TheStar Warssaga ’s Galactic Empire and First Order both employ stormtroopers but there is a major difference between the ground military group of these two junto . The Galactic Empire has both a steady army and the Stormtrooper Corps , while theFirst Order ’s army is solely its StormtrooperCorps . For practical and ideological reasons , as well as theStar Warssequel trilogy ’s meta - narrative , the First Order ’s lack of a regular army makes sense .

In the LegendsStar Warscontinuity , stormtroopers are not the principal ground forces of the Empire , with the Stormtrooper Corps being a disjoined branch of the Imperial military that answers directly to Palpatine himself and make for alongside the Imperial Army and Navy . While the stormtroopers were deploy to fight the Empire ’s most important battles , the more common and less redoubtable Imperial Army Troopers fought on less strategically authoritative domain . In the post-2014Star Warscanon continuity , stormtroopers are still elect soldier compared to Imperial Army Troopers , but the Stormtrooper Corps is a zep - division within the Imperial Army .

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Although theFirst Order is the Empire ’s successorstate in the canon timeline , the First Order ’s military machine is not selfsame to that of the Galactic Empire . The First Order ’s stormtroopers are their only ground troops , which fits with the First Order ’s stronger accent on quality than quantity , especially when compared to the canon version of the Empire . Stormtroopers are also far more iconic both in - cosmos and in the genuine worldly concern , so the exclusive use of stormtroopers as the First Order ’s reason forces is a case of theStar Warsnarrative and meta - narrative align perfectly .

The Galactic Republic popularized elect bloodless - armored scout troop in - world via the clone troopers , who constitute the mass of the Republic ’s military . Before theClone Army , the Republiconly had the limited Judicial Forces to protect its worlds , and the Clone Army itself is a small and superlatively effective force meant to back up the Jedi Knights and hold back the overwhelming number of the Separatists . When Palpatine ’s fascist coup wiped out the Jedi and putrefied the Republic into the Empire , Judicial Forces and non - clone terrestrial defense mechanism forces would organize the Imperial Army ’s soldier , while the best - recruited beings replace the elect clone trooper with Imperial Stormtroopers .

The First Order , while huge and powerful , is far smaller than the Empire it idolizes , so bank exclusively on an elite force of stormtroopers is a essential . Unlike the Empire , which treated its most well - trained stormtroopers andTIE Fighter pilots as disposable , the First Order needed to continue its personnel in its war against the Resistance , so its basic TIE Fighters issue forth equipped with hyperdrives and deflector carapace and its army only consisted of elite stormtroopers . The First Order ’s use of stormtroopers served more than a practical determination , however .

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The First Order , as a fanatical fascistic military junta , was obsessed with replicating the resplendency days of the Empire and focalize heavy on pageant imbuing classical Imperial armour and starfighter styles with modern technology . Most galactic citizens are far more conversant with stormtroopers than Imperial Army Troopers , so the First Order only bring back the Empire ’s most famous character of priming troop . From a real - world perspective , most TV audience are n’t conversant with Imperial Army Troopers , but stormtroopers are pop civilisation ikon , sotheStar Warssequel trilogy , which consciously render to replicate the look and finger of the original trilogy , only used a new iteration of the most famous Imperial soldier for the First Order ’s army .

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