How to Casually Become a Dictator and Destroy Your Enemies
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 4 июл 2024
- Keep exploring at brilliant.org/GenerationTech/... started for free, and hurry-the first 200 people get 20% off an annual premium subscription.
What made Sheev Palpatine so special and different from other Sith Lords is that he chose to use politics to defeat his enemies and not open war. We take a look at four of his most brilliant political moves during his career as Supreme Chancellor.
This video was sponsored by Brilliant
2nd Channel: / @generationtechshorts
Follow Generation Tech on Instagram: / generationtechofficial
Follow Generation Tech on Facebook: bit.ly/GenerationTechFB
Latest Videos: bit.ly/LatestGT
Popular Videos: bit.ly/GTPopular
Please help our channel by becoming a Patron: bit.ly/GTPatreon
Follow our Host
ALLEN XIE
RUclips / @thebeardedasianman
INSTAGRAM AXIEFILMS
TIKTOK AXIEFILMS
FACEBOOK / axiefilms 
Развлечения
Keep exploring at brilliant.org/GenerationTech/. Get started for free, and hurry-the first 200 people get 20% off an annual premium subscription.
thank you for you kind words. i appreciate all the work you did on the behalf of the ISB .
Exactly
This is why the Prequels was so great because forget Game Of Throne to become King. Palpatine/Lord Sidious showed a Master Class on how to play the Game Of Politicians to become Emperor of a Capitalist Democracy like we suppose have.
Also Palpatine: “I love Democracy.”
Palptine spent so long planing to take over the galaxy with an empire he neglected training to actually be an emperor.
i don't think that is a fair assessment. sure the empire had inefficencies, and the naval core was so far up its own ass that they couldn't do anything right, but the empire would not have fallen at all if palpatine had survived the destruction of the second death star. all things ran through palpatine, and even if he had gotten a bit less skilled as he got older he was still more than capable of running the empire
the problem with all things running through palpatine is that once he (and vader) are removed most of the loyalities go away. the empire was run by fear and obidence. you take that fear away? then all you have are grand moffs and naval leaders who all want power, and now can actually get it.
you keep palpatine alive and the empire lives. even if the empire would be having a bad time for a while after not one but TWO death stars destroyed, the empire would have 100% survived in the long run. palpatine would never have let anything like the arrogance of grand moffs tear the imperial military apart.
@@sovietunion7643
*Reads the last part of your comment*
Are you sure about that?
@@sovietunion7643 In Legends, this is precisely what happened. The Rebel Alliance, and then the New Republic, spent the following decades mopping up various Imperial Remnant factions that had formed in the aftermath of the Battle of Endor. The Empire splintered, and moffs and warlords all took over their own piece of the Empire.
@@sovietunion7643 How long would Palpatine actually have lived on, after the Battle of Endor? I've spent years calculating Palpatine's probable age, in "Return of the Jedi." By canonical timelines, he had already been pretty active in government for more than 30 years. When we see him in "The Phantom Menace," he already had gray hair, and a pretty middle-aged face. So, on the young-side, he was probably already in his 50's when this whole mess began. That would put him about his mid-80's, in ROTJ. Now I get that life support medicine in the Star Wars Galaxy is a whole heaping helping better than our own medicine, in the real world, but Palpatine was clearly already quite old, when you see him on screen. At best, Palpatine would have only ruled for about 20 more years, before dying in his hundreds, of desperately old age. At that point, who takes over? We haven't even discussed Darth Vader. Did he survive the Second Death Star explosion as well? Why do we just assume this? Without Vader being around to take over for Palpatine, upon his death, the galaxy would have fractured, and split apart, without any strong leadership in charge. Hell, I could see Grand Admiral Thrawn taking a huge chunk of the imperial fleet off to the Unknown Regions, to help defend Chiss Space!
So no. The empire would not have survived long, after ROTJ, even if Palpatine somehow survived that whole mess (which, in the first place, would require an entire heaping helping of events going differently than they actually did in the movie, to come to pass). The empire would have only survived as long as Palpatine did. Which, based on my head-math, would not have been terribly much longer. The empire would have survived less than a century, by any measure. No matter what happens differently. Because Palpatine was the lynchpin of that empire. He had no offspring to take his throne. The line of succession was broken, therefore, the empire itself was always doomed to fail.
