History Main / EnforcedColdWar

Often allows the Bad Guys to taunt the heroes with impunity. If so, there will almost certainly be at least one scene where one of the heroes has to be held back by their teammates, usually while they shout something like "Let me at em!"

It's common for there to be a pair of StarCrossedLovers separated from each other by being on different sides of the fight.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': An enforced SpaceColdWar existed between the Human Systems Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony ever since humanity first joined the Galactic Community. The root cause being a territorial dispute over a sector of space the Alliance began colonizing that the batarians claim rightfully belongs to them, despite the fact they did not have a physical presence anywhere in the area. When the Alliance pointed out the flaw in their logic, the batarians went and complained to the [[FictionalUnitedNations Citadel Council]] who agreed with the Alliance and granted them sole colonization rights to the sector. Enraged over this turn of events, the batarians promptly withdrew from the Galactic Community and became an isolationist state. From there, the batarians began waging a ProxyWar against the Alliance by taking control of various criminal groups (pirates, mercenaries, etc.) and directing them to attack human colonies while remaining anonymous on paper with PlausibleDeniability, at least until the [[MechanicalAbomination Reapers]] showed up in the third game and wiped out the batarians as their first target. The primary reason that war never broke out was because both sides knew that the batarians had no real chance of winning against humanity. The other reason was because both sides were equally afraid of interference from the Citadel Council, since the combined military of the three Council races was much more powerful than either of them. The Alliance was also concerned over the fact that even if they could win a war against the batarians, said war could have unforeseen long-term consequences depending on what exactly happens in the war and how long it lasts. Of particular concern were the unavoidable casualties of the war, along with the impact the war would have on their economy.

* This was pretty much the state of Europe for most of the 19th Century and the early 20th up until the outbreak of the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI First World War]]. Following the end of UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars, the great powers agreed at the Congress of Vienna to maintain a BalanceOfPower among themselves to ensure that no one nation ever got more powerful than the others and to prevent another war on the scale of Napoleon. This resulted in numerous interventions during this period, such as Britain and France intervening in UsefulNotes/TheCrimeanWar between Russia and the Ottoman Empire as they feared the Russians would become too powerful if they won.

* A likely interpretation of the situation in the ''Literature/LandOfOz.'' The King and Queen of Oz died (or disappeared) suddenly, with only an infant heir left behind. The [[TheArchmage four most powerful magic users]] in the land were looking to start trouble (the Witches of North and South allied against the Witches of East and West). Then in comes Oscar Diggs, a third-rate con artist and MagnificentBastard, who lands in Oz by accident and uses a combination of mistaken identity, carnival tricks, stage magic, and {{Steampunk}} technology to trick the four Witches into thinking he's more powerful than they are! He sets himself up as GodEmperor in the Emerald City, makes the infant heir vanish ([[MadeASlave by sending her into slavery]], [[GenderBender bespelled as the wrong gender]]), and things more or less stabilize...[[SpannerIntheWorks until some girl from Kansas shows up]], squishes the East Witch flat on accident, and throws the whole balance off.

** ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]''=t also had the sixth season opening arc in which the Dominion was in control of the station. To avoid collateral damage, Bajor did not ally with the Federation, so the main characters affiliated with the Bajoran government stayed on-board and worked side by side with the occupation forces (then again, they did eventually form an active resistance cell). Generally though the show subverted this, as the Dominion and the Federation, who were hostile toward each other since they met in season 2, eventually did go to war at the end of season 5.
** The franchise is filled with Cold War metaphors- the Romulans, the Cardassians, the Klingons and the Federation are all more-or-less in a state of this throughout the series to various degrees, punctuated by moments of EnemyMine alliances and outright conflict. Several storylines involve attempts to cause or avoid outright war.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': The Whitebeard War ends this way, as [[spoiler:Shanks]] intervenes and threatens to take on any side if they don't stop the senseless violence. In this case, this is likely a short-term solution, as [[spoiler:Shanks and his crew]] are about equal in power to the other factions. The only reason the threat held weight is because all the factions (Luffy's allies, the Whitebeard Pirates, the Blackbeard Pirates, and the World Government) were too weakened from the fighting up till that point. On a wider scale, the men in charge of the World Government spend most of their screen time worrying about the balance of power between the Marines, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and the Four Emperors.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': Many of the individual novel plots revolve around some radical person or group trying to upset the balance of power between Magic and Science, often in a rather public manner. This results in both sides dispatching agents to stop them, since while Academy City and the various Churches around the world are at odds with one another, they do not want the conflict to spill over into the public eye. In fact, the one time the conflict actually does get big enough that the public notices it, [[spoiler:it starts WorldWarIII]]. It isn't entirely clear how the Magic side got the {{masquerade}} going again after ''that'' debacle.

