History Main / TheEternalChurchill

* ''TheWarOfTheWorlds'' by HGWells, especially the attack of the torpedo ram HMS Thunder Child against the Martian machines. The 1953 movie version had the following lines: "The redoubtable Finnish and Turkish armies, Chinese battalions and Bolivians worked and fought furiously... The people of Britain met the invaders magnificently, but it was unavailing."

* E.E. Knight's ''TheVampireEarth'' series has a heavy dose of this, at least when it comes to the humans that aren't [[TheQuisling Quislings]].

* The ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' movie ''In the Beginning'' depicts the last stand of humanity against the onslaught of the Minbari Federation. Of the war, the following was said:
--> '''Londo Mollari''': The War. The humans, I think, knew they were doomed. Where another race would surrender to despair, the humans fought back with greater strength. They made the Minbari fight for every inch of space. In my life, I have never seen anything like it; They would weep, they would pray, they would say goodbye to their loved ones, and then throw themselves without fear or hesitation at the very face of death itself, never surrendering. No one who saw them fighting against the inevitable could help but be moved to tears by their courage. Their stubborn nobility. When they ran out of ships, they used guns, when they ran out guns they used knives and sticks and bare hands. They were magnificent. I only hope that when it is my time, I may die with half as much dignity as I saw in their eyes in the end. They did this for ''two years''; they never ran out of courage. But in the end, they ran out of ''time''.
** Actually, ''In The Beginning'' had back-to-back speeches about the same situation, and the latter was a flat out TearJerker.
--> '''Earth Alliance President''': Are we on? This is... this is the President. I have just been informed that the midrange military bases at Beta Durani and Proxima 3 have fallen to the Minbari advance. We've lost contact with Io and must conclude that they too have fallen to an advance force. Our Military Intelligence believes that the Minbari intend to bypass Mars and hit Earth directly and the attack could come at any time. We have continued to broadcast our surrender and a plea for mercy and they have not responded. Therefore we can only conclude that we stand at the twilight of the human race. In order to buy time for our evacuation transports to leave Earth, we ask for the support of every ship capable of fighting to take part in a last defense of our home world. We will not lie to you, we do not believe that survival is a possibility. We believe that anyone who joins this battle will never come home. But for every ten minutes we can delay the military advance, several hundred more civilians may have a chance to escape to neutral territory. Though Earth may fall, the human race must have a chance to continue elsewhere. No greater sacrifice has ever been asked of a people. But I ask you now to step forward one last time, one last battle to hold the line against the night. May God go with you all.

* The [[TheEmpire Imperium of]] [[HumansAreBastards Man]] in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' lives by this trope. Though individual worlds may enjoy centuries of peace, the Imperium as a whole has been fighting a war for survival on a hundred thousand fronts for ten millennia.

The human race is under attack or otherwise being menaced by alien or supernatural forces. We're outnumbered, outgunned and seemingly completely screwed. But we still refuse to surrender, and so fight back. The trope doesn't necessarily have to involve violence; any sufficiently bad threat to our survival will do, but war seems to be the norm. Almost like a species-wide LastStand, and thus often requires a species-wide RousingSpeech.

This is often why HumansAreSpecial. This is the human race as TheDeterminator.

* The [[TheEmpire Imperium of]] [[HumansAreBastards Man]] in ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' lives by this trope. Though individual worlds may enjoy centuries of peace, the Imperium as a whole has been fighting a war for survival on a hundred thousand fronts for ten millennia.

-->-- Winston Churchill, November 1954.

** ''I have never accepted what many people have kindly said, namely that I inspired the Nation. It was the nation and the race dwelling around the globe that had the lion heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.'' -- Winston Churchill, November 1954.

* And still to this day, ''[[WinstonChurchill nobody]]'' has ''ever'' done it better. ''I have never accepted what many people have kindly said, namely that I inspired the Nation. It was the nation and the race dwelling around the globe that had the lion heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.''

* And still to this day, ''[[WinstonChurchill nobody]]'' has ''ever'' done it better.

"I have never accepted what many people have kindly said, namely that I inspired the Nation. It was the nation and the race dwelling around the globe that had the lion heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar."

* Not sure if this is playing it straight or not, (a DoubleSubversion possibly) but in ''[[RobinHoodMenInTights Robin Hood: Men In Tights]]'', Robin tries to rally the peasants against King John and the Sheriff of Rottingham with Churchill's actual speech. This just makes the peasants bored. However black merry man Achoo manages to get the peasants to join Robin with a Malcolm X speech. (Or a version thereof)

* ''TheWarOfTheWorlds'' by [[HGWells H.G. Wells]], especially the attack of the torpedo ram HMS Thunder Child against the Martian machines. The 1953 movie version had the following lines: "The redoubtable Finnish and Turkish armies, Chinese battalions and Bolivians worked and fought furiously... The people of Britain met the invaders magnificently, but it was unavailing."

