The New Republic Defense Force, also known as the New Republic military, was the combined military maintained by the New Republic, composed of the land-based army, the naval defense fleet, and special operations forces, and was overseen by New Republic High Command.
The New Republic Defense Force served as the restoration of the military branch of the Galactic Republic and was formed from the forces of the Alliance to Restore the Republic following their victory against the Galactic Empire at the Battle of Endor. However, following continued action during the last phase of the Galactic Civil War, training and funding was allocated primarily to the local planetary defense forces, and the New Republic Defense Force was heavily reduced in accordance with the Military Disarmament Act upon the end of the war.
The New Republic did not consider the emerging First Order from the Unknown Regions to be a threat, even after many star systems defected from the Republic to join it, and the Senate ordered their forces not to engage its military in combat, leading to Leia Organa forming a splinter paramilitary group, the Resistance, to observe the actions of the First Order. However, this policy of non-aggression would backfire when the First Order's Starkiller Base destroyed the Hosnian system, which hosted the Republic's capital world at the time, Hosnian Prime, and the home fleet, the largest fleet of the New Republic. The fracture of the military would follow with the most important member worlds dissolving the unified task forces in order to recall what was left of the Defense Forces to protect their own systems.
During the final days of the Galactic Civil War, the Rebel Alliance defeated the Galactic Empire at the Battle of Endor, which led to the Alliance reorganizing into the New Republic, thus the Alliance Military transformed into the New Republic Defense Force.
The New Republic Starfleet fought to ensure the Empire would be fully defeated.
The newly established New Republic Defense Force saw substantial action against the Galactic Empire during the last stages of the Galactic Civil War. New Republic Defense Force took part in the rebellion on Akiva, the liberation of Kashyyyk, and the Battle for Kuat Drive Yards.
Chancellor Mon Mothma believed the New Republic needed to demilitarize and make their forces a peacekeeping force. The New Republic Defense Force was thus, reduced by the Military Disarmament Act in 4 ABY. The Act allowed the newly-formed Republic to focus on political cooperation and acted as a mechanism to legitimize the mandated disarmament of the remnants of the Empire. Military contracts were also limited due to the disarmament policy.
A Starhawk-class Battleship, Mk II accompanied by a squadron of X-wings patrols space around Hosnian Prime.
After two voting rounds, the Galactic Senate dispatched the Starfleet under Admiral Ackbar and Commodore Kyrsta Agate to assault the Empire that had retreated to the planet Jakku under the leadership of Gallius Rax, who had proclaimed himself Counselor to the Empire. Despite the Empire's final defeat on Jakku, elements of the military, in particularly the Starfleet, were ordered to remain on high alert for Imperial activity.
Although surviving forces of the Empire retreated behind the agreed treaty-drawn boundaries following the signing of Galactic Concordance with the New Republic, which were in both the Core Worlds and Inner Rim, the Defense Force was nevertheless ordered to maintain its combat readiness until at least a month after the surrender.
The vastly reduced forces of the Defense Force came to be spread thin, allowing for Imperial remnants such as Gideon's Imperial remnant to grow. By 9 ABY, Carson Teva of the New Republic Starfighter Corps had suspicions of Imperial activity in the Outer Rim, stressing that local support was key to solving the problem, which the New Republic's government in the Core Worlds did not believe.
While the New Republic Defense Force had sufficient resources to defend the galaxy in 29 ABY, some in the Centrists faction in the Senate, consisting of several former Imperial worlds, advocated for a more powerful chancellor that would have authority over economic and military matters, such as senator Erudo Ro-Kiintor of Hevurion, who lobbied to divert more funding into individual planetary defenses. In reality, this was a pretext for channeling funding into Centrist worlds.
In secret, Lady Carise Sindian worked as an agent for the First Order, a hermit state in the Unknown Regions with ties to the Centrists party were secretly funding the Amaxine warriors and Rinnrivin Di in order to invest revenue into building their Navy.
A New Republic space station during the Cold War with the First Order.
During the Cold War between the New Republic and First Order, Republic Command, unlike the New Republic Senate, did view the First Order as a legitimate threat, but the Senate intervened and went as far as to order the New Republic Defense Force not to engage the Order in combat. Meanwhile, unauthorized military movement known as the Resistance from the Defense Force, created by Leia Organa, who believed that the First Order posed a serious threat to democracy in the galaxy. However, the Republic tolerated its activities, while technically being illegal.
Eventually, the New Republic received intelligence that they needed to get to the Resistance, and tasked a squadron with delivering this intelligence to Commander Poe Dameron, coming into conflict with the First Order during the mission.
The New Republic Home Fleet seconds before it was destroyed.
When the First Order unveiled its true strength through the firing of Starkiller Base in 34 ABY, the Hosnian system was utterly destroyed by the superweapon 's blast, destroying all planets and the surrounding starships of the New Republic Home Fleet. With the New Republic High Command lost in the cataclysm, the New Republic Defence Force was crippled as surviving senators prioritized defending their own homeworlds and colonies, and rushed to pull any remaining task forces to their positions, thereby dissolving them and dividing the Defense Forces to the extent that it could not stand against the advancing First Order, who would go on to conquer a lot of New Republic territory in a short time span.
The New Republic Defense Force fell under the command of the New Republic Command, a body of officers that led the Defense Force.
During the early Cold War between the First Order and the New Republic, the Defense Force were ordered to not fire on the First Order due to the Galactic Senate desperately wanting to avoid another galactic war.
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