History Main / InevitableMutualBetrayal

* Even earlier [[SecondSinoJapaneseWar in a war that]] ''became'' part of the same war (it's complicated) the Guomindang teamed up with the warlords Yan Xishan (Shanxi province), the Guangxi Clique (Guangxi and Guangdong provinces), Long Yun (Yunnan province), MaoZedong (Sha'anxi province) the Shandong and Guizhou Warlords, and several hundred local Warlords against Japan. After Japan surrendered, they turned on each other pretty quickly. The Guangxi Clique - Guomindang struggle was particularly fierce, with Li Zongren claiming the presidency of the Republic of China and ChiangKaiShek fighting him (politically) for control of the army. And Mao turned on everyone else too of course.

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* ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar: Winter Assault'' has this in all four campaigns. The Imperials are violent xenophobes, while the Eldar are known to happily allow billions of humans to die if it can save one of their own. The forces of Chaos and the orks, on the other hand, end all their conversations cheerfully reminding the other that they will kill them as soon as they're no longer needed.

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* In ''WesternAnimation/MaxSteel2013'', Dredd and Makkino form an alliance to defeat Max Steel and N-Tek but both have previously admitted to the other that they don't trust each other and both fully understand that the alliance lasts only as long as Max Steel and N-Tek does.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': After Long Feng and Azula pull off a coup in Ba Sing Sae, Long Feng approaches her with the line, "Now comes the part where I betray you." Which they both knew was coming. He then orders the Dai Li to arrest her, but she had already co-opted them, and brought them onto her side. Long Feng acknowledges that she's beaten him at his own game, which she laughs off with, "You were never even a player."

[[AC:RealLife]]

* Even earlier [[SecondSinoJapaneseWar in a war that]] ''became'' part of the same war (it's complicated) the Guomindang teamed up with the warlords Yan Xishan (Shanxi province), the Guangxi Clique (Guangxi and Guangdong provinces), Long Yun (Yunnan province), MaoZedong (Sha'anxi province) the Shandong and Guizhou Warlords, and several hundred local Warlords against Japan. After Japan surrendered, they turned on each other pretty quickly. The Guangxi Clique - Guomindang struggle was particularly fierce, with Li Zongren claiming the presidency of the Republic of China and ChiangKaiShek fighting him (politically) for control of the army. And Mao turned on everyone else too of course.

* The USSR and USA in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, since more or less everyone knew that conflict would be inevitable but that a Nazi victory would be far worse than a war with the other.

** Early in the same war, the non-aggression pact between Germany and USSR.
** Even earlier [[SecondSinoJapaneseWar in a war that]] ''became'' part of the same war (it's complicated) the Guomindang teamed up with the warlords Yan Xishan (Shanxi province), the Guangxi Clique (Guangxi and Guangdong provinces), Long Yun (Yunnan province), MaoZedong (Sha'anxi province) the Shandong and Guizhou Warlords, and several hundred local Warlords against Japan. After Japan surrendered, they turned on each other pretty quickly. The Guangxi Clique - Guomindang struggle was particularly fierce, with Li Zongren claiming the presidency of the Republic of China and ChiangKaiShek fighting him (politically) for control of the army. And Mao turned on everyone else too of course.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}'', most of the strategy is based around convincing people that you are the opponent who has gone the least distance across the GodzillaThreshold. Betrayals can come at any time when it would be profitable or funny, and are more or less guaranteed once you reach level 9 and will win the game in your next combat.

* ''Film/TheManFromUNCLE'': This is visible right as Solo and Illya start working together since both are after the same set of information which could give their respective countries an edge over everyone else, which means for [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar obvious reasons]] they do ''not'' want the other to get a hold of it.

** The Kuomintang and the Peoples Republic of China, after both had won against Japan, they almost immediately started attacking each other.

