Why Did the Jedi Use Children on the Battlefield? 

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They’re not child soldiers, they’re “gaining world experience.”

"In my book, experience outranks everything." - Captain Rex

I mean when you think about it, the Clone Troopers are technically Child Soldiers

I remember this one battle from the old EU Clone Wars comics..... this group of Padawans were basically abandoned on a planet full of Separatists. Their forces were all but depleted, and sending reinforcements just wasn't an option, it was too risky to try and get more forces there. So all of the Padawans left behind, they all fought til the end, and died. Anakin was actually among this group, but he got conveniently called away by Palpatine... (so that his future apprentice wouldn't be killed in battle lol)

The Jedi brought not just the men, but the women, and the children too. The Separatists are animals, and they slaughtered them like animals!

So the simplify this, the Jedi Masters cannot leave their Padawans alone because in less than five minutes, they will cause a bunch of messes without their supervisions.

They should explore the PTSD of Ashoka in he TV show. She was exposed to battlefields at 14, saw friends die, sacrifice, had to kill some lifeforms herself. One more thing that always shocked me is that when Ashoka goes with Padme to the Separatist Parliament, she is fully indoctrinated in propaganda. She thinks all speratists are evil and completly dehumanized the enemy. That is something very dangerous for a Jedi to do, as it is thier connection to life and respect of it, that tethers them to the Light side. SOme masters might fall for this but children are especially vulnerable to propaganda and manicheanism.

"How old do you have to be to pull a trigger? Kids make great soldiers. They barely know what fear is." -Nick Rostu

*Because they are immortal.* -Every Skyrim Player Ever

Far as military roles, I'd consider the Jedi a more, advisory role, like the Chaplains of the Adeptus Astartes. Capable of doing combat yes, but primarily a morale and spiritual position to support their men.

Medieval Knights brought their Squires with them on the field of battle, just like the Jedi with their Padawans. Not only for combat experience, training etc. but to see if those Squires would in fact have the mettle to become full fledged Knights. Those who disappointed could be Squires for the rest of their lives. The Jedi bringing their Padawans is similar in all respects. Some Squires were as young as 12, most of the Padawans at least seemed older than 12 years of age. Also, if a Padawan could not handle it, they'd move them to that Auxiliary Corps the Jedi had, that helped rebuild, and accomplish public works, agriculture projects, etc. They're pretty similar.

I think about a Padawan playing and talking to one of his/her close clone friend happily. As they go off some distance the clone gets the order and looks in sadness knowing what he'll have to do. He goes close to them and the Padawan turns around with a smile and then with a sad confused look. The clone pulls good pistol out and he says "I'm sorry" and pulls the trigger. Padawan dies and the clone walks away taking off his helmet with a tear coming down his face.

It went very fast from being near 20 years old and not being ready for the trials to off you go to war in your early teens.

2:29 Palpatine: "All according to keikaku."

I read about a medieval battle, a ten year old prince was present on a battle field, the general in command was killed in action, the ten year old prince took assumed command and he actually won the battle. Lol

“The Republic seems to be running out of Jedi.” (Activates lightsaber) Ahsoka, “He’s just another tinny boys. Let’s scrap him like the rest.”

Unfortunately. Obi Wan was the only one that had combat experience against a sith at that point. No one from the previous war was still alive to support either side of the argument. I think Qui Gon being killed by Darth Maul was part of Palpatine's plan because of how much of a skeptic he was.

Small children can get into small places

i find it important to point out, in the colosseum there was a very lacking clone presence and jedi went into battle on open fields with melee weapons as the frontline.

0:25 Careful Alan, your Imperium is showing

That thumbnail is everything XD

There should probably be a separation of those who train padawans and knights. No reason the one training the padawans and the ones going out on dangerous missions need to be the same people.

I think it also boils down to the idea that you can really only learn so much in a controlled situation where the teacher can step in an stop things when the student is in danger but really the only way for a jedi to properly learn how to fight and our negotiation skills is in real life out side the protection and control of the classroom so in away the Jedi did the right thing giving the young ones real life practice at a young age

Yoda: A calculated risk, it was. Terrible at math, I am.

