(Tales of the Jedi: Fall of the Sith Empire). The first Sith War led by Exar Kun did not face of against the resources of the galaxy, as the Dark Lord’s apprentice Ulic Qel-Droma destroyed the great fleets of the Republic by feeding them all the same hyperspace coordinates (Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War), neatly explaining how such limited forces could do such devastation both under his command, and again in the Mandalorian War and the Second Sith War (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic). The Brotherhood of Darkness was swiftly
put down, as Lord Kaan was still summoning his forces (Darkness Shared) mere months before his revolution was halted by a Jedi force at the Seventh Battle of Ruusan (Star Wars: Jedi vs. Sith). Following that altercation (where notably the Republic itself did not even get involved, merely letting the Jedi handle it) small brushfire conflicts (e.g. the Wookie-Trandoshan fights, the battle of Naboo) defined war for the Republic. The Stark Hyperspace War, regarded as an incredibly bloody affair consisted only of a brief siege of a
mountain holdout by pirates against a volunteer force (Star War: The Stark Hyperspace War).
It is indeed no wonder that the idea of galactic superpowers filled the populace with dread, and in form the Clone Wars are incomparable to anything ever seen. By Lord Tyrannus’ statement the war was everywhere (Dark Rendezvous). It was fought “in every corner of the galaxy, in every city, in every home” (Republic Commando:
Triple Zero) and saw depopulation of whole worlds on both sides (Star Wars: General Grievous; Revenge of the Sith Incredible Cross Sections; Labyrinth of Evil; Attack of the Clones Incredible Cross Sections), the slaughter of billions of civilians (Revenge of the Sith novel), the destruction of “a thousand worlds” (Labyrinth of Evil), simultaneous fighting on “hundreds of worlds” (Republic Commando: Hard Contact), multi month sieges (Clone Wars Chapter 22), single battles lasting over a year (The New Essential Chronology), with clones troopers
on every front (Routine Valor), and stretched the Jedi and Republic forces thin across the galaxy (Labyrinth of Evil).
By its very nature the Clone Wars would be drawn out; Lord Sidious’ goal was not simply to distract and kill the Jedi, it was also to weaken the galaxy so that the populace would demand on a strong central leadership. Small-scale militaries on both sides would be counter to his goal of building up a force capable of enforcing his will after the destruction of the Jedi Order, and thus would need to be massive and fight on an equally massive scale. And even if that were not the case, fooling experienced leadership on both sides that armies smaller then those deployed by small territories on pre space-age planets are sufficient would have been impossible, as would be concealing it from the public – the Jedi made regular reports not to the Supreme Chancellor but to the Senate (Clone Wars: The Best Blades), and an independent free press was covering the war (Medstar Duology).
The latter would have been particularly devastating, as controlling the information would have been impossible. While it is true the office of the Supreme Chancellor controlled the Holonet, the office was also known for its candor. (Revenge of the Sith novel) This is less good politics then it is raw practicality, as subspace communications, messenger ships, and independent individual planetary communications networks (Star Wars: Complete Locations) would have rapidly spread the news of the exposed falsehood.
Further, while later planets may have been drawn in only through their leader’s greed, the original remembers of the Separatist Movement would be planets that were self sufficient, otherwise galactic union would be in their best interest. This would make them far more resistant to toppling and almost impossible to overthrow through popular insurrection. Also, the prevalence of black market defensive equipment (Empire Strikes Back; Star Wars: Complete Locations) and the corruption of the galactic government coupled with a stagnant technology base (Attack of the Clones Incredible Cross Sections) means that any planetary invasion will have to involve overwhelming force as a planet can always mount and maintain larger and more powerful defenses then a ship or even a small fleet can. This is compounded by the economics and logistics of planetary invasion, which is discussed in more depth in the Shipping section. The idea that the Clone Wars is a series of spread out skirmishes rather then a case of galactic wide total war is patently false. One does not build super-weapons to win small-scale engagements. (Revenge of the Sith)