History LaResistance / RealLife

** UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar saw several million men die in uniform, or bits of it, but many also died fighting the Japanese out of it. While it's true that there were communist cells in the occupied areas, [[EnemyMine these co-operated with the occupation authorities to help them root out all the non-communist ones]]. The Communists also refused to actually do any fighting, except for that one time when Stalin ordered them to in 1940 to save the Guomindang's hide, since they wouldn't have minded Japan winning (since it would mean them winning the Chinese Civil War by default) and wanted to build up their strength so they could start the Civil War up again later if the Guomindang survived.

*** On a sidenote, virtually any significant pre-war political organization, from natonalists to farmers to communist had its 'own' resistance organization.

** When UsefulNotes/FranciscoPizarro learned the iron-handed reign of the Inca had caused tons of resentment across his empire, he concluded all he needed to do was find a way to capture Emperor Atahualpa, announce to everybody, "Don't worry guys, I have got him, you can breathe now," and wait for the happy alliances to come by themselves. Although large parts of the empire remained unconquered, with several Atahualpist generals declaring their domains independent in a bid to try to claim the throne themselves, Pizarro was now riding the wave and heading an ever-growing host who effectively saw itself as an army of liberation from the Inca rule. Even when an alternative appeared in the form of the rebel Manco Inca, who appealed to those discontent with the Spaniards, most of the empire still sided with Francisco and company.

** When UsefulNotes/FranciscoPizarro learned the iron-handed reign of the Inca had caused tons of resentment across his empire, he concluded all he needed to do was find a way to capture Emperor Atahualpa, announcing everybody "don't worry guys, I have got him, you can breathe now", and wait for the happy alliances to come by themselves. Although large parts of the empire remained unconquered, with several Atahualpist generals declaring their domains independent in a bid to try to claim the throne themselves, Pizarro was now riding the wave and heading an ever-growing host who effectively saw itself as an army of liberation from the Inca rule. Even when an alternative appeared in the form of the rebel Manco Inca, who appealed to those discontent with the Spaniards, most of the empire still sided with Francisco and company.

** When UsefulNotes/FranciscoPizarro learned the iron-handed reign of the Inca had caused tons of resentment across his empire, he concluded all he needed to do was finding a way to capture Emperor Atahualpa, announcing everybody "don't worry guys, I have got him, you can breathe now", and wait for the happy alliances to come by themselves. Although large parts of the empire remained unconquered, with several Atahualpist generals declaring their domains independent in a bid to try to claim the throne themselves, Pizarro was now riding the wave and heading an ever-growing host who effectively saw itself as an army of liberation from the Inca rule. Even when an alternative appeared in the form of the rebel Manco Inca, who appealed to those discontent with the Spaniards, most of the empire still sided with Francisco and company.

** The Irish Republican Army, and before them you had the Fenians in 19th Century UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain.

* Several resistances against undemocratic governments in Latin America and South America qualify, markedly in Brazil the MR-8.

* The Arab Spring, a wave of protests and revolutions that began in TheNewTens in the Middle East. Yemen, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia saw actual regime change while in Syria it spiraled into a civil war which as of 2019, is still going on.
* The Arab Spring itself was inspired by the Iranian "Jonbesh e Sabz" (Persian for "Green Movement", though they weren't exactly "Green") which started in 2009. The movement started as a group protesting against the Ahmadinejad Administration's radical moves and blatant corruption and they rallied behind Mir Hossein Mousavi who went on to run for President. Then Ahmadinejad got reelected in an obviously rigged election and the Greens took to the streets. Mousavi and fellow candidate Mahdi Karoubi were taken into custody immediately (Flash-forward 10 years, they're still under house arrest) and the protests got more serious, the government got more violent and the movement eventually faded away.
* While the Green Movement was eventually founded by Gay Rights Activists, its official leaders were still loyal to the constitution of the Islamic Republic. The movement sought to reform and improve the system rather to abolish it. This view has been falling out of favor the past few years, more and more people are leaning towards a total Anti-Establishment view in an attempt to end the hostility and the clerical control for good. Since the December 2017 protests a new Resistance has been formed, called the Farashgard. The Farashgard is completely anti-theocracy and anti-communist. They seek to establish a european style Democracy and possibly a restoration of the Pahlavi Monarchy. The organization keeps a very low profile, the only known members other than those arrested and killed in the protests are the 40 leaders, all of whom are living in exile.

