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| 2 | %% This trope list has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in correct alphabetical order. |
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| 4 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1452266899092104700 |
| 5 | %% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread. |
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| 7 | [[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/valkchron_ew2_2.jpg]]]] |
| 8 | [[caption-width-right:350:[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Totally not]] based on UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.]] |
| 9 | ->''"The business of ''When the Tide Rises'' is taken largely from real events in Chile, Peru, and Brazil. The major naval action, however, is based on the 1811 Battle of Lissa. (The 1866 Battle of Lissa is fascinating, but in fiction you couldn't make one side as incompetent as the historical losing side was. As one example, the gun crews of the defeated flagship forgot to load shells and therefore fought the battle firing blank charges.)"'' |
| 10 | -->-- '''Creator/DavidDrake''', foreword to ''Literature/{{RCN}}: When the Tide Rises'' |
| 11 | |
| 12 | This trope deals with a story that features some sort of analogue of a real-world historical conflict in a fantasy or science fiction context in a different world from ours. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | This is especially popular in Japan, since it allows them to tell stories utilizing the era of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII without actively mentioning the war. Other common variations: |
| 15 | * SpaceOpera settings often take cues from UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars or UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. |
| 16 | * MedievalEuropeanFantasy settings frequently riff on UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar and the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses. |
| 17 | * TheWarOfEarthlyAggression is sometimes painted with analogies to UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution or UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar. |
| 18 | * NoBloodForPhlebotinum plots are frequently analogies to European and American colonial wars or to conflicts in the Middle East. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | See FantasyCounterpartCulture and DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything. SuperTrope to SpaceColdWar. Compare and contrast WeirdHistoricalWar, which depicts a RealLife historical war, but with added fantastical elements. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | ---- |
| 23 | |
| 24 | !!Examples |
| 25 | |
| 26 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 27 | |
| 28 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 29 | * ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' |
| 30 | ** The Golden Age Arc draws some inspiration from UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar, with the long-running conflict between the Kingdom of Midland and the Tudor Empire specifically being called the Hundred-Year War. Mercenaries like the Band of the Hawk were historically a significant part of European armies from late Rome through the mid-19th century. Somewhat uniquely, the story seems to be told from the ''French'' perspective rather than the English POV, with Tudor eventually being diverted from prosecuting the war by an EnemyCivilWar sparked by a SuccessionCrisis, mirroring the concurrent UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses. |
| 31 | ** The post-Eclipse invasion of the Kushan Empire seems to parallel the Islamic invasions of southern Europe, particularly the rise of the Ottoman Empire (through conquest of a weakened Eastern Roman Empire, much as Kushan invades Midland in a time of internal weakness following the King's betrayal of the Band of the Hawk), though Kushan is visually patterned more after Mughal India. |
| 32 | * ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': |
| 33 | ** The persecution of the Ishvallan people is said to be a parallel to the Japanese treatment of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_people Ainu]]. The author was familiar with this conflict due to growing up in Hokkaido, where most of the Ainu people live. |
| 34 | ** There's another parallel that Western eyes will see even if they're unaware of its true inspiration: the Nazis' treatment of the Jews, Amestris being a militaristic European-like military dictatorship--led by a Fuhrer, no less--who committed genocide against a religious minority of monotheists. Though the Ishvallans share more in common with Middle Eastern Muslims than Jews, or any of the other groups the Nazis targetted. |
| 35 | * The events of ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' take place against a SteamPunk fantasy equivalent of [[Usefulnotes/WorldWarOne the Great War]], complete with steampunk airships, pre-dreadnought battleships, and French-esque uniforms. Fought over the disappearance of a Prince. |
| 36 | * ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'': The One Year War closely resembles World War II’s conflict between the Axis Powers and Allied Nations in many ways. |
| 37 | ** The dispute is started by a fascist dictator with imperialistic ambitions and beliefs in racial supremacy, ruling a nation with fewer resources and a weaker economy. Said dictator, Gihren Zabi, is explicitly compared to Adolf Hitler by his father. Being unfamiliar with politicians from the 20th century, he takes it as a compliment that his actions have historical precedent, and fails to comprehend his father's subtle warning that such methods and philosophies wouldn't end well for him. (They don't.) |
| 38 | ** The sweep of technological development, with Zeon deploying mobile suits first but eventually getting overwhelmed by the Federation’s scientific and industrial might, maps well to the air of the Pacific Theatre and the fate of the famous Zero fighters. |
| 39 | ** In the Atlantic, Zeon’s submarine fleet parallels the Kriegsmarine’s U-boats, and they launch a raid on the Federation naval yard at Belfast, much like when the Luftwaffe bombed the same city. |
| 40 | ** The Battle of Space Fortress Solomon is roughly analogous to the Solomon Islands Campaign, which revolved around the Imperial Japanese fortress of Rabaul. |
| 41 | ** Then there’s Zeon’s decision to rush student recruits into battle at A Baoa Qu and Imperial Japan’s use of student soldiers in the Battle of Okinawa. |
| 42 | ** After the war, the proliferation of Zeon and Neo-Zeon [[TheRemnant remnants]] scattered across Earth and space is reminiscent of the infamous Japanese holdouts, who either didn't know or refused to believe that Japan had surrendered and continued fighting. |
| 43 | * The conclusion of the First Shinobi World War in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' mirrors the events that followed the real-life First World War. Similar to World War I, the First Shinobi War ended with a truce between the nations after so many casualties, before a treaty of peace was finally signed. However, within 20 years after the signing of the treaty, for unknown reasons, the Second Shinobi War began. 20 years was the same timespan as WWI and II. |
| 44 | * In ''Manga/OnePiece'', the New Fishman Pirates threaten the people of Fishman Island to commit Fumi-e on the late Queen Otohime's image, to shed out their loyalty to Queen Otohime (who has the exact opposite view of the BigBad Hody Jones') which is a reference on feudal Japan's practice of purging Christians (they have their people step on a Christian imagery to prove that they're not Christian). |
| 45 | * It's only seen through flashback, but the war between Thracia and Persia in ''Manga/{{Pluto}}'' is heavily based on the Iraq War (with robots). The United States of Thracia accuses the Middle East nation of Persia of making Robots of Mass Destruction, but before other countries can complete their investigation into whether it's true, Thracia sends troops in and starts a horrific, wasteful war that devastates the country. And this is all just a ploy to make Thracia the world's main superpower. |
| 46 | * The shadow conflict between Westalia and Ostania in ''Manga/SPYxFAMILY'' is inspired by West and East Germany during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. The city where most of the story takes place is even named "Berlint". |
| 47 | [[/folder]] |
| 48 | |
| 49 | [[folder:Comics]] |
| 50 | * ''ComicBook/BlakeAndMortimer'': |
| 51 | ** The original story arc, ''The Secret of the Swordfish'', is essentially a giant expy of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII set TwentyMinutesInTheFuture (the comics were written in the late 1940s and early 1950s). The Yellow Empire's surprise attack is effectively German blitzkrieg tactics, updated for the age of jet engines and nuclear weapons. Their flag is a rising sun that calls to mind Imperial Japan's war flag. Their leader is a mad dictator in military uniform who reacts to setbacks with UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler like temper tantrums, and who, when he's about to die, reacts by trying to take his entire empire down with him. Their enemies are imprisoned in a vast network of concentration camps. Their opposition organizes itself into an underground rebel movement calling itself the "Free World," evoking the Free France of the resistance days. Its fighters refer to themselves as "partisans." Its leader, Sir William Gray, physically resembles UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill. The opening sequence in which the Yellows invade and crush every other major power includes multiple references to WWII: the Polish air force gives a heroic but futile resistance as did its cavalry in 1939, the Maginot Line is circumvented as it was in 1940, the RAF fights a much faster and ultimately unsuccessful version of the Battle of Britain, and the U.S. Pacific Fleet is sunk by enemy aircraft. Even the Golden Rocket aircraft that the heroes use to escape England during the invasion is effectively the jet age version of an American B-17 or B-29 long-range bomber. |
| 52 | ** In an unusual example, it was unclear for a long time whether this war was supposed to ''be'' World War II (or an alternate universe equivalent) or a World War III taking place a few years later. Jacobs' later novels take place in a world largely identical to our own reality, and the events of ''The Secret of the Swordfish'' are referred to in passing only as "the war." Only in the revival books, after Jacobs' death, was it explicitly stated that both conflicts occurred in the Blake and Mortimer universe, with World War III taking place in 1946. |
| 53 | * ''ComicBook/BuckDanny'': Both averted and played straight. The comic started out as a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII adventure, with the hero originally signing up after Pearl Harbor and experiencing the major battles of the Pacific conflict in real time. By the 1950s, though, MoralGuardians in France had ruled that the series could no longer reference real-life "political" events, and the heroes' new adventures in UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar were cut short. After this, the writers found themselves inventing fictional conflicts in imaginary countries to get around this restriction, several of which mirrored real-life ones very closely (though they eventually returned to real-life history as censorship relaxed in the 1980s). |
| 54 | ** ''Pilots Demobilized'', the original postwar storyline, had the heroes leave the military, sign up with a shady airline company in Arabia, and find themselves embroiled in a conflict between the traditionalist sheikh of an oil-rich kingdom and the modernizers who want to overthrow him with the help of an unscrupulous oil company. The conflict was largely based on the power struggle in [[UsefulNotes/UnitedArabEmirates Abu Dhabi]] between the ruling Sheikh Shakhbut and his brother, rival, and eventual successor Zayed.[[note]]With a bit of HistoricalHeroUpgrade for the sheikh and HistoricalVillainUpgrade for his rivals. In the story, Sheikh El-Maahdi is refusing to allow any foreign companies to develop the oil in his land because he's afraid that they'll abuse his subjects, while his rivals don't care if the people are colonized and simply want to get rich. In real life, Abu Dhabi had already been open to foreign oil companies for several decades and nobody was suggesting an end to that. The power struggle came about because Shakhbut refused to ''reinvest'' any of the oil money in developing and modernizing his country, or, except in very limited circumstances, even share the profits with the rest of his family, thus alienating both the people and the ruling dynasty.[[/note]] |
