Dates in Star Wars
Fans of the fictional Star Wars universe keep track of the dates of key events with a dating system (or calendar) centered around the Battle of Yavin featured in Star Wars: A New Hope. BBY stands for Before the Battle of Yavin, and ABY stands for After the Battle of Yavin. (Occasionally, the defeat of the Empire at the Battle of Endor (four years after Yavin) has been used as an alternate starting year, but has generally been phased out in favor of the current standard system.)
(Note: In-universe, this dating system is used almost exclusively by the Rebel Alliance/New Republic. The earlier Galactic Empire preferred to date events from the Great Resynchronization of 35 BBY, or from the Emperor's ascension to the throne (19 BBY). The Galactic Republic dated years from the Ruusan Reformation of 1,000 BBY.)
A galactic standard year, based on the length of a year on Coruscant, is 368 standard days, one standard day being a day of equal length as a day on Coruscant (twenty-four hours). (A Newtonian rather than relativistic space-time is presupposed, so that over a given interval a single duration of time passes at all locations.)
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Film Timeline
- 32 BBY - Episode I: The Phantom Menace: May 19, 1999
- 22 BBY - Episode II: Attack of the Clones: May 16, 2002
- 19 BBY - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith: May 19, 2005
- 0 BBY - Episode IV: A New Hope: May 25, 1977
- 3 ABY - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back: May 21, 1980
- 4 ABY - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi: May 25, 1983
Timeline of Star Wars History
Before the Battle of Yavin (BBY)
- c. 5,000,000,000 BBY - The Star Wars galaxy is created.
- c. 100,000 BBY - The planet Coruscant is now covered entirely by its principal city, later known as Galactic City.
- c. 49,000 BBY - The Infinite Empire of the Rakata is established.
- c. 28,000 BBY - The Infinite Empire collapses after a protracted civil war.
- c. 25,130 BBY - The reign of Xim the Despot begins.
- c. 25,100 BBY - Xim the Despot is killed at Vontor, ending his tyrannic reign over the Tion Hegemony.
- c. 25,000 BBY - The Hyperdrive is invented. The Galactic Constitution is signed. After the signing of this constitution the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order are founded. Coruscant becomes the Republic's capital.
- c. 24,500 BBY - The first war between the Jedi begins, when some of their number are drawn to the dark side.
- c. 24,400 BBY - The Dark Jedi lose the war and are exiled from the Republic. In the realms beyond the Republic's reach they found the Sith Empire, which remains unknown to rest of the galaxy for almost twenty thousand years.
- c. 9,990 BBY - Lightsabers are invented.
- c. 8,000 BBY - The Republic colonizes the planet Malastare. Gran colonists arrive over the following centuries and begin to displace the native Dugs.
- c. 7,000 BBY - The Hundred-Year Darkness.
- c. 5,500 BBY - The first leg of the Rimma Trade Route is established by Tapani Sector merchants.
- 5,000 BBY - The Great Hyperspace War. Gav and Jori Daragon accidentally lead the Sith Empire to the Republic. The Republic wins the following war, but Naga Sadow escapes to Yavin 4.
- c. 5,000 BBY - The planet Tatooine is discovered by the Republic. It had formerly been known to the Infinite Empire.
- c. 4,400 BBY - The Jedi Knight Freedon Nadd falls to the Dark Side, learning the secrets of the Sith from the Dark Lord Naga Sadow.
- 4,250 BBY - The Vultar Cataclysm.
- 3,996 BBY - The Great Sith War. Fallen Jedi Ulic Qel-Droma and Exar Kun lead a war against the Republic, but are defeated by the Republic and light-sided Jedi.
- c. 3,983 BBY - The Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders begin to conquer worlds in the Outer Rim. The Jedi Council forbids involvement by the Jedi until the problem has been assessed.
- c. 3,979 BBY - Bastila Shan is born on Talravin. She is discovered by the Jedi, and begins her training in infancy.
- 3,963 BBY - The Mandalorian Wars begin. The Jedi Revan and Malak defy the Jedi Council and lead the Republic forces against the invaders.
- 3,960 BBY - The Mandalorian Wars end. A Jedi serving Revan as general, later called the Exile, willfully severs all ties to the Force to end the pain caused by the thousands of deaths at the Battle of Malachor V. Revan and Malak disappear. The Exile is called to Coruscant to answer for defying the Jedi Council, and is banished when the Council learns of the general's willful abandonment of the Force.
- 3,959 BBY - Revan and Malak, who have been seduced by the dark side, declare war on the Republic. Only the Battle Meditation of Bastila Shan staves off certain defeat.