@@jacob4920 remember that palpatine was the apprentice of darth plaugis, who had done many force experiments and unlocked what was essentially eternal life. this isn't me just quoting revenge of the sith either, legends material had plenty of him and his experiments being shown. palpatine had access to these sciences and furthered them as well. so no, palpatine without being killed in some way wasn't going to just die at some point. these are the dark secrets of the sith we are speaking of.
Palpatine was a genius politician
Yes, but being Sith was also his main weakness.
thank you !
Yeah, restrictions breed creativity and once he no longer had restrictions to his power he started being a lot less smart about how he ran things
As so many other videos on this channel can attest
@@emperor-thesenate-palpatin5954 You're welcome.
So was Hitler if we’re having a dictator pissing contest.
Let's face it, Palpatine was the best part of the Prequels. As much as it is Anakin's story, it was Palpatine's Rise to Power.
A political thriller show documenting palatine’s rise to power would be incredible.
Agreed like house of cards but Star Wars
i appreciate your kind words, but the story has allready been told in the episodes 1-3. not everything needs a spinoff and after what disney did to me in sequels, not to mention what they did to other characters, id rather they left me alone.
House of Cards but with space wizards
@@emperor-thesenate-palpatin5954 Wise words.
Just watch House of Cards (Until Francis Underwood becomes president)
Ian McDiarmid played Palpatine masterfully. Voice intonation, body language, face expression!!! Absolutely genius.
Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine and Alan Rickman as Snape have straight up made it impossible for any remake with different actors to ever reach the same heights. They truly made the characters come alive.
@@perishsoftly6418 fully agreed!!!
0:08 Palpatine: "Your soul is mine!"
Shang Tsung: "That's my line! Go get your own!"
When you hate a character, you know they are good at what they do.
Tarantino said in an interview that Monsieur Candie in Django Unchained was the first time he has hated one of his own characters, and that was because of Leonardo Di Caprio's incredible performance.
He said he normally likes his villains no matter how evil they are, but he detested Calvin Candie.
It makes sense Palapatine was much more clever in his rise than his rule, he had spent his whole life climbing to power, but as Gengish Khan once said, "It's one thing to conquer from the saddle, but it is another to climb down and rule". Not to mention while Palpatine was incredibly strong in the dark side, he was getting on in years. Arrogance, fatigue from ruling a galaxy, and the natural degradation caused by the dark side both to the body in mind would have taken their toll on him.
Or, as Mago once said to Hannibal after the stunning Carthaginian victory at Cannae, when the latter refused to march on Rome as it lay weak and vulnerable, "So it seems that the gods have not given everything to one man. You know how to gain a victory, brother, but you don't know how to make use of it."
Despite his getting "on in years", he could have learned the art of essence transfer as practiced by vitiate to extend his life.
If you cut out the light saber and force wielding abilities Palpatine is the most realistic person in all of star wars and that's what I believe makes him the most evil. He rises in the ranks of the government. He manipulates the people and the system to achieve his goals. After taking power he never relinquishes it and kills anyone who tries to take it from him. He's like a lot of other dictators that has risen into power through out our history.
If only Plagueis hadn't told Palpatine to give up painting and find a new career, the galaxy would have been spared from Space Hitler.
He does what the sith can't usually do though, rise in political power and have a competent apprentice
"Palpatine is the most realistic person in all of star wars"
His rise to power is clearly modelled on that of Adolf Hitler, who took advantage of Germany's political crisis to award himself emergency powers (the Reichstag fire and 1934 Enabling Act), and the Roman emperor Augustus, who became dictator for life after a civil war. The parallels are quite striking. You can even see it in the imagery of the movies.
@@jamesgravil9162 you are right. I saw the similarities between him and Hitler but I never thought about emperor Augustus.
@@lestergordon3698 Now I can see Octavius stand in the middle of the Roman Senate, rename himself Augustus Caesar, and announce the Roman Republic's reformation into the Empire, in a grandiose theatrical manner
*thumbnail*
Palpatine: "I love Democracy. I love the Republic."
I love that he is like the only truly completely evil character in any movie/series/show/books etc that I have ever seen. He literally has no redeeming qualities. He is a true through and through out and out baddie and I love it.
I love his cackle as he's electrocuting people. He's pure evil and he loves it.
In the Plageius novel, Palpy even used the Force to brutally murder his entire family, without any training, he was just fuelled by rage and instinct.
