Was the Rebel Alliance really ill-equipped?

[Geladius]

The main problem was that the empire focused too much on space combat to win the day, you need feet on the ground and the rebels had far more foot soldiers than the empire, good example is the shield generator on endor, no gun embankments and only a few at-st's. Should have been much better fortified.

 

That was done on purpose since it was a top secret installation in order to not attract so much attention. Not to mention they entered through like a rear entrance rather then the space port you see Luke being escorted through with the AT-AT's docked at.

[Erevan_Kindelar]

The Empire and Rebels focussed on different areas. For the Empire, they had huge numbers of people and were about intimidation and brute force. The vast numbers meant that they could go wtih the IKEA-designed TIE Fighters and swarm all over the enemy annhialating them with sheer numbers. At the larger scale, the brute force came in with their Star Destroyers, which one-on-one were more than a match for any Rebel ship, even the Calamari Cruisers.

 

For the Rebels, they were low on personnel so they had to make every person count, meaning that the X-Wing was positionned as a Space Superiority fighter designed to take on a numerically vastly superior force and win.

 

On the ground there seemed to be a similar philosophy with one small difference - going by the set piece battles (the boarding of Leia's Corvette at the start of A New Hope, and the assault on Hoth) the Empire's Stormtroopers seemed to be both better equipped and better trained/more effective than the average Rebel troops. However, beyond the vast numbers of Stormtroopers they seemed to have very little in terms of Special Forces (I know that other canon material lists Imperial Spec Forces as being highly trained, etc, but the Speeder Scouts and AT-ST crews on Endor are the only non-Stormtrooper soldiers I saw in action and they were not that good compared to the Rebel Spec Forces.

Translating that, the general infantry units of the Empire were more powerful than their Rebel counterparts, but the Rebels had more "Hero" units.

[BacaWicket]

this thread reminds me of the balmoran resistance. im the 1st to comment in almost 2 years:D

[Jeduthun]

This may not sway the masses, but here we go:

 

Briefly put, as seen from the movies, with Mon Mothma at the helm and General Reikan at the head of the army and Admiral "It's a trap" Ackbar in command of the fleet, I would say that there was structure in the Rebellion. They didn't have heavy military-grade hardware like the Empire did, but, seeing they that they were a small and nimble force, they could resort to guerilla attacks against Imperial bases and seriously cripple military production without running into too much trouble and if need be, flee their bases, as in Episode V on Hoth, without having to worry about their heavier stuff, i.e., (slightly worded differently),

 

Medical Robot: "Sir, what about the T-47s?"

Luke: "Naw, don't worry about the heavier stuff, just load the lighter stuff."

 

So the Rebels had the advantage in being a small, nimble force, for example, they attacked the moon-sized Death Star with just thirty fighters, and destroyed the huge thing. This would have served as a major boost for the Rebellion, in that other systems can see that yes, this "ragtag" force does stand a chance against the Galactic Empire, and in that the Empire finally recognizes the threat that the Rebellion poses, insomuch that they fortify their outer systems in case these decide to secede from the Empire. In short, the Rebellion, while lacking very much in military hardware, yet had spirit, dedicated people, and most importantly, offered hope: hope that tyranny can be overthrown and democracy restored to the galaxy.

[AlexDougherty]

So folks, what do you think? Was the Rebel Alliance really ill-equipped to take on the Empire? Thinking it over hard, looking at the movies closely and at other sources I have come to my own conclusion that they were not. Yes I know they were on the run, but even so I don't think they were such a ragtag force like most people make them out to be. With that I will give some insight on my thoughts, and quotes from the movies so lets start.

-----

 

"In the past, we'd secretly enjoyed putting down a local insurrection or two, they kept the troops sharp and the Empire feared; but these Rebels were different. They were organized, they were growing, and they were everywhere."

 

"Until this battle station is fully operational, we are vulnerable. The Rebel Alliance is too well equipped… They're more dangerous than you realize."- Cassio Tagge

 

Now these quotes really were the ones that started me thinking about the Rebels, and after looking over everything they are right. A ragtag force does not have an organized structure(at least in terms of how the Rebels have it), nor would they be any threat to a superior force which from Cassio a high general is stating the Rebels are too well equipped and are dangerous.

 

So I don't wanna flood everyone with text, so i'll stop here(should note, I didn't even put half the stuff I wanted to say). So folks what do you think? Were the Rebels really that ill-equipped to take on the Empire?

 

Yes, they were that much outclassed. The Rebel Alliance had a fraction of the might of the Empire, and had mostly old ships (Y-wing anyone). The Empire had thousands of Cruisers, millions of Fighters, and billions of Troops. But they were spread across the known galaxy, and were looking for a tiny opponent, it really was a David and Goliath situation. The Rebellion was using Hit and Run tactics, because anything else was suicide, and the odd bombing as well (Purely military targets only).

 

The Imperial Admiralty basically dismissed them out of hand, leading to the statement by Cassio, he wasn't saying they were a genuine threat, just that they shouldn't be overlooked least they become one. Plus he felt that they would deliver some ridiculous attack on the Deathstar, that might have a chance of damaging it, possibly extending the period it would take to get working.

 

The structure of the Rebellion was a combination of guerilla bases and sleeper cells, precisely the same as every other uprising against the Empire, the only thing different was that the government of Alderaan, plus one or two other planets was covertly supplying them, it had no real difference in structure.

[AlexDougherty]

The Mon-Cal's were their most modern starships they had due to the fact that Mon-Calimary was one of the few planets to openly support them, and had their own shipyards. Even then, they only had a few of those ships. The rest were retrofitted Transports or Freighters.

 

Mon-Calamari Homeworld was enslaved early on, their shipyards taken over or destroyed. The Mon-Calamari ships you see in the films were originally luxury cruise-liners, that were converted by the Rebellion. After the war, Mon-Calamari ships were designed and built to shore up the Republic forces, and the B-Wing Fighter was designed and built by them (required much smaller facilities to build a fighter than a destroyer or dreadnaught).

[TalonVII]

Here lets put the rebellion in perspective.

 

Rebellion = 1776 American contential forces. Barely equipped by millita's barely functioning government vs the British empire aka Star Wars empire.

 

That should put it in perspective if you like historical references. Only catch is, the Rebellion didn't have the French to step in and save their butts, they had to do it all alone.

[Bynnar]

Here lets put the rebellion in perspective.

 

Rebellion = 1776 American contential forces. Barely equipped by millita's barely functioning government vs the British empire aka Star Wars empire.

 

That should put it in perspective if you like historical references. Only catch is, the Rebellion didn't have the French to step in and save their butts, they had to do it all alone.

 

Well the "French" could be the support they got from the destruction of the first death star. Also, it's more like if the King decided to go to the colonies himself and was killed there in an epic sword fight with George Washington, as you could compare the American colonies to the galaxy's outer rim.

 

(Ok, George Washington doesn't quite relate to Luke, but the metaphor stands.)