* The militia group United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan and its successor faction The Panjshir Resistance are a united military front that have been waging a nearly 30 year conflict against the current rulers of Afghanistan the Taliban
* 2022 UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}}:
** As soon as it became clear that UsefulNotes/{{Belarus}} was to serve as launchpad for the Russian army's attempt to assault the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv, a clandestine network of Belarusian railway workers, hackers and dissident security forces sabotaged Belarus' railway system, which contributed to cut the supplies of the Russian assault in February-March and thwarted it along with other factors (poor planning, fierce and unexpected counter-attacks by the Ukrainian forces etc).
** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_resistance_during_the_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine Ukrainian resistance movements]] are active in the Russian-occupied areas and claim a body count of Russian occupiers in the hundreds. Several [[LesCollaborateurs Russia-installed officials]] have been targeted by [[ExternalCombustion car bombings]].

** The Aztec Empire was in the peak of its glory when UsefulNotes/HernanCortez arrived, but its characteristically brutal, sacrifice-happy rule ensured that its actual control over its many subjects states was very fragile, and several of them were already resisting either covertly or openly. Logically, with the arrival of powerful foreigners who demanded no human tribute and only wanted useless yellow metal, gathering around those became an instantly attractive option. Emperor Moctezuma and his courtiers were actually amused when they saw Cortés having an entourage formed by those tribesmen, as the Aztecs saw them as worthless. Of course, when open war exploded and Cortés and company started quickly expanding their alliance on the promise of ending the Aztec rule, ultimately attracting the entire empire sans the capital, few people there were still laughing.

** The Underground railroad that preceded the Civil War is seen as a more clear representation of this in popular culture. A good way to cultivate liberal cred among characters in old time setting is to show them working to help runaway slaves hide from authorities. The likes of UsefulNotes/HarrietTubman (who used subterfuge, cunning, guile in the best resistance tradition) are lionized as heroes, as is Frederick Douglass. Nat Turner and especially John Brown are seen as darker chaotic expressions of this concept.
* Finnish Civil War 1918 - ''both'' sides. The Whites considered themselves as the representatives of the legitimate government resisting the Communist Imperialism (which would have been true is they hadn't exiled, imprisoned or executed all the MPs of the biggest party), while the Reds considered themselves as the sole defendant of the small guy against Capitalist oppressors (which would have had a bigger ring to it if the Finnish people hadn't shown through universal suffrage elections that they didn't like the communists). Needless to say, the Finnish Civil War was ''extremely'' bloody.

** Ukrainian resistance movements are active in the Russian-occupied cities such as Melitopol and Kherson and claim a body count of Russian occupiers in the hundreds. A [[LesCollaborateurs Russia-installed official]] in Kherson, Dmitry Savluchenko, was killed in a [[ExternalCombustion car bombing]] on June 24, 2022.

** The South portrayed itself as rebels against "the tyranny" of the Industrial North. Features like "Rebel Yell", "Johnny Reb" (a mascot still in use in some state football teams) and the vaunted nobility of its officers, endured in romantic accounts that followed the war. Recent scholars regard the war as an illegal rebellion by a bunch of slaveowners who refuse to accept [[NeverMyFault that they started the conflict]] and brought down the wrath of the North on themselves, but the mythology of the South as a culture that resisted the North was a key feature of (white) Southern identity, over a century and a half after the war ended.

** The anarcho-syndicalist uprisings in Catalonia was this on the leftist side. They resisted Franco but were certainly not "Loyalists", as they fought for the complete dismantlement of the state apparatus and had strained relationships with the rest of the Republican side. Under the guidance of the FAI-CNT the citizen rose up against the Nationalists and fired off the shots for an anarchist insurrection, allying only with the Loyalist government as a sort of "the enemy of my enemy" deal. Then they ran into the Stalinists who did with them as is their wont.

