In the year 3681 BBY, a significant event unfolded: the attack targeting the Tingel Arm vicinity. This clash involved the ancient Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic, marking the Empire's return to recognized space. Having remained hidden in the Unknown Regions for centuries after their defeat in the Great Hyperspace War, the Sith had diligently rebuilt their Empire, preparing to wage war against the Republic. Under the command of a Dark Lord known as the Sith Emperor, Imperial battlecruisers materialized at the edge of the Tingel Arm. The Republic, seeking to understand their intentions, dispatched a diplomatic convoy to engage with the warships. However, the Sith forces swiftly obliterated the convoy. This initial skirmish ignited the devastating Great Galactic War, a conflict that persisted for twenty-eight years and eventually engulfed the galaxy.
After the conclusion of the Great Hyperspace War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire, the prevailing belief across the galaxy was that the Sith had been eradicated. The reality was that one of the few surviving Sith Lords had escaped to Dromund Kaas within the Unknown Regions. There, in secrecy, he established a new Sith dominion, with the long-term goal of returning to destroy the Republic. Meanwhile, the Republic remained unaware of the surviving Sith Empire, enjoying an era of peaceful expansion, occasionally disrupted by conflicts initiated by those claiming the Sith title.
In the year 3681 BBY, the leader of the rebuilt Empire, known as the Sith Emperor, determined that preparations for the Sith Empire's return to the galaxy were finalized. A number of Harrower-class dreadnaughts journeyed to the outer reaches of the Tingel Arm, a remote area of Republic space. The Republic received reports of their appearance but did not realize that these vessels belonged to their ancient enemy. To ascertain the fleet's intentions, a convoy of Republic diplomats, protected by a small starfighter squadron, was dispatched to meet with the battlecruisers.
Upon reaching the Tingel Arm, the diplomats encountered the fleet of battlecruisers. As the diplomats' transport began transmitting images of the fleet back to the Republic, the transmission was abruptly cut short. The battlecruisers initiated fire, completely destroying the Republic force and resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Republic personnel.
The attack within the Tingel Arm sparked a widespread galactic war known as the Great Galactic War. While the public did not immediately learn about the attack until after the Battle of Korriban, the eventual broadcast of the video depicting the Empire's return instilled widespread fear and uncertainty. With their Empire now revealed, the Sith embarked on a brutal campaign to conquer the Outer Rim Territories. The Emperor's forces swiftly invaded the Aparo sector, gaining control of it and much of the remaining Tingel Arm. Following a delayed response to the Aparo sector seizure, the Republic Military was forced from the Tingel Arm and adopted a defensive posture for the rest of the twenty-eight-year war. After the war's conclusion with the signing of the Treaty of Coruscant, Gnost-Dural, a Kel Dor Jedi Master, created a holorecord documenting the events surrounding the Great Galactic War's beginning, including the Tingel Arm attack. The journal of Master Gnost-Dural also preserved his personal account of learning about the attack, becoming one of the first additions to the new Jedi Archives on Tython during the Cold War.
The assault in the Tingel Arm region was initially presented, though without a specific name, in Onslaught of the Sith Empire, the sixth episode of the Galactic Timeline. This timeline consists of a series of online videos designed as historical accounts of the background of the BioWare computer game Star Wars: The Old Republic. These episodes are available on the game's official site and are narrated by Jedi Master Gnost-Dural, voiced by actor Lance Henriksen. The 2012 reference book Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia later identified the event as the assault on the Tingel Arm region.
- Timeline 6: Onslaught of the Sith Empire on The Old Republic's official website (article) (backup link) (First mentioned)
- The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural
- Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side
- Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia (First identified as assault on the Tingel Arm region)