The Empire was an odd entity. It did do some good things - they ended slavery (publically, they still used slave labour themselves, in the form of those fleabitten walking carpets the Wookies to build the Orbital Battle Station DS-1).
They did build the economy, though it was largely military focused. They secured many worlds. The vast military was well trained and well paid.
There was a reason much of the galaxy supported the Empire over the Rebels, just saying.
Palpatine personally though? Clinical psychopath, unlimited power, no consequences to his actions. A dangerous combination, and one he took advantage of.
That reply was longer than I realised. Oopsie.
@@Pro_Butcher_Amateur_Human i wish they would do a mini series of the plageius novel. It was so good. And revan as well.
There are only two others that I can think of who are completely evil: Morgoth and Sauron
@@H10670 aha touche! I hadn't thought about Sauron!
So what was Darth Jar Jar’s long term plan after voting to give emergency powers to Palpatine?
to kill the Emperor and rule the Galaxy and change Galactic basic to Gungan
@@starcraft8555 "Oh no!"
Darth Jar Jar is the secret secret galactic shadow broker. He bought 51% of all galactic stocks and lives a life of leisure, while a sleep deprived Palpatine does all his dirty work.
Probably turn Naboo into a new Korriban...
I mean, Sith or not, it's still Jar-Jar, it'd take more effort for him _not_ to fuck enough up that bad...
"Yousa neva find out until issa too late! Mesa challenging yousa to not read dis in mesa voice."
If the Sith can come back later after Palpatine's death, they can simply taken control of the galaxy's economy. With everyone depending on trade, it means that they are the people not to be messed with because nobody wanted to be starve.
Eventually they’d consume themselves like always
Not this time. The new jedi order will not let any sith anywhere near the core worlds .
@@Matt-pn1ce Depends on how long the absence of the Sith is. Give it another millennia or so and the New Jedi Order would become as complacent as their predecessor became by the Phantom Menace.
@@Matt-pn1ce if you're talking about the EU New Jedi Order then yes, they'll smell trouble vefore it happens and quickly put an end to any scheming before it can be put to action.
@Grand Moff Tarkin I disagree , the force ghosts can always advise the council. The jedi will never forget the purge , they will station and scatter thousands of the jedi knights all across the galaxy even to the unknown regions. Not only that but the new order will have the wisdom of order 66 survivor's that escaped the purge such as Oppo Rancisis when they re emerge the jedi will be far more powerful than ever . They can even utilise knightfall protocol as a method to stop any future purges , the most powerful jedi will go underground waiting to exterminate the sith from within.
I don't really care how evil Palpatine was. Not only did he literally make the Jedi destroy themselves He also single-handedly pulled off the most well-thought-out, intricate, and impressive, plots in all of movie history Imo. Definitely my favourite vid so far, thanks.
When you think about everything he accomplished through ep 1 to 6/ clone wars, bad batch and tales of the jedi he probably is the most evil, manipulative and successful villain in movie/cartoon history
Other kids at the Phantom Menace premier; "This is boring"....
Me at the PM premier; "oh my god, the political drama is amazing! Im more into this than the space wizard fights!"
After Palpatine finally got his Empire, he slipped up and everything he had made was taken down by the Rebel Alliance and suffered infighting among Imperials post-Battle of Endor.
"rebels" yeah right... terrorists !
The Apprentice became the Master at the most inopportune moment possible, as is to be expected with the Sith in general as the Dark Side LOVES to tempt people with self-sabotage and predictable betrayals.
The only Sith ideology I have seen with actual staying power is Plagueis's more grey "big picture" view, but good luck instilling that level of patience and wisdom in your rage and fear amped dark side apprentices long enough to create a functional society and/or civilization...
When Sith are in power they erode the foundation of that power through their nature.
Not sure the Jedi Coup was that a brilliant maneuver since it did nearly get him killed. If Anakin had arrived a minute later, Windu probably would have beheaded him and Order 66 would never go out. A guess it was an early preview of his arrogance in that he thought he could win any direct Jedi confrontation with zappy hands.
Perhaps, but imagine the news afterwards: Jedi execute beloved Chancellor.
That’d be devastating for the Jedi. Perhaps the Republic could survive, but the Jedi probably would be outlawed, if only by the sycophantic senate. Palpi dies, but he takes the Jedi with him, and that’s all that matters to a Sith.
