*Fun fact:* Years after the destruction of Alderaan, Leia's twin children went to the remains of the planet and rescued a small part of the core to give it to their mother as a birthday gift, which made her cry. It was a very emotional moment

The most disturbing thing about Alderaan's destruction is that, even decades after the tragedy, the horrible agonizing screams of its inhabitants were still felt through the Force, as Luke's apprentice Tenel Ka said when she got close to its remains

Killiks after coming out of their exile: "Man, cannot believe we literaly spent 35.000 thousands of years completely isolated from the galaxy. How's Alderaan, by the way? Hope our home planet is still going fine even after we left it!" Leia: "...You'd better take a seat"

A legitimate military target it may have been, but the sheer damage it did outwayed the pros of destroying it

The complete destruction of a planet and its population is a war crime no matter how you try to spin it. Other similar planets had been occupied by imperial forces, like Raltiir in the original radio drama. Raltiir went from having an active rebel movement to needing outside support for food and supplies overnight. Such occupations not only hampered the rebel cells on those worlds but also drew rebel efforts to free those worlds instead of hampering the imperial war machine by attacking vital imperial facilities. With the destruction of Alderaan following the disbanding of the Senate you’ve got thousands of Star systems pledging support to the rebels, especially after the disastrous defeat of the Empire at Yavin. That certainly outweighed any possible advantage of wiping out one planet supporting the rebellion while ignoring the fatal flaw In your ultimate super weapon battle station.

Now I'm wondering what if rather than the entire planet, Tarkin ordered a single-reactor ignition that destroyed the capital city and with it the House of Organa? Who would then ascend the Alderaanian throne? Would the galaxy have reacted the same way or differently?

Alderaan was a political and economic target, not a military one. What Tarkin gained was a major hit to the Rebellions manpower and bankroll. In Tarkins eyes the combo made Alderaan an ideal target, but even his conversation with Leia before the destruction showed us that he didn’t see the world as military, but as a painful zit on the ass of the empire

I always assumed that the reason Tarkin destroy Alderaan is to punished Princess Leia for her defiance.

I believe that during episode four, the Empire was at the height of their derangement (the scramble to recover the Plans of The Death Star), and they had only just topped the previous height of their derangement (building the Death Star

Another fantastic analysis. I can't help but compare the effects of destroying Alderaan with the effects of destroying Hosnian Prime; it shows the effect of great writing vs. not-so-great that the destruction of Alderaan is still a major moment in SW lore and fan discussion.

The planet itself was not a military target, Organa most definitely was. If nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki was questionable what would the complete destruction of the Japanese archipelago be? Its true many on Alderan were either in or sympathetic to the rebellion. Completely destroying the whole planet does not even carry a pretense of limited collateral damage much less an actual effort at it.

During the Clone Wars, why weren’t Jedi trained in the use of projectile weaponry? Their main targets were Droids, not living beings.

I suggest videos on: Mon Calamari cruisers advantages and history Z-6 rotary blaster E-11 blaster Reconfigurable blasters

Unfortunately the building of the Death Star is the absolute extreme craziness that the Sith can possess and when it came to the Imperial Higher like Tarken they were equally as crazy be simply put Vader and Monty were the only ones either not will to use the Death Star or thought this will increase the resolve of the Rebellion. Now I can understand the thought process of Tarkin even before the expansion of the Star Wars Lore. Tarkin knew Princess Liea was apart of the Rebel Alliance by her capture on the ship that stole the Death Star plans and being caught shooting Imperial Stormtroopers only confirmed her true feelings. But whether Tarkin believed Liea that Alderaan had no weapons or he thought if one member of the royal family supports the Rebellion what are the chances the whole royal family does and given the loyalty of the people of Alderaan to the royal family how much of the actual populace supports the Rebellion. It was at that point Tarkin's plan was two fold destroy one of the founders of the Rebellion and on e the knew the location of the Rebel base and its forces they would be able to truly crush the Rebellion by first destroying its head the its military. So whether or Alderaan had weapons or not in Tarkins twisted way you can follow his logic but it's still has more holes than a sinking ship because Tarkin failed to realize the backlash of such an action which is you are now tyrants and instead of a few standing against you, you may get an entire galaxy knocking on your door.