| 55 | ** ''Return of the Flying Tigers'' is largely inspired by UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, though shorn of any ideological content for the sake of the censors: the heroes lead a squadron in the fictional country of Vien Tan to support a U.S. allied king against a rebellion led by his nephew, and financed by a nefarious cartel that wants the nation's natural resources. The story most closely resembles the theater of war in UsefulNotes/{{Laos}} rather than Vietnam, which also involved an insurgency against a king (rather than a republic like South Vietnam) and a palace quarrel among the elites (as the Pathet Lao insurgency was being led by the king's brother). The story also has parallels to the then-current Katanga crisis in the UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo, where the rebellion against the national government was similarly financed by foreign businessmen interested in the province's resources - in this case, Belgian and French mining interests. As with the Vientanese rebels, one of the more blatant signs of this corporate involvement was the heavy presence of European mercenaries to support or even lead the Katanga insurgency's forces. |
| 56 | ** The Managua story arc, in which the heroes are sent to a civil war torn Central American country, mirrors several real-life Latin American drug wars. The Managuan government is facing an insurgency that doubles as a drug cartel, similar to the FARC and Shining Path insurgencies in UsefulNotes/{{Colombia}} and UsefulNotes/{{Peru}} respectively. However, the cartel has also penetrated far into the government to the point that even President Sanchez is on its payroll and refuses to take any real action against it, which provokes distrust and ultimately an invasion by the United States government, similar to the 1989 U.S. invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Panama}} (to depose local dictator Noriega, who was accused of drug trafficking). |
| 57 | * In 2019, to avoid RefugeeFromTime problems, the comic series ''The History of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse'' retconned several well-known characters with histories related to the real-world Vietnam War as having fought in a decades-long conflict in Siancong, a FictionalCountry in South-East Asia which had made a few previous appearances in the comics (sometimes instead Romanised as "Sin-Cong"). This also included ComicBook/MisterFantastic and ComicBook/TheThing's original backstories of being involved in World War II. |
| 58 | * ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts|MarvelComics}}'' opens with a bloody uprising against the ruling monarch of Homeworld, a bit like the French Revolution or the Russian Revolution (particularly the latter, if you see Mari as an Anastasia analogue). |
| 59 | * ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'': Several times. |
| 60 | ** In ''The Broken Ear'', the war between the republics of San Theodoros and Nuevo Rico is heavily based on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaco_War Chaco War]] between Bolivia and Paraguay: a territorial dispute over a region that was believed (ultimately wrongly) to be rich in oil, with rival international oil companies each supporting and egging on one of the governments involved. There's also the appearance of "Basil Bazaroff," a transparent stand-in for arms manufacturer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Zaharoff Basil Zaharoff]], who sells arms to both sides of the war as the real-life Zaharoff did in multiple conflicts throughout his life. |
| 61 | ** ''King Ottokar's Sceptre'' by the author's own admission is a thinly veiled portrayal of the German annexation of Austria, with Syldavia standing in for Austria (and more generally any Central European nation that Hitler laid claim to) and Borduria standing in for Nazi Germany. Unlike in real life, Syldavia is able to expose the plot by pro-Bordurian elements and prevent its own annexation. In later years and especially in ''The Calculus Affair'', the Syldavian/Bordurian conflict would be turned into a metaphor for the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, with Borduria now a Stalinist regime and Syldavia standing in for the West.[[note]]What made this especially blatant was the name of the leaders involved. In ''King Ottokar's Sceptre'', Borduria's dictator is named "Musstler," a transparent mashup of the last names of UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini and UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. In ''The Calculus Affair,'' the new dictator is named "Pleksy-Gladz," as in "plexiglas," a parody of UsefulNotes/JosefStalin whose last name is the Russian word for "steel."[[/note]] |
| 62 | ** The civil war in San Theodoros between General Alcazar and General Tapioca, first introduced in the aforementioned ''The Broken Ear'', started off as a parody of multiple civil wars that plagued Latin American nations during the 1920s. By the time of its last appearance in ''Tintin and the Picaros'', it had mostly turned into an expy for the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolution Cuban Revolution]], with Alcazar's Picaros dressed and shaved to resemble Castro's guerrillas. The two sides' ideologies are inverted, however, since Alcazar is being supported by the U.S. based "International Banana Company," while Tapioca is shown to be aligned with the (communist-coded) Bordurian regime. This fits the cynical worldview of Hergé in his later years, as the entire point of the revolution in the novel is that [[TheHorseshoeEffect the two sides are completely interchangeable]]. The last image in the book shows that nothing in San Theodoros has changed except the name of the dictator being celebrated. |
| 63 | * An issue of ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' depicted an alternate world in which ''ComicBook/SgtFuryAndHisHowlingCommandos'' fought World War Two... [[RecycledInSPACE In SPACE!]] due to earth's technological development being accelerated during the fifteenth century. The Solar System has become divided into Alpha and Beta sectors, one on each side of the sun. The Beta side is populated by the hated Empire of Beta, which are analogous to Imperial Japan in the story, and Earth joins the conflict when the Defense Station Pearl is unexpectedly attacked by them. |
| 64 | * ''ComicBook/{{XIII}}'': A couple. |
| 65 | ** The initial comic books take place in the wake of "the Asia campaign," a war fought and ultimately lost by the United States in an unspecified Asian country of which many of the main characters are veterans. It serves as the series' equivalent of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, especially through its fallout on American society; many resented the war for the way it hammered away at American class issues, with the fighting being disproportionately done by poor and nonwhite draftees, while the defeat caused a right-wing backlash by those who believed that the country wasn't willing to do what was needed to win, feeding into a general perception that the United States has become too soft and decadent and needs a harder regime. |
| 66 | ** The Costa Verde story arc is based on two civil wars in Latin America. The basic setting, a Central American nation torn by a civil war between a pro-U.S. military dictatorship and socialist guerrillas whose revolution ultimately succeeds, is based on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_Revolution Nicaraguan Revolution]], which had ended a few years before the novels (after which the U.S. still tried to reverse it by supporting elements of the old regime, also as in the novels). Much of the story is also based on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolution Cuban Revolution]], however. Angel de los Santos, the rebel leader who promised democracy but moves to establish a dictatorship and eliminate other rebels who won't support this, evokes UsefulNotes/FidelCastro, while "El Cascador," the celebrated foreign insurgent who was ultimately captured and executed by the Costa Verdan army and subsequently turned into a folk hero, resembles UsefulNotes/CheGuevara.[[note]]The eventual revelation that Angel betrayed El Cascador and caused his execution also calls to mind various conspiracy theories that accuse Castro of having similarly had a hand in Che Guevara's death, out of jealousy for his popularity and concern that he couldn't control him.[[/note]] |
| 67 | [[/folder]] |
| 68 | |
| 69 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 70 | * The titular conflict of ''FanFic/TheDilgarWar'' presents more than a few similarities to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. |
| 71 | * ''Fanfic/JurassicWorldTheGeekyZoologist'': The conflict between Isla Nublar's feral carnivores and Ingen's troops that took place during the construction of Jurassic World draws inspiration from the Indian Wars, the Vietnam War, the Roman conquest of Britain, and some episodes of the French Resistance. |
| 72 | * In ''FanFic/OrderInChaos'' the war is practically the Western Front of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]. |
| 73 | * ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' has a conflict between the Trainer and Ranger nations that's clearly an analogue for the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. |
| 74 | * ''FanFic/RacerAndTheGeek'' has one of the main characters a ShellShockedVeteran of a war in "Afgneighistan". |
| 75 | * ''WebVideo/ScootertrixTheAbridged'' introduces a war reminiscent of World War I, with Equestria being the German analog. They have enemies on both sides, and their grand strategy for a quick, decisive victory in a two-front war is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlieffen_Plan Schlieffenpony Plan]]. To the surprise of no one who remembers history, this plan fails, and Equestria gets bogged down in a war of attrition instead. |
| 76 | * "Fanfic/ShortestWarEver" is directly inspired by the Cuban Missile Crisis, with two alien blocs on a pre-warp planet engaged in a nuclear standoff over an island nation that has undergone a revolution and switched sides. [[spoiler:Unlike the real incident, the SpaceColdWar goes hot (due apparently to a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_close_calls false alarm]] being taken seriously), but is stopped by the orbiting USS ''Bajor'' before any serious damage can be done.]] |
| 77 | * ''Fanfic/TheWarOfTheMasters'': |
| 78 | ** ''Fanfic/ForWeShouldGrowTooFondOfIt'': {{Lampshaded}} via the use of Music/{{Sabaton}} songs as {{epigraph}}s in several battle scenes, the first of which has the song "Wolfpack" (about the U-boat raid on Convoy ON-92) paired with Klingon forces coming on the aftermath of a Starfleet sneak attack against a Klingon supply convoy. A destroyed Klingon raptor in the scene is named IKS ''glIyveS'', a re-lex to ''tlhIngan Hol'' of the destroyer USS ''Gleaves'' escorting the historical convoy. |
| 79 | ** ''Fanfic/DontSayGoodbyeFarewell'' makes a subtle reference to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_off_Samar Battle off Samar]] with the naming of Kanril Eleya's task force as TF 34. [[spoiler:The sequence has them and Moabite ships drawn elsewhere while [[ApocalypseHow Fek-Day]] happens in the Moab system itself, leaving them unable to respond to help.]] |
| 80 | [[/folder]] |
| 81 | |
| 82 | [[folder:Film -- Animated]] |
| 83 | * ''Anime/Patlabor2TheMovie'': The battle that Tsuge experiences in TheTeaser was inspired by the JSDF's participation in the UN peacekeeping mission in Cambodia in the early '90s, which writer Creator/KazunoriIto and director Creator/MamoruOshii both opposed. It's part of a larger commentary on the political debate in Japan over the legacy of its imperialism in the first half of the 20th century--which, as Gotoh notes in one scene, "ended in Hiroshima and defeat"--and what role the country should play in world affairs, for example the controversy over amending [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_9_of_the_Japanese_Constitution Article 9 of the postwar constitution]]. |