** UsefulNotes/{{India}} had several anti-English rebellions and conflicts until the 1857 Mutiny put an end to all military threats against the English. After that the Nationalist movement took root among several freedom fighters. The biggest and most influential mass movement was that of UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi, which codified non-violent resistance movements in the 20th Century. The Indians finally got independence in 1947 but it was a PyrrhicVictory on account of Partition. Ironically, Independent India would face "resistance" movements (more precisely "separatists") from the 80s and to the present day in Punjab [[note]] Sikh religious extremists who wanted to establish a Sikh theocracy [[/note]], Kashmir [[note]] Islamic extremists who wanted to either accede to Pakistan or create an independent Muslim nation [[/note]], the North East and Chhattisgarh [[note]] By communist guerillas known as Naxals [[/note]].

** UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution is an interesting example. The men who resisted the tyrant King George were for the most slaveowners yet preached about their rights. This was seen as hypocritical even in its day and age (Creator/SamuelJohnson called them out on it). They also opposed the Mohawks and Iroquois Confederacy of New York, most of whom were allied to the English. The English, which was also a slaveowning nation at this time, attracted some ex-slaves with the promise of manumission.

** As soon as it became clear that UsefulNotes/{{Belarus}} was to serve as launchpad for the Russian army's attempt to assault the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv, a clandestine network of Belarusian railway workers, hackers and dissident security forces sabotaged Belarus' railway system, which contributed to cut the supplies of the Russian assault in February-March and thwarted it along with other factors (poor planning, fierce and unexpected Ukrainian resistance etc).

** As soon as it became clear that UsefulNotes/{{Belarus}} was to serve as launchpad for the Russian army's attempt to assault the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv, a clandestine network of Belarusian railway workers, hackers and dissident security forces sabotaged Belarus' railway system, which contributed to thwart the Russian assault in February-March, along with other factors (poor planning, fierce and unexpected Ukrainian resistance etc).

** That being said, non-communist groups that the Free French managed to rally were usually never tasked to directly attack the Germans for fear of reprisals (usually groups of people Germans would take hostage and shoot if the culprits didn't come forward). They had missions such as gathering intel, rescuing downed Allied pilots, helping the infiltration/exfiltration of Special Operations Executive agents and so on. Groups such as the communist Francs-tireurs et partisans (FTP) were more prone to direct attacks on the Germans.
** UsefulNotes/{{Vietnam}} was a French colony that fought the Japanese during World War II but hoped to gain independence from the French. Some of the Vietnamese leaders, including Ho Chi Minh himself tried to appeal to America to intervene on their behalf. Roosevelt was personally committed to decolonization but after his death, America turned its attention to the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. During the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar, the Communist groups in South Vietnam, the Viet Cong, provided another defining example of this trope in HollywoodHistory.

** The Polish Home Army was not just a RagtagBunchOfMisfits, but a full-blown government operating in conspiracy. They had their own judicial system, educational system (extending from primary schools to universities), hospitals, arms factories producing the indigenous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blyskawica_submachine_gun Błyskawica submachine gun]] and intelligence service operating in other countries. Its political activities ranged from assassinations of German officials to taking care of families of deceased soldiers to providing Jews with false documents. Downplayed in that the Home Army was technically an extension of the GovernmentInExile and operated under its orders. The two politically distinct groups, the National Armed Forces (nationalist) and People's Army (communist), play this trope straight.

** Italy had the biggest partisan movement of any Axis power. That was because Fascism got its supporters from the upper-middle class, who considered it a way to control the lower class. Needless to say, Fascism wasn't seen in a positive light by the farmers and workers who made up the majority of the population.
*** One of the most notable things of the Italian resistance was the success it enjoyed, at one point conquering a number of towns and creating temporary republics (including one near ''Mussolini's own hometown''), before launching an insurrection in ''every single town and city still occupied'' when the Allies' spring offensive in Italy broke through the Gothic Line and prevented the Germans and Fascists from even attempting to use the Po river as a last line of defense. They also had their own weapon production of an original design, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variara_submachine_gun Variara submachine gun]] (the only ones doing so besides for the Polish Home Army).