Being the standard Uniform used by the Rebel Alliance was literally from Alderaan during the original film, and Rogue One. I'd say yes. Many of the ships, personnel and equipment were supplied by Alderaan in one way or another.

Say Generation Tech, how about a video asking what would happen if to the Clone Troopers if the Jedi Order exposed Order 66 and killed Palpatine, because the answer seems like it would be depressing. I mean, if the Republic did believe the Jedi, how much would the reputation of the clones be damaged even after the inhibitor chips were removed? Would the citizens lose all trust in them and view them as being no different than battle droids? Would the Republic kick Kamino out and banish the Clones there?

I would not classify Alderaan a legitimate military target. The planet was the focal point of a massive emotional response mixed with Iron Man's Tony Stark demonstration pitch for the Jericho missile. Tarkin did because he could. Earth's history is full of people or armies or counties that do because they can. Sometimes with a wonder weapon...sometimes with brute force.

Always wondered what the last seconds on Alderaan would be like. What was going through Bail Organa’s mind in those last moments as the Death Star entered orbit? It’s something I ponder on ❤️🤔

Love the thought exercise, hoping for more topics like this!

I often feel like people don't understand just how insane it is to destroy an entire planet, just to take out a military faction on said planet.. Like imagine being at war with England, but you just.. Nuke all of earth to make sure none of them stays alive. Absolutely batshit crazy. But for the Empire, an incredible message to send to their foes and the Republic. The one thing my brain is currently trying to figure out is how different the story would have been, if it was Obi-Wan that died to Maul and Qui-Gon that killed him and got to leave with Anakin as his new Padawan..

Assuming one of the rebel cells possessed something that can perform the galactic-wide Rumbling, how will the Empire responded once it was unleashed? I mean, it is the complete destruction of all lifeforms in the galaxy after all and all of their weapons are most likely useless against it, so what can they do?

A disturbing amount of actions in Nazi Germany were done ‘in Hitlers (Fuehers) name’. Hitler didn’t directly order those actions, but he also didn’t punish those who did so without authorization

In Legends, Tarkin is the only Imperial who has Vader's respect. That should tell you a lot about the type of person he is.

Dude, come on, even granting the existence of a secret weapons cache on Alderaan, vaporizing the entire planet is like getting rid of a beehive by slagging the whole city it's in!

the biggest fault palpetine made was having tarking as second in comand

To have treated a difficulty with a planetary leadership as an internal security matter would have promoted public support for the Empire.

Here's a question. Would Lothal be a legitimate military target? 1BBY, Lothal was home to extensive Imperial industrial production. A prototype tie fighter was being manufactured there along with the various vehicles the rest of the empire uses, mining had replaced farming as the dominate industry of the planet, and it was more or less home to the imperial 7th fleet. The planet of course had a history with rebels ranging from stolen supplies, sabotage, attacks on imperial forces, and illegal mining operations using inflatable pigs. But by 1BBY most of those problems had been solved. You still had bombings but that would be rooted out eventually. Until a fleet of X-Wings appear in the space above and rebels blew up the AA guns on the ground did they have a new problem. But thanks to the tactics employed by Grand Admiral Thrawn those X-Wings were destroyed and because of the efforts of Imperial ground forces the rebel leader Hera Syndulla was captured. Things seemed to be looking up but during Hera's daring escape, the fuel depot was destroyed halting production of the TIE Defender. Then a raid on the rebel's base ended in failure when the soldiers were attacked by giant wolves and the capture of Governor Pryce who was forced to help the rebels infiltrate the imperial complex allowing them to carry out their plan to recall all imperial forces to the complex, use the landing thrusters to launch the complex out of the city, and blow it up over the sea killing scores of imperial officers, workers, and cadets. Fortunately grand Admiral Thrawn was there to save all those innocent people by parking his star destroyer over the complex preventing the launch and after some aggressive negotiations using the classic Base Delta Zero tatic convinced one of the terrorists leaders to come to his flag ship, the Chimera. From there i assume an attempt was made by Palpatine himself to convince them to stop this senseless fighting only to be rejected. After that, the fleet above lothal was wiped out before the culprits, giant space whales, came down to capture the Chimera and take both Jaba the hut and Grand Admiral Thrawn into hyperspace to some unknown location. This allowed the rebels to finish their plan, send the imperial complex on its way and wipe out 99% of the imperial forces on the ground. Any survivors would be rounded up by the civilian population who are not very happy to have experienced a Base Delta Zero. Now think about this for a second. A small group of terrorists just devastated your fleet above using space whales, devastated your forces on the ground, destroyed the head quarters of your imperial occupation, and disappeared the grand admiral of your navy using those same space whales. Any remaining forces on the ground have been captured by the citizens who are now complicit in the open rebellion of the planet. That sounds like a legitimate military target. Seeing as Tarkin was using the threat to destroy Alderaan as a way to get Leia to give up the rebals' secret base he could still use Lothal. A way to say, first Lothal next Alderaan. But if she wants to play the game of "i'm just a senator on a diplomatic mission" then she should be okay with Lothal blowing up. Leia had her ships stolen by those terrorists who then took over the planet so she wouldn't mind seeing that planet blow up...

