Where War Was Awakened
Geonosis Broadcast Archive — Sealed Imperial Review — The Battle of Geonosis did not begin the Clone Wars. It revealed them. What had simmered as diplomatic discord erupted into open violence on the dusty plains of a Separatist stronghold, marking the final failure of negotiation and the first deployment of the Grand Army of the Republic.
A Senate Divided
In the final days of the Republic, political inaction became its greatest threat. While Separatist leaders built armies and conducted war planning in secret, the Senate debated protocol. It was only through the foresight of Chancellor Palpatine that a contingency force had been authorized—one ready to act when diplomacy collapsed entirely.
A Mission Betrayed
The Jedi-led mission to rescue Senator Amidala and others revealed not only the Separatists’ military readiness, but the Jedi’s own inability to operate as neutral arbiters. Their hasty assault turned diplomacy into battle, triggering the very war they were meant to avoid. It became clear: peacekeepers could no longer be entrusted with war.
The Army Unleashed
As blaster fire erupted across the arena, the Republic’s contingency plan became a necessity. The clone army, previously hidden for strategic discretion, arrived in force—coordinated, disciplined, and under full command of the Chancellor’s war council. Their intervention did not ignite the war. It prevented a massacre.
“The war did not begin on Geonosis. It simply stopped hiding.”
— Opening Statement, Tribunal on Separatist War Crimes
The tragedy of Geonosis was not that war began—but that it had been allowed to fester so long beneath the surface. In the chaos of that red world, the galaxy saw the cost of complacency—and the necessity of strength.