| 84 | [[/folder]] |
| 85 | |
| 86 | [[folder:Film -- Live-Action]] |
| 87 | * InUniverse example in ''Film/{{Argo}}'': A group of American diplomats pretend to be a Canadian film crew to escape Iran. When questioned about the (fake) movie by the Revolutionary Guard at the airport, they describe the plot as the UsefulNotes/{{Iran}}ian Revolution [[RecycledInSpace as a space opera]]. |
| 88 | * ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' resembles the Indian Wars in the US, with human colonists on Pandora battling Stone Age indigenous tribes for control of lands currently occupied by the natives. The movie has been described as ''Film/DancesWithWolves'' [-InSpace-] The CorporateWarfare and NoBloodForPhlebotinum angles (the human soldiers are PrivateMilitaryContractors trying to gain control of mineral resources) also gives it a resemblance to the then-current US occupation of Iraq, although the film was originally conceptualized several years before that war started (Creator/JamesCameron didn't think the special effects technology of the time was capable of creating the film he wanted). |
| 89 | * ''Film/TheCreator2023'' revolves around a RobotWar between America and a unified "New Asia" that purposefully parallels the Vietnam War, with the robot rebels standing in for the Vietcong. |
| 90 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'' |
| 91 | ** In the original trilogy: |
| 92 | *** The wars against the Galactic Empire in the original trilogy--and as a result, the war between the First Order and the Resistance in the sequel trilogy--have shades of WWII, with the Empire/First Order playing the part of Nazi Germany, with [[PuttingOnTheReich German-style uniforms]] and stormtroopers' helmets resembling both GasMaskMooks and the death's head insignia commonly used by German elite units (though note that the term "stormtrooper" actually originates in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI the previous war]]). Probably especially fitting given that a major influence on the series was old WWII-era serials: the operation against the Death Star in ''Film/ANewHope'' was inspired by ''Film/TheDamBusters'', which was about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chastise Operation Chastise]]. |
| 93 | *** During a conversation with Creator/JamesCameron, Creator/GeorgeLucas revealed he had also based much of ''Film/ANewHope'' on UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar ,and due to his opposition to said war, that the Rebels represented the Viet Cong, and the Empire was Nixon-era America. This influence becomes more apparent in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', with [[RockBeatsLaser the indigenous Ewoks causing significant damage to the Imperial forces occupying their homeworld]]. |
| 94 | ** The prequel trilogy, in a more low-key manner, draws on aspects of both the American Civil War, with the antagonists' side being a separatist Confederacy, and World War I, with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Époque a long period of peace and prosperity]] being dramatically ended by a ruinous war that utterly devastates both inadequately prepared sides. Senator-cum-Chancellor-cum-Emperor Sheev Palpatine references a number of despots who rose to power in times of crisis, but most strongly resembles UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's rise to power through democratic means before being granted absolute power by his government and then arranging a [[TheCoup self-coup]] to keep that power permanently. |
| 95 | * Police example: ''Film/SWAT2003'''s opening sequence is based on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hollywood_shootout North Hollywood shootout]], where a duo of heavily armed bank robbers engaged in an hour-long gun battle with the LAPD before they were finally killed by a SWATTeam. The film adds two additional robbers who start a HostageSituation inside the bank, but uses clips of radio chatter from the real event to establish the scene. |
| 96 | [[/folder]] |
| 97 | |
| 98 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 99 | * ''Literature/AlexisCarew'': |
| 100 | ** Despite the ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' [-InSpace-] stylings of the series, the main conflict between New London and Hanover is more reminiscent of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII than UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars, with culturally British and trade-oriented New London opposing the culturally German and militarily expansionist Republic of Hanover mostly by itself for an extended period, and trying to get friendly but militarily neutral powers into the war on their side. [[spoiler:However, it ends in a ''status quo antebellum'' peace after large portions of the New London and Hanoverian navies wind up lost in deep space after a chain of inconclusive battles.]] |
| 101 | ** The mutiny in ''Mutineer'' is based on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hermione_(1782) historical mutiny]] aboard HMS ''Hermione'', down to the name of the ship. |
| 102 | ** ''The Little Ships'' takes its name from [[spoiler:the evacuation of Dunkirk. New London lands an army on Giron in the Berry March and for a while nothing happens (the so-called "Sitzkrieg"). Then Hanover draws away the fleet and counter-lands a much larger army that begins to RapePillageAndBurn. Midshipman Artley marshals a small fleet of civilian ships to get the troops and as many civilians as can be carried back off of Giron (Dunkirk). The author furthers the homage by naming several of the civilian ships after real-life ones that took part in the operation.]] |
| 103 | ** In ''Privateer'', the Marchant Company galleon ''Hind'' attempts to navigate a dangerous passage into a system used as a pirate nest, runs aground on a dark matter shoal, and is [[VehicularTurnabout captured and put to use by the pirates]]. This mirrors the fate of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Philadelphia_(1799) USS Philadelphia]] during the Barbary Wars, [[spoiler:with Alexis playing the role of Stephen Decatur Jr. and destroying it after infiltrating the system.]] |
| 104 | * The annexation of Cadiz by the Commonwealth in ''Literature/AngelInTheWhirlwind'' is a very disparaging allegory to the American occupation of Iraq in the 2000s (still ongoing at the books' publication): a politically controversial long-running occupation of a neutral power begun for reasons of {{realpolitik}}, that has by now become mired in a bloody and expensive insurgency and is riven with corruption and incompetence on the part of the occupiers. |
| 105 | * In keeping with the allegory of ''Literature/AnimalFarm'', the animal revolt against Farmer Jones is [[UsefulNotes/RomanovsAndRevolutions the Russian Revolution]], the Battle of the Cowshed is [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober the Russian Civil War]], and the Battle of the Windmill is the Eastern Front of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, with Mr Frederick and Pinchfield Farm as Nazi Germany. |
| 106 | * The second duology of ''Literature/ArciaChronicles'' is a {{fantasy}} retelling of the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses, dubbed "War of the Daffodils". |
| 107 | * ''Literature/{{Armor}}'' comes off as a {{deconstruction}} of ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' by way of mashing its high-tech {{Super Soldier}}s in PoweredArmor up with the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar.[[note]]It's worth noting that Heinlein himself praised the novel.[[/note]] The reasons and goals of the [[BugWar Ant War]] are unclear, the enemy can strike from seemingly nowhere and is implacable and inhumanly persistent in wanting the humans plain gone from their world and keep coming no matter how many are killed, and the VastBureaucracy of the military seems [[ArmchairMilitary so out of touch with the reality on the ground]] that [[InsaneAdmiral they're as incomprehensible to protagonist Felix as the Ants themselves]]. And just like Vietnam, [[spoiler:it's strongly implied that the Ants won]]. |
| 108 | * OlderThanRadio: In ''Literature/TheBegumsMillions'' by Creator/JulesVerne, two competing cities are expies for France and Germany. Verne the Frenchman made no bones on where his sympathies were. |
| 109 | * Some claim that Creator/FredSaberhagen's ''Literature/{{Berserker}} Fury'' - where our heroes recover from the sneak attack on Port Diamond to win the battle of 50/50 - was somehow influenced by real UsefulNotes/WorldWarII events. Apart from all the places and ships being thesaurus equivalents, and the battle tactics being exactly those of the Battle of Midway, it's difficult to see why that is. |
| 110 | * ''Literature/CodexAlera'': The campaign fought in [[GhibliHills the Amaranth Vale]] between the invading [[ProudWarriorRace Narashan]] [[{{Wolfman}} Canim]] and the [[BadassArmy First Aleran Legion]] has many parallels to the [[UsefulNotes/PunicWars Second Punic War]], with Nasaug painted as an analogue to UsefulNotes/{{Hannibal Barca}} and his forces as the Carthagians invading the Italian Peninsula. It's also likely not a coincidence that he's matching wits with a foe named "Rufus Scipio" -- as in, Scipio Africanus, the legendary Roman general who ultimately defeated Hannibal. |
| 111 | * ''Literature/TheCombatBakerAndAutomatonWaitress'' is set shortly after the end of "The Great European War", an alternate World War I which took place on a slightly smaller scale, and was ultimately won by Wiltia (Germany) after they developed the [[HumongousMecha Hunter Units]]. However, Wiltia's [[WonTheWarLostThePeace struggles to remain stable as they transition to peacetime]] also take many cues from Japan's Meiji Restoration. |
| 112 | * ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'' has a few of these: |
| 113 | ** The historical wars between Ephebe and Tsort resemble the mythical Trojan War. In ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'', when there's a threat of the war re-erupting, both sides build wooden horses along the border. |
| 114 | ** ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'' combines elements of UsefulNotes/{{the Gulf War}} (the enemy is the Arabian FantasyCounterpartCulture, it's mentioned that Ankh-Morpork (i.e. the West) actually sold the Klatchians their weapons for use in "[[DeadlyEuphemism pacifying]]" their own people, and jingoism leads to racism against Klatchian-Morporkians) and UsefulNotes/{{the Falklands War}} (the conflict is over an island that is of no real significance except that the other lot aren't getting their hands on it). |
| 115 | ** In the later novels, the terrorist actions of the fundamentalist "deep dwarfs" (who [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything cover themselves from head to foot]] because they consider it a sin to look on sunlight) are reminiscent of UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror. |
| 116 | * ''Literature/TheFourHorsemenUniverse'': The ShortStory "Unto the Last--Stand Fast" is based on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_of_the_Swiss_Guard Stand of the Swiss Guard]], with a group of 189 human mercenaries, outnumbered and outgunned, making a LastStand against an invader to allow local religious leaders sought for heresy to escape. The twist is that the story is also a WholePlotReference to Music/{{Sabaton}}'s song about the same incident, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9BupglHdtM "The Last Stand"]], with lyrics from the song quoted by the characters and even used as a TrustPassword. |
| 117 | * ''Literature/HelenAndTroysEpicRoadQuest'' being set in a LowFantasy version of the real world, UsefulNotes/WorldWarII is mentioned multiple times. UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler is framed as having been an EvilOverlord not unlike [[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsSauron Sauron]], there were ice-dragons at the Battle of the Bulge and Nigel's grandfather killed Nazis with a battle-ax. |