Then eventually the Sith would return like always, but go against a weakened, divided, inefficient, and corrupt Republic without the Jedi. The Republic would be easy pickings.
@@generalalduin9548 but the sith would be inexperienced and untrained?
even if the jedi were weak so would the sith
I don’t think that’s true, even if Mace had beaten Palpatine in a duel Palpatine was holding back when he could’ve easily shot a lot more force lightning at him. Palpatine was counting on Anakin to come, to arrive at the correct moment when it appeared that he was helpless before Mace. He had played the Jedi and everyone else so well, it was an excellent plan I have to hand it to him.
@@jmwilliamsart didn't Lucas himself say that Mace beat Palp
Mace was fueled by the dark side opponent and stuff or something
@@durttheelder4035 palp was beat 100% because vaapad( windu being able to use palps own darkside energy against him) but when Anakin did show up he knew he could play the situation and look weak and get help and Anakin was in position of doubt and weakness so he got very lucky I'm assuming, palp he never actually thought the council would come to arrest him, with palps arrogance it makes sense he crushed the other council members but mace windu vaapad was what nearly saved the day, but also a double edged sword as also mace feeding off of his vappad skills is probably why he made the decision to execute plapatine and then Anakin did what he did
So, Palpatine's brilliance was, basically, getting the Galactic Republic and the Jedi to destroy themselves. Then, with nothing else left to "self-destruct," Palpatine turned his attention to his new Galactic Empire, which in turn would self-destruct (so to speak, by causing so much dissidence that it would rebel against itself, i.e., a civil war.)
In my opinion; Palpatine was the smartest Sith Lord who ever lived. His plan to rule the galaxy was sheer brilliance. That's what made so dangerous.
Except it was all set up by his master who was actually a better sith lord than he was. The irony of the Sith is that they can never succeed in their materialist philosophy of seeking ultimate power and physical immortality because they will kill those with the knowledge to do so before they can attain it due to greed. Its kind of like how communism can never work due to human psychology and they are ultimately more at war with themselves because they will never accept the jedi are right when properly aligned with the force. its really an incredibly vicious cycle where their power fantasy can never become a reality because the force itself trolls the shit out of the sith.
Imagine a House Of Cards style show with Palpatine.
I like to think that, had House of Cards lasted for a little longer, it would have ended with Underwood (either of the 2) organising a riot to storm the US Capitol.
"Palpatine was evil, he destroyed Alderaan"
That was Tarkin, not Palpatine. And the Emperor was as surprised as anyone by Tarkin's choice of target. In Legends at least, he felt that destroying such a peaceful world was a step too far. That was a serious miscalculation on Tarkin's part and it actually ended up helping the Rebellion. Even if the Death Star hadn't been blown up, I think Tarkin would have come to regret that decision.
Palatine was playing strategy games on a galactic level, he combined the tall and wide play styles and made it work.
In Legends before TCW retcons came along Palpatine, Dooku, Hego aka Plagueis, Tenobrous, Vitiate, And Revan were the best political and governmental minds of all yeah.
Revan? political mind??
Darth Marr would be a lot better fitting in this list instead of Revan
@@Moorhuehnchen Revan did conquer an empire at the end of the day, albeit short-lived and in order to do that no matter what you do need to be somewhat politically capable, you don't just unite people under one banner through conquest alone. Look at the political situation on Manaan for instance, if he didn't have a political mind why bother setting up a literal embassy
Vitiate had a lot happen after the retcons as swtor is one of the few things still added to legends.
@@Moorhuehnchen Revan's entire schtick is that his primary force power is PERSUASION, like literally he passively modifies the loyalties and even moral alignment of everyone around him simply by being there and making decisions. This is also why even in KoToR 1 the Sith Empire IMMEDIATELY went from overwhelming victory to a stalemate with the Republic the second Malak betrayed Revan and took control of his Sith forces.
In KoToR 2 HK and Kreia flesh out his political and strategic genius and repeatedly canonically state his political genius. Even going so far as to hint everything that happened from the later parts of the Mandalorian Wars all the way to his betrayal were all PLANNED by Revan, including even using the "tragedy" at Malachor V as a clever easy way to wipe out not only the Mandalorians but any Jedi who joined that war but wasn't entirely loyal to Revan's vision by deploying them all to the battle KNOWING that the super weapon would result in all of their deaths before any of them could rise to become Sith rivals or Jedi obstacles. He cannonically played the entire galaxy for YEARS like a marionette stuck on his strings.