Blowing up Alderaan felt like the beginning of the end for the Empire. Until it happened, they were a stable if overzealous government. They were brutal and apathetic, yes, but they were the resolution to the Separatists and the Clone Wars, and the positive sentiment for the end of the Clone Wars would have remained for a while longer. They were tolerable, and not worth the trouble to overthrow. After it happened, everybody understood that the Empire couldn't be left to stand as it was. After all, what if they were next?

10:15 For those who wonder, Raith Sienar had his only important role in the "Rogue Planet" novel, in which he and a young Tarkin invade the living planet Zonama Sekott 3 years after the Phantom Menace

According to the Empire it was a necessary target for self-defense. Rebels attacked Imperial facilities and personel. They were able to plan and execute such a horrific attacks because their Alderani hosts had given them safe heaven.

Due to their aid and foundation of the rebellion I think it’s fair to consider alderan or at least its leadership a military target however the proper way to deal with that was likely to kill or imprison the Organa family

Yes, next question

I would love a movie that covered the last 24h on Alderaan called Protocol 13.

I say yes, and here's why: The sole purpose of the Death Star was to instill fear. The fact that the Rebel Alliance had begun to operate at the level they were demonstrated that there was not enough fear to keep the systems in line. It would seem that the Imperials planned to use the Death Star's capability to destroy an entire planet at least once to ensure that they not only could, but would do so. Tarkin figured he had one shot at being allowed to destroy one planet. What better one to pick? Bail Organa and his outfit would also be destroyed, and the fact that at that very moment he could use it to intimidate Princess Leia into giving up the plans was just the cherry on top. At that point he may have legitimately thought the Rebel HQ was there.

I don't think Wilhuff Tarkin was the sort to get toddler-upset with an enemy POW being uncooperative, he seems too experienced and professional. The destruction of Alderaan must have been on the Imperial wishlist for quite a while - it was perhaps what motivated the construction of the Death Star. And they knew what Bail Organa was up to, on the not-very sly, but the attention he had around his person, the reason why he could rally support, made it a really bad look to have an "accident" happen to him, unlike e.g. Senator Padmè, and Mon Mothma. But 15% of Alderaan's actual gross product was directly from corruption, mainly a little taxation/bribery side-hustle going on with their hyperspace-hub. And I believe, that they eventually quietly annexed it, for historical property reasons. Which meant, they could close the hub gateway, the second the first Imperial Star Destroyer entered Alderaanian space, so it would take weeks or months for support blockade and invasion forces to arrive. That model was inspirational to other small powers in the galaxy, who wanted money and siege defences. All in all, Alderaan was always a thorn in the Empire's side.

it makes you wonder if any kind of energy weapon could actually blow apart a planet like that or if it would just make it kinda melty.