- 3,956 BBY - The Jedi Civil War concludes with the redemption of Revan, the death of Malak, and the destruction of the Star Forge.
- 3,955 BBY - Revan disappears into the Unknown Regions to destroy the ancient Sith Empire.
- 3,951 BBY - The Exile is discovered aboard the Ebon Hawk, Revan's ship, by Darth Traya, a Sith Lord trying to kill the Force by manipulating the life-threatening echoes caused by the Exile's willing abandonment of it. The Exile reestablishes connection to the Force, then kills Darth Traya, Darth Nihilus, and Darth Sion, who have spent the last five years murdering Jedi, and a new Jedi Order is built.
- c. 3,900 BBY - The planet Naboo is colonized by settlers from Grizmallt.
- c. 2,000 BBY - A rogue Jedi absconds from the order with a stolen Holocron and starts a new Sith Order that engages the Jedi for the next thousand years. The New Sith War begins, lasting for over a thousand years.
- c. 1,000 BBY - The Battle of Ruusan. The remaining Sith are exterminated on Ruusan, with the exception of Darth Bane, who starts a new Sith Order with only one master and one apprentice at a time. The site of the final confrontation of the battle becomes the legendary Valley of the Jedi. Each Sith is renamed with a name beginning with Darth. The Senate passes the Ruusan Reformation, setting the year of the Battle of Ruusan to the year zero.
- 896 BBY - Yoda, arguably the greatest Jedi Master ever to exist, is born on an unknown planet. He is discovered by the Jedi, and begins his training in infancy.
- 596 BBY - Jabba Desilijic Tiure is born.
- 509 BBY - Yaddle is born on an unknown planet. She is discovered by the Jedi, and begins her training in infancy.
- 490 BBY - The Corporate Sector Authority, a free-enterprise fiefdom of the galaxy, is founded to free the Senate and corporate moneymakers from each other.
- 350 BBY - The Trade Federation is founded.
- 206 BBY - Oppo Rancisis is born on an unknown planet.
- 102 BBY - Count Dooku is born to an aristocratic family on Serenno. He is discovered by the Jedi, and begins his training in infancy.
- 92 BBY - Finis Valorum is born on Coruscant. Qui-Gon Jinn is born on an unknown planet. He is discovered by the Jedi, and begins his training in infancy.
- 84 BBY - Palpatine is born on the planet of Naboo and is taken into training by Darth Plagueis.
- 72 BBY - Mace Windu is born on Haruun Kal.
- 69 BBY - Bail Organa is born on Alderaan.
- 68 BBY - Jango Fett is born on Concord Dawn.
- 60 BBY - Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin is born on Eriadu.
- 58 BBY - Jango Fett is orphaned when his family of simple farmers is murdered by the Mandalorian Death Watch. He is picked up by former Journeyman Protector Jaster Mereel.
- 57 BBY - Obi-Wan Kenobi is born on an unknown planet. He is discovered by the Jedi, and begins his training in infancy.
- 52 BBY - Palpatine is elected to the Galactic Senate as Senator of Naboo. Zam Wesell is born on Zolan.
- c. 50 BBY - Jar Jar Binks is born on Naboo.
- 46 BBY - Padmé Amidala is born to Ruwee and Jobal Naberrie on Naboo.
- 44 BBY - The Stark Hyperspace War (no relation to the Great Hyperspace War.)
- c. 42 BBY - Palpatine began training an apprentice, Darth Maul.
- 41 BBY - Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One who will bring balance to the Force, is born to a slave named Shmi Skywalker.
- 40 BBY - Finis Valorum is elected Supreme Chancellor of the Republic.
- 39 BBY - Shmi and Anakin Skywalker come to live on Tatooine when they are purchased by Gardulla the Hutt. However, the Hutt ultimately loses her prize to a junk dealer named Watto. Firmus Piett is born on Axxila.
- 35 BBY - The Great Resynchronization occurs, in an attempt to harmonize different Galactic calendars.
- 34 BBY - The Mandalorians are destroyed by a Jedi task force led by Count Dooku in the Battle of Galidraan. Jango Fett is the only survivor.
- 32 BBY - Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
- Anakin Skywalker is discovered by Qui-Gon Jinn on the planet Tatooine. After Jinn's death, Skywalker begins training to be a Jedi under Obi-Wan Kenobi.
