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Mandalore76 on 18 December 2017
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Nymeria said:
Mandalore76 said:

The opening screen crawl of "The Last Jedi" states pretty clearly otherwise:

"The FIRST ORDER reigns. Having decimated the peaceful Republic, Supreme Leader Snoke now deploys his merciless legions to seize military control of the galaxy.  Only General Leia Organa’s band of RESISTANCE fighters stand against the rising tyranny"

Coruscant is at the Galactic Core.  I'm pretty sure there is dialogue in the film that reaffirms the First Order has already established/is establishing control over the majority of the galaxy.  At the abandoned base at the end, they also make it very clear that the Rebellion's only hope for aid could only come from the Outer Rim territories.  I think we're supposed to infer that The First Order was able to wipe out The Republic relatively quickly after StarKiller Base obliterated the Republic's capital and Senate in "The Force Awakens".  From Wookiepedia:

"The Hosnian Cataclysm, also known as the destruction of Hosnian Prime, was the destruction of the Hosnian system at the hands of the First Order thirty years after the Battle of Endor. The event took place during the Cold war and marked the annihilation of Hosnian Prime, the capital of the New Republic. Its destruction was carried out by Starkiller Base, a superweapon capable of destroying entire star systems. With the destruction of Hosnian Prime came the destruction of the Galactic Senate and part of the New Republic Starfleet. The destruction of the system was visible from around the galaxy, including the planets of Takodana and Vardos.

Though stunned by the events, the armed forces fighting the First Order, commanded by General Leia Organa, immediately began their response. The Resistance successfully destroyed the Starkiller weapon, ensuring it would never eliminate another star system again. However, the extermination of the Galactic Senate and a large part of the Republic Starfleet, as well as the massive loss of life, left both the New Republic and the Resistance in a vulnerable position. "

  

Help me with the timeline then.

My understanding was Force Awakens ends with Starkiller base exploding, and Rey goes to see Luke.  Last Jedi opens with Rey at the exact moment handing the light sabre to Luke.  If I were to guess all of Last Jedi takes place within a week right after the conclusion of Force Awakens.

So, within a week the First Order blitzed the Republic and crushed the resistance to a small handful?  I can accept it, but pacing wise it is jarring to think went from peace, to war, to conquest within a month on an interstellar level. I'll say it is not in my top five issues with the Last Jedi.

I don't disagree with you.  However, the opening crawl and the dialogue still states that the Republic has been "decimated".  Is it sloppy story telling?  Sure.  But, it's par for the course in Disney's chosen narrative for their Star Wars trilogy.  Where did The First Order come from?  Unexplained.  Why is there still a Rebellion after the establishment of The New Republic.  Unexplained.  Why isn't The New Republic at war with The First Order?  Unexplained.  They leave it up to the viewer to dig up the answers outside the films.  Here is what I found (I'm guessing this comes from the books that have been published in the last few years which Disney says are canon):

"A peace treaty was signed that ended both the Empire and the Rebellion. Mon Mothma formally established the New Republic and passed the Military Disarmament Act, ensuring that the new government would have neither troops nor starships.  As her term ended, Leia also became aware that a mysterious organization, the First Order, was gaining strength in the outer reaches of the galaxy. In an attempt to counter this new threat, aware that the New Republic could not become a military force, she began gathering allies into a small and private group. They called it the Resistance.  In order to establish the first Resistance Base, the group decamped to a planet called D’Qar, a planet that had been scouted decades before by the Rebel Alliance. This is where Leia and her followers were as they watched the First Order blow up the New Republic. As “The Last Jedi” begins, there is no government in the galaxy, and the First Order is on the march."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/watching/star-wars-resistance-rebellion.html

According to that, The Republic in The Force Awakens has no military whatsoever.  So, when the capital and Senate get blown up by The First Order in The Force Awakens, that's pretty much it for the Republic.  There's no organized military machine in place to prevent The First Order from seizing control.  And no Republic fleet to send aid anywhere.  There is just Leia and her Rebels.