My favorite character is literally Bail Organa. It's a shame he died after all those years of good work, if the jedi council had gotten rid of Palpatine, he would've ended up as chancellor. :]

In legends, Palpatine did express his grief for the loss of Alderaan to the public and blamed the whole thing on Tarkin for being a rogue actor. He gave his condolences to any Alderaan natives who were off world and offered his own personal planet of Byss as a new home for them to live. However this wasn't by any means an altruistic act as on Byss these poor Alderaanians had their life forces sucked out by Palpatine and his dark side acolytes.

From Tarkin, if not the Empires POV yes, Alderaan was an "example" not to defy the Capitol.... Coruscant. In practical terms no, even if rebels were on Alderaan destroying a planet just motivates more people to rebel. Tarkin brought a machine gun to a knife fight.

You know what baffles me? That some people trying to justify this not as a mental gymnastics but as a military statement, and are unironically politically view themselves as empire loyalists. I think we accidentally let warhammer fans into our fandom. How do we purge them?

Palpatine Ordered Tarkin to destroy a planet as a warning. But he didn't tell him which one to destroy. So when Palpatine heard what he did he was upset with him.

Day 334 PLEASE DO MORE TACTICS AND STRUCTURES LIKE THE CIS NAVY STRUCTURE AND RANKS

If I recall, the alliance to restore the republic had a year, or so prior to the destruction of Alderaan, formerly declared war on Palpatine in particular, and the institution of the Galactic Empire in general, so these two entities were in a state of war. Considering the significant contribution of Alderaan to the Rebel Alliance it represented a major economic target, while we can definitely call Alderaan's destruction overkill, I reckon the Empire desired to set a precedent, and attempted a greater than proportional response to the threat in an attempt to cow the general threat, and perhaps prevent the expansion of a nascent conflict, in hindsight we call it a brash action, but if the Death Star had survived the battle of Yavin it may have had the intended effect. Maybe we shouldn't call it legitimate, but it was, to a degree, a military target.

Legitimate goes hand in hand with words like "perspective" and "optics". I call forth the assembly held at the Death Stat Battle Station "before" the destruction of the planet. You have different options being tossed back and forth and one officer goes on about having "The most destructive weapon in the universe... I suggest we use it." If you notice Tarkin was intrigued by the suggestion. Perhaps the hot head has a good point... Objectively from the sidelines and with our own eyes, no it wasn't a legitimate target... But to Tarkin and several others, yeah it was. Try relating the Death Star to something a bit more practical and real in our own history, the atomic bombs dropped on Heroshima and Nagasaki. Not a perfect comparison, I know, but close enough. There are those who just revel in absolute destruction, win at any cost, we got a new big scary toy Let's use it... And then there are those who don't really want to use it but would rather have a swift answer to a complicated situation as opposed to a drawn out expensive conflict that costs more lives and resources than you know you can afford. Ultimately... It comes down to a what if scenario. What if the Death Star wasn't destroyed at the battle of Yavin? What if the Death Star Destroyed the Rebel Moon but the Rebels escaped? Earth has had nuclear weapons for many decades and some would argue that the threat of mutually assured destruction in nuclear fire is one of, if not the main reason there has been a trend of "peace" ever since World War 2. Some people would scoff at such a notion of "peace" given the amount of wars there have been but when you compare all conflicts since WW2 you would definitely see that the amount of death and destruction due to a war is nothing by comparison to the WW2 conflict. So... Legitimate in the eyes of most who see a degree in honour and integrity in warfare? No, not at all. Legitimate in the eyes of those who accept that peace can only be achieved by dictatorship and fear? Yeah... Most likely.

Collective punishment is ALWAYS wrong.

