The Clone Wars lasted about three years in official Star Wars canon, from 22 BBY to 19 BBY.

Canon timeline

  • The war begins with the First Battle of Geonosis seen at the end of Attack of the Clones , dated to 22 BBY.
  • It ends with the events of Revenge of the Sith —including Order 66 and the fall of the Republic—set in 19 BBY.

In-universe duration

  • Put simply, in-universe sources and reference materials describe the Clone Wars as a three‑year galaxy‑wide conflict.
  • This three‑year span is the commonly accepted answer when people ask “how long were the clone wars” in the context of current canon.

Fan and forum discussion

  • Some fans argue the scale of battles and character development makes the conflict feel more like 5–10 years, and they discuss head‑canon timelines to stretch it out.
  • Despite these debates, no alternative longer duration has replaced the three‑year period in canon sources.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.