The power of the Empire dates back to the end of the "Clone Wars" after the new Emporer that was originaly the old and wise Chancler Palpatine. Palpatine destroyes democracy of the Republic and places himself as Emporer ruleing with a iron fist intil 2 decades later intil his death in the hands of his Apprentice the fallen jedi Anakin Skywalker sadly killing Anakin in the process minutes later. Now lets move on to the Imperial Armys basic infintry:The Storm Trooper. now your probably going to ask..."well they suck,they can't hit anything" now let me put your little hard core hate of storm troopers to rest. its not that their terrible at their job its their training when the Rebelian came along there was a HUGE need for more troopers which meant they had to rush training making them nearly impossible for them to fight their best taking most of the troopers training advantages away. now lets move on to the Empires heavy armor. the Empire when the Rebelian came in the Emperor put alot of "credits" (star wars money as you know) into the Imperial military for the best weapons and gear inclouding the famous AT-AT from starwars episode two:The Empire Strikes Back and the AT-ST inclouding the AT-DP(from starwars Rebels) giving them a advantage in funding and gear to the Rebilian including the Imperial TIE. TIE means T=Twin I=Ion E=Engine. in conclusion this is the power of the Empire Intil the Empires fall in starwars Episode 6.(this is avalible in all languages so all can get alittle more lore about starwars. NOTE:This will have multiple parts because i noticed i missed alot of weapons and gear ECT. so look out for that)