| 118 | * ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': |
| 119 | ** The series draws a lot of inspiration for its setting and events from UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars, but with the land battles ported to SpaceNavy battles. The comparison goes OffTheRails around book nine, at least partly due to the fact that [[spoiler:their Napoleon analogue fails in her coup attempt]]. |
| 120 | ** Naval tactics and architecture, however, are heavily influenced by UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. "Battleships" in the series are analogous to pre-''Dreadnought'' models, outgunned by, well, dreadnought- and superdreadnought-class vessels, while being too slow to take on battlecruisers. In turn, Admiral Sonja "Horrible" Hemphill seems to be inspired by British Admiral Jackie Fisher, whose brainchild HMS ''Dreadnought'' largely was: both were motivated to use new weapons technology to break the stalemates that naval battles tended to devolve to because it was so difficult to force a decisive battle. Assuming competent leadership, either side usually retained the option to withdraw if they were losing, as the Germans did at Jutland, while at [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution the Battle of the Chesapeake Bay]] the French avoided a direct engagement because they only needed to delay the British from reinforcing Cornwallis at Yorktown. Similar issues are in play at the start of the series, as described during the naval exercises in ''On Basilisk Station'': until Manticore introduced the missile pod (roughly analogous to the introduction of effective naval airpower), it was difficult for either side to do enough damage to win decisively. |
| 121 | ** Honor's actions in ''The Short Victorious War'', assuming command of the fleet after her admiral is incapacitated, rather than having an admiral aboard another ship assume command during a key moment in the pitched battle, is likely based on the actions of US Navy [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_McCandless Lieutenant Commander Bruce McCandless]] aboard the heavy cruiser USS ''San Francisco'' (CA-38) during the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.]] Like Honor, Commander [=McCandless=] was decorated for his actions rather than court martialled. With the death of Admiral Dan Callaghan, Captain Cassin Young, and ''San Francisco'''s XO (as well as Admiral Norman Scott aboard USS ''Atlanta'', accidentally struck down by friendly fire from ''San Francisco'', nobody was immediately aware of it in the confusion except a the men who found Scott's body), the US fleet was in disarray. He was not the seniormost surviving officer aboard ''San Francisco''. The senior surviving officer aboard was Lieutenant Commander Herbert Schonland, the ship's Damage Control Officer. Schonland was far too busy keeping the crippled cruiser afloat, and told [=McCandless=] to "carry out the Admiral's orders," effectively giving command to [=McCandless=] (though necessary, this could have been interpreted as Dereliction of Duty and/or Deserting his Post In the Face of the Enemy for Schonland). When the fighting subsided, Captain Gil Hoover of the light cruiser USS ''Helena'' took command of the remaining ships as the senior surviving officer afloat. Though costly, the battle was a victory for the Americans, and [=McCandless=] and Schonland's actions saved ''San Francisco'', with both men receiving the Medal of Honor. |
| 122 | ** The Havenite revolution with all its purges and internal struggles is a clear reference to the UsefulNotes/FrenchRevolution and the Reign of Terror, with the eventual MilitaryCoup and restoration of the pre-PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny constitution referencing the Bourbon Restoration (Napoleon's reign having been skipped over). |
| 123 | * ''Literature/HowARealistHeroRebuiltTheKingdom'' provides an InUniverse example in volume 3 when Souma Kazuya narrates to the Gran Chaos Empire's negotiator Jeanne Euphoria a parable about a conflict between a God of the East who believed all mankind should be made equal, and a God of the West who believed all mankind should be made free. As Souma confirms in the next volume, the parable is meant to metaphorically explain the UsefulNotes/ColdWar in broad terms. |
| 124 | * ''Literature/IntoTheHinterlands'' and its sequel ''Into the Maelstrom'' by Creator/DavidDrake and Creator/JohnLambshead is the wars of early America InSpace, with viewpoint character Allen Allenson standing in for UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington in respectively the UsefulNotes/FrenchAndIndianWar (Brasilian colonies versus Terran soldiers and "Riders") and the UsefulNotes/AmericanRevolution (Brasilian colonies seeking independence from Brasilia). |
| 125 | * ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': |
| 126 | ** Shortly after the trilogy's original release in 1954-55, audiences began drawing parallels between it and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Creator/JRRTolkien disliked this interpretation strongly enough that subsequent releases included a foreword that discusses at length all the ways in which the War of the Ring is ''not'' like World War II: among other things, he argued that had he intended that analogy, the Fellowship would have wielded the One Ring against Sauron. |
| 127 | ** On the flipside, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in ''The Return of the King'' shows many similarities to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vienna 1683 Battle of Vienna]] between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire: a siege of a fortified city that ended in the Turks' rout by the largest cavalry charge in history, led by King Jan III Sobieski of Poland. Meanwhile, Tolkien himself in ''The History of the Lord of the Rings'' pointed to an account of the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains by the late Roman historian Jordanes, in which Theodoric, King of the Visigoths, was slain in a nevertheless tactically successful battle against the Huns, invaders from the East. |
| 128 | * Just to be different John G. Hemry based the first arc of ''Literature/TheLostFleet'' series very loosely on Xenophon's ''Literature/{{Anabasis}}''. Other aspects of the setting take inspiration from the late 20th century US Navy, which was also a case of WriteWhatYouKnow. |
| 129 | * Short story "Lynortis Reprise" from ''Literature/KaneSeries'' is set in a fantasy equivalent of World War I Western front - complete with trench warfare, (magical) poisonous gases and tragic fate of numerous young men crippled in combat. |
| 130 | * ''Literature/{{RCN}}'': Creator/DavidDrake usually notes in the foreword to the book the sources of inspiration (normally 19th century naval battles). |
| 131 | ** Like [[Literature/HonorHarrington a certain other long-running space opera]], the novels are loosely based on the Napoleonic Wars, with the literary inspiration being the ''Literature/AubreyMaturin'' novels instead of ''Literature/HoratioHornblower''. The Republic of Cinnabar stands in for Britain (with bits of the Roman Republic thrown in), both good and bad (it's noted they favor dictatorships to democracies for their client states because they only have to control one guy, not the whole population), while the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Alliance of Free Stars]] stands in for Napoleonic France, with elements of Prussia and the Soviet Union. [[spoiler:Unlike the Napoleonic Wars, however, the Cinnabar-Alliance War ends in a negotiated peace after book seven, as both countries, by far the most powerful human states in TheVerse, were on the verge of complete economic collapse after roughly forty years of fighting and would probably take most of human civilization with them.]] |
| 132 | ** The foreword to ''When the Tide Rises'' states that the book's conflicts, both military and political, are based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cochrane,_10th_Earl_of_Dundonald Lord Cochrane's]] memoirs from his time serving as commander of the Chilean Navy during its war of independence, and the major battle on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lissa_(1811) 1811 Battle of Lissa]] (not to be confused with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lissa_(1866) 1866 Battle of Lissa]], which Drake comments was [[RealityIsUnrealistic so farcical you couldn't use it as a basis for fiction]]: the Italian flagship's crew somehow forgot to load shells in their cannons and spent the entire battle shooting blanks). |
| 133 | * In ''Literature/TheMachineriesOfEmpire'', the Battle of Candle Arc, which established Shuos Jedao as a tactical genius and is described in detail in a related short story, is inspired by the real-world [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Myeongnyang Battle of Myeongnyang]] between Korea and Japan in 1597, when the severely-depleted Korean navy defeated a much larger Japanese force by taking advantage of unusual local currents and tidal effects. |
| 134 | * In ''Literature/ReignOfTheSevenSpellblades'' volume 3, the test to enter the the third level of the labyrinth from the second consists of the "Battle of Hell's Armies": [[NightOfTheLivingMooks two undead armies]] eternally reenacting a historical battle between "Rumoa" and "Kurtago" involving "swordrhinos", the "Battle of Diama". It's the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Zama Battle of Zama]] ([[CallARabbitASmeerp the "swordrhinos" are war elephants]]), and the point of the test is to help the side representing Carthage to win instead of Rome. [[spoiler:The protagonists use "toolplants" created by Guy to conjure fences of trees that foil the "Rumoan" cavalry charge against the infantry's flanks, allowing Nanao to make a literal DecapitationStrike against the enemy general.]] |
| 135 | * In ''Literature/LaSagaDeLosConfines'', by the Argentine Liliana Bodoc, the inhabitants of the continent of The Fertile Lands are inspired by various pre-Columbian indigenous peoples, such as the Mayas, the Aztecs or the Mapuche. And all of them are invaded by the Sideresians from The Ancient Lands, the equivalent of Europe in this world and who also have horses, cannons, harquebuses, armor and metal weapons. In other words it's basically the conquest of America but with magic involved. |
| 136 | * ''Literature/TheSagaOfTanyaTheEvil'' has various countries as analogues of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI countries: The Empire being Germany, The Republic being France, Dacia being Romania, The Allied Kingdom being the UK, and so on. Also similarly to WWI, the war begins as a relatively localized conflict that then draws in allies and sympathizers of the combatants (though over a significantly longer period of time), and Tanya--a [[ReincarnateInAnotherWorld reincarnated middle manager from modern-day Japan]]--notes the similarities in especially the Empire's position as a relative newcomer whose rise has destabilized the ConstructedWorld's traditional BalanceOfPower. However, by the end of the first StoryArc, the situation has become more comparable to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII circa early 1941, with the Republic now fully under Imperial occupation and remnants of its army having retreated to friendly countries to regroup. |
| 137 | * In ''Literature/SecondApocalypse'', the Holy War has very clear parallels to the Crusades, with the Inrithi as the Christians, the Fanim as the Muslims, and the holy city of Shimeh as Jerusalem. |
| 138 | * Creator/MattStover's Mace Windu-centric ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' novel ''Literature/{{Shatterpoint}}'' has a two-part example in the conflict over Haruun Kal. |
| 139 | ** The Summertime War is your average colonial war between Europeans wanting to exploit the land for profit--the offworlder settlers, called Balawai--and the indigenous tribes who are in the way--the Korunnai, from whom Windu himself descends. Creator/MattStover was specifically inspired by Creator/JosephConrad's novel ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', an anti-colonialist novel set in [[UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo the 1890s Belgian Congo]]. |
