Order 66

Executive Order 66 was a fictional pre-arranged military command given during the end of the Clone Wars in the fictional Star Wars universe, and is depicted in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. In preparation for the execution of the order, the Jedi Council had been tricked to assign most Jedi to different units of Clone Troopers to assist them in their operations. Order 66 commanded all clone trooper units to immediately attack and kill their Jedi, which at that point were completely unaware of the treachery and highly outnumbered. The Order of the Jedi was almost completely annihilated in just a couple of minutes and thus Order 66 marked the last step to full control of the Republic by Darth Sidious and the effective birth of the Empire.

Motive
The order, issued by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, was justified as a military response to what was shown by the Chancellor and the Senate as a rebellion by the Jedi. After his attempted arrest by Jedi Council members Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, Agen Kolar, and Saesee Tiin, Palpatine claimed that the Jedi had planned to overthrow the galactic leadership and kill all the members of the Senate. However, as Palpatine was Darth Sidious, this was a pretext. The Jedi began searching for clues of the second Sith, up until they were betrayed by their clone troops, who were conditioned to follow any and all orders given by the Jedi, until dictation would be "transferred" to the Supreme Chancellor.

The true reasons were much darker: being a Sith Lord, he had meticulously organized his final move against the Jedi. In fact, the Senate distrusted the Jedi Order as well. The key to the Order's demise was the spreading out of the Jedi—keeping them away from the core worlds by assigning them to distant battlefields. By doing this, he ensured that they were absolutely unable to save themselves from the massive number of clone troops attacking them. The order, sent to clone trooper commanders across the galaxy, dictated that all Jedi were to be killed. Thousands of troopers turned on their Jedi generals, beginning the Great Jedi Purge.

Sidious was able to master his final stroke against important Jedi masters renowned for their ability to detect traps by utilizing the absolute devotion of his army to the Republic and its Chancellor. As clones were incapable of malice, there was no hostility in their minds for a Jedi to sense, and therefore very few were able to save themselves (only Yoda was shown to have become aware in time to save his life). The soldiers were completely loyal to the Chancellor instead of the Jedi and had no reservation or feelings on the morality of Sidious' commands whatsoever.

Implementation
Order 66 began with Darth Vader's raid on the Jedi Temple with the 501st Clone Trooper Legion, led by Commander Appo. Vader and the 501st Legion killed all the Jedi in the Temple; Vader personally killed the younglings.

As his new apprentice led the assault on the Temple, Sidious contacted all clone commanders across the galaxy and ordered the extermination of the Jedi Order once and for all, with Order 66.

*On , Commander Cody received Sidious' command and ordered his men to shoot down his former leader, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. A blast from an AT-TE hit the cliff face beneath the Jedi Master's varactyl, Boga, and they fell hundreds of feet into a lake far below. His mount killed, Obi-Wan managed to survive and escape the planet. Part of Obi-Wan's success in escaping Utapau was the clones' inability to perform an extensive search; although Cody demanded that Kenobi's body be found, his men believed that surviving such a fall was impossible.

*On , Commander Bacara received the same order. He and his soldiers immediately opened fire on Master Ki-Adi-Mundi. Ki-Adi managed to deflect the first few blaster bolts with his lightsaber, and kill a couple of troopers, but he was overpowered,being shot in the chest multiple times.

*On , Commander Bly and his men opened fire on Jedi Knight Aayla Secura. She was shot in the back by Bly, then the other troops fired on her. The video game Star Wars: Battlefront II hints that the clones made an attempt to ensure it was a quick death, as Aayla had been an exceptional leader to them. Elsewhere on the planet, the newly-Knighted Barriss Offee was killed by a single blast from an AT-TE.

*On Kashyyyk, Luminara Unduli, former Jedi Master of the deceased Barriss Offee, was conversing with eight clone officers when the order came. Pulling blasters from concealed holsters, the clones quickly shot their general in her stomach, chest, and head. Shortly thereafter, Master Quinlan Vos, standing tall atop a clone turbo tank, was engulfed in a ball of flame as his tank was destroyed by another. However, Master Vos was not killed but badly wounded and managed to escape into the jungle wilderness of Kashyyyk.

*On , Jedi Master Plo Koon was leading an aerial assault against Separatist forces in his Jedi starfighter. His wingmen, led by Captain Jag, piloting advanced s, dropped back onto his tail while Plo Koon was looking for a landing pad and destroyed him. His heavily damaged crafted smashed through buildings and exploded. There are rumors, though, that he survived the assault.

*On , as Jedi Knight Stass Allie patrolled the rocky terrain on her 74-Z speeder bike, Commander Neyo, riding a more heavily armed BARC speeder pulled behind her and fired his blasters, killing her and destroying her speeder bike.

*Also on Kashyyyk, Commander Gree received the order to terminate Master Yoda. He and one of his men (a BARC trooper) tried to assassinate Yoda from behind, but the aged Jedi Master decapitated them. With the help of the Wookiees Chewbacca and Tarfful, Yoda managed to escape from the planet in an escape pod.

At the Jedi Temple, the Jedi were overpowered by clones. The clones used a surround-and-shoot tactic, knowing that Jedi could not deflect blaster bolts coming in from all directions at once. As the Jedi were not prepared to fight against elite soldiers such as the 501st Legion, this event shows that the ultimate defeat of the Jedi was accomplished by the use of strategy, cunning and deception.

Darth Vader had his own fair share of kills: killing Gate Master Jurokk, Whie Malreaux, Bene and Cin Drallig, Cin Drallig's Padawan , Archive Master Jocasta Nu, and finally destroying all the Jedi Apprentices that were sent to hide in the Council Chambers. An undetermined number of others at the Jedi Temple were also killed fighting Vader, as depicted in the novel, movie and the videogame.

Bail Organa, while investigating the reason behind the attack on the Temple, witnessed Zett Jukassa attempting to escape. Jukassa killed a few clones and injured Commander Appo before being shot. Bail fled the scene amid laser blasts as the clones were supposed to ensure that there were no witnesses to any of the Jedi killings. However, 501st Sergeant Fox had grown tired of killing and ordered Vader's Fist not to kill Organa.

These events were carried out across the galaxy; troopers turned against their Jedi generals, and in time the Sith Order prevailed, this time in control of the galaxy and the Senate. The senate also considered the Jedi Order enemies of the Republic as depicted in their intent to overthrow the senate.

Order 66 as given in Star Wars: Republic Commando - True Colors

As Chapter Title of Chapter 20

Author: Karen Traviss

Order 65: In the event of either (i) a majority in the Senate declaring the Supreme Commander (Chancellor) to be unfit to issue orders, or (ii) the Security Council declaring him to be unfit to issue orders, and an authenticated order being received by the GAR, commanders shall be authorized to detain the Supreme Commander, with lethal force if necessary, and command of the GAR shall fall to the acting Chancellor until a successor is appointed or alternative authority identified as outlined in Section 6 (iv).

Order 66: In the event of Jedi officers acting against the interests of the Republic, and after receiving specific orders verified as coming directly from the Supreme Commander (Chancellor), GAR commanders will remove those officers by lethal force, and command of the GAR will revert to the Supreme Commander (Chancellor) until a new command structure is established.

--From Contingency Orders for the Grand Army of the Republic: Order Initiation, Orders 1 Through 150, GAR document CO(CL) 56-95

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