Battle of Endor

The second best thing to Jedi's in the SW universe are space battles. Unfortunately, there aren't enough. The Admiral Thrawn series was great because there were many of them. The NJO series Enemy Lines: Rebel Stand and Rebel Dream were also good when it came to space battles.

If anyone remembers Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, they will remember the space battle over the Moon of Endor. As Han Solo, Leia, Chewbacca, several rebels and the Ewoks attempted to destroy the shield generator, Rebel capital ships led by Admiral Ackbar, faced off against the Death Star II, several Star Destroyers, one Ship Interdictor, and one Super Star Destroyer.

According to Wookiepedia, there were 40 Imperial Class Star Destroyers and several Imperial cruisers and frigates versus 25 Mon Calamari Star Cruisers, 10 Nebulon B Frigates, and several other cruisers that were originally built to carry supplies but outfitted to become battle ships. Not to mention the thousands of star fighters such as Ties and X-wings.

The Emperor amassed several of his best fleet officers at this point. He set a trap for the Rebel Alliance and felt that one crushing blow would finally defeat them. Many argue that building another Death Star was an idiotic move not just because of the expenses but because of its initial defeat in Episode IV. The Emperor may have felt (no one has confirmed this) that if he defeated the Rebel Alliance, the flaw would not have mattered anyway.

Unfortunately for him, Han Solo and his crew were successful in their gamble to destroy the shield generator and forgot about the military astuteness of Admiral Ackbar who was once a slave to Grand Moff Tarkin, where he learned a thing or two about space battling. This defeat was a crushing blow to the Empire not just because of the death of the Emperor.

Later Admiral Pellaeon, who would survive as an Imperial all the way past the Yuuzhan Vong war, stated that many good and capable officers were lost in that battle particularly when the Super Star Destroyer Executor , Vader's flagship, crashed into the Death Star and when the Death Star II was destroyed. He felt that was when officers who were ambitious for power instead of doing their duty split the Empire and became warlords.

It was with this battle, that the Rebel Alliance gained more allies throughout the galaxy. Unfortunately, the new version of Ep VI shows people cheering on Coruscant and other planets as if the Empire fell, but this is not so. It takes another 5 years to retake Coruscant and another 10 to finally beat the Empire for good.