As the leader of the Galactic Empire and commander-in-chief of its military forces, the Alliance rightly recognized that killing the Emperor would grant them an undeniable military advantage. The Emperor’s presence on the second Death Star was an added enticement for the Rebels. Even though the Rebels were initially on the offensive against the second Death Star, they had a similar right to self-defense once it started reducing the Rebel fleet to ash. Given the threat of imminent destruction, Rebel forces had an absolute right to act in self-defense and attack the Death Star.
It was there to, as Tarkin so eloquently put it, crush the Rebellion in one swift stroke, thereby ending the galactic civil war. Let’s also not forget that at the time of the Rebel attack, the first Death Star was not on some mercy mission to Yavin. Doing so would not only neutralize the most terrifying weapon the galaxy had ever seen, but it would also eliminate a tremendous amount of other enemy equipment and personnel. Destroying it therefore offered an absolute military advantage to the Rebels. The weapon threatened the very existence of the Alliance, not to mention thousands of innocent people across the galaxy.
In the wake of Jedha, Scarif, and Alderaan, the first Death Star proved itself as a weapon unmatched by anything in the fledgling Rebel arsenal. From wiping out Alderaan to destroying massive Rebel Mon Calamari cruisers in a single shot, the destructive power of the Death Stars significantly contributed to military action.
Instead, both were purpose-built military doomsday lasers intended to cement the Empire’s control over the galaxy. The Death Stars were not designed to be floating research labs or peaceful exploration vessels. Unfortunately for the Empire, both Death Stars fit that bill neatly and were therefore valid military objectives. Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions defines military objectives as “those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction…in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military advantage.” Somewhere aboard the Death Star, Admiral Motti is yelling “BOOM! HEY VADER DID YOU SEE THAT-WHOSE POWER IS INSIGNIFICANT NOW?!” For example, the Geneva Conventions forbids intentional attacks civilians or religious and cultural sites. Under the law of armed conflict not everything can be attacked at will-certain places and persons are legally protected from attack. Valiant Imperial aces rush to protect their home against the radical Rebel attackers.īefore we talk about all the personnel aboard, lets consider whether both Death Stars were lawful military objectives themselves. That kind of wholesale destruction begs the question of whether the Rebels cemented themselves as the biggest terrorists in the galaxy by unlawfully blowing up both Death Stars. Those were men, women, and dianogas with families, many of whom likely joined the Empire out of a wholly non-evil desire to serve the galaxy. After all, Alliance forces obliterated not one but two Death Stars, killing over 2 million Imperials in the process. But from a certain point of view, one can sort of empathize with the Emperor’s legions in their collective anger towards the Rebels. The poor Galactic Empire always gets painted as the murderous bad guys in Star Wars.
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