->'''Harry Dresden:''' You know [[BigBad he's]] not going to honor the truce. He's going to try to take me out somewhere along the line. He's going to betray me.\\

* In the ''Literature/KamigawaCycle'', Toshi and Hidetsugu. Toshi had to make a deal to get away from Uramon and keep Hidetsugu from killing him, but Hidetsugu only expected it to be slightly more convenient. Both of them knew that one of them would betray the other, but they had hoped that one of them would die first. It is later revealed that Hidetsugu had [[spoiler: figured out before they had even bound themselves how to kill Toshi without triggering the Hyozan magic]].

* In ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy'', the alliance that Vin's crew forms near the beginning of the story is expected to end in betrayal, but Vin's crew decided to bail out way earlier than expected, accepting only the 3000 boxing down-payment offered by the obligators and then trying to vanish and let the other crew take the fall.

* ''Series/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': After Long Feng and Azula pull off a coup in Ba Sing Sae, Long Feng approaches her with the line, "Now comes the part where I betray you." Which they both knew was coming. He then orders the Dai Li to arrest her, but she had already co-opted them, and brought them onto her side. Long Feng acknowledges that she's beaten him at his own game, which she laughs off with, "You were never even a player."

!Examples

* Nearly all alliances in ''Manga/LiarGame''. This is the reason why the protagonist is so important - with her naive and righteous attitude she can serve as TheHeart for her team, because she is the only one in the game anyone can ally with reliably.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}} the Gaul'', Crismus Bonus tells his second Marcus Ginantonicus that with the magic potion in their hands, they will march on Rome, overthrow Julius Caesar and form a triumvirate. As they clink their glasses to this, thought bubbles reveal their true intentions:

* In ''Franchise/{{Mistborn}}'', the alliance that Vin's crew forms near the beginning of the story is expected to end in betrayal, but Vin's crew decided to bail out way earlier than expected, accepting only the 3000 boxing down-payment offered by the obligators and then trying to vanish and let the other crew take the fall.

* VideoGame/BioShockInfinite: In Part 2 of [[DownloadableContent Burial at Sea]], Elizabeth strikes a deal with Atlas to rescue a Little Sister; bring him the "[[MacGuffin Ace in the Hole]]" and he lets The Little Sister (named Sally) go. She knows that Atlas cannot be trusted and Andrew Ryan even tells her as much in an attempt to get her on his side. [[spoiler: In the end Atlas betrays her, by threatening to lobotomize her and Sally if she didn't hand him the Ace. She does it because she knows that Atlas will die in the original Bioshock, though she dies by the end of the episode]]

* Series/AvatarTheLastAirbender : After Long Feng and Azula pull off a coup in Ba Sing Sae, Long Feng approaches her with the line, "Now comes the part where I betray you." Which they both knew was coming. He then orders the Dai Li to arrest her, but she had already co-opted them, and brought them onto her side. Long Feng acknowledges that she's beaten him at his own game, which she laughs off with, "You were never even a player."

->'''Harry Dresden:''' You know [[BigBad he's]] not going to honor the truce. He's going to try to take me out somewhere along the line. He's going to betray me.
->'''Queen Mab:''' Of course. I expect superior, more creative treachery on your part.

* In ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', Tyriel mentions that the Lords of Hell often lost during the Eternal Conflict because they couldn't stop betraying each other.

** Early in the same war, the non-aggression pact between Germany and USSR.

* In Diablo 3, Tyriel mentions that the Lords of Hell often lost during the Eternal Conflict because they couldn't stop betraying each other.

-> '''Harry Dresden:''' You know [[BigBad he's]] not going to honor the truce. He's going to try to take me out somewhere along the line. He's going to betray me.
-> '''Queen Mab:''' Of course. I expect superior, more creative treachery on your part.
-> ''Literature/SkinGame''

Compare EnemyMine, which often overlaps, and BetrayalInsurance for a plan against betrayal, which one or both sides may or may not have. Contrast TeethClenchedTeamwork, where they can't get along even for the limited time they are working together but may or may not betray each other by the end.

* In the Franchise/StarWars ExpandedUniverse, it is stated that Vader was planning to betray Palpatine, and that Palpatine was taking every available precaution to keep Vader under control while he searched for a viable replacement apprentice.