* * * * *
                                        
              Then again, Darth Vader was a whine baby growing up
                                        
> How did the Galactic Empire ever cement its hold on the Star Wars Universe?
> The war machine built by Emperor Palpatine and run by Darth Vader is a
> spectacularly bad fighting force, as evidenced by all of the pieces of
> Death Star littering space. But of all the Empire's failures, none is a
> more spectacular military fiasco than the Battle of Hoth at the beginning
> of The Empire Strikes Back.
> 
> From a military perspective, Hoth should have been a total debacle for the
> Rebel Alliance. Overconfident that they can evade Imperial surveillance,
> they hole up on unforgiving frigid terrain at the far end of the cosmos.
> Huddled into the lone Echo Base are all their major players: politically
> crucial Princess Leia; ace pilot Han Solo; and their game- changer, Luke
> Skywalker, who isn't even a Jedi yet.
> 
> The defenses the Alliance constructed on Hoth could not be more favorable
> to Vader if the villain constructed them himself. The single Rebel base (!)
> is defended by a few artillery pieces on its north slope, protecting its
> main power generator. An ion cannon is its main anti- aircraft/spacecraft
> defense. Its outermost perimeter defense is an energy shield that can
> deflect Imperial laser bombardment. But the shield has two huge flaws: It
> can't stop an Imperial landing force from entering the atmosphere, and it
> can only open in a discrete place for a limited time so the Rebels' Ion
> Cannon can protect an evacuation. In essence, the Rebels built a shield
> that can't keep an invader out and complicates their own escape.
> 
> When Vader enters the Hoth System with the Imperial Fleet, he's holding a
> winning hand. What follows next is a reminder of two military truths that
> apply in our own time and in our own galaxy: Don't place unaccountable
> religious fanatics in wartime command, and never underestimate a hegemonic
> power's ability to miscalculate against an insurgency [1].
> 

Via Jason Kottke [2], “Inside the Battle of Hoth: The Empire Strikes Out |
WIRED [3]”

Let's see … in “Star Wars [4],” a major design flaw in the Death Star lead to
its destruction at the hands of a rooky fighter pilot in his first battle,
and in “Return of the Jedi [5],” their second Death Star was destroyed by a
rebel fleet after their only source of defense was taken out by ex-smuggler
and a group of walking teddy bears [6].

And now this, the movie [7] that supposedly shows the Empire at it's best.

Yeah, the Empire doesn't seem all that competent now.

[1] http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/07/cambone-iraq/
[2] http://kottke.org/13/02/the-
[3] http://www.wired.com/2013/02/battle-of-hoth/
[4] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/
[5] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086190/
[6] http://www.indiewire.com/spout/more_reason_to_hate_the_ewoks_film_blog_
[7] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080684/

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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