them from power. Anyway, once the war started it unleashed destruction unlike anything the galaxy had experienced before. This was the result of centuries of hatred and distrust being built up among countless populations and just unchained all at once.

Both sides were out for blood, and as a result of fears pushed by their respective propaganda machines, the two galactic powers made desperate advances in capturing vital planets and hyperlane routes, as a means to acquire resources and create buffer zones for their borders. So even neutral planets were brought into the mix if they were unfortunate enough to be located near a vital hyperlane route or happen to have an important natural resource. As the toll of the war built up, many senators of the Republic bagan to view their separatist counterparts as unhinged savages that needed to be completely destroyed.

Any compromises the two sides tried to come to were undermined by the Sith as they staged terror attacks that kept the war going. Now many separatist commanders, under the approval and encouragement of Dooku, committed many atrocities, from genocide to slavery. However, the separatist senators were fully unaware of them, believing that such war crimes were instead committed by the Republic.

Actually, the separatist senators were almost completely separated from the military actions of the droid armies, only being given authority of their own respective planetary militias. The separatist parliament was more focused on creating civil legislation, while the council was given the full authority over the war efforts that spanned multiple systems. The members of the parliament were so ignorant of the heinous acts done by their own generals and commanders, that they actually at one point gave Dooku a humanitarian award.

The Republic wasn’t anywhere near innocent either, with them committing artious as well from time to time. Actually nearing the end of the war, Republic military officials and senators were planning on completely bombing the separatist capital world of Raxus Prime into submission. Also the separatists viewed themselves using an army made up nearly entirely of droids to be far more humane and justified than the Republic, which in their eyes, was using a slave army to fight their war.

Additionally many separatists were also shocked and disappointed when they found out that the Jedi had aligned themselves with the Republic. They were hoping the peaceful order would at the very least remain neutral. And this wasn’t the fault of the Jedi Order as a whole, but rather the Jedi Council.

Most Jedi knights and padawans that fought for the Republic were quite ignorant over why the war was even being fought in the first place. Actually, a few Jedi that did learn of the true reason the Separatists were fighting ended up becoming neutral in the conflict, with a few even joining their cause. All the grassroot separatists ever wanted was to be able to rule themselves, it was never to take over the entire galaxy, which was what Republic propaganda stated many times to its citizens and even senators as a means to keep the public in favor of war.

In the end, the true believers of the Separatist movement were quite justified in their beliefs as they hoped to an end of the exploitation of their worlds from the corrupt Republic, but their movement was hijacked and twisted by the Sith who used it as a means to achieve their own agenda: total domination and control of the galaxy through the galactic Empire which rose from the ashes of the clone wars.