Order 66, also known as Clone Protocol 66, was one of a series of contingency orders that the clone troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic were secretly trained to prepare for during their growth. The order branded the Jedi as traitors of the Republic and called for their immediate execution without question. Its issuing by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine marked the formal beginning of the Great Jedi Purge, which started the Galactic Civil War. Almost all of the Jedi were killed by Order 66, and most of the survivors were killed in the Great Jedi Purge that followed. The Jedi Order survived through acts of Jedi, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda teaching Luke Skywalker the ways of the Force. In 8 ABY, Order 66 was issued again and the Confederation of Free Planets began hunting the Jedi arcoss the galaxy that marked the formal beginning of the Fourth Jedi Purge.