| 140 | ** The larger context turns the Summertime War into a ProxyWar between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems over the strategically important jungle world, much like the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar, which Stover's other main inspiration ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was set within (and was itself a SettingUpdate of ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness''). The Confederacy backs the Balawai with financing and weapons (South Vietnam), while the Republic inserted Jedi Master Depa Billaba to assist the native Korunnai (Vietcong). |
| 141 | * ''Literature/SiobhanDunmoore: When the Guns Roar'': Captain Dunmoore commands a Q-ship in a commerce raiding task force, and adapts U-boat wolfpack tactics from the Battle of the Atlantic to the situation. She later commands the task force in a reenactment of the Doolittle Raid. |
| 142 | * ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' is based heavily on Western European wars of the Middle Ages. |
| 143 | ** The names of the FeudingFamilies Stark and Lannister (York and Lancaster) are less than subtle clues to inspiration from the Wars of the Roses. Even more directly, brief mentions are made of the Red and Green "Apple" Fossoways, who appear to have their own squabbles over titles and are two branches of a house. The symbol of House Tyrell, one of the major power players in the series, is depicted in the TV adaptation ''Series/GameOfThrones'' as a dead ringer for the Tudor double rose. |
| 144 | ** The civil war between Aegon and Rhaenyra, is very similar - except for the dragons, of course - to the conflict between Stephen of Blois and Empress Matilda, cousins who vied over the English throne in the 12th century. Aegon is even persuaded to take the throne by his wife and mother, much as Stephen was. The Purple Wedding was also inspired by the death of Eustace (Stephen de Blois' son) at the the end of the Anarchy. Like the result of the Anarchy, Rhaenyra's claim is vindicated by her son Aegon III, a counterpart to Matilda's son Henry II Plantagenet. |
| 145 | ** Likewise, The Red Wedding is based on real-life violations of SacredHospitality such as the Glencoe Massacre and the Black Dinner. |
| 146 | ** The Reyne-Tarbeck revolt is one to the Second Barons' War, with Tywin Lannister being based on Edward I of England. |
| 147 | ** Cersei's (who is also inspired by [[NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed Isabelle of France]]) convoluted FawltyTowersPlot to frame Margaery for adultery was inspired by the Tour de Nesle affair, where the daughters-in-law of King Philip the Fair allegedly committed adultery. |
| 148 | ** The Blackfyre Rebellion is a reworking of [[UsefulNotes/HanoverStuartWars the Jacobite Rebellion]]. |
| 149 | ** Cersei's situation in ''Literature/AClashOfKings'' resembles that of the Bulgarian Empress regent known only as Smiltsena (named after her husband, Emperor Smilets) who ruled in 1298-1300: after her husband's death, she supports her infant son (Ivan IV Smilets) against her late husband's two brothers (boyars Voysil and Radoslav), and two other claimants (Theodor Svetoslav Terter, the son of a previously abdicated emperor, and Chaka, the son of a renegade Golden Horde warlord), with marrying her daughter off to secure an alliance with another nobleman (despot Aldimir). |
| 150 | ** Some aspects of the War of the Five Kings, namely the Brave Companions pillaging the countryside, the religious frenzy and the burning of whole villages as part of a terror campaign comes from UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar. |
| 151 | ** In the series' more ancient backstory, the Andal invasion of Westeros was probably meant to parallel the Anglo-Saxon conquest of England. However, [[DatedHistory some archaeologists now dispute whether such an invasion ever actually took place]]: mounting evidence suggests a slower, mostly peaceful migration by Angle, Jute, and Saxon tribes after the Western Roman Empire released control of Britain. |
| 152 | * Books by Creator/HarryTurtledove: |
| 153 | ** The ''Literature/DarknessSeries'' is about a fantasy version of WWII. With MagicMissile shooting "sticks" as guns, dragons as aircraft, behemoths for tanks, leviathans for submarines, earthquake-generating spells powered by HumanSacrifice in place of airstrikes, the America equivalent even develops a FantasticNuke. |
| 154 | ** ''Literature/WarBetweenTheProvinces'' sets UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar in a fantasy environment. |
| 155 | * In ''Literature/VioletEvergarden'', the Continental War is distinctly similar to the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI First World War]], with Lee Enfields, G98 rifles, and other weapons of the time in use by the two opposing sides, who are formed out of alliances of several countries each. The war lasted four years, with much devastation wrought on both sides. The series' focus is on the Post-War world, where many families have lost sons and fathers to battle, and those who do manage to return often don't come back in one piece, either physically or mentally. Violet herself is a [[ChildSoldiers veteran of the war]]. |
| 156 | * Creator/TanyaHuff stated in the afterword of ''[[Literature/ConfederationOfValor Valor's Choice]]'' that she based the book's major battle on [[UsefulNotes/AngloZuluWar Rorke's Drift]]. The fight involves hordes of adolescent [[LizardFolk Silsviss]] (standing in for the Zulus) trying to kill a small force of Confederation Marines (standing in for the Brits) in a dug-in position, with the battle finally being won by the Marines because the Silsviss leader was [[KlingonPromotion killed by his second-in-command]], who then withdrew after offering a show of respect (mirroring the Zulus quitting the field). |
| 157 | * The Nilfgaard Empire's conquest of the Aedirn Kingdom in ''Franchise/TheWitcher'' series, is intended by author Creator/AndrzejSapkowski as a parallel to the Nazi invasion of Poland that led to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Nilfgaard itself is [[ANaziByAnyOtherName a totalitarian state with visions of world domination and disdain for any nation it regards as less civilised]], and tactics it employs against Aedirn include {{False Flag Operation}}s, Blitzkrieg raids deep into the heart of their territory (with cavalry instead of tanks), and forming pacts with Aedirn's old allies, who betray it in exchange for a share of the conquered lands. Ironically, the Polish Sapkowski's Czech fans reportedly tend to interpret the same events as the Nazis' annexation of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, with Poland getting Silesia in a similar secret deal (both real situations were similar, so this is not surprising). |
| 158 | * ''The Ten Thousand'', the first novel of ''The Macht Trilogy'' by Creator/PaulKearney, retells ''Literature/{{Anabasis}}'' in a LowFantasy setting. Latter books cover the various campaigns of UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat. |
| 159 | [[/folder]] |
| 160 | |
| 161 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 162 | * ''Series/{{Andor}}'': The Empire has displaced thousands of Aldhani natives from the planet's highlands, driving them south to more industrialized locations. It strongly parallels the real-life Highland Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries, during which tenants were forcibly evicted and relocated from the Scottish highlands (where the Aldhani-set episodes were shot). |
| 163 | * ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'': The two-parter "Nuts to War", filmed shortly after the first Gulf War, had the two-legged dinosaurs go to war with the four-leggers over pistachio nuts in "[[OperationBlank Operation]] [[FunWithAcronyms We Are Right]]." |
| 164 | * ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' was partially inspired by journals of Confederate soldiers on the frontier from UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, and the Unification War and aftermath has its similarities (Alliance occupation troops in the series' present = Union occupation troops during Reconstruction, for instance). However the comparison isn't perfect, as the Independent Faction started out independent instead of trying to secede and failing, and while it's left vague exactly ''what'' freedoms the independents were fighting to protect,[[labelnote:*]][[AllThereInTheManual According to the RPG]] and Joss Whedon's notes on ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', they were fighting against Alliance annexation, period.[[/labelnote]] it pretty obviously [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil wasn't the freedom to own slaves.]] |
| 165 | * ''Franchise/ASongOfIceAndFire'': |
| 166 | ** ''Series/GameOfThrones'': The War of Five Kings is loosely inspired by the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses, Aegon's Conquest has obvious parallels to the [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy Norman]] Conquest of England and the historical period the dance of the dragons was clearly based on the English Anarchy of 1135-1154. |
| 167 | ** ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': The nascent Dance of the Dragons recalls both the Anarchy just like ''Game of Thrones'', and the heavy SuccessionCrisis aspect invites comparisons to UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar (though without being as long as the latter, obviously). |
| 168 | * Many battles in ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond'' are directly based on parts of the Pacific and Normandy campaigns in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, with the similarities directly called out in the episodes. |
| 169 | ** The PilotMovie largely parallels the Japanese advance after Pearl Harbor, up to the UN forces scoring a significant defensive victory at the climax that they're able to follow up with a counteroffensive (Midway). |
| 170 | ** In "Hostile Visit", the USS ''Saratoga'' captures a Chig bomber, which the 58th attempts to use in a reenactment of the Doolittle Raid. [[spoiler:It GoesHorriblyWrong: due to heavy anti-aircraft fire and inexperience with their ship, they miss their intended target completely and are shot down and captured.]] |
| 171 | ** "Stardust" = a disinformation op in the leadup to D-Day. [[spoiler:Also referenced are the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_talker code talkers]], with the Marines using missives written in Navajo and attached to corpses to mislead the Chigs.]] |
| 172 | ** "Sugar Dirt" = Guadalcanal, with a landing force scoring an initial easy victory, then being abandoned to fend for themselves in the face of superior forces for months in favor of taking advantage of a more strategic position elsewhere (New Guinea in real life, the planet Ixion near the Chig homeworld in the episode). Complete with a VanityPlate dedicating the episode to Guadalcanal veterans. |
| 173 | ** Round Hammer itself is inspired by the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands. [[spoiler:But unlike the real one that never happened because the Japanese surrendered after the American nuclear attacks, Round Hammer is called off in the finale because the Wild Cards screw up and give away the battle plan to the Chigs[[note]]They meet an unarmored Chig while scouting a moon of the Chig homeworld and, not knowing what unarmored Chigs look like, mistake him for a different alien species and tell him about the planned assault to save his life. He is apparently a guardian of a Chig breeding ground and tells his government about the invasion.[[/note]], who offer to open peace negotiations instead of taking advantage. The negotiations go badly awry and the war restarts, but the UN has lost the initiative.]] |
| 174 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 175 | ** Many conflicts in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' take cues from conflicts of the time or the past. Throughout the series the United Federation of Planets typically stood in for the United States, while the Klingon Empire stood for the USSR. Consequently, the plot of "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E19APrivateLittleWar A Private Little War]]" draws from the various "brushfire wars" where the Americans and Soviets exported the UsefulNotes/ColdWar to [[ProxyWar local proxies]]. One of the most lasting legacies of this series, the PrimeDirective, was created as a reaction to such European and American imperial practices with the intent of keeping the Federation from repeating the mistakes of humanity's past. |
