After the chaos of the Clone Wars, the time was ripe for an ambitious politician to flip the script on the Republic in the Star Wars prequels and start something new. When the soon-to-be Emperor Palpatine purged the Jedi Order and installed himself as the big boss of the galaxy, there was some resistance, but the sheer power of the Sith beat it down. The Empire has always been one of the worst regimes in movie history, willing to stop at nothing to rule everything they see.