History Main / GenghisGambit

!Examples:

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* The centuries-spanning GambitRoulette of Aeolia Schenberg from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' involved uniting the various factions of the world against Celestial Being.
* The ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' manga ''Battlefield of Pacifists'' uses a similar idea. An AntiVillain former OZ soldier wants to inspire deep space exploration by taking a lost [[MechaMooks Mobile Doll]] factory and placing it at Mars, suggesting that a force that powerful would force humanity to put aside their differences and unite to deal with the common threat. [[spoiler:He gets killed by a DoubleAgent, but his actions inspire Wu Fei to become the threat that makes humanity grow, foreshadowing his actions in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWingEndlessWaltz Endless Waltz]]''.]]

* Lord Bloodman of ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX'' unites the divided New Federation under his banner by using the resurgent Colonies as a common enemy.
* The entire Second Valentine War in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' turned out to be this trope, instigated by the true BigBad [[spoiler: chairman Gilbert Durandal]]. He used Lord Djibril and the rest of Blue Cosmos as his Genghis, and they played right into his hands.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': Discussed within the series, in a conversation between [[CoolOldGuy Dot Pixis]] and Eren. Pixis tells him about an old story from the time before the Walls, and the idea that if people had some greater threat, the wars that plagued humanity would cease. He then jokes that this doesn't seem to be true, as humanity continues to fight with each other in a barely-maintained order. Eren dismisses this story as nonsense.

[[folder:Comics]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Camelot 3000}}'' has an interesting version. The newly resurrected knights are not dealing well with each other, so Kai, who was always the least liked of the knights, chooses to remain in the role by acting like an asshole towards the other knights. Thus, he gives the other knights someone common to look down upon and get along with each other.

* In one ''[[Comicbook/{{Thargs Future Shocks}} Future Shock]]'', a Sioux shaman gives a magic pipe to General Custer in exchange for his own survival. Custer uses the pipe to win the Battle of Little Bighorn, which inspires all the Native Americans to unite against the white man. The last panel shows that [[{{alternate history}} the Natives eventually expelled all Europeans]] and established a confederation, with its central administration at a pan-tribal lodge called the Red House.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

[[folder:Film]]

-->'''Cersei Lannister''': We still outnumber them.\\
'''Robert Baratheon''': Which is the bigger number: Five or one?\\
'''Cersei''': Five.\\
'''Robert''': ''[holding up his fingers]'' Five. ''[holding up a fist]'' One. One army - a real army united behind one leader with one purpose. Our purpose died with the Mad King. Now we've got as many armies as there are men with gold in their purse. And everybody wants something different.

-->'''Mance:''' Do you know what it takes to unite 90 clans, half of whom want to massacre the other half for one insult or another? They speak seven different languages in my army. The Thenns hate the Hornfoots. The Hornfoots hate the ice-river clans. Everyone hates the cave people. So, d'you know how I got moon-worshippers and cannibals and giants to march together in the same army?\\

* In the ''Series/{{Doctor Who}}'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]", this is one of the reasons the Doctor [[spoiler:refuses to destroy the Daleks at their very beginning.]]
-->'''Doctor:''' You see, some things could be better with the [[spoiler: Daleks. Many future worlds will become allies just because of their fear of the Daleks.]]

* Averted in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. Despite all the prerequisites, that is a number of horrible galactic threats of all colors: hordes of AxCrazy barbarians, LegionsOfHell, omnicidal implacable robots, and all-consuming alien locusts -- nothing seems to be able to divert the three more reasonable powers from each other's throats. Each power is also riven by internal conflicts.

* Played somewhat straight in ''{{TabletopGame/BattleTech}}''. [[spoiler:The Word of Blake, a religious KnightTemplar faction, initially started the Jihad due to unfocused, inchoate rage against the Great Houses, since the Houses ended the Second Star League (it was utterly ineffective) and rendered Blake's prophecies on the matter null and void. The Blakists soon realize that they've attacked most of the rest of humanity, and eventually decide to make the most of it by becoming a foe so terrible that the Inner Sphere as a whole will have to unite against them.]] For the most part, [[TheExtremistWasRight it works.]] [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption For a while.]]

* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'': This is Bian Zoldark's hidden motivation (and the game that inspired the story arc, ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars2''). He organizes the Divine Crusaders in a bid to conquer the world, figuring that either he will unite the world's powers against an alien threat -- or the world's powers will unite against ''him'', either way being better prepared for the invasion to come.\\
\\

[[folder:Webcomics]]

'''Wonderita''' She said it's the easiest way to handle superhero bro-drama.

[[folder: Web Comics]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

[[folder: Real Life]]

* North Korea keeps its people in line by uniting them against nothing less than ''the entire rest of the world'' (though mainly South Korea and the United States). As of March 2013 they seem to be uniting ''everyone else'' against ''them'', since even China (pretty much North Korea's only major ally) is agreeing to enforce sanctions against them now (calling them out on North Korea being an UngratefulBastard of a country, even comparing them to a spoiled child.)