| 176 | ** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': |
| 177 | *** The Occupation of Bajor drew most of its cues from the Nazi occupation of Europe in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (and to a lesser extent the Japanese occupation of Pacific nations in the same period), with the Cardassians using concentration camps, forced labor, and {{sex slave}}ry on the native Bajorans and pillaging their art and cultural resources, while the Bajorans themselves had both LaResistance and LesCollaborateurs. However, the Cardassians withdraw right before the series mostly due to their own internal politics. |
| 178 | *** The situation in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E18RulesOfEngagement Rules of Engagement]]" where Worf accidentally destroys a passenger ship while defending a convoy against Klingon raiders ([[spoiler:not really: it was a Klingon FrameUp and the liner was unmanned]]) was inspired by the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655 Iran Air Flight 655]] incident during the UsefulNotes/IranIraqWar. |
| 179 | *** Much of the Dominion War story arc is based on UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The fall of Deep Space 9 in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E26CallToArms Call to Arms]]" references US possessions falling to Japan, while "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E05FavorTheBold Favor the Bold]]" and "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E06SacrificeOfAngels Sacrifice of Angels]]" parallel D-Day in part. "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E08TheSiegeOfAR558 The Siege of AR-558]]" was primarily inspired by Guadalcanal, but director Winrich Kolbe also drew on his experiences in UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, feeling the scenario was similar to Khe Sanh. |
| 180 | ** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'''s Xindi plot got started with a sudden raid by a Xindi superweapon against the southeastern United States that pulls United Earth into war. This was intended as an analogy to the September 11 terrorist attacks. In a notable aversion, however, the Suliban were ''not'' supposed to be a stand-in for the Taliban: they were named after them while the show was in preproduction simply because Creator/BrannonBraga thought the word "Taliban" sounded exotic, then the show premiered two weeks after the attacks. |
| 181 | ** ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': {{Discussed}} in [[Recap/StarTrekPicardS1E01Remembrance "Remembrance"]]. In a TV interview, Jean-Luc Picard disputes the interviewer's comparison of the HomeworldEvacuation of Romulus to the construction of the great pyramids, dismissing them as monuments to vanity. He prefers to compare it to [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the Dunkirk evacuation]]. |
| 182 | [[/folder]] |
| 183 | |
| 184 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 185 | * Given that ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' takes many inspirations from real-life military history in its setting, characters and war machines, this trope was pretty much inevitable. |
| 186 | ** The Amaris Civil War has many similarities to [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober the Russian Civil War]], kicking off with the ruling family being shot to death and unceremoniously left to rot. The leader of one of the factions is even said to be a descendant of the chairman of the Russian Provisional Government. |
| 187 | *** It also resembles the [[JidaiGeki medieval Japanese]] Genpei War, being a civil war between two rival retainers of the royal family that paved the way for the rise to prominence of a relatively decentralized warrior nobility. Stefan Amaris himself has many parallels to [[UsefulNotes/{{Heike}} Taira no Kiyomori]], being from a region regarded as an uncivilized backwater and playing the part of an uneducated country bumpkin before seizing power and growing increasingly unhinged and tyrannical as the tide of war turned against his forces. |
| 188 | *** Amaris also strongly parallels the ancient Chinese Warlord Dong Zhuo of the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeKingdomsShuWeiWu Three Kingdoms]] period, and the Periphery Uprising preceding the Civil War to the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Both distinguished themselves leading the fight against the rebels and ingratiated themselves to the crown prince over the objections of the rest of the court, only to betray and murder them and seize power, kicking off an age of balkanization and bloody wars (although the real Dong Zhuo probably wasn't secretly [[PlayingBothSides bankrolling the Yellow Turbans]]). Interestingly, all three men were noted for unusual circumstances surrounding the disposal of their bodies after death (Dong Zhuo's body was publicly burned and it was said he was so fat and greasy it took days for the flames to die down, Kiyomori died of a fever so high that his corpse was painfully hot to the touch and Amaris' body was donated to a medical school as a cadaver, where it was kept for several decades until war shortages caused by the Succession Wars meant they could no longer afford to keep it refrigerated and unceremoniously disposed of it in a dumpster). |
| 189 | ** The first three Succession Wars bear a strong resemblance to the UsefulNotes/ThirtyYearsWar, being bloody, wasteful, large-scale conflicts between numerous feuding noble houses and nation states in the wake of the decline of a larger empire that saw widespread use of mercenary armies and largely devolved into constant looting by said mercenaries. |
| 190 | ** The Kentares Massacre during the First Succession War, meanwhile, draws heavily on [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar The Rape of Nanking]], right down to the excessive use of beheadings by katana. |
| 191 | ** The Clan Invasion(s) come off as a cross between UsefulNotes/TheCrusades and UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan's conquests in Asia and Eastern Europe (unsurprisingly, as the Clans' founder deliberately based elements of their culture on the Mongol Hordes). |
| 192 | ** [[WordOfGod The author's note]] at the beginning of the ''Franchise/BattletechExpandedUniverse'' novel ''Ideal War'' states that the Gibson Uprising, a relatively minor conflict involving the pre-Jihad Word Of Blake, was explicitly based on UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. |
| 193 | * ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': |
| 194 | ** ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'': The Last War, which serves as an integral part of the setting's {{Backstory}}, draws inspiration from UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar, including its origin as a SuccessionCrisis [[HeirClubForMen denying a female heir]], introduction of new military technology, and lasting over a hundred years; as well as UsefulNotes/WorldWarI in its new technology, inconclusive outcome, and being touted as "TheWarToEndAllWars". |
| 195 | ** ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'': The Church of Helm gets a bad rap for re-enacting the behavior of the conquistadors in the New World in its local equivalent ''TabletopGame/{{Maztica}}'', while the conflict with the Tuigan Horde is a clear parallel to the Mongol invasions. |
| 196 | * The central concept of ''TabletopGame/{{Flintloque}}'': The Mordredian Wars are UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars, only the French are elves (under Emperor Mordred and Marshal Sault), the British are orcs[[note]]Strictly, the English are orcs; the Scots are ratmen and the Welsh are hobgoblins[[/note]] (under King Gorge and the Duke of Wheeling-Turn), the Prussians are dwarves, the Russians are undead, and so on. There's an expansion called ''Slaughterloo''. |
| 197 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': |
| 198 | ** The entire nation of Galt is copied directly from the Reign of Terror period during the UsefulNotes/FrenchRevolution: demagoguery and infighting turned the Red Revolution on itself after the noble class was bloodily overthrown, and Galt has become a failed state, with the only consistent power center being the Grey Gardeners, the secretive order of executioners that mans the magical guillotines. |
| 199 | ** Andoran's independence war, on the other hand, mashes up the [[UsefulNotes/RevolutionsOf1848 French 1848 revolution]] with the American Revolution: having learned the lessons of Galt, the Andoren revolutionaries overthrew their noble class with the minimum possible bloodshed (France) and then wore out the willingness of Cheliax to hold onto its eastern province (United States), thus successfully establishing the first large representative democracy in the Inner Sea region (both). |
| 200 | ** The Mendevian Crusades are, well, meant to be analogues to the Crusades, with the difference being that they're against demons boiling out of an interplanar breach called the Worldwound. The First Crusade was a notable success story, but the three subsequent Crusades were at best barely able to hold onto its gains due to infighting. The ''Wrath of the Righteous'' adventure path (and [[VideoGame/PathfinderWrathOfTheRighteous its CRPG adaptation]]) deals with the Fifth Crusade. |
| 201 | ** The conflict between the Keleshite and Taldan Empires references both the Islamic expansion into Europe and the subdivision and collapse of the Roman Empire, albeit with the order of events reversed: [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Perso-Arabic-coded]] Kelesh's invasion of [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Roman-coded]] Taldor provided an opening for the western half of the latter empire to declare independence under the rule of Cheliax. |
| 202 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' features an analogue to the [[UsefulNotes/MoorishSpain Umayyad conquest of Spain]] when Sultan Jaffar of Araby invades and takes over the Kingdom of Estalia, which ends up triggering the equivalent of UsefulNotes/TheCrusades when Bretonnia, the Empire and Tilea join forces to strike back at the Arabyans and liberate Estalia. Unlike the Crusades, this started when a daemon of Tzeentch manipulated the Sultan into attacking. Jaffar was a hated tyrant and many forces rose in uprising against him by allying with Imperials and Bretonnians. The aftermath of the war saw two cities, Antoch and Sudenburg, founded by the crusaders near the southern edge of the desert. The Imperial knights stuck around for decades more, hunting down Jaffar loyalists and Chaos cults supporting him. The Imperial forces explicitly stuck around as an excuse to rotate members around between the Empire and Araby as the Empire was going through a combination of a three-way Hundred Years War and Thirty Years War with on again off again conflict for nearly a thousand years in a divided state during the Age of the Three Emperors (initially starting as two and at one point becoming four before two claims reuinified) and the Knights were sick of alternating between killing fellow Imperials and the usual foes of Greenskins and Beastmen. Eventually all left except for the Sudenburger and Antochan colonists, who remain to the present day of the world as colonial subjects and major trading ports for Araby. The Age of the Three Emperors ended centuries after the anti-Jaffar coalition returned home in the Great War Against Chaos, marking the start of the settings modern age. |
| 203 | [[/folder]] |
| 204 | |
| 205 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 206 | * ''VideoGame/AceCombat'': |
| 207 | ** ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'' has the unique distinction of taking place during the Fantasy Conflict Counterpart of what WorldWarIII ''could'' have been had the real life Cold War ever gone hot. |
| 208 | ** The eponymous conflict in ''VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar'' is based on both UsefulNotes/WorldWarI and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, with just a dash of the Yugoslav Wars thrown in for variety. |
