History Main / GenocideFromTheInside

While RealLife examples of racial self-genocides are scant at best, political, cultural, and religious self-genocides have technically happened if you follow the official UN definition of genocide.
* Speaking of which, here's one of the few RealLife examples by basing yourself on the UE definition of genocide: back in Ancient Greece, tyrants (who are mostly isolated aristocrats) would often have aristocrats killed (when they weren't exiled) arguing that they were stealing land. One of the most well-known cases is those of Cypselus and his son Periandr. Cypselus was a Bacchiadae (a powerful family from Corinth), but would later end up overthrowing them, killing some of them and expelling others. His son and successor Periandr, according to Herodotus and Aristotle, tried to ''finish'' his father's job... By slaughtering every aristocrat, including the Bacchiadae. Though, to be fair to Cypselus, the Bacchiadae tried to kill him when he was a baby (but [[WouldntHurtAChild couldn't bring themselves to do it]]) due to a prophecy stating that he would later overthrow them. [[SelfFulfillingProphecy Guess what happened.]]
* One might see this in the histories of countries that have converted to Christianity or Islam, where followers of the old pagan religions and traditions were forced to either convert or be put to death, having their temples, monuments and written records destroyed, thereby making it a religious and cultural genocide committed by its former adherents. UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire is possibly the UrExample of this: at one point dedicated to the deities of Myth/ClassicalMythology to the point of persecuting Christians, the Empire eventually converted to Christianity and began persecuting anyone who worshiped the old Roman gods.
* ThePurge often takes the form of this. For example, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge government purged over a quarter of UsefulNotes/{{Cambodia}}'s population, mainly targeting intellectuals and people connected to the old regime but also killing pretty much anyone else they didn't like. As another example, back to AncientRome, their [[UsefulNotes/TheGloryThatWasRome military]] had an official policy called "decimation" that mixed this trope with ShootYourMate and used from time to time against military units accused of cowardice, mutiny, or particularly notable failure. The officers would all be executed, but then the enlisted men would draw lots — and the one man in ten who was particularly unlucky would then be beaten to death by the other nine. If the others refused to kill their former compatriot and maybe friend, all ten would be executed. Decimation was designed to make the legions more afraid of the consequences of cowardice or failure in battle than they were of the battle itself.

* In another Roman example, when the Roman Republic began its conquests, Latin was but one Italic language amongst several. By the first century BCE, all other Italic languages appear to have become extinct (this have appeared to have been mostly assimilation, but it is still the eradication of cultural heritage by a member of the broader group of that heritage).

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': [[Characters/GravityFallsBillCipher Bill Cipher]] heavily implies he [[WhereIWasBornAndRazed destroyed his original dimension]], killing everyone else there in the process. This wasn't ''exactly'' his intent, but he found it an acceptable consequence of "liberating" the dimensions (i.e. [[RealityIsOutToLunch destroying the laws of physics]] for his own amusement). [[spoiler:The Axolotl states that Bill really does regret this--he'll just [[NeverMyFault never admit to himself that it's his fault]].]]

* In ''Fanfic/TheBridge'', the albino Hyper Gyaos is forced to kill the rest of her kind in self-defense when the scent of her wounds drives them into a bloodlust and they try to eat her.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'': After becoming the Demon King, Ganondorf creates a demonic army to destroy Hyrule so he then remake it [[InTheirOwnImage in his own image]]. This also includes the Gerudo Desert, the home of his people, the Gerudo. His monstrous actions against the Gerudo prove to [[HeelRaceTurn be the catalyst for the entire race to turn against their former chieftain]], something that Ganondorf didn't forget when he's sealed away for over 10,000 years. After being freed, Ganondorf sends a sandstorm to destroy the present-day Gerudo both as payback for their role in defeating him and to prevent a new Gerudo sage from being chosen.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'': After becoming the Demon King, Ganondorf creates a demonic army to destroy Hyrule so he then remake it in HisOwnImage. This also includes the Gerudo Desert, the home of his people, the Gerudo. His monstrous actions against the Gerudo prove to [[HeelRaceTurn be the catalyst for the entire race to turn against their former chieftain]], something that Ganondorf didn't forget when he's sealed away for over 10,000 years. After being freed, Ganondorf sends a sandstorm to destroy the present-day Gerudo both as payback for their role in defeating him and to prevent a new Gerudo sage from being chosen.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'': After becoming the Demon King, Ganondorf creates a demonic army to destroy Hyrule so he then remake it InHisOwnImage. This also includes the Gerudo Desert, the home of his people, the Gerudo. His monstrous actions against the Gerudo prove to [[HeelRaceTurn be the catalyst for the entire race to turn against their former chieftain]], something that Ganondorf didn't forget when he's sealed away for over 10,000 years. After being freed, Ganondorf sends a sandstorm to destroy the present-day Gerudo both as payback for their role in defeating him and to prevent a new Gerudo sage from being chosen.