system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Wars] Had Thrawn been given the position of Tarkin or a similarily high one, would the events between the Battle of Yavin and the Battle of Endor have played out differently?
gpt
The war would have been much shorter, that's for sure.  Alderaan would not have been destroyed and instead infiltrated to gather all possible Rebel-related intelligence, particularly the location of other key senatorial collaborators, notably Mon Mothma.

Assuming the Corellian YT-1300 transport piloted by the infamous smuggler Han Solo was still brought aboard the Death Star, things would have been played out in a similar fashion, though Thrawn would have encouraged the rescue and escape of the party and the Senator-turned-Rebel-leader Leia Organa.  They would lead him right to Yavin IV.

The Death Star would be used as bait for the pitiful shield of Rebel snubfighters.  Once within range, all TIE squadrons would be launched and the Rebel force utterly destroyed.  The Imperial fleet lying in wait behind the gas giant Yavin would then make its appearance and blockade the planet.  A general ground invasion would begin and all Rebels captured alive if possible.  They would then be interrogated at length for all sensitive information.

With the core of the Alliance leadership dead or in custody, any remaining Rebel cells would be hunted down ruthlessly and destroyed.  The planet of Mon Calamari would be blockaded and their civilian fleet scuttled to prevent any attempts to use it for the Rebel cause.

Though embers of the Rebel effort would continue to smolder for many years after, no subsequent organization would have the resources to oppose the Empire in a significant way, and most would be discouraged by the brutal repression of what came to be known as the Last Uprising of the Jedi.