| 209 | ** The background Osean War which happened decades ago is the Ace Combat world's equivalent of World War 1. |
| 210 | ** The Cold War in Ace Combat was a three-way affair between Belka, Osea and Yuktobania. The independence wars against Belka kicks off the Belkan War. |
| 211 | * ''VideoGame/{{Arknights}}'': Its world of Terra is filled with FantasyCounterpartCulture nations to real life Earth and are approximately currently sometime in the late 1800s if compared to real life history. The existence of these two wars informs a major part of realpolitik for even observer nations, who have been building up their militaries and other means of defending themselves out of fear they will be next to be annexed. |
| 212 | ** This is demonstrated by the most recent known war of Higashi (fantasy Japan) winning over Ursus (fantasy Russia) in a reflection of the Russo-Japanese war. Said war has caused massive demoralization to Ursus and calls for aggressive remilitarization to reclaim the empire's former glory. [[spoiler:This is in actuality what drives the plot of the first storyline as Ursus' PatronDeity conspires with various military officials to create a FalseFlagOperation and instigate war against Yan (fantasy China), only for the protagonists to put a stop to it.]] |
| 213 | ** The other GreatOffscreenWar often spoken about is the Battle of the Four Emperors. Gaul (fantasy France) waged aggressive expansion on Victorian (fantasy Britain) and Leithanian (fantasy Austria-Hungary) territory. Victoria and Leithania made a coalition with Ursus to bring Gaul down, reflecting the European coalition of nations against an expanding Napoleonic France. Unlike real history, Gaul was utterly annihilated and completely annexed by the three empires that defeated it, with Gallic culture being completely suppressed as a result. |
| 214 | * The ''{{VideoGame/ARMA}}'' games are typically set in [[FictionalCounterpart fictional locations]] to avoid offending anyone or hitting too close to real-world politics. Never-the-less, the maps used are often based on real locations, and the conflicts are inspired by real counterparts. |
| 215 | ** The first ''ARMA'' features a mix between UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar and the Turkish Occupation of Cyprus. With the former, a nation is split in half, with the more militarized, communist North eyeing up the wealthier South. For the latter, it is the Mediterranean setting and the vague Middle Eastern and Greek influences that the island of Sahrani exhibits. |
| 216 | ** The second game is the most blatant, with the main campaign being based upon the Russo-Georgian War that was making headline news at the same time that it was in development. It also retroactively became a counterpart conflict for the War in Ukraine. It features a break-away state rebelling against a [[{{Ruritania}} former Soviet state]] and drawing the intervention of Russian forces. |
| 217 | *** The expansion, ''Operation Arrowhead,'' is the most blatant of them all. It is set in [[{{Qurac}} Takistan]], a nation that is quite clearly a pastiche of Iraq and Afghanistan. For the former, the US and co. invade to stop a dictator who reportedly has weapons of mass destruction, while for the latter, the occupiers must fight a local tribal insurgency in the mountains. |
| 218 | ** ''ARMA III'' is the only title to subvert this. The main conflict involves a minor clash between NATO and the military of a small Mediterranean island being supported by a coalition of countries led by Iran and China. This is deliberate, though, as the original plot for the game was set following what was essentially WorldWarIII and took place in Greece proper, specifically the island of Lemnos that the in-game map is based on. After two location scouts were arrested on counts of espionage by the Greek government, the developers reworked the plot to avoid any mention of Greece and to distance itself from real-world events. |
| 219 | * One of ''VideoGame/BattleBrothers'' late game crisis, the "Holy War" (addition of the ''Blazing Deserts'' DLC) is a fantasy version of UsefulNotes/TheCrusades, consisting in the northern noble houses and the southern city-states (respectively a FantasyCounterpartCulture of medieval Holy Roman Empire and medieval Arabia[=/=]Persia) fighting each others for the control of several holy sites. |
| 220 | * The developers of the ''VideoGame/FreeSpace 2'' mod ''VideoGame/BluePlanet: War in Heaven'' have stated that the war between the [[AntiHero United Earth Federation]] and the [[AntiVillain Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance]] is meant to be the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar in space. In both cases we have one side being far more powerful than the other but forced to fight a limited and conservative war due to political divisions and murky objectives while the much less powerful but more ideologically convinced side is simply trying to hold its own and ultimately push the other side out by costing them enough blood. Similarly to the Vietnam War, there is no clear-cut good guy. |
| 221 | * ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty4ModernWarfare'' features a very blatant pastiche of the invasion of Iraq, with an American-led coalition invading an unnamed Middle Eastern country. The main difference is that the invasion is prompted by a MilitaryCoup against the previous pro-US regime, not because of the possibility of [=WMDs=]. |
| 222 | * The backstory of the world of ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' has several examples: |
| 223 | ** The Commune of Revachol hearkens to the Paris Commune, particularly in respect to its bloody repression and its formation as a socialist workers' government after the fall of the French Second Empire. |
| 224 | ** The World Revolution has aspects of most of the real-world wars of the 20th Century. Most directly it's a combination of the the rise of nationalism and fascism throughout Europe, UsefulNotes/RedOctober, and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, with Moralintern representing the Allies/burgeoning UN clamping down on Revachol's Germany and father of communism Kras Mazov as a stand-in for both [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]] and [[UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin Lenin]]. The conflict between Commune and Capital, however, gives it a distinct post-UsefulNotes/ColdWar flavour as well. |
| 225 | ** The [[BlandNameProduct Señorita Pineapple]] company being willing to go to war with other countries cuts out the middleman of the US's various "police actions" throughout Central America and the Caribbean from 1898 into the 1930s, in countries in which American corporations so happened to have interest -- also known as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Wars the Banana Wars]], in part due to those companies including the likes of the United Fruit Company. |
| 226 | --->'''Half-Light:''' Those Señorita Pineapple people are scary motherfuckers, decimating your state if you don't give them your pineapples. |
| 227 | * ''Franchise/DragonAge'': |
| 228 | ** As the Andrastian Chantry is a religion [[CrystalDragonJesus more or less cloned from medieval Roman Catholicism]], the concept of the "Exalted March" is clearly meant to be equivalent to a Crusade. |
| 229 | ** While culturally the Qunari practice something more akin to an extremist brand of Confucianism, in the setting their arrival by sea and conflicts with the humans of Thedas in the {{backstory}} are clearly meant as an analogy to the Islamic expansion into mainland Europe in the Middle Ages (wherein they ruled most of modern-day Spain for hundreds of years [[UsefulNotes/SpanishReconquista before being driven out]]). |
| 230 | * The general plot of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' seems has some parallels with World War II, particularly in the roles of many of the countries. Daein/Germany is a bigoted, militaristic aggressor nation, Crimea/France is a cultured nation invaded by said aggressor state, Begnion/Britain is a powerful, aristocratic empire to whom Crimea/France appeals to for help and the Laguz/United States are isolationists who come to join the Allies when they realize Daein/Germany threaten them. To top it all off, the leader of the allied force is called Ike (although he's actually from the France stand-in). [[note]]Technically, Greil and Elena originally came from the Germany stand-in and emigrated to the United States stand-in, where they had Ike and Mist; later Greil moved with Ike and Mist to the France stand-in.[[/note]] The sequel didn't keep these parallels up; if anything, Daein in ''Radiant Dawn'' more closely resembled post-WW'''I''' Germany. |
| 231 | * ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': Conversations with NCR troops about the NCR's peacekeeping efforts evoke imagery of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, revealing that they're marginally trained conscripts who spend their time on vices to escape the boredom and fatigue of fighting a war they don't even want to fight. They're underequipped and unprepared to fight, and most carry rifles that look like early M16s. |
| 232 | ** At the same time, the overall conflict is close to [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror modern-day Middle-Eastern conflicts]]. The NCR is in the Mojave to gain control of a valuable resource, but they lack a clear vision to assert their interests, and their leadership is incompetent and, at times, self-serving. Not unlike that of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld in Iraq. They're temporarily allied with an [[UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein egoistical autocrat]] only because he keeps the brutal natives in check with his own brutality and shares some of his resources. But he's probably going to turn against the NCR at some point. |
| 233 | * ''VideoGame/FarCry2'' features a central African conflict that has a few parallels with the Sierra Leone Civil War (severe human rights violations, blood diamond funding) and the Angolan Civil War (outside profiteers, including at least some from Cuba and South Africa). |
| 234 | * You can't get any more obvious when your title is ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics: The War of the Lions,'' with even a black lion and white lion standing in for [[UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses the red rose and white rose.]] And there's even a 2-for-1 special in that the major event that shaped the game's backstory was the Fifty Years' War, an obvious analogue of the real life Hundred Years' War. |
| 235 | * ''VideoGame/{{Gemfire}}'', by Creator/{{Koei|Tecmo}}, is best described as ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY in a]] StandardFantasySetting [[JustForFun/XMeetsY version of the Wars of the Roses]]," down to the king being from House ''[[MeaningfulName Lankshire]]''. And Ishmeria being shaped like England and Wales (including the Isle of Man) and the king's bastard heading up House Tudoria. |
| 236 | * ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity'': |
| 237 | ** The Broken Stone War, the War of Black Trees and really the whole relationship between Aedyr (and later, Dyrwood) and Glanfathans resembles the European colonization of North America. |
| 238 | ** War of Defiance, where now ''Free'' Palatinate of Dyrwood gained independence from Aedyr Empire, is UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution. |
| 239 | ** The Saint's War is a more ambiguous example, but has some notable familiarities with UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar: agrarian, traditionalist Readceras and industrial, more liberal Dyrwood resemble the sides pretty well, though the reasons for war were different. |
| 240 | * ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'' mod ''[[http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,300620.0.html The Red Wars]]'' is set in the 20th century equivalent of the original game[[note]]a realistic LowFantasy magic-free world closely inspired by historical HighMiddleAges[[/note]] and is inspired by World War 2 (with some World War 1 and Russian Civil War elements in it), three of the major factions involved being obvious expies of URSS, Nazi Germany, and Sweden/Finland. |
