Darth Sidious, also known as Palpatine, was the last Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and the first Emperor of the Galactic Empire. He was a Dark Lord of the Sith who followed the Rule of Two and was the most powerful Sith Lord the galaxy had ever known. Palpatine was able to establish his Empire by concocting a complex master plan, which involved starting the Clone Wars, a galaxy-wide conflict that cost billions of sentient lives, and secretly playing both sides, until he replaced the Republic with the Galactic Empire and nearly exterminated the Jedi.