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio Stay-behind units]] organised in case of a Soviet invasion of Europe. During UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the Home Guard Auxilary Units in Britain would have carried out a similar function in the event that Britain was invaded by Germany.
** Being in a Home Guard Auxilary Unit was a heavy burden, because if your unit was actually activated (which would occur automatically if your town was occupied) the first job was to ensure security by killing the only other man who knew who the members were: The local police constable, who was invariably a close friend of all the members and trusted them enough to kill him if needed. Thankfully for them, by the time the units were actually formed, Germany was only a few months away from abandoning any thought of implementing Operation Sea Lion, for several reasons; they couldn't establish aerial or naval superiority, without which any attempt would have been extremely costly, and anyway, they had a much better idea - invading Russia!. The auxiliaries were finally stood down in 1944, when the Allies were going to be the ones doing the invading. Some of them joined the Special Air Service and saw action in Europe.

** The MIR/Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front in Chile and the Montoneros/People's Revolutionary Army in Argentina might qualify as well.

** While the Green Movement was eventually founded by Gay Rights Activists, its official leaders were still loyal to the constitution of the Islamic Republic. The movement sought to reform and improve the system rather to abolish it. This view has been falling out of favor the past few years, more and more people are leaning towards a total Anti-Establishment view in an attempt to end the hostility and the clerical control for good. Since the December 2017 protests a new Resistance has been formed, called the Farashgard. The Farashgard is completely anti-theocracy and anti-communist. They seek to establish a european style Democracy and possibly a restoration of the Pahlavi Monarchy. The organization keeps a very low profile, the only known members other than those arrested and killed in the protests are the 40 leaders, all of whom are living in exile.

*** Canada is a subversion in that there actually ''was'' La Resistance in the form of rebellions headed by {{Rebel Leader}}s William Lyon Mackenzie (in Upper Canada, modern Ontario) and Louis-Joseph Papineau (in Lower Canada, modern Quebec). Unlike the resistance movements in most other countries in the Americas, the Canadian ones were easily crushed by the British imperial military.

* The French Resistance during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII is the [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]] of course. They were in contact with the Free French GovernmentInExile of UsefulNotes/CharlesDeGaulle in London. The Free French entrusted men such as Jean Moulin to convince groups of varying persuasions (including royalists, patriots, communists, anarchists and social democrats) to more or less bury their hatchet and fight against the German occupiers and LesCollaborateurs. For instance, conservative Catholics could find themselves fighting alongside Communists, though not always in the same group. Some French communist groups got orders from UsefulNotes/JosefStalin's [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]] meanwhile, they notoriously did not take part to any resistance action until Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941.
** UsefulNotes/{{Vietnam}} was a French colony that fought the Japanese during World War 2 but hoped to gain independence from the French. Some of the Vietnamese leaders, including Ho Chi Minh himself tried to appeal to America to intervene on their behalf. Roosevelt was personally committed to decolonization but after his death, America turned its attention to the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. During the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar, the Communist groups in South Vietnam, the Viet Cong, provided another defining example of this trope in HollywoodHistory.

* The French Resistance is the [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]] of course. The Resistance was led by UsefulNotes/CharlesDeGaulle, who was a conservative Frenchman dedicated to restoring the French Republic. To this end, he managed to attract a coalition of right-wing and left-wing groups of varying persuasions (including royalists, patriots, communists, anarchists and social democrats) to more or less bury their hatchet and fight against the Nazis and LesCollaborateurs. During the Resistance, conservative Catholics fought alongside Communists, though perhaps not in the same group.
** Ironically, a key factor for the success of the French Resistance was France's colonies in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. After all, ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' is set in the (then) French colony of UsefulNotes/{{Morocco}}. The Government-in-Exile largely managed to convince these colonies to back the Resistance rather than Vichy (the main exceptions being in North Africa, which were too close to France geographically to avoid Vichy control--to say nothing of Algeria, which was legally not a colony, but an integral part of France itself), The implicit promise was independence, or at least complete internal autonomy, after the war. Then, on the day of France's liberation, [[ILied French authorities]] fired down several protestors in UsefulNotes/{{Algeria}}.
** And of course, there's also their territories in the Americas. Though the ones in the Caribbean and North America were [[LawfulStupid stymied by the Monroe Doctrine]]--the United States officially recognized Vichy France even after declaring war on Nazi Germany, and President Roosevelt personally distrusted Charles de Gaulle--the more far-flung French Guiana was better able to more readily and directly support de Gaulle. Once Germany took over the Vichy puppet state in 1943, all bets were off, and the French territories in the Western Hemisphere were able to openly support Free France with the full protection of the United States and its allies.

