The History of the War That Shaped 'The Phantom Menace'

When you think of the Star Wars prequels and conflict, you probably think of one of the most important interstellar campaigns of the entire saga, the Clone Wars . But in Star Wars ‘ old expanded universe, only fleetingly touched upon in the rebooted continuity, a conflict preceded both the Clone Wars and the broader prequel trilogy itself that helped pave the way for the state of the Galactic Republic as we knew it coming into The Phantom Menace , one arguably that helped create the circumstances for the Clone Wars too: the Stark Hyperspace War.

First introduced in background material for the run-up to The Phantom Menace , and ultimately more fully explored in the pages of Dark Horse’s Star Wars comics, the Stark Hyperspace War has largely made its way into modern Sta