Only Palpatine himself has come closer to permanently unifying the galaxy under a single force ideology, and he used an almost identical strategy of starting and then utilizing a civil war to do so (the only real difference being that Palpatine did so from WITHIN the existing Republic rather than as a rebel outside force taking it over militarily).
@@BertoxolusThePuzzled It is actually bit more complicated. Revan utilize flaw in Jedi (at the time) training. Revealed by Darth Traia to make them all fall, before Vitate could take control of them instead. Mandalorain wars also created huge grudge among many politicians and military officers who willingly join Raven's Empire. In order to prevent future repeat of this incident (Palpatine make similar move). But Sith Empire during Cold War was in fact way more neutral then True Sith of Vitate. And lot of that conflict was resolved later diplomatically (same as with Empire of Hand). Still Revan is bit overrated.
Yet another banger Alan. Ol' Palps sometims doesn't get the credit he deserves for the RIGHT reasons. Appreciate all you do to keep the Lore hot and fresh, especially in the wake of the "sequel" trilogy era... keep it up my guy
I always wondered what was the end game of palpatine like if he got to live forever (assuming he didn’t change into a younger body) and had galactic control, what in life would give him actual pleasure. living forever doing nothing ? I feel life would just get boring for him.
I'd assume he'd try to take over the other half of the galaxy, and then move onto other galaxies.
In legends this is kind of what happened.He just went about his hobbies while he had establishments like the Igb or enforcers like Vader do all his work and he’d just read and write and do other things like that which he enjoyed.
If we are talking the OG lore he was also prepping the galaxy for the coming Yuzhon Vong threat, explaining his Empire's laser focus on massive capital ships and superweapons like the Death star that PERFECTLY counter Vong "Worldships". They sure as heck weren't building that stuff just to fight some scattered rebels in single seater fighters... XD
Well that's the trap of the dark side, isn't it? It'll never grant you true happiness. At least that's what George Lucas said
@@BertoxolusThePuzzledTarkin doctrine
This dude is honestly one of my favorite villains ever. I can't explain why, but I love the bastard. Great role model.
I loved the book 'Darth Plagueis' and the story-line, though now officially legends material, really belongs in the SW Canon as it fits so well and doesn't change anything in the canon. The greatest thing about watching all the SW series and movies instead of just the movies or everything but animated shows, is that by watching all of it, you get to see the whole picture, the careful scheming by Palpatine and how everything begins to erode or change. It makes SW much deeper and interesting this way.
"Naboo's plasma was extremely pure and burned very clean"
Hank Hill would insist that his propane would burn cleaner for starship fuel
God damnit Bobby
Palpatine should have read Gramsci. He was always at his best when getting other people to adopt his view of the problems and solutions - to voluntarily accede to his control or unwittingly help execute his vision- to establish hegemony. Rather than turning around and stressing the galaxy by funding a giant perpetual war machine itself intended for mass repression, he should have expanded his capacity to move other actors on his behalf, while facing none of the blowback for what they did himself.
He did that with the Trade Federation, Maul, Dooku, Anakin, and the entire Clone Wars playing major players on both sides to think it's their idea to achieve his long-term plan. He played the Rebels on multiple occasions, even though it backfired in the end. His policy to have the rebels act violently greatly expanded his power and diminished the Senate. Andor shows that.
Title: how to become a dictator
Me: click
Basically, Palpatine suffered a similar fate as that of Samurai Jack's Aku at the end: once he became the indiscutible supreme leader, and politics became obsolete in favor of strength and fear tactics, he felt the need to plot no longer. And that, eventually, became his doom.
You can even see this in many lore media related to the Empire and their warfare designs. All of them were crafted with the goal of inspiring fear and dread to anyone daring to oppose the Empire, at the expense of fatal design flaws that accelerated their downfall in the end.
This is brilliant.
If there was a literary award for "Most Machiavellian character" , one might be hard pressed to find a character more qualified to receive this award other than Palpatine.
And as a side note: George Lucas created Palpatine. Which implies all of Palpatine's Machiavellian moves were also created by George Lucas. Can you imagine if George Lucas went into politics, instead of movie making ?
It's really easy to write someone as a brilliant tactician when you're also writing the opposition.