- The Battle of Naboo takes place when the Trade Federation, under the influence of Darth Sidious, blockades, and eventually invades, Naboo to protest a shipping tax. Queen Amidala fights back when the Galactic Senate refuses to act: she unites her people with the Gungans and together they successfully overturn the Federation, despite the Naboos' and Gungans' mutual dislike for each other. In the battle, Darth Maul kills Qui-Gon Jinn, and Obi-Wan Kenobi kills Darth Maul. Daultay Dofine is killed when the Droid Control Ship is destroyed.
- The droid R2-D2 distinguishes himself by saving Amidala's ship when it was running the blockade. On Tatooine, R2-D2 meets his future counterpart of C-3PO.
- Following the Naboo crisis, Senator Palpatine of Naboo is elected Chancellor of the Republic, replacing Finis Valorum.
- 32 BBY - Count Dooku leaves the Jedi Order and disappears, secretly joining Darth Sidious.
- 32 BBY - A clone army is created on Kamino in secret, supposedly commissioned by Jedi Master Syfo-Dyas. The source of the clones, Jango Fett, demands, in addition to his considerable pay, an unaltered clone for himself, whom he raises as a son and names Boba.
- 29 BBY - Raith Sienar presents the original concept for the Death Star to Wilhuff Tarkin. Han Solo is born on Corellia.
- 27 BBY - Yarael Poof is killed. He gave his life saving Coruscant from a band of terrorists who had secured a weapon powerful enough to destroy the entire planet.
- 24 BBY - Count Dooku reappears on Raxus Prime and alledges that the Republic has become too corrupt and pushes for citizens to break from the Republic and form a new government of their own, the Confederacy of Independent Systems.
- 22 BBY - Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
- An attack is made on Senator Amidala's landing platform, on Coruscant, by bounty hunter Zam Wesell, killing eight Naboo officers and Amidala's decoy, Corde.
- After a second attempt to kill Senator Amidala, Jedi Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi chase Zam Wesell through Coruscant. Jango Fett silences Zam Wesell with a poison dart, killing her instantly.
- Anakin Skywalker returns to his homeworld of Tatooine and meets his stepbrother Owen Lars. C-3PO is reunited with R2-D2.
- Shmi Skywalker is killed by Tusken Raiders, driving Anakin Skywalker toward the dark side of the Force.
- Obi-Wan Kenobi discovers that Nute Gunray has been attempting to orchestrate Padmé Amidala's death in revenge for foiling his plans ten years before and that Count Dooku's Confederacy of Independent Systems is preparing for war.
- Palpatine is given "emergency powers" by the Senate and adopts the clone army as the Grand Army of the Republic grown on Kamino to fight the Confederacy.
- The Clone Wars begin with the Battle of Geonosis. Mace Windu kills Jango Fett in the fighting and Boba is left an orphan. Poggle the Lesser passes the later concept for the Death Star to Count Dooku, who in turn places it under the protection of Darth Sidious on Coruscant.
- Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala fall in love and marry in secret on Naboo.
- 22 - 19 BBY "Star Wars: Clone Wars"
- Aayla Secura and Ylenic It'kla track down a Techno Union scientist on Corellia.
- Durge reamerges from hibernation and joins the CIS. He fights in the Battle of Muunilist against Obi-Wan and apparantly is killed. However, he survived and after Asajj Ventress is defeated by Anakin Skywalker he fights with her against the Jedi.
- A Dark Jedi named Asajj Ventress meets Count Dooku and proclaims herself as a Sith. However after fighting with Count Dooku she understands that she is far beyond their power and wishes to join the Sith, so Darth Sidious and Count Dooku use her for their dark plan against Anakin Skywalker. Once she finds Anakin Skywalker, they engage in battle, and Ventress is defeated, but survives.
- Trandoshan mercenaries capture the Republic Assault Ship Prosecuter and try to sell it to the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Republic Special Forces recapture it.
- c. 21 BBY - Mara Jade is born on an unknown planet.
- 19 BBY - Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- General Grievous, leader of the Separatist Army, invades Coruscant, kidnapping Chancellor Palpatine.
- The Clone Wars end with the destruction of the Confederacy at the Battle of Coruscant, Mustafar, and Utapau, Chancellor Palpatine is revealed to be Darth Sidious and creates the Galactic Empire with himself as Emperor, and Anakin Skywalker turns to the dark side, and becomes Darth Vader, Palpatine's ruthless second-in-command.
- The Great Jedi Purge is orchestrated by Palpatine and Vader and almost all Jedi are hunted down and killed; only a handful of Jedi Knights survive.
- Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa are born to Padmé Amidala, who dies in childbirth. Obi-Wan Kenobi, a survivor of the Great Jedi Purge leaves Luke with Anakin's step brother Owen Lars and Leia with Bail Organa, so they cannot be discovered by the Empire.
- Two Jedi Masters, having escaped the Great Jedi Purge, go in exile. Obi-Wan Kenobi in a remote desert on Tatooine, Yoda in a swamp on Dagobah. They will await the coming of age of Luke Skywalker.
- The first resistance to Imperial rule comes up. All these events at least set the stage for the Galactic Civil War.
- Construction of the Death Star begins secretly.
- 15 BBY - "Star Wars Animated Adventures: Droids"
- C-3PO and R2-D2 have even more misadventures together with their masters such as Jann Tosh and Mungo Baobab.
- 5 BBY - Han Solo, now in a military academy, saves Chewbacca, now a slave, and is subsequently drummed out of the Imperial Navy. Chewbacca pledges a life-debt to Han Solo and remains his partner for the next three decades.
- 2 BBY - The Rebel Alliance takes shape with the signing of the Corellian Treaty and the Declaration of Rebellion in the Cantham House Meetings on Coruscant and the Corellian System Meetings between Mon Mothma, Bail Organa and Garm Bel Iblis, unifying their disparate resistance efforts into one organization.
- 1 BBY - Bail Organa retires from the Galactic/Imperial Senate after 31 years and his adopted daughter Leia is appointed to serve his unexpired term as Senator of Alderaan until the Senate election that is due the following year.
- 0 BBY - Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
- After escaping Princess Leia's blockade runner the Tantive IV, which was captured by Darth Vader, droids C-3PO and R2-D2 land on Tatooine and come into the service of Luke Skywalker.
- Obi-Wan Kenobi finds Luke, who was beaten by Tusken Raiders, and receives R2-D2's secret message.
- A squad of Imperial Stormtroopers kill Owen and Beru Lars, Luke Skywalker's Uncle and Aunt, leaving him without any family as far as he knows.
- The Imperial Senate is disbanded, giving Palpatine absolute power. Officially it is "Suspended for the Duration of the Galactic Emergency", but this euphemism fools nobody, even Palpatine's loyalists know the Imperial Senate will never meet again.
- After Leia refuses to tell where the rebel base is, Grand Moff Tarkin orders the Death Star to destroy her home world of Alderaan and killing Bail Organa. Garm Bel Iblis soon leaves the Rebel Alliance due to disagreements with Mon Mothma, taking some of his forces, although most of his troops remain with the Alliance. This leaves Mon Mothma as the leader of the Alliance to Restore the Republic.
- Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader have their final duel, resulting in the death of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but his spirit lives on.
- The Battle of Yavin. Luke Skywalker destroys the Death Star before it can destroy the Rebel base on Yavin 4, with the assistance of Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi's spirit. Luke Skywalker and Han Solo join the Rebel Alliance. Grand Moff Tarkin dies in the destruction of the Death Star.
After the Battle of Yavin (ABY)
- 1 ABY - The Super Star Destroyer Executor is launched under the command of Captain Kendal Ozzel. It is dispatched to destroy the Rebel base on Yavin. However, a miscalculation from Admiral Griff allows the Rebels to escape.
- 2 ABY - An Imperial force led by Darth Vader catches up to some of the Rebels on Ord Mantell. It is here that Darth Vader learns the name of the Rebel who destroyed the Death Star, Luke Skywalker. While on Ord Mantell, a bounty hunter working for Jabba the Hutt nearly captures Han Solo.
- 3 ABY - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
- The Battle of Hoth. The Empire discovers the Alliance's secret base on the ice planet Hoth and attacks the Rebel Base successfully, with many Rebel casulties.
- Admiral Ozzel is killed by Darth Vader for incompetence and Captain Piett assumes command of Vader's fleet.
- Luke Skywalker discovers Yoda on Dagobah, but halts his training and promises to return.
- Boba Fett captures Han Solo to take him to Jabba the Hutt, after Solo is frozen in carbonite on Cloud City. Lando Calrissian joins the Alliance.
- During a confrontation Darth Vader reveals to Luke Skywalker that he is his father, but Luke is uncertain whether it is true or not.
- 3 ABY - Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
- Prince Xizor is killed by Darth Vader and Black Sun collapses.
- 4 ABY - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
- Han Solo is rescued from Jabba the Hutt, and Jabba is killed by Leia Organa. Boba Fett is imprisoned in the Sarlacc, but its stomach does not like his backpack propulsory rocket-pack and the Sarlacc ejects him. Warlords begin to wage war over Jabba's criminal empire.