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* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': An enforced SpaceColdWar existed between the Human Systems Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony ever since humanity first joined the Galactic Community. The root cause being a territorial dispute over a sector of space the Alliance began colonizing that the batarians claim rightfully belongs to them, despite the fact they did not have a physical presence anywhere in the area. When the Alliance pointed out the flaw in their logic, the batarians went and complained to the [[FictionalUnitedNations Citadel Council]] who agreed with the Alliance and granted them sole colonization rights to the sector. Enraged over this turn of events, the batarians promptly withdrew from the Galactic Community and became an isolationist state. From there, the batarians began waging a ProxyWar against the Alliance by taking control of various criminal groups (pirates, mercenaries, etc.) and directing them to attack human colonies while remaining anonymous on paper with "Plausible Deniability", at least until the [[MechanicalAbomination Reapers]] showed up in the third game and wiped out the batarians as their first target. The primary reason that war never broke out was because both sides knew that the batarians had no real chance of winning against humanity. The other reason was because both sides were equally afraid of interference from the Citadel Council, since the combined military of the three Council races was much more powerful than either of them. The Alliance was also concerned over the fact that even if they could win a war against the batarians, said war could have unforeseen long-term consequences depending on what exactly happens in the war and how long it lasts. Of particular concern were the unavoidable casualties of the war, along with the impact the war would have on their economy.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': An enforced SpaceColdWar existed between the Human Systems Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony ever since humanity first joined the Galactic Community. The root cause being a territorial dispute over a sector of space the Alliance began colonizing that the batarians claim rightfully belongs to them, despite the fact they did not have a physical presence anywhere in the area. When the Alliance pointed out the flaw in their logic, the batarians went and complained to the [[FictionalUnitedNations Citadel Council]] who agreed with the Alliance and granted them sole colonization rights to this sector. Enraged over this turn of events, the batarians promptly withdrew from the Galactic Community and became an isolationist state. The batarians then began a ProxyWar against the Alliance by taking control of various criminal groups (pirates, mercenaries, etc.) and directing them to attack human colonies while remaining anonymous on paper with "Plausible Deniability", at least until the [[MechanicalAbomination Reapers]] showed up in the third game and wiped out the batarians as their first target. The primary reason that war never broke out was because both sides knew that the batarians had no real chance of winning against humanity. The other reason was because both sides were equally afraid of interference from the Citadel Council, since the combined military of the three Council races was much more powerful than either of them. The Alliance was also concerned over the fact that even if they could win a war against the batarians, the casualties of the war combined with the impact it would have on their economy, had the potential to greatly weaken them in the long run.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': An enforced SpaceColdWar existed between the Human Systems Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony ever since the humans first entered the Galactic Community. The root cause being a territorial dispute over control of a sector of space that the batarians claim rightfully belongs to them, despite the fact they did not have a physical presence in the area. When the humans pointed out the flaw in their logic, the batarians went and complained to the [[FictionalUnitedNations Citadel Council]] who agreed with the humans. Enraged, the batarians promptly withdrew from the Galactic Community and became an isolationist state while the humans continued their expansion. The batarians then began a ProxyWar against the humans by taking control of various criminal groups (pirates, mercenaries, etc.) and directing them to attack human colonies while remaining anonymous on paper with "Plausible Deniability", at least until the [[MechanicalAbomination Reapers]] showed up in the third game and wiped out the batarians as their first target. The primary reason that war never broke out was because both sides knew that the batarians had no real chance of winning against humanity. The other reason was because both sides were equally afraid of interference from the Citadel Council, since the combined military of the three Council races was much more powerful than either of them. The Alliance was also concerned over the fact that even if they could win a war against the batarians, the casualties of the war combined with the impact it would have on their economy, had the potential to greatly weaken them in the long run.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': An enforced SpaceColdWar existed between the Human Systems Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony ever since the humans first entered the Galactic Community. The root cause being a territorial dispute over control of a sector of space that the batarians claim rightfully belongs to them, despite the fact they did not have a physical presence in the area. When the humans pointed out the flaw in their logic, the batarians went and complained to the [[FictionalUnitedNations Citadel Council]] who agreed with the humans. Enraged, the batarians promptly withdrew from the Galactic Community and became an isolationist state while the humans continued their expansion. The batarians then began a proxy war against the humans by funding various pirates, mercenaries, and other criminals in order to attack human colonies to get back at them while remaining anonymous on paper with "Plausible Deniability", at least until the [[MechanicalAbomination Reapers]] showed up in the third game and wiped out the batarians as their first target. The primary reason that war never broke out was because both sides knew that the batarians had no real chance of winning against humanity. The other reason was because both sides were equally afraid of interference from the Citadel Council, since the combined military of the three Council races was much more powerful than either of them. The Alliance was also concerned over the fact that even if they could win a war against the batarians, the casualties of the war combined with the impact it would have on their economy, had the potential to greatly weaken them in the long run.

