Short answers, pulled from the story.
George Lucas created Star Wars. The original film was released on the 25th of May 1977, after 20th Century Fox agreed to finance a story Lucas developed following his inability to obtain rights to Flash Gordon.
Nine films make up the Skywalker Saga: the original trilogy (1977-1983), the prequel trilogy (1999-2005), and the sequel trilogy (2015-2019). All nine were nominated for Academy Awards, with Oscars going to the first three releases.
Star Wars, along with Jaws, started the summer blockbuster tradition and shifted Hollywood's focus toward special-effects-driven franchise films. Before 1977, film special effects had not appreciably advanced since the 1950s; the commercial success of Star Wars triggered a rapid boom in state-of-the-art effects.
By 1987 the first three Star Wars films had made billions in merchandising revenue. By 2012, the first six films produced approximately further billions. Lucas secured full ownership of merchandising rights by taking a $500,000 pay cut to his director's salary on the original 1977 film.
The Walt Disney Company agreed to buy Lucasfilm in October 2012. The acquisition led to the sequel trilogy, beginning with Episode VII: The Force Awakens in 2015, and the expansion of the franchise through Disney+ live-action series starting with The Mandalorian in 2019.
Darth Vader's design drew from Samurai armor and a German military helmet. Imperial officers' uniforms resemble those of German World War II forces, and the Galactic Empire's rise parallels the fall of the Roman Republic and the ascent of historical dictators including Adolf Hitler, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon Bonaparte.