- Luke returns to Dagobah to keep a promise to complete his training. Yoda dies of old age after revealing that Darth Vader is his father, also telling of another Skywalker. It is revealed that Leia Organa is his sister. He passes this information on to her on Endor.
- The Battle of Endor. Lando Calrissian, Wedge Antilles and Nien Nunb destroy the second Death Star, virtually ending the Galactic Civil War. They had help from the Ewoks fighting through Imperial forces to let a squad reach a ground station that emitted a protective force field around the Death Star. The Empire as the galaxy knows it is brought to an end and begins to tear itself apart through warlordism. Admiral Piett dies when the Executor crashes into the Death Star.
- Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker is turned back to the light side of the Force by the efforts of Luke Skywalker. Anakin Skywalker destroys Palpatine, saving his son's life, and dies on the light side of the Force. Luke cremates Anakin's body on Endor (or perhaps just his suit, if Anakin vanished as Obi-Wan did).
- 4 ABY - The Truce at Bakura. The Rebel Alliance becomes the Alliance of Free Planets and recruits systems across the galaxy for the reformation of the Republic, starting with Bakura where there is the first ceasefire between Alliance and Imperial forces, though only so they could unite to drive away the Ssi-ruuk.
- 5 ABY - The New Republic is established. Luke Skywalker retires from the military. Ysanne Isard applies backstabbing maneuvers to overtake the Empire and rule as empress.
- 7 ABY - Star Wars: The Bacta War
- The New Republic takes Coruscant back from what remains of the Empire.
- Ysanne Isard leaves an artificial virus behind on Coruscant to take the sweetness out of the New Republic's victory.
- The New Republic secures the needed bacta from Thyferra to eliminate the plague.
- Isard fakes her death and disappears.
- 8 ABY - Leia Organa marries Han Solo. Prince Isolder allies the Hapes Consortium with the New Republic and Imperial warlord Zsinj dies.
- c. 9 ABY - Raynar Thul is born on an unknown planet.
- 9 ABY - Star Wars: The Thrawn Crisis
- Jaina and Jacen Solo are born to Leia Organa and Han Solo.
- Grand Admiral Thrawn's attempt to destroy the New Republic and restore dignity to the Galactic Empire fails.
- Obi-Wan Kenobi's spirit moves on.
- The Noghri switch sides between the Empire and the New Republic when they discovered the Empire had been manipulating them and polluting their world.
- 10 ABY - Star Wars: Dark Empire
- Palpatine is reborn in a clone body and turns Luke Skywalker to the dark side, but Luke returns to the light side and kills Palpatine with Leia and destroys his flagship Eclipse.
- Final Destruction of Palpatine's first Galactic Empire: The Emperor returns again, but Empatajayos Brand destroys his life-force. Brand dies and Palpatine is ultimately dead. R2-D2 destroys Eclipse II and the Galaxy Gun, causing the destruction of the Imperial Fleet of Palpatine and planet Byss, where cloning machines of Palpatine are located.
- Anakin Solo is born to Leia Organa and Han Solo.
- 11 ABY - Luke Skywalker establishes a Jedi academy on Yavin IV.
- 19 ABY - Luke Skywalker marries Mara Jade. The New Republic and the last fragment of the Empire sign a peace treaty ending all legalized conflict between the Empire and the New Republic.
- 23 ABY - Jacen and Jaina Solo, now Jedi at Luke Skywalker's academy, fight aganist the Second Imperium, which attempts to disrupt the peace between the New Republic and "Imperial Remnant," as it had become known, and restart the Galactic Civil War.
- 24 ABY - The "Diversity Alliance," an extremist anti-human organisation, is defeated by the New Republic.
- 25–30 ABY - Star Wars: The New Jedi Order
- The Yuuzhan Vong invade the galaxy and Chewbacca dies at Vector Prime when a moon is pulled out of its orbit and crashes into its planet. The New Republic Historical Council sets the year of the Battle of Yavin to the year zero, adopting the current date system.
- Ben Skywalker is born to Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade.
- The Yuuzhan Vong conquer Coruscant, and the New Republic ceases to exist. Anakin Solo dies.
- Coruscant is liberated from the Yuuzhan Vong. Zonama Sekot forges a peace accord between the Galactic Alliance and the Yuuzhan Vong. The war ends after five years.
External links
- The Vast Empire
- Star Wars: The Essential Chronology
- Star Wars Time Tales: A Fan Supported Star Wars Timeline
- Ultimate Timeline at TheForce.net