* This was pretty much the state of Europe for most of the 19th Century and the early 20th up until the outbreak of the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI First World War]]. Following the end of UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars, the great powers agreed at the Congress of Vienna to maintain a BalanceOfPower among themselves to ensure that no one nation ever got more powerful than the others and to prevent another war on the scale of Napoleon. This resulted in numerous interventions during this period, such as Britain and France intervening in UsefulNotes/TheCrimeanWar between Russia and the Ottoman empire as they feared the Russians would become too powerful if they won.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': An enforced SpaceColdWar existed between the Human Systems Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony since the humans first entered the Galactic Community. The root cause being a territorial dispute over control of a sector of space that the batarians claim was theirs despite the fact they did not have a physical presence in the area. When the humans pointed out the flaw in their logic, the batarians went and complained to the [[FictionalUnitedNations Citadel Council]] who agreed with the humans. Enraged, the batarians promptly withdrew from the Galactic Community and became an isolationist state while the humans continued their expansion. The batarians then began a proxy war against the humans by funding various pirates, mercenaries, and other criminals in order to attack human colonies to get back at them while remaining anonymous on paper with "Plausible Deniability", at least until the Repears showed up in the third game and wiped out the batarians as their first target. The main reason that war never broke out was because both sides knew that the batarians had no real chance of winning against humanity, that and both sides were equally afraid of interference from the three Council races whose combined military was much more powerful than either of them.