** the transformation of Sardinia in the Kingdom of Italy came after another successful round from Cavour, this time by presenting Garibaldi's conquest of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies as the common threat to both Sardinia and most of Italy to get Britain and Austria to let him conquer the dukedoms of the North, most of the Papal States and the Two Sicilies ''and'' the king of Two Sicilies as the common threat to ''his own subjects'' so they'd allow Garibaldi to conquer them (Garibaldi was on the plan);

** failed and then succeeded ''by accident'' during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI: Italy tried to paint Austria-Hungary as invading barbarians ready to RapePillageAndBurn to motivate the soldiers (who still identified more by their region of birth than as Italians) into fighting, but they didn't buy it (partly because they could see ''they'' were invading Austria-Hungary), but then, after the [[CurbStompBattle rout at Caporetto]], they saw the ''civilians'' (who had bought the propaganda) running from the Austro-Hungarians (who were now actually invading), and rallied together as Italians. One year later, the Austro-Hungarian ''Empire'' had collapsed.
* One of the reasons [[UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} Canada]] exists the way it is today. The regions that made up the original provinces (and PEI) were not particularly interested in joining up due to historical and cultural differences (see: Quebec) so a group of politicians (now referred to as the Fathers of Confederation) riled everyone up by hyping the danger of American Manifest Destiny (which was actually a [[UsefulNotes/WarOf1812 real danger]] but not '''quite''' to the extent they made it appear).

* It looks like this trope is played with in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates''. [[spoiler: The Kingdom of Nohr is suffering of both a lack of good crops (threatening to bring up quite the famine) ''and'' inner turmoil. Therefore, King Garon stages a war against the rival kingdom of Hoshido to unite the struggling forces within his lands...]] However, it turns out that the GenghisGambit is just a cover to keep people from questioning the ''real'' objective. [[spoiler:"King Garon" is actually DeadAllAlong and his [[DemonicPossession corpse is being used]] by the ''true'' BigBad to bring [[GreaterScopeVillain ruin to]] ''[[OmnicidalManiac both]]'' [[OmnicidalManiac kingdoms]] out of a [[SanitySlippage misguided desire]] for [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters revenge against the humans]]]].

* On a more minor scale, Dr Kelso from ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' takes the role of common enemy in the hospital. In one episode, he notices that the staff of the hospital falling into a series of petty disputes and arguments, so he deliberately makes some very visible and unpopular decisions to turn everyone's anger onto himself. He does because they are so busy arguing that they ''aren't'' doing their jobs, and the patients are suffering.

** In season four's "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS04E13RumorsBargainsAndLies Rumors, Bargains, and Lies]]", Sheridan plays a head-game on the bickering League of Non-Aligned Worlds by sending a group of White Stars to a desolate sector of space and firing on some asteroids, then denying that there was anything going on. He also get the Centauri and Narn to agree to have the White Stars patrol their common border, and likewise deny this fact. The end goal? Get the League members to unify against whatever the hell he and the White Stars are worried about (i.e. nothing) and accept the Rangers and White Stars as an international peacekeeper force, which becomes a key element of the future [[FictionalUnitedNations Interstellar Alliance]].

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/metalmenaceposter.png]]]]

* The ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' manga ''Battlefield of Pacifists'' uses a similar idea. An AntiVillain former OZ soldier wants to inspire deep space exploration by taking a lost [[MechaMooks Mobile Doll]] factory and placing it at Mars, suggesting that a force that powerful would force humanity to put aside their differences and unite to deal with the common threat. [[spoiler:He gets killed by a DoubleAgent, but his actions inspire Wu Fei to become the threat that makes humanity grow, foreshadowing his actions in ''[[MobileSuitGundamWingEndlessWaltz Endless Waltz]]''.]]

* On a meta level, the actions of Thanos and the Black Order in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' (namely, [[spoiler:destroying the Asgardian ship and]] sending Hulk to Earth to warn them, as well as attacking Doctor Strange in New York and Wanda and Vision in Glasgow) reunite the Avengers and Secret Avengers after being separated at the end of ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''

* The entire Second Valentine War in MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny turned out to be this trope, instigated by the true BigBad [[spoiler: chairman Gilbert Durandal]]. He used Lord Djibril and the rest of Blue Cosmos as his Genghis, and they played right into his hands.

* TheRecordOfFallenVampire: The former vampire king accidentally screwed up everything, so he painted a target on his back by (SUPPOSEDLY) attempting to unleash an EldritchAbomination sealed in multiple points. This cross-continental journey of dhampirs escalating their attacks (with their highest ranked officer getting stronger with each death) caused the nomadic half-vampire faction to group together, gain secret control of the entire world, and eventually take command of the moon's first terraformed city.

