Early History
Bothawui was home to both industry and grain farms. The planet was mined for indigenous ores such as lidium.
The planet was an old member of the Galactic Republic, having joined years before the Great Sith War. Bothese was one of the languages from which Basic developed. The Bothans colonized many nearby worlds, such as Kothlis, and Bothawui became the capital of the Bothan sector. The Bothan Spynet also dated back to the days of the old Republic.[7]
During the Great Sith War, Krath came from Lannik and fought a battle on the planet, from which they moved to New Cov and Manda.[6]
During the turbulent time of the Great Galactic War, the galaxy faced a deadly threat in the form of the resurgent Sith Empire which began conquering system after system. In 3,671 BBY, after a string of victories in the Outer Rim, the Sith turned their attentions to the Both system with the intention of conquering it. This culminated in the First Battle of Bothawui, when a squadron of Imperial warships attempted to conquer the planet, but they were ambushed by Republic forces, who achieved their first victory in the Great Galactic War.
Fortifying the planet with a planetary shield generator, the Republic left a garrison force of 84 Jedi Knights and 4,000 Republic soldiers led by Jedi Master Belth Allusis to protect the world which they did from a renewed Sith attack who deployed 50,000 soldiers to take the Bothan homeworld. It was only the heroic sacrifices of hundreds of Jedi Knights and Republic soldiers who fought against impossible odds. The Republic defenders were killed in the struggle but the losses they placed on the Sith Empire forced the enemy to retreat.
In the years preceding the Clone Wars, the planet was represented in the Galactic Senate by Polo Se'Lab. It attempted to remain neutral during the Clone Wars. Despite its neutrality, a battle took place in the system. The forces on the ground were tired out after hard combat, when a fleet of Munificent-class star frigates entered the system to reinforce their own troops. Anakin Skywalker used a strategy for stopping them that saw AT-TE walkers deployed on local asteroids to ambush the warships from behind. The Munificent's unshielded sterns were bombarded.
Galactic Civil War
While officially a part of the Empire during the Galactic Civil War, the Imperials maintained little presence on the planet, apparently having decided that the world was little threat. A figure-head governor and a small contingent of stormtroopers was the only outward sign that the world was under supposedly Imperial governorship. During the early years of the conflict, Imperial Security Bureau Agent Mar Barezz intercepted Rebel agent Tiree at Mesa 291 on Bothawui while Tiree was recruiting support for the Rebel Alliance, but failed to capture or kill him.
Both the Imperial and Rebel Alliance intelligence services apparently decided to let the planet serve as neutral ground, where they could both spy on one another with no open conflict.
Shortly before the Battle of Endor in 3.5 ABY, the Bothan SpyNet and its leader, Koth Melan, discovered evidence revealing that the Empire was transporting a freighter supposedly carrying fertilizer from Coruscant to Bothawui, which, in fact, was transporting a closely guarded computer core containing plans to a top secret Imperial construction project. Luke Skywalker, along with Dash Rendar, traveled to Bothawui to aid in the capture of the information.
Accompanied by Rendar in his YT-2400 light freighter, the Outrider, and twelve BTL-S3 Y-wing starfighters piloted by eleven Bothans sympathetic to the Rebellion and Alliance pilot Ace Azzameen, Skywalker, in his personal X-wing, led an attack to intercept the freighter as it exited hyperspace on the fringes of the Both system. When the squadron intercepted the freighter, named the Suprosa, and demanded its surrender, the ship unveiled its heavy armaments and shields. Before Skywalker and Azzameen could disable the ship, the freighter had destroyed six of the Y-wings. After the computer was secured, it was taken to the Bothan colony world of Kothlis where a special team would attempt to decrypt it.
After a series of conflicts with the Imperial Navy immediately thereafter, the plans were finally delivered to the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser Independence, where it was revealed that the plans were the construction details to a new, more powerful Death Star. It would turn out that the Emperor had intentionally allowed the plans to fall into the hands of the Alliance in order to lead them into a trap at the Death Star II construction site over the Sanctuary Moon of Endor, where he would finally destroy them once and for all.