There was a Factory for Aircraft Engines in Coventry

Honestly there should have been a system in place to ensure that the super laser could only be fired if the emperor gave authorization to fire, like how in the US the use of nuclear weapons has to be authorized by the President via the nuclear launch codes.

if i remember right did Organa run against Palpatine before the clone wars. Also Organa was also behind the republic military oversight so he had an idea of how the empire works. He also to me from the clone wars was seen as the most legitimate opposition to Palpatine. Idk but if he was in charge of the rebellion and creating the new republic I feel like the empire would have struggled a lot more and the new republic would have not been so weak. That just me.

When you’re fighting an insurgency hiding behind civilians; collateral damage is to be expected.

I think people should look at what type of target Aldeeran is. Genocide is about wealth redistribution. By removing Aldeeran the rebels MI-Complex took a total loss. While imperial loyalist would soak up those lucrative trade routes. Planets such as Kuat and Byss gained enormously from Aldeeran's demise

Did Bail Organa ever have one on ones with Papa Palpatine?

Tarkin didn't think so and he was the person who ordered the attack. When Leia protests his reply isn't disagreeing with her claim that its not a military target. Instead he says if you want us to hit a military target tell me where the rebel base is.

Tarkin: donde esta la base rebelde Leia:geonosis Credits

The people of Alderaan were being used as human shields and because Bail Organa was there it was a rebel command and control center. This is the logic being used right now in a war going on right now.

As a "military target", Alderaan would at least be in the supply chain (equipment, aid, and personnel) for the Rebel Alliance, but Tarkin even says to Leia to "name a military target" if she wanted Alderaan to be spared. This apparently means the Imperial intel had some uncertainty in it. She gives up Dantooine, but still Tarkin has Alderaan destroyed. It is later revealed that Dantooine was long abandoned. His coercion was met by her deception, and neither wavered. His lie was met by her lie, the only gain by the Empire was animosity, which conversely was sympathy for the Rebellion. From a story perspective, there was no other way to tell it that could properly depict the immense threat and stakes involved. Leia knew that the Rebellion was the only real chance to overthrow the Empire. In a galaxy with a billion-billion systems: The destruction of Alderaan may have inspired fear that the same would happen elsewhere, however Alderaan became a martyr, and the clarion call to action against this evil Empire of Palpatine was made. "The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

Dantooine was too remote to make an effective demonstration

"This is how you make jam?" "No, this is how you play God."

“would you prefer another target? a military target? then name the system” tarkin clearly didn’t believe it was a military target

The Empire be like the Alderanans set up a bunker deep within the core of the planet we had to use the deathstar there were no other options.

I think in Star Wars terms is comparable to using nuclear weapons.

I feel like the same people who think Alderaan was a military target think that Dresden was a military target, and the level of force used against each was justified.

Honestly I think I will write a fanfic with Palpatine losing his connection to the force because of some Plaguies contingency and then proceeding to disasemble republic and proclaim the empire anyway, and actually having better ridance overall because he actually focuses on the institution instead of research on ancient sith powers.

The destruction of Alderaan was absolutely stupid, but so was the Sith plan from the start. They want all the power they can get, without realizing power means nothing when you run things so half-assed. Palpatine cared nothing about the people around him, Darth Vader, even before his defeat at the hands of Kenobi, was just another pawn. If Vader had died, Palpatine would not have cared and likely would have found someone else to take his place in just a few weeks at most. The only reason he kept Vader alive in the suite was because of the pure intimidation factor Vader presented and because it was punishment for failing. For all the intelligence of Palpatine to play the galaxy like a fiddle early on, his stupidity slipped out as he got comfy in his roll as emperor and just let the kids run rampant with their big, new toys. Tarkin was not a military genius, he was just an A-hole that took control of the most powerful weapon in the empire, and destroyed a planet because he thought it was fun to watch Leia squirm. It was really that simple. He was going to destroy Alderaan at some point anyway, and likely even more planets if he and the Death Star had survived. The entire Empire was run by idiots....And its funny how many governments are run by morons in real life too.......

I would like to just remind everyone that the British prime minister Churchill friendly fired French fleets in order to deny Germany the potential assets.

Why didn't Vader consult the Empiror

Destroying a planet is beyond evil it is also insanely irresponsible, since that would affect the entire gravitational equilibrium of that solar system and the ripple effects would be difficult to predict. It is likely that light speed navigation would also be affected. It seems writers could have done better.

