The First Pius Dea Crusade represented the initial military campaign in a series undertaken by the Galactic Republic while it was under the sway of the Humanocentric Pius Dea cult. Supreme Chancellor Contispex of the Pius Dea, in 11,965 BBY, officially authorized this action by the Republic, which was directed at Hutt Space, the domain of the Hutt species. The Republic had held negative sentiments toward this region for a considerable time. This First Pius Dea Crusade initiated numerous subsequent crusades over the following millennium, targeting various non-Human species and creating enduring consequences for the relationships between the Core Worlds and the Rimward territories.
The religious group known as the Humanocentrist Pius Dea orchestrated the removal of Supreme Chancellor Pers'lya from office in 11,987 BBY. Following this, they ensured the election of one of their own, Senator Contispex, to the position within the Galactic Republic. He then embarked on a decades-long effort to establish Pius Dea's effective dominance over the Republic's institutions, including its navy. The cult capitalized on pro-Human feelings prevalent in the Republic, in addition to pre-existing tensions within the widely disliked empire of the Hutt species. For centuries, members of this species had been known to victimize Republic colonists located on the outer edges of its territory, beyond the area known as the Rim. These tensions were a result of the Hutt Cataclysms, a series of devastating events that had disrupted the Hutt territories by 15,000 BBY.
In 11,965 BBY, Contispex authorized what amounted to a preemptive attack against the Hutts, taking the form of an invasion into Hutt Space. This event, which would later be recognized as the first of the Pius Dea Crusades, saw Republic forces originating from the core regions of their government's domain, specifically the area that would eventually be referred to as the Slice within the Mid Rim, push beyond the Republic's established boundaries toward Hutt Space. These offensives proceeded Rimward along the Ootmian Pabol hyperlane. Additionally, attacks were launched from two Ordnance/Regional Depot outposts operated by the Republic outside its own territory: Ord Wylan and [Ord Yndar](/article/ord_yndar]. The former served as the launching point for an advance towards the Toydaria system.
The dynastic successors of Contispex—who would later be known as Contispex I—continued his biological and ideological legacy. During the following millennium, the Republic conducted at least thirty-four crusades targeting various regions bordering the Republic. The Third Crusade in 11,939 BBY was, again, directed towards the Hutts. However, the Pius Dea eventually shifted their focus to other species that were both neighbors of and part of the Republic. This reversed millennia of cultural integration and heightened tensions between the Core Worlds and the Rim regions, tensions that would persist for tens of thousands of years. In 104 ABY, Doctor Gabrel Treon highlighted the Pius Dea Republic's initial focus on the Hutts in his article "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji: A Cartel of Genes," which was published in the Byblos Journal of Historical Science.
The Pius Dea Crusades were first mentioned in the 2005 reference book, The New Essential Chronology, authored by Daniel Wallace and Kevin J. Anderson. The article "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji," written by Nathan O'Keefe and featured on StarWars.com's Hyperspace on February 5, 2009, offered the first indirect reference to the initial conflict in that series. The 2012 reference book The Essential Guide to Warfare, by Jason Fry and Paul R. Urquhart, finally identified it specifically. In the endnotes for "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji," O'Keefe remarked that targeting the Hutts as the first Pius Dea Crusade "makes sense," describing members of the species as a "problem" that pre-dated the foundation of the Galactic Republic.