How Palpatine Maintained Imperial Military Morale

One thing to give the Sith credit for is giving their subordinates a comfortable life within their tyranny in order to maintain their loyalty. For example, SWTOR's Sith Empire had military bases filled with luxury restaurants, shops, fun zones, etc. so that their soldiers remained 100% motivated in their exhausting and atrocious job

"There’s a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people." -2003 BSG commander William Adama

Luthen (Andor) was right, prompting the Empire to crack down after the heist and make everyone's lives miserable was exactly what the rebellion needed to wake people up.

Rebel: "HOW THE HELL DID YOU BECAME A BRAINWASHED MURDEROUS PAWN OF PALPATINE" Imperial: "I watched the glorious "Empire Today" music video" 🗿

"Serve the Empire, or He chokes you." Darth Vader holding up a choking hand.

Palpatine’s reaction to the reveal of Kamino’s destruction is one of the biggest political uno reverse cards in cinema history.

In legends, Palpatine used Battle Meditation to maintain high morale and to make his troops and pilots fearless.

And here I thought ol Palpy McSheevs just held a yearly raffle for tickets to a luxurious all inclusive spa resort on Alderaan. Explains why there was a precipitous morale drop around 0 BBY.

I recommend the fan film, "After Endor", about a Scout Trooper who has to team up with a Rebel soldier to survive after the Battle of Endor. It's a really cool Enemy Mine situation, and frankly, better than anything Disney has spat out lately, besides Andor/Rogue One.

Palpatine did a great job making the entire galaxy see him as someone indispensable in their lives. In fact, a group of imperials nostalgic for the old regime tried to crash Luke and Mara Jade's wedding, not out of malice, but because the Emperor's death left a huge hole in their hearts, so they were disposed to do anything that could help them overcome their depression.

They added more lure about Imperial army just so we don't see Han as a regular storm trooper

Stormtrooper: I'm loyal to the emperor (Not really, I'm expendable for him)

8:40 Ironically that's what palpatine wanted the stormtroopers to be.The kind of soldiers who would blindly follow and inflict carnage without hesitation.

Vader could always boost the morale of grunts by choking their incompetent officers

5:07 This line just always stuck with me.

2:22 Palpatine wasn't a strongman leader though. He very much played the role of the centrist to the point where even Padme believed that he was mostly impartial in Senate affairs. While Bail Organa and other more pacifistic Republic loyalist leaders were able to see through his act, most people genuinely thought of him as moderate from what we see. Certainly, his public appearance and the policies of his government are 2 very different things, but the point is that he was clearly not playing the role of a strongman like other dictators were. During the war he clearly acted as though he wanted peace with stuff like his Hearts and Minds campaign, and prior to the war he again played the moderate in the Separatist Crisis. After the war, he didn't need to stoke tension whatsoever because he had already done so. There were a few occasions where he did act like a strong man publicly, but the majority of his appearances, including his one in TBB, very much focused on him being a reluctant autocrat who will do what is necessary to keep the peace, which isn't a strongman leader.

Dude. I love how niche your content can be. You really take time and dive into subjects. It really helps broaden the world of Star Wars. Thank you for putting in this time and effort. (Side note I think I’ve been a subscriber since 2019)

The Empire argued that the answer to life's problems was greater levels of iron fisted government control.

Stormtrooper, "Are we the baddies?"

hey big man, i just wanted to write that your videos have always been super interesting and fun to watch or think about. Keep up the great content!