There are still Alderaanians (mostly humans) who were away from their home world, and majority of survivors are with the Alliance.

Yes

Fun vid

Any target can be a military target, if a leader deems it to be. That's why war is hell.

Would the Empire have cared one way or the other?

Your talking about an Empire that destroy legacy planets for their rare elements to build the death star

it was the hubris of tarkin's ego

Det. Rick Avery on the case.

There is an Star Wars Rebels war episode dedicated to how Alderaan Via proxy Leia (whom is apart of the planets ruling family and planets ambassador) was supplying the Rebel War effort by actively engaging in supplying the Rebels ships to be armed to harm the citizens of the Empire. By our worlds standards the ruling body of Government (the Empire in this instance) would class the Rebels their funding and suppliers are a Terrorist State and have it labeled for elimination, break a law you will be punished, and clearly stated the episode it was an "ongoing issue" as why the ships were clamped in this said episode are proof of this argument as well as many other clear violations of the Empires Anti-Rebel Campaign Remember the Empire is the Law in this instance and was voted in by Law. Even in the Star Wars The Sith and Jedi just are Religions therefore that cannot used an influence in the idea of this argument to factor as is not a be counted as that would be a law broken in Star Wars. Do i agree that Alderaan was a Target: Yes the Empire (Government) Had Right and reason to attack a suppler of military aid to their Terrorist Threat (Rebels) Do i agree the way the Threat was handed correct: No, there is no gain in total destruction *Glassing a City would of been a better move tactically*

Alderaan had weapons of mass destruction and they had chemical weapons!

“These were hands of the Emperor so to speak” *distant angry Mara Jade noises*

Super lasers can’t crack planet cores! (To the cadence of “jet fuel can’t melt steel beams”)

Every word out of Leia's mouth from the moment she was captured was a lie. She even lied about Dantooine. Worse, the imperials knew she was lying the entire time. They gave her every opportunity to be truthful and she took the opportunity to lie some more. If she'd lie about that much, there's no reason to think she's not lying about Alderaan.

Hmmm, can't quite agree with this one. Tarkin specifically asks her if she had a military target while she was on the Death Star.

Even Tarkin acknowledged it wasn't a military target. He asked Leia to name another system.

Just a thought....perhaps Palpatine saw Alderaan's destruction as fitting revenge for said humiliating defeat in the Great Galactic war

Why is there Star Wars equivalents for wheraboos (the epsilon guy)?

I would argue that the only valid military targets for something like the Death Star would be lifeless planets etc where their military enemies are the only ones settled on it. Even if Alderan had openly rebelled against the empire the scale of destruction of the death star it outlandish and unjustifiable on a populated planet. It's easy to forget just looking at the pretty special effects the sheer scale of the needless, wasteful, excessive and cruel loss of life. This is several magnitudes beyond even the nuking of Hirohsima and Nagasaki in WW2.

The Empire is obviously meant to be a faction that mimics the strongman politics of a Fascist state but, in space. And one thing about fascists is that they love a good "struggle" or "conflict" in the philosophical sense. The Rebels see their struggle as a means to an end, freedom and liberty from oppression. The Empire sees their struggle as the end that justifies the means. As Mussolini put it, "The Fascist disdains an easy life." Tarkin himself, lorewise, is a classic fascist that relishes the chance to make war and crush his opponents with overwhelming force. It's literally his military doctrine and his personal philosophy. A great example is him showing off his scars (common among Nazi circles in Germany) and disdaining those who had none. Palpatine has even been shown to have let the rebels win or gain a foothold at certain times due to his "boredom" with the level of control the Empire had. He rather enjoyed that there were elements in his state that posed even a slight threat and constantly toyed with them, rather than destroying them. For Palpatine, the Empire was marching through history and the rebels were just a speed bump...But he sped up the car instead of slowing down for the thrill of it. In fact, throughout SW the Empire always seems to get it in its own way (Ozzel jumping out lightspeed to close to Hoth, for example). And all for the element of "surprise", which it wasn't as they were expecting the Imperials to show up. This is a incredibly poor way to control thousands of worlds but, this is almost a challenge to people like Tarkin and Palpatine. More than just brutal hard power, the doctrine represents Tarkin's mindset of eschewing easier methods for the opportunity to prove the Empire was THE authority and power within the Galaxy. Tarkin saw himself as an extension of the Empire (also a fascist belief) rather than a military officer. So, in their minds, picking a fight with the whole galaxy to show their strength was the "fascist" way of dealing with Alderaan supporting the rebellion. Alderaan represented a fully self-sufficient, peaceful, and most importantly subversive faction within the Empire. All within the State. Nothing outside of the State. Hence, why it had to be destroyed. Alderaan would always have been destroyed, whether slowly through invasion, embargoes, lock-downs, brutalization, gulags, and war crimes OR at the flick of a switch. They could not exist, politically, within the Empire as it was anathema to the State itself. It was doomed long before it decided to aid the Rebellion.