Wow Palps really did love his child soldiers first the clones who were technically 9 when the war broke out and now the Padawans

Palpatine was a genius. Totally evil, but also a total genius.

For the same reasons everyone else uses childs as soldiers: they're small targets, harder to hit.

Jedi: Experience is the best teacher. *kid gets legs blown off" Jedi: Well I guess i learned something today. Never bring a child to a battlefield.

Damn, remember 4 years ago when this channel used to push over 100k views regularly? The content is still great and he’s as likeable as ever so what happened?

Jaro Tapal was awesome in Jedi Fallen Order.

Been said befor but technically speaking with their accelerated aging the clones were really more like 9 years old they had the bodies and physical capabilities of adults but the same years of experience, also in a similar situation of specialized training from birth to the padawan, their only adulthood being their physical attributes which a padawans "super powers" far exceeded. so its was really a whole army of children.

An interesting wee story would be Palps opposing senate motions or officers like Tarkin pushing for underage padawans removed from the battlefield.

Actually, Obi-Wan filled Depa Billaba's seat (Billaba would later take Even Piell's seat before handing it down to Stass Allie). Kit Fisto was given Trebor's seat.

The best way to gain experience is to be “hands on” with it.

No real world references of child soldiers or clips from Beasts of No Nation in this vid, call me surprised.

I am never this early, you should discuss the in-cannon chiss ascendancy and their politics :)

*“Youngling, defend burger town!”*

Gotta hand it to them where due though. SOME Jedi showed to be EXCELLENT an VERY competent COs apparently some you just don't screw with alone or at the head of their own small army. Padawans following Masters ANYWHERE.. think Sideous knew the Jedi an how they operated quite well. An he could use their own philosophy to expertly manipulate most of them in VERY unexpected an subtle ways an NEVER need even be anywhere near MOST of them vast majority of the time

I thought it more like Star Wars in many ways like a medieval society with high tech stuff, like medieval society regularly had kids fighting in war because that they way thing was, only recently with modern society that we decided to put a age limited on solder.

love your video's keep up the great work

To the audience the Clone Troopers technically are children due to the accelerate growth.

A emotionally distant order of warrior monks using children as soon as they are able is a normal thing from their point of view. We are just looking at it from an earthly mindset.

"Padawan Ramirez, take out that star destroyer"

Well that’s quite simple. Kids are cruel

this is a amazing piece of content right here. informative, direct, entertaining, and the pacing of the video is perfect. 10/10

If i was a Jedi, I wouldn't be your conventional Jedi. Sending kids into a life and death situation is irresponsible. Its a sign of bad 'parenting.'

Lmao that thumbnail

I think that you mean "younglings". What's a cheddren/children/whatever? Asking for a Star Wars friend.

The Jedi are powerleveling their Padawans is why they were OK with child soldiering. Got to make more Knights some how.

Hey I have a legitimate question that I’ve never actually seen anyone ask. I get Palpatine’s order 66 and destroying all the Jedi, but what about the parents who sent their children to the Jedi for training, why don’t we hear outcry from the parents of the younglings killed at the temple. Because even if I had sent my kid to become a Jedi I’d be horrified and furious to hear that clone troopers gunned down literal children and either plot revenge or start a protest.

If the kids are expected to be military leader, then they should train them more. Their masters can go out and fight, but the padawans would stay at the temple. After a year of military tactics and lightsaber training, then they can go out and rejoin their masters. Like a squire, a padawan's life is full of danger; however, war is a whole new animal. Sending out a bunch of powerful wizard children will do no good if they do not know what they are doing.

Even with everything Ukraine is going through to stop the russians, they still have a age limit of 18 for their soldiers. I can't see why the Republic and the Jedi didn't do the same. Though in the "Dune" universe, child warriors were common and the "Fremen" were religious warriors, some with mystical powers, like the Jedi.