** In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the Republic and the Sith Empire are this state due to the Treaty of Coruscant. While neither side is willing to openly break the treaty, border skirmishes are common and both sides support proxy rebellions to seize control over various worlds. To a small degree, this also has lead to both sides employing Smugglers and Bounty Hunters so they can claim deniability that they weren't doing anything ''officially'' sanctioned. Over the course of the game, the peace eventually dissolves into open war.
*** Not all Sith were happy with the Treaty. In fact, the original diplomatic mission was merely a diversion while a Sith fleet assaulted Coruscant itself. It was expected that the planet would undergo orbital bombardment, crippling the Republic. TheEmperor then suddenly decides to make the fake diplomatic mission a real one and offers a trade: Coruscant for a number of Republic worlds.
*** Seeing as one walkthrough of the capital planets of both factions proves that the Empire's manpower, infrastructure, industrial capability, and scientific development is miles behind the Republic (their capitol city is the size of a Republic core world military base, they don't have a ''paved road'' to their spaceport, meaning anything coming from the spaceport to their capitol is marching through mud trails through beast-infested jungle), coupled with boneheaded FantasticRacism, an untenable reliance on slave labor that wastes at least half of their manpower (they have the slaves building monuments to the Darths' egos, not roads or outposts), constant infighting, and KlingonPromotion being not only acceptable but ''accepted'' practice (leaving them with even ''fewer'' experienced Force Users, officers, and administrators while their replacement's only real qualification is being quicker on the draw), one could argue that the Treaty of Coruscant saved the ''Empire's'' bacon. Unfortunately, it plays ''right'' into the [[OmnicidalManiac Emperor's]] hands, since he doesn't care about his own Empire and just wants to kill off everything in the universe except himself.

* This was pretty much the state of Europe for most of the 19th Century and the early 20th. Following the end of UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars, the great powers agreed at the Congress of Vienna to maintain a BalanceOfPower among themselves to ensure that no one nation ever got more powerful than the others and to prevent another war on the scale of Napoleon. This resulted in numerous interventions during this period, such as Britain and France intervening in UsefulNotes/TheCrimeanWar between Russia and the Ottoman empire as they feared the Russians would become too powerful if they won.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' revolves around two ostensibly warring factions who rarely attack each other and never do it effectively, with the only medic blatantly working for both armies. This should have been a bigger tip-off that Red and Blue were in fact [[RunningBothSides commanded by the same government]], and the war was a construct. Of course, the teams are also idiots.

* [[TrueNeutral Papa Midnight's]] bar in ''Film/{{Constantine}}'' is a friendly little watering hole where demons and angels hang out with one ''very'' enforced rule: No fighting.

* Famously used as a tool of control in ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''. O'Brien more or less says that the three superpowers have an unofficial pact to keep the conflict between them going because the patriotism stirred up is yet another tool to control their citizen's thoughts and behaviour. The war isn't entirely cold but the actual fighting seems to be mostly confined to clashes over territories they don't care that much about and is just an excuse for the governments to announce stirring victories over their opponents and inspiring maps of how much territory was captured in the last offensive (resulting in Africa apparently being constantly traded back and forth in chunks). Of course just because these victories are announced doesn't mean they actually happened, in fact we can't even be certain that the fighting is happening.

* The treaty between Watches in the ''Literature/NightWatchSeries'' 'verse, which is openly inspired (bordering on the {{Anvilicious}} actually) by the actual Cold War. Add two millennia-old [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]] with magic powers enough to make the most absurd GambitRoulette seem timid. [[spoiler: The Inquisition is the higher power here.]] Technically, the [[spoiler:Inquisition]] doesn't have a ''lot'' of magical power, most of which comes from artifacts and amulets anyway. The idea is that, should either of the sides break the Treaty, the [[spoiler:Inquisition]] would [[KingmakerScenario throw their support behind the other side, tipping the balance]]. Thus, their power is mostly political.

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* This was pretty much the state of Europe for most of the 19th Century and the early 20th. Following the end of the UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars, the great powers agreed at the Congress of Vienna to maintain a BalanceOfPower among themselves to ensure that no one nation ever got more powerful than the others and to prevent another war on the scale of Napoleon. This resulted in numerous interventions during this period, such as Britain and France intervening in UsefulNotes/TheCrimeanWar between Russia and the Ottoman empire as they feared the Russians would become too powerful if they won.

* This was pretty much the state of Europe for most of the 19th Century and the early 20th. Following the end of the UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars, the great powers agreed at the Congress of Vienna to maintain a balance of power among themselves to ensure that no one nation ever got more powerful than the others and to prevent another war on the scale of Napoleon. This resulted in numerous interventions during this period, such as Britain and France intervening in UsefulNotes/TheCrimeanWar between Russia and the Ottoman empire as they feared the Russians would become too powerful if they won.