* In one ''[[Comicbook/{{Thargs Future Shocks}} Future Shock]], a Sioux {{shaman}} gives a magic pipe to General Custer in exchange for his own survival. Custer uses the pipe to win the Battle of Little Bighorn, which inspires all the Native Americans to unite against the white man. The last panel shows that [[{{alternate history}} the Natives eventually expelled all Europeans]] and established a confederation, with its central administration at a pan-tribal lodge called the Red House.

* ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'': [[spoiler:The Wizard]] explains to Elphaba that this is what he was doing by making everyone believe the Animals are evil.

* The ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' mission "Operation Cooperation Conspiracy" has you help a Romulan intelligence officer basically kidnap a Vaadwaur ship and send it on a remote-controlled attack to force the Benthans ([[PlanetOfHats Hat:]] SpacePolice) and Hazari ([[PlanetOfHats Hat:]] PrivateMilitaryContractors) to team up, thereby strengthening the new [[TheAlliance Delta Alliance]]. [[spoiler:Of course then a group of non-kidnapped Vaads turn up and you have to fight for real.]]

* In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', the actions of Thanos and the Black Order (namely, [[spoiler:destroying the Asgardian ship and]] sending Hulk to Earth to warn them, as well as attacking Doctor Strange in New York and Wanda and Vision in Glasgow) reunite the Avengers and Secret Avengers after being separated at the end of ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''

* In the films of the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'', the arrival of Thanos will force this for the disparate and splintered hero groups.

-->[[spoiler:'''Doctor:''' You see, some things could be better with the Daleks. Many future worlds will become allies just because of their fear of the Daleks.]]

* Crops out once in a while during the long process for the unification of Italy:

** After that, Cavour conspired with Napoleon III to unite Sardinia, the Italian patriots and the SecondFrenchEmpire against Austria. This time they succeeded, leading to some progress on the unification;

This is not for every incidence of enemy factions teaming up against a common threat. (See EnemyMine for that.) This is for cases in which a character deliberately creates a common threat for the warring factions to unite against. A FalseFlagOperation may help do that, and it can work well when pitched to sides engaging in a PeaceConference, since they've already both proved to be reasonable. Compare SummonBiggerFish, which usually has less altruistic intentions in mind.

This is not for every incidence of enemy factions teaming up against a common threat (EnemyMine is). This is for cases in which a character deliberately creates a common threat for the warring factions to unite against. A FalseFlagOperation may help do that, and it can work well when pitched to sides engaging in a PeaceConference, since they've already both proved to be reasonable. Compare SummonBiggerFish, which usually has less altruistic intentions in mind.

** Within Quebec itself, such a tactic is often used to unify warring French factions when told that Montreal is poised to become a force. The reason? Montreal continues to have an English character and therefore (in their eyes) threatens the existence of the French fact.

-->-- '''King Henry IV''', ''Theatre/HenryIVPart2''

* In ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', this is T'Kuvma's goal. The 24 Great Houses have been bickering and fighting with one another for decades. T'Kuvma dreams of a single reunified Klingon Empire. His plan is to summon the leaders of those houses and convince them that the Federation is their true enemy, that their CatchPhrase "We come in peace" is a bold-faced lie, since they seek to subvert the Klingon culture. He deliberately doesn't blow the USS ''Shenzhou'' out of the sky, so that Captain Georgiou calls for backup. She does, and a dozen Starfleet ships arrive. Georgiu's NumberTwo thinks that the only way to deal with Klingons is to fire at them without provocation, as the Vulcans have been known to do. She doesn't know that T'Kuvma doesn't care who fires first. He plans to start a war either way. He ends up firing first, when Georgiou triggers his BerserkButton with the same CatchPhrase. Most of the Great Houses join the fight. The Battle at the Binary Stars claims over 8000 lives, including [[spoiler:T'Kuvma's, but his followers upgrade him to a Kahless-like messianic figure and fight in his name]].

* ''VideoGame/Stellaris'': The endgame crisis are designed to provoke this. Most have multiple powerful fleets that can overwelm a lone large empire. If things get so bad, some of the fallen empires will awaken and rather than vassel you, try to form a Federation with you. Though it's only fleeting alliances. All three crisis can depopulate habitable planets they take, meaning once they are defeated there is a wide swarth of open space ready to create all new territorial disputes.

* In the films of the [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse]], the arrival of Thanos will force this for the disparate and splintered hero groups.

* UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan once [[http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/flashback-reagans-vision-unifying openly pined for an extra-terrestrial invasion before the UN General Assembly]], with the idea behind it being that said [[AlienInvasion invasion]] would be [[GodzillaThreshold such a singular, overriding threat to all human life on Earth]] that it would bring mankind together for the first time as a species to repulse their collective extra-terrestrial adversary. RachelMaddow called it one of the "truly weirdest things he ever said in public."