Life in the Empire didn't get noticeably worse until the Death Star was complete, imo. That's when Palpatine completely dissolved the Senate(and with it any remaining semblance of democracy), and began ruling the galaxy exclusively through fear/intimidation.
Prior to that, there really wasn't a significant change in general day to day life for most across the galaxy. Sure, there was slavery and many other bad things that happened on numerous worlds(particularly in the outer rim), but the majority of those problems existed WELL before the Empire came to power, so... /shrug
On paper, the Empire sounded like a really good thing, and that's what Palpatine's propaganda fed to the masses. The Tarkin Doctrine, for example, made it sound like the Empire was essentially just a more militarized Republic that still served the people above all else... And most of the galaxy ate that shit up at first.
As for Palpatine himself: most of his subordinates were scared shitless of him him -- even the ones who had never met the man. That's just the reputation he had.
In legends, they've given us enough reasons why the Empire sucked, immediately after its creation and 20 years later. Palpatine wasn't really the one who controlled your life.
It was like a feudal structure, except the Emperor had the ability to step into any territory and do whatever he felt like, administratively. This was because he just craved power so much. But he didn't actually ever do anything with it, he wasn't known to go around changing administrations and making decisions because he didn't care. He didn't care what the people's lives were like, long as they were loyal to him and his empire.
So, I guess how bad your life was depended on your moff, since that's who really administered your area. It would have been like the age of Kings in Europe and even more like the Age of Shoguns in Japan. Your quality of life would depend on your local ruler. And the Empire was known to have seemingly infinite resources, so I'm sure there were good places to be somewhere.
Though that does come with its own caveats, since the Empire was known to be racist, fear-inducing, and approving of the most inhumane ways to get things done. As much as Palpatine didn't kill unless he needed to, he hired people who would.
In Canon, I guess it's like the dictators from early 20th century Europe, since that's what George Lucas wanted the Empire to be. They just oppress and control people with military power.
well if ROTJ is anything to go by then all of the planets seen thus far in the series are overjoyed with the death of the Emperor and the defeat of the Empire at Endor; clue that in with the oppression seen in Rebels and Rogue One and its seems as if the Empire era was a pretty shitty time for the Galaxies citizens all around... especially when compared to the peace time shown before the Clone Wars, granted that was mainly just Coruscant and Naboo but it paints a picture for sure
Publius (Tempest's mentor) wrote an essay about this.
http://web.archive.org/web/20110722011223/http://www.domuspublica.net/leviathan.html
Great stuff.
Originally posted by Azronger
Publius (Tempest's mentor) wrote an essay about this.http://web.archive.org/web/20110722011223/http://www.domuspublica.net/leviathan.html
Great stuff.
That it is.
But I mean, there actually are lots of star wars materials which show us the life for average citizens. There's the holiday special, the adventure journals, all the short books for the phantom menace ad campaign which talked about Anakin's life as a slave, and Padme's life as a child, Empire At War discussing the daily lives of Tyber Zahn and less fortunate men of his trade, and all the backstories we've gotten of Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, and so on. And that's not counting what we've seen in TCW and The Force Unleashed of other planets and the common life there.
Hmmm it’s interesting that once they became a republic they fell back into near ruin against the first order, and in legends they let the vong nearly destroy them.
Comparing him to hitler is an interesting comparison, germans had it pretty good until, the fall of hitler, yes you had people captured, concentration camps, etc but overall they had a booming economy, national pride, etc
Originally posted by DarthPlaguis12
Hmmm it’s interesting that once they became a republic they fell back into near ruin against the first order, and in legends they let the vong nearly destroy them.Comparing him to hitler is an interesting comparison, germans had it pretty good until, the fall of hitler, yes you had people captured, concentration camps, etc but overall they had a booming economy, national pride, etc
The New Republic faced the problems it did for plot reasons. And Hitler brought the economy back by building weapons of war which he was going to use to go to war. So the same people that enjoyed the better economy would be dying amidst mud and smoke.
And Stalin made sure the people loved him no matter what he did. And he did kill his own people, but the country was stronger for it. And he also built hospitals and a good education system, along with an advanced space and military program. I'm not saying he was good by any means, that kind of leadership is the worst in history, but he wasn't stupid, unlike Hitler.
Originally posted by DarthPlaguis12
I think the economy was fine before the war, not sure.He killed millions of his people....
And Hitler also killed millions of his own people. Hitler's reign was nothing but bad for everyone.