The conflict on Mandalore, or liberation of Mandalore, was a power struggle occurred during the New Republic Era when the planet Mandalore was reconquered by a unified group of exiled Mandalorians from a remnant of the Galactic Empire under Moff Gideon that continued to control the planet with the secret support of the Imperial warlords on the Shadow Council after the fall of the Empire. As a result of the battle, the Gideon forces was defeated, while the Mandalorians reclaimed their ancestral homeworld and began to resettle it.
The Outer Rim planet of Mandalore, the ancestral homeworld of the legendary Mandalorian warriors and their people, became embroiled in the galaxy-wide conflict during the Clone Wars, leading to its occupation by the Galactic Republic and its successor state, the Galactic Empire. During the Imperial occupation, however, many of the warrior clans were united behind Lady Bo-Katan Kryze, who had formerly ruled Mandalore as regent until she was removed from power by the Empire. They were unified under the banner of the Mandalorian resistance, which went on to win a civil war against the Empire-backed Clan Saxon and its Imperial Super Commandos. Realizing that they could no longer control Mandalore, the Empire carried out the Great Purge of Mandalore, which killed millions of Mandalorians, destroyed their capital domed city Sundari, and wasted the planet. After the Night of a Thousand Tears, Kryze attempted to surrender to the Imperial Moff Gideon but Gideon instead betrayed Kryze and took the Darksaber, a lightsaber of the Mandalorians that symbolized their people's leadership. Any attempts to flee into space were intercepted and shot down by Imperial forces, while those Mandalorians that survived were driven underground in hiding or scattered across the galaxy.
Among the survivors were Kryze and her remaining followers, as well as a sect of the Children of the Watch known as the Tribe, who had been cloistered on the moon of Concordia. By 9 ABY, Kryze and her followers sought to retake Mandalore, while the Tribe believed the planet had been cursed. During this time, Kryze met Din Djarin, a Child of the Watch. Kryze helped Djarin rescue his foundling Grogu from Moff Gideon, whose remnant forces had established operations from a base on Mandalore and hunted Grogu in order to experiment on him. Kryze hoped to take back the Darksaber, but Djarin claimed it instead after defeating Gideon in combat, causing Kryze's followers to abandon her with the Mandalorian fleet. Kryze later reunited with Din after he ventured to Mandalore to bathe in the Living Waters beneath the Mines of Mandalore, where she rescued him, defeating the creature that had captured him, and thereby reclaiming her right to the Darksaber. After reaching the Living Waters together, she encountered a mythosaur.
Moff Gideon was extracted from the New Republic by his beskar-armored commandos, and regrouped with the rest of his forces on Mandalore. Their TIE interceptor squadron then destroyed Kryze Castle on Kalevala, prompting Kryze to follow Djarin back to his covert, where she joined the Tribe. Kryze shared her encounter with the mythosaur to the Tribe's leader, "the Armorer," who, after the pirate siege on Nevarro, interpreted it as an omen that it was time to reclaim Mandalore. The Mandalorian Armorer believed that Kryze was the one to reunite their people, for Kryze "walked both worlds" of the Way of the Mandalore. As such, Kryze was sent off to find other exiled Mandalorians, and was joined in her quest by Djarin and Grogu. Kryze and Din ventured to Plazir-15, where Kryze's followers had been hired as a mercenary garrison. There, Kryze regained her followers and their fleet after Djarin publicly returned the Darksaber to her, and brought them back to Nevarro to unite with the Tribe. This united group of Mandalorians then prepared to reclaim their ancestral homeworld, but were unaware of the Imperial remnant presence there.
Gideon confronts the Mandalorians.
After they departed from Nevarro, the Mandalorian fleet arrived in orbit of Mandalore, from where a scout party led by Bo-Katan Kryze was sent ahead to survey the planet and establish a safe perimeter for the rest of the Mandalorians to land. There, they were met by a group of surviving Mandalorians who had remained hidden underground on the planet. Their captain reaffirmed their allegiance to Kryze, their former ruler, and took the party to the Great Forge. However, at the ruins of the Great Forge, the Mandalorians were unexpectedly ambushed by Imperial armored commandos, who lured the Mandalorian warriors back to their secret base. There, Djarin was captured by Moff Gideon, who revealed himself alive, in a fourth-generation design Dark Trooper suit of armor, and in command of Imperial operations on the planet. Paz Vizsla sacrificed himself to buy time for the other Mandalorians to escape the base with Kryze. The warrior was ultimately killed by three Imperial Praetorian Guards, who had been sent by the secret Shadow Council to reinforce Gideon and his forces.
Djarin killed his captors, however, and reunited with Grogu. As they made their way through the base, Djarin discovered that Gideon had been cloning himself, he sabotaged and destroyed the clones. Djarin and Gideon then fought each other at the base's command center as Kryze, wielding the Darksaber, led her Mandalorians in a charge against the Imperial armored commandos.
During the fighting, Kryze relieved Djarin, who rescued Grogu from the Praetorian Guards. Djarin and Kryze then fought Gideon together. Meanwhile Axe Woves regrouped with the Mandalorian fleet's light cruiser flagship and sent its personnel down to Mandalore as the fleet came under attack from Gideon's TIE interceptor and bomber squadron.
In the wake of the battle, the surviving Mandalorians traveled to the Living Waters for the the ceremonial induction of Ragnar Vizsla into the Tribe. Following Ragnar's induction, Din Djarin publicly adopted Grogu as his son and apprentice, and the foundling took the name Din Grogu. "The Armorer" told Djarin that it was time for them to leave Mandalore so that he could teach Grogu. Soon after, the Mandalorians witnessed Bo-Katan Kryze relight the Great Forge.
With Mandalore retaken and Grogu adopted as his son and apprentice, Djarin traveled to the Adelphi Base, where he offered himself as an independent contractor for the New Republic to Captain Carson Teva to hunt down Imperial remnants, citing his years of experience as a bounty hunter. Djarin and Grogu then returned to Nevarro, where they set up home at a cabin given to them by High Magistrate Greef Karga.
Carson Teva mentioned the conflict on Mandalore during Hera Syndulla trial.
During General Hera Syndulla's admonishing session at Coruscant for disobeying the orders of the New Republic Senate to ignore the attempts of Morgan Elsbeth's forces to bring Grand Admiral Thrawn from another galaxy, Teva suggested the reconquest of Mandalore as an example of how there had been coordination among the scattered and dwindling Imperial remnants, but Senator Hamato Xiono dismissed Teva's intervention due to feeling that Gideon had been a warlord acting on his own, so the conflict was not proof of a greater conspiracy posing a threat immediately for the Republic.
The mission to retake Mandalore was first mentioned in the Season Two episode of Jon Favreau's television series The Mandalorian titled "Chapter 11: The Heiress," written by Favreau and directed by Bryce Dallas Howard. The actual reconquest of Mandalore appeared in the Season Three episodes "Chapter 23: The Spies" and "Chapter 24: The Return," written by Favreau and Dave Filoni and directed by Rick Famuyiwa.