* In LoisMcMasterBujold's ''[[VorkosiganSaga Memory]]'', Miles repeats a joke about his ancestors (which I'm sure is based on a real joke with the ethnicities switched): that when they were invaded, they tried to surrender, but were so backwards they couldn't find anyone who could read the terms of the treaty, so they kept fighting and eventually won. This also sparks an epiphany as to which of his dual identities is the true him; because Admiral Naismith strove for victory, but Lord Vorkosigan could not surrender, so in the end Lord Vorkosigan was the persona he chose.

** [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand!]] [[{{THIS IS SPARTA}} MEN! OF THE WEST!]]

This is often why HumansAreSpecial. This is the human race as TheDeterminator.

* ''IndependenceDay'' is a big one. In fact, this trope seemed to be largely the premise of the entire film.

** [[{{CrowningMomentOfAwesome}} A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand!]] [[{{THIS IS SPARTA}} MEN! OF THE WEST!]]

* In the novel ''Literature/{{Footfall}}'' by LarryNiven and JerryPournelle, it's not so much that the humans can't be made to surrender -- it's that they won't ''stay'' surrendered, which confuses and freaks out the alien invaders.

* ''{{The War of the Worlds}}'' by [[HGWells H.G. Wells]], especially the attack of the torpedo ram HMS Thunder Child against the Martian machines. The 1953 movie version had the following lines: "The redoubtable Finnish and Turkish armies, Chinese battalions and Bolivians worked and fought furiously... The people of Britain met the invaders magnificently, but it was unavailing."

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' has several examples of this throughout the series, and it could be said that the entire premise was at least partly based on this trope.

---> Allison: "You think you know us. You know nothing. You’ve seen the world through the eyes of a defeated soldier and a junkie bimbo. You know nothing. We’ll defeat you, Edriss."

* This is on a smaller scale, but still significant, in ''{{Invasion of the Body Snatchers}}''. [[spoiler:Over and over, individuals and small groups figured out what was going on. Over and over, they were captured and replaced. Yet more keep cluing in and trying to sabotage the invasion, until the aliens eventually give up and go home as the protagonist quotes Churchill]]. Sadly, the movie replaces it with a DownerEnding.
* In {{Lois McMaster Bujold}}'s ''[[VorkosiganSaga Memory]]'', Miles repeats a joke about his ancestors (which I'm sure is based on a real joke with the ethnicities switched): that when they were invaded, they tried to surrender, but were so backwards they couldn't find anyone who could read the terms of the treaty, so they kept fighting and eventually won. This also sparks an epiphany as to which of his dual identities is the true him; because Admiral Naismith strove for victory, but Lord Vorkosigan could not surrender, so in the end Lord Vorkosigan was the persona he chose.

** Earlier in the same book, the main characters had found a copy of Churchill's speeches in the president's personal library among ordinary books, and had commented it was a disgrace to see something so valuable sitting there unappreciated.

--> '''Earth Alliance President''': Are we on? This is... this is the President. I have just been informed that the midrange military bases at Beta Durani and Proxima 3 have fallen to the Minbari advance. We've lost contact with Io and must conclude that they too have fallen to an advance force. Our Military Intelligence believes that the Minbari intend to bypass Mars and hit Earth directly and the attack could come at any time. We have continued to broadcast our surrender and a plea for mercy and they have not responded. Therefore we can only conclude that we stand at the twilight of the human race. In order to buy time for our evacuation transports to leave Earth, we ask for the support of every ship capable of fighting to take part in a last defense of our home world. We will not lie to you, we do not believe that survival is a possibility. We believe that anyone who joins this battle will never come home. But for every ten minutes we can delay the military advance, several hundred more civilians may have a chance to escape to neutral territory. Though Earth may fall, the human race must have a chance to continue elsewhere. No greater sacrifice has ever been asked of a people. But I ask you now to step forward one last time, one last battle to hold the line against the night. May God go with you all.

* In the novel ''Footfall'' by LarryNiven and JerryPournelle, it's not so much that the humans can't be made to surrender -- it's that they won't ''stay'' surrendered, which confuses and freaks out the alien invaders.

* E.E. Knight's ''Vampire Earth'' series has a heavy dose of this, at least when it comes to the humans that aren't [[TheQuisling Quislings]].