* The partisan movements in Nazi-controlled areas during UsefulNotes/WorldWar2 gave regular forces information and helped them with acts of sabotage that made their military operations much more efficient and less costly.

** In Germany itself, the White Rose (a nonviolent resistance group led by students) opposed Nazi rule after the disaster of Stalingrad. There were also the conspirators of Operation Valkyrie, army officers that sought to assassinate Hitler but failed.

** UsefulNotes/{{India}} had several anti-English rebellions and conflicts until the 1857 Mutiny put an end to all military threats against the English. After that the Nationalist movement took root among several freedom fighters. The biggest and most influential mass movement was that of UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi, which codified non-violent resistance movements in the 20th Century. The Indians finally got independence in 1947 but it was a PyrrhicVictory on account of Partition. Ironically, Independent India would face "resistance" movements (more precisely "separatists") from the 80s and to the present day in Punjab, Kashmir and Chattisgarh.

* There's also [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_independence_movement Dok-rib-goons (Independence Armies) and other underground resistances of Korea]], who fought against the Japanese rule during 36 years of Japanese colonization. When Japanese invaded China, Korean armies fought with Chinese armies and Allied forces(One of the leaders, Kim Gu, tried to send a troop of commandos into occupied Han peninsula(with the help from the USA). Unfortunately the War ended in August, before the operation date of October). One of the most prominent Dokribgun leaders was a charismatic man named Kim Il-sung... [[FromNobodyToNightmare who later became the dictator of]] UsefulNotes/NorthKorea and caused UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar.

** In August 1944, a resistance group of Jewish Poles in the Warsaw Ghetto launched an uprising against the German army that lasted for 63 days with next to no outside support. It was the single largest military effort taken by a European resistance movement during World War II.

** The South portrayed itself as rebels against "the tyranny" of the Industrial North. Features like "Rebel Yell", "Johnny Reb" (a mascot still in use in some state football teams) and the vaunted nobility of its officers, endured in romantic accounts that followed the war. Recent scholars regard the war as an illegal rebellion by a bunch of slaveowners who refuse to accept [[NeverMyFault that they started the conflict]] and brought down the wrath of the North on themselves, but the mythology of the South as a culture that resisted the North was a key feature of (white) Southern identity, nearly hundred years after the war ended.

** Ironically, a key factor for the success of the French Resistance was France's colonies in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. After all, ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' is set in the (then) French colony of UsefulNotes/{{Morocco}}. The Government-in-Exile largely managed to convince these colonies to back the Resistance rather than Vichy (the main exceptions being in North Africa, which were too close to France geographically to avoid Vichy control--to say nothing of Algeria, which was legally part of France), The implicit promise was independence, or at least complete internal autonomy, after the war. Then, on the day of France's liberation, [[ILied French authorities]] fired down several protestors in UsefulNotes/{{Algeria}}.

** Ironically, a key factor for the success of the French Resistance was France's colonies in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. After all, ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' is set in the (then) French colony of UsefulNotes/{{Morocco}}. The Government-In-Exile largely managed to convince these colonies to back the Resistance rather than Vichy, with the implicit promise of independence after the war. Then, on the day of France's liberation, [[ILied French authorities]] fired down several protestors in UsefulNotes/{{Algeria}}.

** The Polish Home Army was not just a RagtagBunchOfMisfits, but a full-blown government operating in conspiracy. They had their own judicial system, educational system (extending from primary schools to universities), hospitals, arms factories producing the indigenous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C5%82yskawica_submachine_gun Blyskawica submachine gun]] and intelligence service operating in other countries. Its political activities ranged from assassinations of German officials to taking care of families of deceased soldiers to providing Jews with false documents. Downplayed in that the Home Army was technically an extension of the GovernmentInExile and operated under its orders. The two politically distinct groups, the National Armed Forces (nationalist) and People's Army (communist), play this trope straight.

** And of course, there's also their territories in the Americas. Though the ones in the Caribbean and North America were [[LawfulStupid stymied by the Monroe Doctrine]]--the United States officially recognized Vichy France even after declaring war on Nazi Germany, and President Roosevelt personally distrusted Charles de Gaulle--the more far-flung French Guiana was better able to more readily and directly support de Gaulle. Once Germany took over the Vichy puppet state in 1943, all bets were off, and the American territories were able to openly support Free France.