hairy_hen said:

If you read the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn, you can see that his idea of what the Clone Wars were about was very, very different than it ended up being in the prequels, and far more interesting as well. He wasn't allowed by Lucasfilm to include many direct details, but it is clear that his scenario involved an evil army of clones trying to take over the galaxy, and that the Old Republic fleet had fought long and hard against them to prevent it. Many of the clones suffered from mental instability, even outright insanity, due to having been grown too quickly, making them spectacularly dangerous.

Exactly who the unnamed 'clonemasters' were, and why they embarked on this destructive course, is unknown. But due to Palpatine's possession of a complete cloning complex, it may be inferred that he was involved in the events somehow—probably manipulating everything for his own benefit. The Clone Wars did not lead directly into the formation of the Empire, having ended some fifteen years prior, but the chaos they left in their wake contributed greatly to this eventual outcome.

To me the true backstory of the original trilogy lies largely within this untold framework established by Zahn, as well as the hints of Vader's downfall from the drafts and novelization of RotJ, and nothing is ever going to convince me otherwise.

All of this is right on. Hairy, I'm gonna buy you a beer (don't know where, don't know when).