* This was pretty much the state of Europe for most of the 19th Century and the early 20th. Following the end of the UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars, the great powers agreed at the Congress of Vienna to maintain a balance of power among them to ensure that no one nation ever got more powerful than the others and to prevent another war on the scale of Napoleon. This resulted in numerous interventions during this period, such as Britain and France intervening in UsefulNotes/TheCrimeanWar between Russia and the Ottoman empire as they feared the Russians would become too powerful if they won.

* Inverted in the Creator/IsaacAsimov story, "The Gentle Vultures". In it, pacifist, herbivorous aliens go from world to world to help the survivors of the nuclear war that inevitably breaks out in every intelligent species except them. This help is given in return for tribute in the form of resources, creating a form of economic imperialism. When the aliens get to Earth, though, they discover that the Cold War situation is keeping nuclear war from occurring, and may do so indefinitely. [[spoiler: They then decide to force things by causing a nuclear war themselves. However, when a human that they abduct for information castigates them and compares them to carrion-eaters, they become horrified at the idea of what they're about to do and leave Earth to its own devices.]]

* ''Anime/ParallelTroubleAdventureDual'' utilized a very literal example of this trope. The two warring [[HumongousMecha mecha]] factions in the show only fought at pre-scheduled places and times, and the pilots were allowed to [[GracefulLoser tap out]] when it looked like were going to lose. As in the [[TruthInTelevision real life]] Cold War, the point of this was to keep the world from being [[StoryboardingTheApocalypse wrecked]] by the [[WeaponOfMassDestruction weapons of mass destruction]] possessed by both sides.

** ''Deep Space Nine'' also had the sixth season opening arc in which the Dominion was in control of the station. To avoid collateral damage, Bajor did not ally with the Federation, so the main characters affiliated with the Bajoran government stayed on-board and worked side by side with the occupation forces. (Then again, they did eventually form an active resistance cell.)
** Though in general, ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' subverted this, as the Dominion and the Federation, who were hostile toward each other since they met in season 2, eventually did go to war at the end of season 5.
** The franchise is filled with Cold War metaphors- The Romulans, The Cardassians, The Klingons and The Federation are all more-or-less in a state of this throughout the series to various degrees, punctuated by moments of EnemyMine alliances and outright conflict. Several storylines involve attempts to cause or avoid outright war.

* Arguably, the ''original'' Cold War was enforced as well, not by God or {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s but by fear of the consequences - best-case scenario was a body count to rival the First World War, worst-case was the [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction extinction of all life on earth]]. - if [[WorldWarIII it went hot]].

* The treaty between Watches in the ''Literature/NightWatch'' 'verse, which is openly inspired (bordering on the {{Anvilicious}} actually) by the actual Cold War. Add two millennia-old [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]] with magic powers enough to make the most absurd GambitRoulette seem timid. [[spoiler: The Inquisition is the higher power here.]] Technically, the [[spoiler:Inquisition]] doesn't have a ''lot'' of magical power, most of which comes from artifacts and amulets anyway. The idea is that, should either of the sides break the Treaty, the [[spoiler:Inquisition]] would [[KingmakerScenario throw their support behind the other side, tipping the balance]]. Thus, their power is mostly political.

** Comes out in full force around Quidditch matches, where Gryffindors and Slytherins usually end up in the hospital wing with antlers and leeks in their body. During the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix fifth book]] Harry had to walk with a protective guard of Gryffindors because the Slytherins kept trying to sabotage him.

This can have the effect of forcing two groups of enemies into regular contact with each other, while preventing the fight from escalating, driving the plot into other forms of conflict (e.g., school contests, supporting opposing factions of minor groups, etc.) and not coincidentally mimicking the sort of uneasy peace that typified the UsefulNotes/ColdWar between the US and the USSR during the late 20th century (where the threat of total nuclear annihilation was the higher power keeping the peace between the US and Russia).