I’ll take a crack at it before watching the video: these men grew up watching the Republic crumble so much that a bunch of companies were able to legitimately threaten to topple a 25 thousand year-old government in the span of about 15 years. Watching the Empire beat them all down in only a year produced massive loyalty since the Empire was able to seemingly fix what the Republic could not.

As a Navy veteran, it was mostly how long until deployment is over, when are we getting off today, are we getting paid during this government shutdown, and how much of a raise are we getting this year? Politics, if talked about, were talked about usually off duty and after work in civies and at home. At least in my experience.

In the eyes of the republic military, there wasn't really any major violent change of governent, but the name of the government paying their wages just changed.

"Twenty years ago, the galaxy was at war. People lived in fear that fighting would come to their planet or that a terrorist attack would strike near their home. For Republic citizens, seeing white-armored troopers and warships overhead meant they were safe. Today, people who remember those dark days see the arrival of stormtroopers and Imperial Star Destroyers the same way." ―General Airen Cracken of the Rebel Alliance

They got a pay rise, they got more authority to act without the Senate looking over them, they got rid of the Jedi who usually bossed them around and wanted to limit their power, and they got cool new toys to play with and a bigger budget to build more stuff and pay more people to join. Of course the military loved the Empire and allowed the Republic to be thrown into the dustbin of history.

Especially those who remember the pre-Clone Wars Republic. The military men of that age were stifled by Jedi and Senators who insisted that local militaries have more power and say over the Judicial forces, not wanting a national military for fear of abuse of power. Many military men objected to this, seeing the intentional weakening of the Republic as the source of the corporate corruption and secessionism that led to the Clone Wars in the first place.

In essence, maybe if the Republic before the Clone Wars was more like the SWTOR-era Republic, with a large national fleet and army keeping the peace, maybe the military men would've been more loyal to it instead of bending over backwards for the Sith who allowed them to bully the locals.

It continues to amaze me just how thorough Palpatine’s planning was. He literally thought of just about everything down to the tiniest detail.
And while the galaxy was playing checkers, he was playing 7D chess with everyone.

Came here so fast the Naboo blockade was still going on

Palpatine had plenty of time to purge, demote, reassign, fire, and otherwise get rid of any officers that could get in his way before he officially made himself Emperor.

By the power invested in me by the dolphin empire I hereby propose that we give Chancellor Allen emergency powers

Resist the Empire? The Republic Military formed the very backbone of the New Order. These chaps were the reason the Empire managed to last as long as it did.

Almost all the high ranking officers as well as veteran NCOs, instructors and the like had fought in the Clone Wars and remained a part of the military when the Republic was reorganised into the First Galactic Empire. Even minor characters such as Moff Jerjerrod or Captain Kagi had served during the Clone Wars let alone the Top Brass such as Admirals Screed and Yularen, Grand Moff Tarkin or good old Darth Vader.

The Military bagged enough Syrils who luckily never happened to come across a "live on planet and assimilate before you massacre it" mission. Fortunately for the rebels, there was the defection of Sgt. Lear

They didn't fail the Republic, the Republic failed them

Jan Dodonna. Vanden Willard, and Adar Tallon were all Generals in the Clone wars who help set up the Rebellion. Jan helped with gaining and organizing ships (like the Frezia operation to gain X-wings), Willard with setting up resistance cells (He helped set up cells on Sullust and Bothawui) , and Tallon with upgrading and innovating technology (He helped design several new starfighters and capital ships).

I’m taking a sociology class, and it feels like you’ve blended Star Wars and sociology together in a really compelling way.

I recently saw a video of Canadian Professor George Grant who said he believed people were done in by their generation. He saw how he, his sisters, and others of their generation were shaped by the Great Depression and the Second World War. Their whole life and political views were impacted profoundly by those events. We as the audience see an in depth view of the Clone Wars, we see the conspiracy and Palpatine pulling strings. However to an officer in the GAR or Republic Navy they did not have this insight, they saw their government brought to it's knees by greed, inefficiency, and corruption from 32 BBY to 19 BBY. A Galactic Scale War with trillions dead most definitely instilled a "never again" mentality in the officer corps and in the populace of that generation. Hence when Palpatine came around and "fixed" the Republic by transforming it into the Empire the military effectively gave him a blank cheque to never again go back to what the Republic was in it's last years. It's why people like Yularen, Partagaz, and Tarkin were so obsessed with having control and maintaining the peace, order, and security of the Empire.

I was in the marines for 6 years and trust me, they know how to break you mentally. Even if you are a physical specimen and you won't get tired. They know how to get you

I just loved the modded version of the Duel of the Fates theme

Allen: "I don't want to get too political, I just want to talk about Star Wars . . ."

*proceeds to get SUPER political in the best possible way

Probably less pushback if it never rebranded. Chancellor Palpatine could have the same power as Emperor, but able to downplay it as political operatives or "fake news"

Remember, Jedi were hated by military for their feeling of being better, while Having no actual tactical combat training. Cooperation Like yularen and obi wan/Anakin was extremely rare