6:18 Yay thank you for referencing Galactic Battlegrounds, that game doesn't get enough mentions imo. Great vid GenTech.

I think had the Jedi had had the time they could have trained the teens better for combat. Sense the didn't have the time I would go with the out maneuvering side. The Jedi as a whole were not ready for the war and the teens even less so.

Great video !

Last time I was this early alderaan still had a Senate seat.

Good episode!!!!

I was under the impression that the Jedi participated on the War because previous Jedi, Dooku, made Jedi look bad in the eyes of the public. Jedi will try to fix that and get control of the military just in case if what Dooku said about the Sith controlling the senate was true. They are more politically involved and it prevents the Senate (that might be controlled by the Sith) from having control of the central military. As for padawans being involved is not a problem, the problem is that there should be an age restriction. They were promoting younglings too soon. Of course the mentorship and training is left to the master, Anakin love being in the frontlines is mostly what we see. But I’m sure other Masters didn’t allow their padawans in the frontlines. The younger padawans were usually in strong republic outposts with their masters. It just happens that they were targets for the tragedies that happened. The best action was not giving ranks to Padawans unless they were of age to join military as Republic law mandates.

Truly wonderful the mind of a child .

2:30 Palpatines MO, sounds alot like real life these days too unfortunately

First instinct as I clicked is "smaller targets" but let's take a look... Hm, yep, Jedi doctrine failure also works...

this video was super under recommended

What happened to the Jedi Service Corp when the Empire took over?

“Death to xenos.” You’re lucky I just came off an Aliens binge so that I’m in a more agreeable mood. 😂

How do you define "child" in a universe of extremely varied longevities and maturation rates? And the two may not have any relation to the other, nor may they have any relation to actual learning speed. The only thing I can think is each padawan is measured on their emotional maturity. Of course saying that, I think the Jedi failed too often with various individuals, and probably needed a far better system

This video NEEDED moar COW BELL BABY!

Smaller hitboxes

What was the movie you showed a clip of when you mentioned that the Jedi were warrior monks @4:40?

Younglings aren't ready to eventually slay organisms

Please make a video where the galactic republic with the jedi attack earth

2:29 Sounds like real life

Maybe they offered a great curriculum?

The Jedi lost their way centuries ago.

🤔 . . . Personally, & its technically part of my education reformation, I honestly believe that kids, assessed no younger that five (5) years of age, should have their training towards their Potential Careers as soon as possible. Thus, from tenth (10) grade, about fifteen (15) to sixteen (16) years of age, they’ll get hands on experiences with the various vehicles, such as planes, trains, ships, trucks, busses, helicopters, tanks, & more until they graduate twelfth (12) grade at around the age of eighteen (18). Even before their hands on high school, they would’ve also received a lot of prep training in middle school, especially in swimming, parachuting, et cetera. Thus, I honestly don’t believe its wrong for Padawans to get involved, but I would heavily regulate & control what their roles & duties are based on how far their training has come & what skill sets could be most beneficial. The youngest would likely run various supply missions & watch/observe from the back & coordinate the forces as needed. The mids would likely be rear guard & battlefield cleanup, ensuring the wounded are treated, civilians are evacuated, & any pockets & potential threats behind the front line(s) are dealt with. The more advanced & mature are likely going to be put on the forefront, right where their masters are…

The Jedi council realizing they can just raise their soldier and make them think they don't need money or other things so that the republic doesn't have to pay them

on the job training

Where did that video of Revan come from?

Padawan: Lowest rank in the jedi order. Full jedi in every sense of the word. Just lacking experiance. War kills people. Shocking i know. Jedi are still people and died too. I think it was a case of must rather then want. Sure they could have stayed out of the war and let the republic be conquered(And betray all the stand for in the progress) Or they deal the hand they where dealt. It sucks but you can not stop training padawans just because there is a war going on. If anything they too have to leatned how to deal with the unexpected war. Better learn how to control themself then let the lose themself to battle. Also i am 90% sure that early in the war all padawans send to wat where 18+ But constant losses kinda forces you to do think you dont like to win. But as you pointed out several times the jedi simple wherent ready for war. A 1000 years of peace does that to people.

