Editing Rebel Alliance (section)

====Decisive losses and victories====
As portrayed in the live-action series ''[[Andor (TV series)|Andor]]'', one single moment in Galactic history completely changed the Empire's policy towards its citizens and therefore changed its relationship with its citizens. In 5 BBY, on the relatively unremarkable planet of Aldhani, a small rebel team managed to infiltrate the local Imperial depository, stealing a decent portion of the sector payroll. This created a massive Imperial overreaction, increasing their security spending and draconian law enforcement policies, making all future rebellious activity even more costly and difficult, which is exactly what the mastermind of this heist [[Luthen Rael]] wanted. Luthen Rael's objective is uniting dozens of different insurgent and rebel factions who are all individually fighting the Empire; he believes provoking the Empire's brutality will force these factions into a Coalition and turn them into a real fighting force. As the Empire tightened their grip, more star systems slipped from their grasps.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://x.com/DustinGiebel/status/1267603258815717378 | title=Dusty (@DustinGiebel) on X | work=X (formerly Twitter) }}</ref>

During the funeral procession in ''[[Daughter of Ferrix]]'', a holographic message Maarva Andor had pre-recorded inspired the people of Ferrix to rise up against the Empire and form a resistance movement. A planet-wide riot spontaneously erupted as residents charged the Imperial checkpoints and garrisons; this riot became a massacre as Imperials troops were ordered to fire indiscriminately into the crowd.

The ''[[Star Wars Rebels|Rebels]]'' episode, "Zero Hour", demonstrates the Imperials' absolute [[naval supremacy]] when they successfully entrapped the "Phoenix Fleet" during the [[Battle of Atollon]], and forced them in engaging on equal footing; resulting a decisive victory for the Imperials and the total decimation of the rebel fleet. ''Phoenix Cell'' would successfully liberated Lothal from Imperial control in 1 BBY and banished Thrawn's Fleet to another galaxy; making it amongst the first decisive victories for the Rebellion at the sector level.

During the events of ''[[Rogue One]]'' and ''[[Star Wars (film)|A New Hope]]'', the Alliance learns of the construction of the '[[Death Star]]', an enormous [[Doomsday device|superweapon]] capable of obliterating entire planets, intended to cement the Empire's rule of terror. Intelligence gathered reveals that a Death Star engineer antipathetic to the causes of the Empire had intentionally included a design flaw that, if exploited, could bring down the entire station. With the help of the Rogue One squad led by [[Jyn Erso]] and [[Cassian Andor]], a rebel assault on an Imperial facility on the heavily defended planet Scarif successfully manages to capture schematics of the Death Star. The Battle of Scarif was the first major conventional engagement against the Empire, and ended in a pyrrhic victory; all members of Rogue One are killed in action, and the rebel fleet was decimated.

After successfully capturing the Death Star plans, Alderaanian soldiers aboard a Mon Calamari flagship barely manage to escape the [[501st Legion (Star Wars)|501st Legion]] and [[Death Squadron]] with the stolen data plans. Immediately following the Battle of Scarif, the ''[[Tantive IV]]'', an Alderaanian corvette carrying Princess [[Leia Organa]] is captured by Vader's flagship, ''Imperial I''-class Star Destroyer ''Devastator'', while attempting to deliver the plans to [[Bail Organa]] on [[Alderaan]]. All members of the Alderaanian Consular Security onboard are either killed or taken prisoner and Princess Leia Organa is held hostage for a time by [[Darth Vader]]. In order to punish both her and her home planet's central involvement in the Rebel Alliance, Leia is forced to witness [[Alderaan]]'s destruction by the [[Death Star]]. The Princess is subsequently rescued by [[Luke Skywalker]], [[Han Solo]], [[Chewbacca]], and [[Obi-Wan Kenobi]], who then deliver the station schematics to the Alliance. Subsequent analysis of the schematics reveals the critical vulnerability to be an exhaust port leading directly to the station's reactor core.

The Empire discovers the location of the primary Alliance headquarters on a moon of the planet Yavin through a tracking device covertly planted on [[Han Solo]]'s vessel, and deploys the Death Star to destroy the base and crush the insurgency once and for all. During the ensuing [[battle of Yavin]], rebel starfighter squadrons lead an assault on the Death Star in a last-ditch attempt to exploit the vulnerability before it could fire upon the rebel base. Despite fighters sustaining heavy losses, one pilot—the [[The Force|Force-sensitive]] [[Luke Skywalker]]—successfully guides torpedoes down the exhaust port. The Death Star is obliterated in a catastrophic explosion, and the battle ends in a decisive rebel victory.

In the ''[[Star Wars (2015 comic book)|Star Wars]]'' comics, the Rebellion wins numerous victories against the Empire after the destruction of the Death Star, destroying its major weapons factory on Cymoon 1, breaking an Imperial blockade around the rebel world of Tureen VII by stealing the ''Imperial I''-class Star Destroyer ''Harbinger'' and recruiting the Mon Calamari trading fleet to be refitted as an assault fleet. Such firepower would finally allow the Alliance to attack the Empire on a larger scale. However, one of the Rebellion's allies, Queen Trios of Shu-Torun (whose world's technology had been fitted into the ships of the new rebel fleet), revealed herself as an undercover Imperial agent sent by Darth Vader to sabotage their efforts. With their ships unexpectedly paralyzed by the Shu-Torun technology, the gathered rebel fleet could do little as they were targeted for destruction by Vader's Imperial fleet. Half the rebel ships were destroyed in the battle before Leia found a way around the sabotage and allowed the remaining ships to escape. However, Generals [[Jan Dodonna]] and Davits Draven, as well as several other high-ranking rebel officers, were killed during the battle and the remaining rebel ships were separated in their flight. Mon Mothma instructed all rebel cells to regroup in time while striking out at the Empire when and how they could. Not until the Battle of Endor would the whole force of the Rebellion be once again united in a single place.

In ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'', the Alliance suffers a crushing defeat on [[Hoth]] when one of their main command centers, [[Echo Base]], is overrun by the Darth Vader's elite personal Imperial armed forces, the [[Death Squadron]] and the [[501st Legion (Star Wars)|501st Legion]]. The remaining forces of the Rebellion are forced to stay mobile, using [[Admiral Ackbar]]'s flagship, ''[[Mon Calamari cruiser|Home One]]'', as their headquarters.

By ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'', the Alliance has regrouped and learned that a second, more powerful [[Death Star]] is being constructed, and will be completed under Emperor Palpatine's personal supervision. Mon Mothma has [[Admiral Ackbar]] and [[Lando Calrissian]] command the Alliance fleet and dispatches Han Solo and Princess Leia in leading Alliance's elite special forces to disable the station's defenses while Luke distracts Darth Vader. The Alliance subsequently wins the Battle of [[Endor (Star Wars)|Endor]], in which [[Palpatine|Emperor Palpatine]], [[Darth Vader]], the ''[[Death Squadron]]''-Imperial armada, and much of the Imperial hierarchy are killed in action. The loss of the second Death Star and other invaluable Imperial naval assets, along with the deaths of Imperial leaders aboard, marked the beginning of the end of Imperial rule over the galaxy.