Sometimes, people ask questions and apply methods into wildly inappropriate and simultaneously completely awesome areas of inquiry. This, ladies and gentlemen, is just such an expression of awesome.

The fundamental question: What the hell was Vader thinking when he planned the attack on the Rebel base at the Battle of Hoth?

From a military perspective, Hoth should have been a total debacle for the Rebel Alliance.

The defenses the Alliance constructed on Hoth could not be more favorable to Vader if the villain constructed them himself. Its outermost perimeter defense is an energy shield that can deflect Imperial laser bombardment.

But the shield has two huge flaws: It can’t stop an Imperial landing force from entering the atmosphere, and it can only open in a discrete place for a limited time so the Rebels’ Ion Cannon can protect an evacuation. In essence, the Rebels built a shield that can’t keep an invader out and complicates their own escape.

Vader realizes the opportunity at hand for an end to the Rebellion. Yet his bumbling fleet admiral leaves hyperspace too close to Hoth, losing the element of surprise and allowing the Rebels to activate the shield.

Vader jumps into the Hoth system with a handful of Star Destroyers; only six are shown on screen. That’s got to enforce a blockade of an entire planet. His major ally is the Rebel energy shield itself, which bottles up a Rebel escape to the Ion Cannon’s line of sight. But Vader doesn’t seem to realize the shield’s ironic value. Once Vader orders the shields destroyed, he lacks the force to prevent a pell-mell Rebel retreat.

The first phase of the battle is a ground assault launched against the generator. Vader devotes five Imperial AT-AT Walkers to the task. Vader sees no need to give them air cover, even though he’s tasted the quality of Rebel piloting during the destruction of the Death Star.

Yet the ground assault is pretty successful — by accident. The weaponry on the AT-AT Walkers doesn’t overwhelm or destroy the few laser-artillery pieces the Rebels have to protect the generator. Only when Rebel General Rieekan orders the full evacuation of Hoth do the Walkers destroy the generator.

Via Wired, which you really should check out for the fantastic in-depth military analysis which this is just a rough tease of.