Lucas used the Clone Wars narrative to answer questions about the original trilogy, such as how the Empire originated and how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. This would allow him to gain total power and ultimately convert the democratic Galactic Republic into the autocratic Galactic Empire, which was controlled through means of a military–industrial complex and featured in the original trilogy. Palpatine secretly seeks to wipe out all Jedi upon giving the command for Order 66 at the end of the war. The conflict was manufactured as a scheme for the Republic's Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, secretly the evil Sith Lord Darth Sidious, who was secretly manipulating the war upon the first battle of Geonosis. The Republic uses an army of clone troopers, the namesake of the conflict, led by the Jedi Order against the Separatist battle droid army.
Within the Star Wars narrative, the Clone Wars involve a three-year war fought to prevent thousands of planetary systems from seceding from the Galactic Republic and forming the "Confederacy of Independent Systems", often referred to as "the Separatists".
They have featured in numerous Star Wars books and games.
The Clone Wars are also the setting for three eponymous projects: a 2D animated series (2003–2005), a CGI film (2008), and a 3D CGI series (2008–2014, 2020). Though mentioned briefly in the first Star Wars film ( A New Hope, 1977), the war itself was not depicted until Attack of the Clones The Clone Wars are a series of fictional conflicts in the Star Wars franchise by George Lucas. He started the conflict between the Republic and Separatists in order to seize control of the Republic through war emergency powers, and turned it into the Empire, after which he eliminated the Separatists and hunted down the Jedi. Palpatine (Darth Sidious), a Sith, controlled all three factions to a certain degree.