Appreciate that you didn't mention Disney Star Wars as while in the OGs, Palpatine had gotten complacent, for them it was like all the symptoms of dementia hit the Sith Lord all at once as none of his decisions made any sense
Emperor Palpatine did what he HAD to do , three jedi high council members openly discussed over throwing the Chancellor and seizing control of the senate.
Four High Council members entered the Chancellor's office and ignited their lightsabers to assassinate him .
They had no warrant or Senatorial approval .
Something... Something... Something... The Dark Side.
Something... Something... Something... Complete.
Something something GOOOOOOOD
I figure Sith either reign themselves in or implode. Vader got diced up, & after ward's reigned himself in to choking out people who gave him an excuse. Maul reigns himself in till he finds kenobi again. Palpatine gets order 66 done and stops reining himself in. He goes full space necromancer and then implodes. Grandma tarkin certainly didn't help.
Instead of destroying the republic, he BECAME the republic.
Other sith before: huh, how come I haven't thought of that
I think not just palpatine, but Dooku played things brilliantly. He knew the jedi would try a show of force, and he knew he had all the cards. On that day, he ground a large group of them into dust very publically, showing the galaxy jedi can be killed.
I think a lot of his popularity is just from how much fun he's clearly having.
Excellent and nuanced take, Generation Tech: Palpy didn't need to be politically savvy as emperor, because he could just use his might to crush his opponents.
Palpatine is definitely synonymous with masterful fuckery
Excellent video! You brought out so many details that I had not thought of before. It raises my appreciation for the prequels, and the political intrigue that was driving the plot.
Anyone remember the days of Star Wars Galaxies where there was a glitch that made it so that as soon as you access a player housing terminal you became a Master Politician?
That takes me back almost 20 frickin years as yeah, I do remember that glitch and wondered how the heck I got that. Then shrugged my shoulders and teenage me carried on lol
"Jar jar, u fukd up big time giving palpatine emergency powers" - some rebel alliance soldier
Did the rule of two Sith destroy any small sith cult in order to hide their existence from the Jedi?
I don't know about cults, but individuals, certainly. The Sith have trouble working together for long. At the beginning, Bane probably had to eradicate dozens of small holdouts though.
Palpatine destroyed Maul's organisation, and killed his brother/apprentice, Savage Opress.
Plageius was attacked by Darth Venamis, a replacement apprentice his master Tenebrous had been training. Venamis had a list of potential recruits for his own apprentice.
Plagueis kept Venamis alive for years to use as a test subject in his Midichlorian Manipulation experiments. He killed and resurrected him using the Force dozens of times until his organs gave out.
An excellent video cum analysis of Palpatine's rise to power and how he got there in the first place...and the sheer audacity, brilliance and balls of what he did and what he was willing to do to achieve his goals
*cum analysis???*
Shouldn’t the galaxy have been suspicious that an elderly old man like palpatine survived an attempt on his life by master Jedis
I feel ya GenTech... I didn't just want to join the workforce at 14 to get away from school... I did.
If Disney gave Palpatine a typical tragic backstory they definitely don't know what they're doing. He is evil incarnate, from womb to tomb. Sometimes one dimensional characters can be the greatest. No one expects goodness from Palpatine. His gleeful evil is one of the things that makes him great.
I haven’t subscribed to a YT channel in 8+ years but guy is killing. My first sub in A long time…
It was Plagueis dude. He set up the whole network before palpatine even arrived.
He was a double agent he set up the separatists to take naboo then staged the war using his emergency powers to get clones.
At least Palpatine knew who he was and never lied to himself, which is more than most politicians these days
One of the few trilogies where the villain has won and noone was able to stop him for next couple of years (I think it was 20 years or so) and it was glorias, epic and terrifying. I wished Thanos would have won. He deserved it. The Avangers used time travel and an over powered last minute Karen (Captain Marvel) to defete him.
The MCU could have Thanos live on his farm unfound by anyone until he was needed to save those who survived the snap from an other danger that abuses the situation in the universe. The remaining Avangers can reason with him at the end of the day.
20 years is pathetic for an empire.
I still wonder how Palpatine was able to just declare the formation of the Empire
Public sentiment
Everybody like him
He has too much emergency power
He had control of the army and navy.
He had control of the army and navy.
Because it already was an Empire in all but name.
Palpatine had - legally, that's the scary part - gotten control of the military, economy, judiciary, and legislature.
He already had all the power. Functionally, all he did was change his title.
