What Was the Jedi Plan at Geonosis?

Would you agree that the Second Battle of Geonosis in The Clone Wars is one of the best battles in Star Wars? For me, it’s incredible.

But before that battle, something stood out. In The Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi talks with Ki-Adi-Mundi, and he seems… concerned. That’s surprising because, as Attack of the Clones shows, the Republic won the first battle. So why did Obi-Wan still seem wary?

That made me take a closer look at the First Battle of Geonosis. What exactly were the Jedi planning when they first arrived? And why did Obi-Wan, years later, still reflect on it with concern?

Table of Contents

The Jedi Believed 212 Jedi Warriors Would Be Enough to Force Dooku’s Surrender
Their Failed Plan at Geonosis
The Cost of the Jedi’s Mistake

The Jedi Believed 212 Jedi Warriors Would Be Enough to Force Dooku’s Surrender

When Mace Windu ignited his lightsaber and held it to Jango Fett, his confidence in the Jedi was undeniable. In the film, we don’t hear his full thoughts, but the original script reveals what he truly believed: “I don’t think so. The Geonosians aren’t warriors. One Jedi has to be worth a hundred Geonosians.”

But that’s where everything went wrong.

Dooku didn’t rely on Geonosians to win this fight. The moment he unleashed his droid army, Windu realized the Jedi had walked into a death trap. The plan had been built on the assumption that their numbers would be enough to make Dooku surrender—but instead, the Jedi found themselves hopelessly outmatched.

We even hear Dooku mock Windu, saying, “Brave, but stupid, my old Jedi friend. You’re impossibly outnumbered.”

This wasn’t just the Jedi’s first battle in a thousand years—it was also the first time many of them had even seen battle droids in real combat. Aside from Obi-Wan, who had fought them in The Phantom Menace, the rest of the Jedi had never faced an organized, industrialized army. The moment thousands of droids marched into the arena, their entire strategy fell apart.

From the start, the Jedi had planned to use their 212 Jedi to overpower the Geonosians and force Dooku to surrender. But Dooku had already accounted for this. The Jedi weren’t facing Geonosian warriors—they were walking into the opening battle of the Clone Wars, completely unprepared for the war that was about to begin.

Their Failed Plan at Geonosis

Why The Battle of Geonosis Was WAY Worse Than You Realize| The Day the Jedi Became Mortal

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At first, we know the Jedi weren’t preparing for a full-scale battle—they believed they were simply staging a rescue mission. The goal seemed simple: save Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Padmé Amidala before they could be executed by Count Dooku. With this in mind, Mace Windu led a strike team of 212 Jedi onto Geonosis, expecting their sheer presence to be enough to intimidate Dooku into surrender. The Jedi weren’t marching in as an army; they still saw themselves as peacekeepers, believing they could end this conflict before it escalated into war.

But that’s exactly where things went wrong. The Jedi completely misjudged the situation. Instead of finding a small group of Separatist leaders with minimal defenses, they walked straight into a battlefield they weren’t prepared for. We can see how they had no idea what was waiting for them. They assumed they’d be facing Dooku, Jango Fett, and a few Geonosian warriors, not a fully operational droid army ready for war. The Jedi believed their presence alone would make Dooku back down, but instead, they found themselves outgunned and outnumbered the moment they arrived.

What was meant to be a quick rescue turned into a death trap. Before they could even react, the arena was flooded with thousands of battle droids, completely surrounding them. We can only imagine the realization sinking in as they saw wave after wave of enemies emerging from the shadows, their lightsabers suddenly feeling much smaller against an entire army. Then, Geonosian warriors took to the skies, attacking from above, making it impossible for the Jedi to regroup. If that wasn’t enough, heavily armed Super Battle Droids entered the fight, cutting down Jedi left and right. At that moment, it became clear that this wasn’t a rescue mission anymore—it was a massacre.

The Cost of the Jedi’s Mistake

The Jedi went into Geonosis believing they had the upper hand, but they couldn’t have been more wrong. Out of the 212 Jedi who stormed the arena, only a handful made it out alive. Nearly 200 Jedi were killed in just one battle—a devastating loss for an Order that had spent centuries as peacekeepers, not warriors.

But the Jedi weren’t the only ones who suffered. This was also the first battle for the Grand Army of the Republic, and the cost was staggering. When Yoda arrived with 192,000 clone troopers, it looked like the Republic had secured victory. Yet by the time the battle was over, we know that only 72,000 were still combat-fit. Reports tell us that around 12,000 clones were seriously injured, 8,000 sustained lighter wounds, and an estimated 100,000 clones were either killed or went missing in action.

To put things into perspective, Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones gives us a direct comparison of the forces on both sides. I’ve included images below for reference, but I’ll also break it down in text for easier reading.

Republic Forces:

Alongside 212 Jedi, we have