In the first year of the Great Galactic War, the Galactic Republic went on the offensive against the revitalized Sith Empire in a military campaign for the Tingel Arm. The campaign was the result of the Empire's initial foray back into the known galaxy after centuries of exile in the Unknown Regions. Following its invasion and capture of the Republic's Aparo sector, the Empire settled into the Tingel Arm, much of which had already defected to the Sith cause. Without knowledge of the defection, the Republic called upon its Navy to retake the region of space. Although they had hoped to capitalize on their alliances with the peoples of Belkadan, Sernpidal, and Ruuria in the Tingel Arm, the Republic forces instead found themselves in a battle for survival, as those worlds had already been overtaken by the Empire. Despite being reinforced with ships from the rest of the Navy, the Republic fleet was overwhelmed when the Imperial Navy arrived to aid the Empire's puppet governments on the Tingel Arm worlds. With Belkadan, Sernpidal, and Ruuria secure, the Sith were able to move their naval fleets to Korriban—their ancestral homeworld and the true target of their early campaigns. The Republic withdrew from the Tingel Arm shortly thereafter, defeated once again by the Imperial Military's blitz.
After the Great Hyperspace War, the ancient Sith Empire fled the known galaxy and worked to reconstruct itself into a new empire in the Unknown Regions. During that time, the Sith Emperor meticulously planned and prepared his invasion of Galactic Republic space. The Empire made secret alliances with Republic-aligned worlds in the Tingel Arm and installed its own puppet governments on the planets to ensure their subservience. In 3681 BBY, the Imperial Navy made its presence known on the fringes of the Tingel Arm, luring in Republic observers before destroying them in the first conflict of what would become known as the Great Galactic War.
In the immediate wake of the opening shots of the war, the Republic was slow to organize its forces to defend the worlds of the Outer Rim Territories. As a result, the Aparo sector fell to the Sith before the Republic Navy even reached the region. Finally, in response to the Imperial Military's sudden and swift attacks, the Republic rallied its naval forces and charged headlong into the Tingel Arm, but were unaware that many worlds in the region had already surrendered to the Empire and allied with the Sith.
Surrounded by Imperial forces, the Republic fleet flees the Tingel Arm.
The Republic fleet entered the Tingel Arm on a vector inbound from an exterior arm of the galaxy. The fleet positioned itself between the worlds of Belkadan and Sernpidal of the Dalonbian sector, and Ruuria in the Xappyh sector. Unbeknownst to the Republic forces, those planets were among those that had already defected to the Empire and were now firmly under the command of the Sith. Caught between the collective forces of the puppet governments set up by the Imperials, the Republic fleet was forced onto the defensive.
In response to the surprising disadvantage, Republic leaders called upon all available vessels to reinforce the fleet in the Tingel Arm. Despite the additional Republic firepower and personnel, the Sith were still able to overwhelm the Republic when the Imperial Navy joined the forces of the Imperial governments of the Tingel Arm. To avoid complete destruction, the Republic fleet plotted escape routes around Sernpidal and fled the region. The bulk of the fleet found sanctuary at the planet Mirial in the Illisurevimurasi sector.
Senators argue over the organization of the Republic's defense.
The scattering of the Republic fleet was one of many signs that the war was not going to be an even contest. After the failure of the foray into the Tingel Arm, Republic military leaders were unable to come to a consensus regarding where the dispersed fleet should regroup, which allowed for further losses in the region. As a result of the Republic vessels' abandonment of their posts to aid in the Tingel Arm campaign, many strategic regions across the galaxy were left undefended. One such location was the ancient Sith homeworld of Korriban, which was left under the protection of only a few Jedi security ships. The Empire, having secured a hyperspace route to Korriban by capturing Belkadan, Ruuria, and Sernpidal, led a fleet of warships to the planet and retook it during the conflict in the Tingel Arm, without the Jedi High Council even realizing that they had lost it. These events, along with the loss of the Aparo sector and several other worlds in the Outer Rim, caused a panic on the Republic capital world of Coruscant. The Galactic Senate and Jedi Council met in an emergency session to organize the defense of the galaxy, but the meeting became mired in politics, with senators openly refusing to participate in the proceedings after their worlds were delegated little or no protection from the Republic's armed forces.
The disorganization of the Republic's government and the growing power of the Empire in the Outer Rim allowed for the Sith Emperor to prepare his forces for the long fight toward the Galactic Core. The Republic was on the defensive for the following decade, up until a historic stand at Bothawui in 3671 BBY. The Kel Dor Jedi Master Gnost-Dural recorded his experiences during these early days of the war in a personal journal, which included records of his concern over the defeat in the Tingel Arm. The volume was later the first work entered into the new Jedi Archives on Tython. Following the conclusion of the war with the Alderaan peace conference, Gnost-Dural made a new, more scholarly holorecord on the events surrounding the beginning of the Great Galactic War and again included information on the Tingel Arm campaign.
The Tingel Arm campaign was first introduced in Onslaught of the Sith Empire, the sixth installment of the Galactic Timeline. The Galactic Timeline is a series of web videos presented as historical accounts on the story behind LucasArts' and BioWare's massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Star Wars: The Old Republic. The installments are available on the game's official site and are narrated by the Kel Dor Jedi Master Gnost-Dural, who is voiced by actor Lance Henriksen. The campaign was later mentioned in The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural—an in-universe account of the Great Galactic War that was released with the collector's edition of The Old Republic.
- The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural
- Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side
- Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia