Why the Empire isn't as dumb as you think | Star Wars Lore

Boys and girls -- episode 2 of Thrawn's Revenge is live on the second channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYB04h8IQP4 Enjoy! Love ya ;)

"Sheev and the bois"

Sheev and The Boys The Imperial propaganda boy band we never knew we needed

Petition to rename the Empire "Sheev and the Bois"

"All they needed was for Palpatine to survive..." OH BOY.

The Empire didn't commit to the Tarkin Doctrine right. They designed based on it, but then they didn't use those designs optimally. The system of "Iron fist in velvet glove" would have suited them well, but too often they refused to use the iron fist where it should have been, and overused it other places when a softer touch would have served their ends better. Example: The Death Star should have been used thus: Escorted by a large blockading fleet and several Interdictors, it would arrive at a planet, the fleet would blockade it, and an ultimatum would be delivered: "We know there are rebels and insurrectionists here. To those of you who wish to prove your loyalty to the Empire, you have one week to bring all of them to us. If you refuse, or if you refuse to submit to the Empire, we will be forced to destroy this planet and end this threat to the safety of Imperial citizens throughout the galaxy." Then, either the prison ship is filled up with rebels turned in by their own neighbors who care more about their friends and family surviving than about politics, or not enough rebels are handed over, and the planet is destroyed. If the planet complies, but one or two cities refuse, a low-power blast sufficient to atomize the offending city alone will suffice. The climate consequences of the bombardment will be a warning to the other population centers to heed the word of the Empire. Don't make threats, make promises. Use the people's own fear and desperation to turn them against the Rebels, whose presence threatens them all. When wielded properly, that fear would make worlds police themselves. Used clumsily, it only causes more uprisings. . With regards to the soft power or 'velvet glove' that the Empire seems to have neglected, even as an autocracy they needed to build a reputation of being stern but fair if they were to gain real loyalty throughout the galaxy. Instead they ended up casting themselves as draconian and vindictive, responding with overwhelming measures when they weren't called for. . The problem was, basically, they needed to appear unassailable while remaining aware of (and protecting against) the flaws and weaknesses present. Instead the commanding officers began to actually believe that Imperial power was impervious and scoff at flaws or weaknesses, and that headstrong behavior cost them the war.

Not to worry, Eckhart, you can never be too hard on Sheev and the boys. They don't listen anyway. Believe me, I've tried.

The psychological strength of the Death Star is undeniable. We see in Rogue One how even the possibility of its existence almost broke the rebellion.

the general public doesn't know the tie fighter is made out of 'cardboard' , they think it's a very good starfighter. So for them seeing 20 tie fighters flying over is more intimidating than 5 actual great starfighters. it's also cheaper to make considering the empire never intended to go into battle

I'm pretty sure the competitiveness between grand moths was on purpose. If they're fighting each other, they have no time to fight the emperor.

But you were the one who told me they were dumb

the emperor's end goal was actually to have a single galaxy-spanning moment where every simultaneously cracked open a cold one with the boi's

Well, if you were in Vader's position, you gotta separate the chaff from the wheat somehow. Force-choking intensifies

Remember that even though Palpatine declared himself Emperor at the end of the Clone Wars, the Senate was kept around and had at least some power and prestige to it. Leia was using her status as the Senator for Alderaan to get out of trouble (Vader's comment on "you weren't on any mercy mission this time") and when Tarkin tells his command staff on the Death Star that the Emperor has officially dissolved the Senate there is at first worry about how they will run the Empire without the Senate. So until the Death Star was operational there were some democratic vestiges kept around if only as window dressing for the various member worlds. Of course once Alderaan is destroyed the mask is gone and anyone that was fooling themselves into thinking that things weren't so bad now had their noses rubbed in the truth. And then the Death Star is destroyed and everyone realizes how precarious the Empire's house of cards is and the Rebellion starts to grow even larger...

That's cool and all but... What about the droid attack on the Wookies?!

2:15 I realize the scale of things is hard to tell in space, but that Star Destroyer needs to move further out of the way of the flagship. No reason to buzz the tower.

You have to wonder why Grand Moffs still bother with competing with each other. I mean, they are already as high in rank as they can get. So, why bother?

The problem with the Tarkin Doctrine is that fear is not able to be maintained easily. It is why horror movies and games lose the fear factor over the runtime of the media. You get stuck in a loop of having to go bigger and scarier every "episode" and even then you have to focus on more brute force over time.

One of the problems with eliminating the Senate , meant a vacume of legitimacy of who the next leader should be. Had the Empire kept the Imperial Senate gatherings. A real next Emporer would have risen . He may have been not force sensitive , or perhaps even a mere puppet of Vader behind the scenes. This would have guaranteed a line a succession , and kept a much more stable galactic government.

The main issue of Palpatine's Empire was due to the fact he had no care for how the people would achieve their ranks as long as they would bring results. A Moff could easily have thousand of emperial soldiers lives sacrificed over a pointless assault in order the achieve a victory, Palpatine would still reward the victory rather than berate them for their reckless act for the sake of a promotion and better standing. Another point which was made in this video is the lack of line of succession, Palpatine was too arrogant to believe he could die and thus didn't set up a clear line of succession should he die which would have prevented a massive power vaccum that caused the empire to fracture in multiple factions with only a few actually wanting to restore the Empire as it was. The other issue is the focus on fear alone to keep the people in line, fear is a powerful emotion and powerful deterrent but only lasts so long, eventually people aren't afraid anymore, especially when you consider how aliens were treated under imperial rules, an enemy who has nothing to lose is an extremely dangerous enemy. allowing the xenophobic nature of humans was also a huge undoing on him, had aliens been accepted just as well as any other humans, many worlds wouldn't see any reason to join the rebellion ensuring that the Rebellion itself would only remain a small faction and remain branded as nothing more than a terrorist group seeking to overthrow the Empire over petty reasons. So no, it wasn't the fault of the empire itself, it was how Palpatine built the chain of command and how one could rise above their station not through merit but through trickery and betrayal, which doesn't make for a strong empire but a flimsy and fractured empire. Everyone pulls in different direction rather than aim for a common goal.