The Clone Wars (22 BBY–17 BBY), also known as the Clone War and the Great Clone War, was the name given to the major galactic conflict fought between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The war was named after the clone troopers utilized by the Republic against the battle droid forces of the CIS. These armies were two of the largest ever pitted against each other in galactic history, and the fighting between them rapidly spread to countless inhabited worlds. Both sides scored significant victories over the other, and at different times during the war either seemed likely to triumph.
Unbeknownst to most of those involved until afterwards, the conflict was started and maintained by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, whose ultimate goal was the transformation of the Republic and the eradication of the Jedi Order.
The death of General Grievous brought an official end to the fighting, but the war did not offiically end until the death of Sidious and it took years before the last leaders of the Seperatist Council were finally found and tried for their crimes.