Galactic Republic, commonly referred to simply as the Republic, and later also known as the Old Republic, was the democratic union that governed the galaxy for a thousand years prior to the rise of the Galactic Empire. The Republic was aided by the efforts of the Jedi Order, who stood as the guardians of peace and justice, enabling the Republic to be free of full-scale conflict for over a thousand years. However, thirty-two years before the Battle of Yavin, the Galactic Republic suffered its first major crisis in millennia during the Invasion of Naboo, which ultimately led to the Clone Wars ten years later. Following this conflict, the Republic would be reorganized into the Galactic Empire, and transform the Republic's militray into the first stormtroopers.