Yes, of course. Look at Yemen today and how the US and the Saudis react

Randomish thought. A shame we'll never see Rahm Kota.

'from a certain point of view...'

If it was naboo how would Vader respond

Consider: we saw in Rogue One what the Death Star does to planets. Neither Jedha nor Scarif was just completely destroyed outright. Alderaan wasn't destroyed by the Death Star either. Alderaan, hiding behind it's "peaceful planet with no weapons" persona to act as a massive munitions dump for the Rebel Alliance. Alderaan was destroyed by secondary explosions.

Enter the Imperial Propagandists, the true power of the Empire.

Long live the Empire! Alderaan had it coming 😂

Torn. Laws of war that existed by custom for centuries, with a respectable amount of similarity but also differences across cultures and value systems [pagan Rome much crueler than Christian Europe, even if it isn't obvious now, and so on] , first started to get codified in treaties just before 1900. A lot that we do today still is based on the Hague Conventions, as supplemented by Geneva Conventions before and after WW2. That was a good thing, but it's still very recent that it should be codified and universal. And as strict. Some things that were quite normal even for the allies in WW2 were made war crimes after, presumably the allies thinking they'd never need them again. Still amused that blockade is now a war crime- a thing Britain did on day one of ever major European war for 200 years. And which the US did to Japan in the form of unrestricted submarine warfare. There was always hypocrisy. The Germans whined about the blockade in WW1 while waging unrestricted submarine warfare, a form of blockade, against the UK. The UK went ahead and did both in WW2. The US, whining about USW in WW1 by Germany, waged it more successfully than any other naval power ever before, or ever will again, in the next war, against Japan. So much so that Admiral Nimitz wrote specifically to the Nuremberg Tribunal that German Admiral Doenitz could not reasonably be called a war criminal, at least not on that account. Pretty indiscriminate aerial bombing of German cities and Japanese cities, and quite a few other countries' soil at least in Europe albeit mostly not their cities since they were occupied allies [but with many civilian dead] was normal procedure for the US, UK, and Canadian air forces in WW2. Yes, the Germans did it all first, at least as far as bombing cities on purpose, but the allies did it on a fantastically larger scale. Now we regard what by comparison are shockingly precise and targeted air strikes, whether by the US in the past 30 years or by Israel now, as war crimes because of far fewer and less planned civilian dead. AS, before the age of air attack, there were legitimate circumstances in which one could besiege, bombard, and, even, sack a city, so we all assumed in 1939-45 that there were circumstances justifying burning it to ash from the sky. All of which to say, perspectives have changed a lot, and they have changed the most in countries that [fingers crossed, hard] don't really expect to have to fight a war for real stakes, ever again. Even the US hasn't done that since 1945. I'm not trying to disparage Korea, Vietnam or more recent wars. Every war or skirmish is about the same risks and probably the same fears for the people in them. But nothing since 1945 involved a major threat to the future options or freedom of action in the world of the US, and frankly no external war since independence has ever actually threatened the existence of the US. Rebellion has always posed unique challenges. On one hand, rebellion was widely regarded as deeply serious, a mortal threat to the state in some cases, and the worst possible offense even if it wasn't, and until the late 20th century few countries considered rebels as even as good as enemy soldiers. They tended to be treated less well. On the whole, even the English/Scottish/Irish wars of the mid 17th century were only sporadically as brutal as civil wars and rebellions have often been elsewhere. Sundry Chinese historical states tended to regard them as a no nonsense situation- if you rebel, and win, you are the new emperor; if you lose, you are going to wish you had died quickly, and all your kin with you. Even more so than in the 17c, the British-American