* In ''[=DeadLock=]'', the human faction is mainly known for its prowess in the [[HumansAreDiplomats realms of trade and diplomacy]] - greatly suited for winning the game in peaceful ways. But if they're forced into a fight, they have a special weapon too - all Human Infantry can use the 'Berserk' command in battle, injecting themselves with SuperSerum that [[TheBerserker whips them into a frenzy, granting them the incredible strength and durability they need to take on vastly more powerful alien foes]]. Unfortunately, any survivors will either be killed or crippled for life by the drug's body altering effects. Even the '''[[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Tarth]]''' find this fanatical dedication to be downright disturbing.

* The villain equivilant of this is The Helghast from Killzone. They know to a man they cannot win, but they keep fighting for their home.

** At the end of the last DLC for ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', a [[NeutralGood Para]][[TheMessiah gon]] [[TheDeterminator Shepard]] [[ShutUpHannibal also gives]] [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu this trope]] to [[EldritchAbomination Harbinger]] right after s/he already flipped them off again.

* Partly subverted by ''The Ur-Quan Masters'' (AKA ''StarControl II''). At the beginning, humanity ''has'', indeed, been defeated, trapped beneath [[TheWallAroundTheWorld planetary shields]] in "[[VichyEarth Fallow Slavery]]", and the small detachment of humans left in a space-station outside the shields are nice and obedient to the titular Ur-Quan masters. (It helps that they can't maintain life support without Ur-Quan assistance.) Until the player character shows up with a Precursor spaceship. ''Then'' they rebel, and put together TheAlliance with great speed, before taking on the Ur-Quan directly.

* The WebOriginal/ChaosTimeline has a Sir Winston of Marlborough fighting the Socialists who's quite similar to him.

* In ''The Devil's Eye'' by Jack Mcdevitt, the president of a planet that has just discovered a possible world ending catastrophe is approaching, gives a speech about perseverance that ends with "And if our world should endure for a hundred million years, it will always be known that this was our finest hour." Alex Benedict is an archeologist/treasure hunter and is the only member of the cast familiar enough with history to realize that he is cribbing, and who from.

** At the end of the last DLC for ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', a [[NeutralGood Para]][[TheMessiah gon]] Shepard [[ShutUpHannibal also gives]] [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu this trope]] to [[EldritchAbomination Harbinger]].

** Indeed, even the aliens acknowledge this: one major difference between Yeerks and humans is that Yeerks will give up if they know they're going to lose, while humans won't. Some, like the Yeerk that controlled Jake or Visser Three, think this is basically pointless, but Visser One was smart enough to realize this would make conquering humans a harder task to accomplish.

** At the end of the last DLC for ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', a [[NeutralGood Para]][[TheMessiah gon]] Shepard [[ShutUpHannibal also gives this trope]] to [[EldritchAbomination Harbinger]].

** Come to think of it, has UNIT even come close to a loss from that point on? The Daleks don't count, no race in the galaxy has a chance against a Time-War tech level Dalek fleet.
*** So UNIT didn't lose any fights after the Sontarans... until the next one they got into? They weren't doing so hot in the Doctor-less alternate reality presented in ''Turn Left'' either.
** Near the end of Day Four of ''{{Torchwood}}'': "Children of Earth", we're led to believe that this will happen. Then the trope is horribly, horribly subverted.
** And now, because it's simply [[RuleOfCool too awesome not to happen]], the first season starring MattSmith will include an episode with WinstonChurchill entitled "Victory of the Daleks."
*** It was fantastic and was actually [[spoiler: a decent human victory against Daleks, using stolen Dalek tech, of course.]]
*** [[spoiler: 3 Spitfires with laser beams fought Daleks in space. And won. It was the most awesome thing to have ever existed.]]

* The Terran Faction in ''StarCraft'' invokes this... they're outcast criminals from Earth (think 'Space Australia') running a UsedFuture look - fighting against the insatiable rampage of [[BugWar the Zerg]], and the hyper-advanced [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Protoss]]. And yet, they hold their own...

* In ''[=DeadLock=]'', the human faction is mainly known for its prowess in the realms of trade and diplomacy - greatly suited for winning the game in peaceful ways. But if they're forced into a fight, they have a special weapon too - all Human Infantry can use the 'Berserk' command in battle, injecting themselves with SuperSerum that gives them enormous strength and durability, allowing them to fight off vastly more powerful foes. After the battle, however, the survivors either die outright from the side-effects of the drug, or are crippled for life. Even the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Warrior Race Guys]], the Tarth, find this fanatical dedication to be downright disturbing.