What's that scene @ ~11:50 from??

What are some of the starears books.youve read and liked?

I always figured Padawans were going to fight alongside their masters, and there wasn't much thought about it. Star Wars aesthetic and setting is a Sci-Fi combination of Wild West, Medieval chivalry, World War 2, Kung Fu movies, and in later books modern political thriller. When I was a kid before the prequel era, I assumed Jedi apprentices were like western Squires, and would be teenagers serving alongside whoever was training them, basically officially recognized sidekicks. I didn't think of "child soldier" morality being a problem because well, knights bring squires to battle with them. TLDR: Star Wars is a hodgepodge of genres with different moralities and to an audience of smart 8-10 year olds, the word Knight (and a hyperfixation on Castles and a few nonfiction books) would make a lot of the audience guess that it was totally chill for apprentice warriors to follow their mentors into battle.

Hello there friends welcome back to another episode of Generation Tech my name is Allen

Makes sense...from the Jedi perspective, If they lose younglings they can always go out and steal more children for replacement.

Sir I know this may sound in relevant to you but. The only thing I can think of is the scene in the Matrix when the General told the boy he was too young to fight. Then the boy said the machines will kill me no matter how old I am. Then the General said "Damn right" and let him reload his GunBot ! 👁️ "Just saying"

It not ".. kind of cruel to put kids in these kind of situations". It is cruel full stop, Gen Tech hit the nail on the head.

They weren’t exactly children they were teenagers

0:01 General Kenobi

Palapatine's entire strategy had a heavy element of using the Jedi to destroy themselves. that was the entire point of making them soldiers to disrupt their focus and blind them both to the Sithand the trap he was laying for them. The fatal mistake of the Jedi was to allow themselves too comfortable a place in the center of power in the Old Republic. This helped create a sense of obligation to the Republic that Palpatine took full advantage of. The fact that he could easily maneuver the Council to throw Ashoka Tanoe under the bus shows how much the Order itself had fallen along with the corruption of the Republic.

If memory serves there were only 13K Jedi in the entire galaxy, so every force wielder that could be utilized was a precious resource (ie Kanan Jarrus, Ahsoka Tano). Plus in the Middle Ages young squires would regularly go into the battle with the master knights that they served such as during the Crusades. Young boys fought in the American Revolution and fought on both sides of the Civil War. And boys as young as 10 years old were on the frontlines of WWI. So historically the concept is not as out of the ordinary as it may sound.

Not all Jedi were combat warriors. Some were librarians, detectives, politicians, Temple Guards, trainers, etc. Even before Palpatine, when there were thousands of Jedi at one time, it's very likely that only a few hundred were capable of combat. Such Padawans would have been absolutely required to be under the strict tutelage of a master. They would be too valuable to NOT be used.

Queen Amidala of Naboo was 14 years old in "The Phantom Menace." Another example of a child soldier.

Jedi belike - There a lot of kids mean a big child army and and you can get them to think how you want.

PADAWAN RAMIREZ! DEFEND THE BURGERTOWN SYSTEM WITH THAT LIGHTSABER!

SpaceSparta!

Can you please continue the sepratist alliance vs earth series please

Padawan Alan What is best in life Crush your enemies See them driven before you And to hear the lamentations of the woman Your ready for war Show me your war face

On a large enough scale there's no such thing as war crimes

Luigi says: Send children to a suicidical mass charge

The part that gets me, in the extended universe you learn Yoda knew what was going to happen with order 66. As wise and Powerful as he was, he should have been able to at least save the Younglings and some of the padawans. He could have had them all scattered across the Galaxy before Order 66 took effect. The older Jedi might have deserved their fate. But in my opinion The Young Ones could have learned a new way.