He had been in power, been making all the big decisions, been making the right friends, been bribing and threatening the ones he couldn't befriend, and been regarded as a selfless hero by the public for so long, that it continuing seemed a natural next step. He'd been doing a better job than the ineffectual Senate, so why go back?
It was genius. Engineer gridlock in the Senate, start a conflict they can't respond to, then take power and seem to be the only competant and effective person in government. Of course the public loved him.
The senators in place were mostly his men, the army was under his personal control, the Separatists were all but eliminated and their droid factories seized by his army (thus eliminating another potential source of military resistance), the Jedi (who were known as fearsome warriors and generals to the public, as well as associated with mysterious powers inaccessible to most) attempted to overthrow the government and were now enemies of the state, and the public no longer had any appetite for war. With the Empire, Palpatine promised peace to the galactic public, patronage to his allies in the Senate and the military hierarchy, and utter destruction to any enemies of the Emperor or the new regime. That is why his sycophants cheered, and his enemies remained quiet.
Palpatine is one of the greatest villians of all time.
THE
Thanks for this step by step guide
“I’ve been looking forward to this”
I mean, if you were a human and not a cultist in robes, the Palpatine era wasn't that bad. He kept the space busses running on time. In the pre-Disney canon, one could argue that a strong, united Empire would have more effectively resisted the Yuzon Vhong invasion, perhaps saving billions of lives. Maybe he foresaw them coming.....
Oh man, this info gonna be so useful, thanks for the guide
Maybe he got promoted to his "Level of Incompetence"?
What a great video, explaining what Star Wars fans already know... what is the contribution you make? or analysis?
Democracy did not end with a whimper but with an applause.
Same happened in Germany WW2 and in Russia after the communist revolution.
How an entire galaxy-spanning government could ever be democratic in the first place is beyond me.
Why were the Jedi not more surprised that douku had a red lightsaber
This was good. You’re good at this
Another excellent expose 😁 Outstanding!
His manipulation of the entire galaxy is what makes him one of the greatest evil masterminds in movie history.
15:02 excusme me, but I've to object... they DID go right to THE SENATE himself^^
His greatest skill, being the phantom menace.
12:08
The dark side is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural
It’s concerning how RUclips recommended me this just days I was kicked out of the group chat
Palpatine is what every politician, who stays in politics, aspires to be.
I have one thing to say for everyone.
If you're ever going to go through Legends, but don't want to go from beginning to end of the entire timeline,
Start with the 80s BBY with Legacy of the Jedi and end it in 11 ABY with Empire's Emd. That is the entire lifetime of the original Sheev Palpatine.
Skip the child story arc of Dooku in Legacy of the Jedi. You won't miss much. Lorian and Dooku fight each other because Lorian framed Dooku for stealing a Sith Holocron. Lorian ends up being the antagonist for the rest of the book until the last story arc.
Palpatine doesn't need to appear in any of the things between 82 BBY - 11 ABY.
The point is that you're seeing everything that had ever happened in the galaxy while Palpatine was alive.
The moment he dies in Empire's End, you black out the Legends binge. You die with Palpatine. Then until The Old Republic MMO ends, you can go back to Canon and do whatever.
Then if you want, go back and go from 25,793 BBY to 135 ABY.
40 YEARS of dished out lore is what Legends is. It's not easy and it isn't quick. You will need time.
Great topic!
Darth Plagueis was the real orchestrator of the empire, obviously before his death during the battle of Naboo.
The critical thinking and analysis you do in your videos is impressive. It makes your videos quite interesting to watch
Had he stayed a politician and went less heavy on the sith part he would have never fallen.
It’s treason then
No Id say you missed a huge political maneuver. He disbanded the senate, sure we see this off screen but this was a huge political move, and it was handled wonderfully. Look at what he dose he builds the Deathstar, then he puts it in command of the nastiest guy he can find. Someone he knows is going to use this massive power if given it. Whats his end game there easy, after tarkin has blasted a few planets the emperor will take tarkin out. Claiming he went rogue with the death star. There would be cheers all around, it was all tarkin blowing up planets not me. Emperor is the good guy, the senate dissolved, his ambitious underling (who knows way to much) dead, and everyone scared to death of his giant shiny planet-destroying space station. a brilliant plan, I mean who would have expected like what a dozen ramshackle stunt fighters to blow up his giant technological terror.
