I heard it said recently that Rogue One: A Star Wars story didn’t have an opening crawl because it was, in effect, the story behind the opening crawl of Episode IV: A New Hope. The “first victory” of the Rebellion over the Empire was the battle fought at Scarif. Scarif was the first in a series of events including Princess Leia’s capture, the destruction of Alderaan, and the battle of Yavin that marked the start of the Galactic Civil War. After Yavin, the Rebel Alliance was a primarily military group fighting an open war against the Empire. If you paid attention to Rogue One, HOWEVER, you may have noticed that this was not the case beforehand.