| 241 | * ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' has a fantasy ''postwar'' counterpart in the Cardassians, whose treaty with the Federation following the Dominion War reduced their military to a defensive organization of considerably smaller size, rather like what happened to Japan after World War II. The rest of the picture looks like post-invasion Iraq, with many former Cardassian Guard officers joining the True Way, a reactionary terrorist organization. |
| 242 | ** What little we see of Postwar Cardassian politics shows that there are some nostalgic movements in the government that wish that the defense force were allowed to be expanded to a full military force again. Coupled with said politician wishing to have a particular blend of Kanar that was made on Bajor during the occupation and that it's rare because most Bajorans see it as a sign of the occupation, it can be a nice blend of Postwar Iraq, Japan, and WWI Germany. |
| 243 | ** The introduction of Carrier ships into the game has led to many comparisons to WWII, especially with their growing prominence pushing out previously battle ship style capitol ships. |
| 244 | * In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the backstory features an series of military campaigns carried out by the Republic under the control of an fanatical cult known as Pius Dea to exterminate aliens that are pretty much UsefulNotes/TheCrusades. Their forces' BattleCry is "The Goddess wills it", which is an clear parallel to "Deus Vult" which is Latin for "God wills it". |
| 245 | * ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'', written by [[Creator/YasumiMatsuno the same mind]] behind ''Final Fantasy Tactics'', features the nation of Valeria torn apart between three ethnic groups after the last great unifier died. It's a huge analogue of UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars, even moreso given that the game originally released in 1995 when the wars were in full swing. It also qualifies as a SpaceColdWar, given that the conflict on Valeria is being influenced by agents from Xenobia (analagous to CIA operatives) and the Holy Lodis Empire is supporting one of the factions with a significant military presence (analogous to Soviet "advisers" propping up a local friendly government). |
| 246 | * ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'': |
| 247 | ** The [[GreatOffscreenWar First Europan War]] from the game's backstory appears to be based on UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, where the Atlantic Federation stands in for the Western European members of the Entente side, while the [[TheEmpire East Europan Imperial Alliance]] is basically what you'd have if the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires were combined, and also owned the territory corresponding to the real-life Russian Empire. Tensions between the Federation and the Empire broke out into war after the crown prince of the Empire was assassinated, a detail inspired by Austria-Hungary declaring war over the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Like World War I, the First Europan War also features trench warfare and the first use of {{tank|Goodness}}s. However, the outcome is very different because: 1) the EEIA is bigger than the German empire was and has no equivalent with the Russian front to split its attention, which also means it can't be blockaded and starved out like Germany was; 2) the general balance of technology and assets such as tanks or ships is less lopsided; and 3) The United States of Vinland (which isn't mentioned until ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles4'') doesn't get directly involved, instead of doing what the USA did when it sent forces to fight the Central Powers. Therefore, the trench warfare became so inconclusive that the Empire and the Federation basically gave up and signed a ceasefire that largely restored the ''status quo ante bellum'', unlike the Treaty of Versailles where there were clearly defined winners and losers. |
| 248 | ** The Second Europan War that forms the backdrop to the series is based on UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. |
| 249 | *** Like the Entente and Central Powers of World War I, The Atlantic Federation and the Imperial Alliance were both unsatisfied with the postwar balance of power and began to rearm as the resumption of hostilities came to be seen as increasingly inevitable. Thus, a new continent-wide war breaks out some twenty years after the first. The Empire invades three of the Federation's border republics, an act of aggression equivalent to Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939, using new combined arms forces and rapid maneuver to quickly overwhelm everything in its path. |
| 250 | *** Emperor Maximilian takes the place of Adolf Hitler, a charismatic leader with ambitions of world domination who takes advantage of the climate of ethnic nationalism and racism that was allowed to fester during the interwar period. |
| 251 | *** The Darcsen people take the place of the Jews and Roma, who are distrusted by people on all sides and find themselves subjected to ethnic cleansing and genocide as a scapegoat to justify the Empire's conquest. |
| 252 | *** The ancient Valkyrur, warriors with supernatural powers derived from [[GreenRocks Ragnite]] who once established a continent-spanning empire, serve as a counterpart to Nazi Germany's belief in a proto-Germanic Aryan race that planted all the seeds of civilization throughout Eurasia in ancient times, and whose advancements lesser races merely copied or even tried to destroy. In particular, the Valkyrur legend resembles the belief of some pre-Nazi racist occultist groups such as the Thule Society that the Aryan race descended from a race of powerful giants called the Hyperboreans who lived far to the north and drew their power from a "black sun", but disappeared when the source of their power was extinguished. Maximilian's visit to the Temple of the Valkyrur in search of secret history and the whereabouts of an [[ArchaeologicalArmsRace ancient superweapon]] resembles the expeditions of the German ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahnenerbe Ahnenerbe]]'' to find spurious archaeological and ethnographic "proof" of ancient Aryan {{precursors}} in other countries, and draws on the {{Ghostapo}} trope that follows Nazi Germany in popular fiction. |
| 253 | *** The powers of the Valkyria and their ragnite lances take on the same strategic importance as weapons of mass destruction such as the atomic bomb did in World War II, with the major powers racing to obtain them first in order to gain an overwhelming advantage. |
| 254 | *** A more complicated point of comparison is the protagonists' homeland of Gallia, which serves as a FantasyCounterpartCulture for Switzerland by its policy of armed neutrality, but is invaded by the Empire for its [[{{Unobtainium}} ragnite]] in much the same way Nazi Germany invaded Norway in 1940 to secure its access to iron resources.[[note]]The iron was actually mined in neutral Sweden, but shipped through the Norwegian port of Narvik because it tends not to freeze over in the winter unlike Swedish ports on the Baltic Sea (despite being considerably further north). Hitler had originally planned to invade Sweden as well, but was talked out of it by Hermann Goering, who was friends with the Swedish royal family.[[/note]] Gallia is also located in roughly the real-life location of Lithuania (conquered along with the other Baltic states by the USSR during World War II), rather than in central "Europa". |
| 255 | *** Operation Northern Cross in ''Valkyria Chronicles 4'' is basically Operation Barbarossa. While the Federation differs from Germany in that the Empire attacked them first, they share the same situation of being disadvantaged in a war of attrition, and needing to rapidly capture the key strategic points of a much larger land empire in a race against time and logistics. The Imperial captial of Schwartzgrad, whose capture is the ultimate objective of Northern Cross, obviously stands in for the Soviet capital of Moscow. In light of this the Empire also takes on more aesthetic characteristics of the Soviet Union, notably their assault tank being based on the T-34 and the Ultimate Tank based on the IS-2. That said the Empire retains features of Germany, such as their fortified Siegval Line being based on the German Siegfried Line and Colonel Waltz's Vulcan tank being a LightningBruiser version of German heavy tanks like Ferdinand and Maus. [[spoiler:The outcome of Northern Cross is similar to that of Barbarossa as well: despite coming dangerously close to the enemy captial, the overstretched supply lines and failure to outpace the onset of winter weather cause the invasion to grind to a standstill, and the Empire's devastating attack on the Lindberg logistics base seals the failure of Northern Cross.]] |
| 256 | *** Operation Cygnus (also in ''Valkyria Chornicles 4'') combines aspects and details of a couple of things while translating them into a different technological setting. [[spoiler:The development of the A2 bomb (a FantasticNuke which uses a Ragnite implosion reaction [[PoweredByAForsakenChild initiated by the final flame of a Valkyria]]) by the United States of Vinland is inspired by the United States inventing the atomic bomb through the Manhattan Project, and the plan to use it to blow up the Imperial capital of Schwartzgrad comes from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Because of the fictional setting--in which heavier-than-air flying machines are generally unknown, while at the same time the Edinburg Navy built the multi-terrain snow cruisers using USV reactor technology (making the snow cruisers like nuclear-powered icebreakers/land battleships)--this plan required smashing the Cygnus fleet into Schwartzgrad and self-destructing the ship, a delivery method which is like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nazaire_Raid Operation Chariot]] if it was scaled up to the level of the World War I Gallipoli Campaign's original concept to get battleships through the Dardanelles to attack the Ottoman capital of Istanbul. Thankfully, Operation Cygnus doesn't end in the nuking of Schwartzgrad because of a [[LastMinuteReprieve last-minute ceasefire]] between the Empire and Federation.]] |
| 257 | ** The Gallian Civil War in VideoGame/ValkyriaChroniclesII shares similarities with the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar as the country erupts into inner conflict between the loyalist and the rebels from the southern region of the country. The Rebels were also motivated by racist ideology as their hatred of the Darscen lead to a systematic purge of the population. |
| 258 | * The ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' series was conceived as a sci-fi version of World War II aircraft carrier operations in the Pacific Theatre (with some ''Film/TopGun'' mixed in). |
| 259 | * The GameWithinAGame of ''VideoGame/TheWriterWillDoSomething'' is like this, though no one wants to admit it; creative director Josh insists on referring to an "early, self-consciously studied war-is-bad desert battle — the second major combat encounter — as 'Afghanistan' so indefatigably that a panicked PR flack made him undergo emergency deprogramming right before E3 last year, lest he slip and actually say such a thing out loud to the press." |
| 260 | [[/folder]] |
| 261 | |
| 262 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 263 | * The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E21OverABarrel "Over a Barrel"]] deals with a scenario much like early America's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Wars Indian Wars]], settlers taking over the natives' ancestral land for their own purposes, without native consent, which in turn cranks off the natives. Due to [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism the nature of the show,]] things get resolved before they...escalate too far. Specifically, it's a LighterAndSofter fantasy version of the Black Hills conflict, wherein the Lakota regarded the area as Sacred Ground (in the episode, a Buffalo Stampede Trail) whereas the settlers found a big mess of precious minerals (in the episode, the only place a farm could be planted). |
| 264 | [[/folder]] |
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