8:32 what if Jar Jar went on one of his antics and completely fumbled the speech and Palpatine didn't get emergency powers. You know Palpatine must have been sweating so hard during that speech.
Have mentioned dolphins lately he might not be Allen
0:26 you forgot The Senate
Now this is a video we all needed
Good timing to watch this right when I finished reading Darth Plagueis
Personally I think thanks to clones like Fives and Kix, the Jedi could have at least exposed the connections Palpatine and Dooku have with each other through the clones and their inhibitor chips. At the very least, there would be a lot more distrust in Palpatine’s Empire later on. Of course even if Palpatine was stopped, there would be trouble. Faith in the Republic will be low, there would be as many people who don’t believe or trust the Jedi Order as there would be of those who see them as heroes. The clones and Kamino though would get the worst. I could imagine them being used as scapegoats, but even if that didn’t happen, people will be scared of the clones most. People would probably paint them as being just like droids. If there’s one thing I’m nearly sure of, the clones would be banished to Kamino and Kamino would also be kicked out of the Republic and placed under massive scrutiny. It’s not like they’ll have any allies. No planet will associate with Kamino because of its role in Palpatine’s plans or because of the fact it’s an alien world farthest from the Core. And while the clones were pals with the Jedi during the war, the Order may have to distance themselves from their soldiers because while some may see them as heroes who stopped a growing tyrant, others will not share this view, especially those receptive to Palpatine’s allies. Distancing themselves from the clones will allow the Jedi to move away from being seen as a militant force who may be the true masterminds behind the inhibitor chips.
Palpatine, the man who loved a democracy so much that he became one.
Love your videos especially the funny ones
Finally a video tutorial i can use.
thanks a lot for the instructions, though I may have done a step wrong and I ended up being thrown down a reactor shaft.
Alan: Palpatine is a genius!
Also Alan: My allegiance is to …democracy.
😂
Palpatine did NOT lead Jar Jar into anything because Jar Jar is the sicret sith lord even Palpy does not know.
I'd love a video about what happened to Naboo during and after the Empire
Nothing?
Two quotes from Machiavelli. "...one must be both a fox and a lion..." and "... it is better to be feared than loved but above all never be hated..."
As Allen points out, Palpatine suffers the classic problem of being really good at one part of a career but not so great at another aspect of a career. For example, a great athlete is not necessarily a good team captain or coach. A heroic soldier might not be the best general. Palpatine is great at the subtly and treachery required for parliamentary politics. However, he lacks the "charisma" required for executive politics - that certain something that convinces an overwhelming majority that your regime is legitimate. Whether it be the mandate of heaven, succeeding the Prophet, the divine right of kings, the national will, or the democratic majority. The human high culture and New Order never really worked.
Which leads to the second quote. Even regimes without legitimacy regimes can survive - the new king might be a bastard but the rules aren't too hard to follow. Whereas war is a terrible thing. Mass murder, rape, and theft are inevitable. What drives rebellion is atrocities. The regime doing stuff so terrible that people no longer care if they live or die. The Tarkin Doctrine is a response to the failure of human supremacy to take hold. All states require fear and political violence but Palpatine was clumsy. Instead of easy to follow rules people were killed without reason. What is the point of obeying when a bunch of pacifists like Alderaan get obliterated? Or your aunt and uncle get burnt alive by a stormtrooper search party? If Palpatine had at least pretended to be the good guy, punishing a few bad apples, things could have gone differently. A few rebel bases destroyed by the Death Star but no one much cares. Palpatine very much failed at ruling like a lion by being too cruel.
Your like Peter Zeihan for the SW Galaxy… good work
I cannot stop seeing the extension cord attached to Padme in that one scene lol 😆
Palpatine was a genius schemer and conqueror, but when it came to being an administrator he was bogged down by his own obsessions and desires. The fact is, all he wanted to do was defeat the Jedi and take over the entire Republic. Once he achieved that, all he cared about was discovering the key to eternal life and rooting out insurances. He really couldn’t care less about ruling an empire.
I remember one of my grade school teachers said to me in relation to revolutions such as this. "Conquering something is easy. Ruling it is another matter entirely." I think this is very applicable to Palpatine.
While I’m geeking out with your overview of Palpatine - it’s funny how you do it with a serious face! We have to be careful and I never shudder to think of the creative genius of George Lucas to have thought of this over 20+ years. Thanks for keeping it interesting..
The Senate is s genius.