war of rebellion of 1776-83 was fought and ended about as chivalrously as any war of the era [there WERE war crimes on both sides; militias and native units were used aggressively, both by the British and militias by the Americans]. Practically Marquess of Queensberry rules. Ditto the American Civil War. Now we have reached the point at which many countries have signed on to treat rebels and guerrillas as if enemy combatants in an interstate war, according them things like POW rights. That was new, for the most part, after WW2. Handling civilians in a rebellion was also a challenge. On one hand, they may have been your own subjects/fellow citizens, and perhaps you want to win them back to your allegiance. SO maybe you don't sack or bomb their city to ruins like you might an enemy city. OTOH, they're backing rebels. So maybe you sack it worse, for punishment and example. Or maybe you think only some back the rebellion. Or maybe you acknowledge only their local government does. Maybe you are aware that the locals don't even know what their local rulers are up to. Maybe that ignorance, as so often, doesn't matter. Maybe they should know, or implicitly support it. All of which as preface to say that on the whole, no it was not a legitimate military target for complete destruction using a WMD, or for that matter a BDZ by the fleet [which would be more equivalent to a series of catastrophic bombings or bombardments]. But maybe for blockade, siege, close military action against its rulers, occupation and installation of direct rule. Not that those were necessarily useful or politic for the empire to do. And the question of whether it was a legit target, despite my answering no, is not as obvious as some would think. The chief reason to answer no is probably based on proportionality, which the Empire's attack lacked, rather than intrinsic illegitimacy of military action. Plus, remember. The Empire was in all respects the legal successor of the Republic, and doubtless most of its citizens regarded the Rebel Alliance as the heirs of the Separatists, for the same reasons, just as some separatists saw similarly and joined the rebellion. It would not be clear that everyone would have the Earth audience moral take on the issue. Even mine has changed a bit since first the EU/Legends [some works] and later the sequel era have changed the nature and meaning of the empire quite a bit. Some to make it worse, some better.

Why does everyone fall for the rebel propaganda? It's not a 'death star' it's just the Emperor Palpatine Space Telescope EPST. It uses a laser to focus the picture. It's just not meant to take pictures on such a close distance. Clear case of not reading the manual... pure incompetence... no hard feelings... just an inconvenient accident... get over it already!

There were millions and millions of non combatants on Alderaan. There is no way that it was a Legitimate military target

YES

Was this video sponsored by the IOF or something?

I love how the Empire can destroy three planets on screen, slave and destroy entire species to build their battle station to cause even more death and destruction, and people irl will unironically try to justify it. Like, it´s literally called the "DEATH STAR" for god´s sake.

If you want to win every war, think like a Roman. If you want to win every battle and lose every war, think like a barbarian. Assimilation is always the better alternative to destruction.

So I look at the death star the same way as a nuclear weapon. Princess Leia gave up an old rebel base on one of the moons of her home planet. So justification as well as unleashing the full might of the death star was in a way an attempt to force the galaxy to submit. If the rebels had failed to destroy the death star like they did. Who knows what would of ended up happening. Maybe another planet tries to defy the empire and it to also gets the taste of the weapon of mass destruction. Empire would only target planets that were empty of resources, enable it to project fear and if a planet or race fell out of line. Their planet to would be destroyed. People be upset but if they spoke out, fear they to would be destroyed would become something for them to think about. So was it justified. Yes because taking out a peaceful planet would solidify the empires grip on the galaxy.