Starship Troopers An examination of the scope and size of the Clone Wars by Daniel K
						In recent months a number of attempts to estimate the scope of the Clone Wars have been made.  Poorly researched, the resultant product was almost unanimously objected to.  Various contradicting and illogical arguments and defenses have been made, and have all failed – how can a small army fool everyone because they don’t know better, but the side with the small army win because they have all the experienced military experts?  How can Lord Sidious keep everyone in the dark when there is still a free press? How can Lord Sidious control every aspect of the war when the fact that he did not is the key point to several events?  How can one side be vastly superior to the other when it is stated in multiple sources that they are of rough parity?  If Special Forces can do everything, why does this not mirror the movies or reality?  How can “cutting of the head” work when that flaw was explicitly stated to have been fixed?  How does “planet hopping” solve anything when equal technology means the other side can still use those forces?  If the bulk of the army is conscripts, why name them the “Clone Wars”?  How does a small, highly mobile brushfire war involve long sieges and cause one side to crumble?  Eventually the whole debate boiled down to a massive exchange of hard feelings on both sides.  This document seeks to sidestep the controversy and examine the evidence directly in a reasonable and emotionless manner, using the language of numbers and logic.  Unlike the case with the size of the Executor, there is no primary evidence to support a figure, thus an instant “retcon” doesn’t work – contrary to some beliefs it is not just a case of “the most recent source wins”, but of “the source with the most support for it”.  As the films are silent (again, unlike the size of the Executor, which can be measured in movie canon) it becomes an issue of what all the material has to say.  In this case, years of material cannot be “retconned” by a single source.  The question has more in common with the issue about the role of the star destroyer, in that all the material available must be scrutinized and cross-referenced for context and implications. The crux of this paper is the determination of the lower limit and order of magnitude estimates for the size of the armed forces of two galactic superpowers, as indicated by all available canon. Be forewarned, later parts contain significant concepts and large amounts of math.  This subject cannot be properly studied without it, and if you object to this or have difficulty with it (or simply don’t want to read through over two dozen pages of text) then I suggest you simply trust in honest analysis and jump to the conclusions.  Footnotes are provided for out of universe statements e.g. those by Ryan Kaufman or the ILM animators and assumptions and conclusions that do not fit in the proper context.  The standard assumed for numbers in published works in the American standard (1 billion = 10^9), and this standard is also used in writing this essay.  In addition, proper titles for the Sith Lords are used, rather then their other aliases. Star Wars® is a registered trademark of LucasFilm Ltd. This work is not associated with LucasFilm in any way. It is not the intent of this author to infringe upon the intellectual property rights of LucasFilm. All associated materials are used under "Fair Use" provisions of copyright law.
	* Scale Galactic Republic * Territory * Size * Casualty Rates * Defense * Offense * Production * Logistics * Organization * Conscripts and Volunteers Confederacy of Independent Systems * Territory * Size * Casualty Rates * Defense * Offense * Production * Logistics * Organization * Conscripts and Volunteers Realism * N^2 Law * Sieges * Tactics Used * Shipping * Costs * Conclusions * * Footnotes * Sources
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