History Main / AvoidingTheGreatWar

!! Examples Include:

* In ''Film/ThePrinceAndTheShowgirl'', an underage {{Ruritania}}n king plots with the Germans to oust the pro-Entente prince regent, an action that might spark world war. Fortunately, an American showgirl is there to mend the relationship between the prince regent and his kingly son, thus putting an end to the plot.

* Original ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts1'' takes place in 1914, with several parties mentioning the growing tension in the world. The BigBad claims that his scheme will prevent the horrors he has foreseen, warning the heroes that standing against him will allow humanity to unleash many horrors in the coming century. They ultimately resolve to face whatever is coming, with the first game concluding on a note about the start of the War.

This is a subtrope of PreventTheWar that focuses on UsefulNotes/WorldWarI (aka The Great War).

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[[folder: Comics Books ]]

* ''Comicbook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemenBlackDossier'' covers this. Thomas Carnacki, medium, ghost hunter and member of the fourth incarnation of the League, has terrible visions of a devastating war in Europe. Intel leads the rest of the group, consisting of Mina Murray, Quatermain, AJ Raffles and Orlando, to confront their French counterparts, Les Hommes Mysterioux ([[Literature/RoburTheConqueror Captain Robur]], Literature/ArseneLupin, Monsieur Zenith, The Nyctalope and Literature/{{Fantomas}}) in a battle at the Paris opera house in hopes of preventing the war. When the battle is over, the League withdraws, hoping that they have defused the situation. [[spoiler: Both teams were played against each other by their German counterparts, the Twilight Heroes, a group consisting of various Mad Scientists such as Dr Rotwang and Dr Caligari. They are now free to plan the coming war with impunity.]]

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[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* Hugh Stanton, the hero of Creator/BenElton's ''Literature/TimeAndTimeAgain'' travels back to 1914 to prevent the Great War. Initially by trying to save the life of Archduke Ferdinand and, when that fails, by assassinating the Kaiser. He succeeds, but it turns out that the War wasn't the worst thing that could have happened.

* Hugh Stanton, the hero of Creator/BenElton's ''Time And Time Again'' travels back to 1914 to prevent the Great War. Initially by trying to save the life of Archduke Ferdinand and, when that fails, by assassinating the Kaiser. He succeeds, but it turns out that the War wasn't the worst thing that could have happened.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' takes place in 1914, with several parties mentioning the growing tension in the world. The BigBad claims that his scheme will prevent the horrors he has foreseen, warning the heroes that standing against him will allow humanity to unleash many horrors in the coming century. They ultimately resolve to face whatever is coming, with the first game concluding on a note about the start of the War.

Compare and contrast with WorldWarThree or WorldWarWhatever, which, for obvious reasons, are set in modern day or the future.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Lilith}}'' this happens ''by accident'', as Lilith's various alterations to the timeline have as a side effect that when Archduke Franz-Ferdinand is killed in Sarajevo the war is defused... And Austria-Hungary ends up gobbled up by the German Empire. This however only delayed things, as by the Thirthies a new Great War sees an alliance comprising at least Germany and Japan fight against at least France, Britain, and the Russian Republic until [[spoiler:the Germans drop a Japanese nuke on London and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone everyone stops fighting in horror at what just happened]]]].

* ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'' has Moriarty provoking the European powers, so that he can sell the weapons and the bandages that will be needed for a world war. He mentions that, even if his plan to launch the European nations into war is stopped, they'll do it themselves soon enough. He's just trying to hurry it along. [[spoiler: Fortunately he gets OutGambitted by the Holmes' brothers, who donate his money to the War Widows and Orphans fund.]]

Alternately, a touch of Bittersweetness can be added with the addition of bloodthirsty villains of more fantastical Steam- or DieselPunk analogues to modern-era weapons that the heroes kept from being used that would have made things so much worse. World War I was bad enough, but we could've had a [[WeirdHistoricalWar weird]] World War I with HumongousMecha, carpet bombings, augmented {{Super Soldier}}s, or nuclear weapons had our heroes not won the day.

It involves a PeriodPiece adventure story that takes place in the late 1800's or early 1900's with a plot that centers around stopping a plot that would lead into what would become World War I. The hero or heroes catch wind of the BigBad planning to start a war between the various empires of Europe (usually with a FalseFlagOperation or two) and they are the only ones who can stop them.

* ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'' has Moriarty provoking the European powers, so that he can sell the weapons and the bandages that will be needed for a world war. He mentions that, even if his plan to launch the European nations into war is stopped, they'll do it themselves soon enough. He's just trying to hurry it along.

** Ironically, the original Three Musketeers novel puts their story smack in the middle of the Thirty Years War, a World War Zero if the world ever saw one. Preventing the war itself is never an objective, just making it turn out alright for France. (And given this is the time French took over from Latin as the common language of the European high class, history suggests they succeeded.)

It involves a PeriodPiece adventure story that takes place in the late 1800's or early 1900's with a plot that centers around stopping a plot that would lead into what would become World War I. The hero or heroes catch wind of the BigBad planning to start a war between the various empires of Europe (usually with a FalseFlagOperation or two) and they are the only ones who can stop them. The SteamPunk setting and political intrigue of the time provides a rich atmosphere for a globe-trotting adventure yarn as the heroes race the clock to stop the bad guys. They will almost always succeed (unless AlternateHistory is involved), but this usually makes the story HarsherInHindsight. Sure, the hero just stopped this particular villain from starting a world war, but we all know one happened anyway. Then there was a [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo second one]]. The writers may not reference this in order to avoid making the story too depressing but if they do, expect a dark form of ItWillNeverCatchOn. In more rare cases, sometimes they fail, sometimes they fail and die, and sometimes they even [[NiceJobBreakingItHero start the war in the first place.]] Can overlap with YouCantThwartStageOne and YouCantFightFate. Alternately, a touch of Bittersweetness can be added with the addition of bloodthirsty villains of more fantastical Steam- or DieselPunk analogues to modern-era weapons that the heroes kept from being used that would have made things so much worse. World War I was bad enough, but we could've had a [[WeirdHistoricalWar weird]] World War I with HumongousMecha, carpet bombings, augmented {{Super Soldier}}s, or nuclear weapons had our heroes not won the day.

World War II is much less prone to this trope, largely due to HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct. A Cold War-flavored version of this trope also exists, in which the villains goal is to set off a war (usually a [[AtomicHate nuclear one) between the United States and the Soviet Union.

World War II is much less prone to this trope, largely due to HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct.

It involves a PeriodPiece adventure story that takes place in the late 1800's or early 1900's with a plot that centers around stopping a plot that would lead into what would become World War I. The hero or heroes catch wind of the BigBad planning to start a war between the various empires of Europe (usually with a FalseFlagOperation or two) and they are the only ones who can stop them. The SteamPunk setting and political intrigue of the time provides a rich atmosphere for a globe-trotting adventure yarn as the heroes race the clock to stop the bad guys. They will almost always succeed (unless AlternateHistory is involved), but this usually makes the story HarsherInHindsight. Sure, the hero just stopped this particular villain from starting a world war, but we all know one happened anyway. Then there was a [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo second one]]. The writers may not reference this in order to avoid making the story too depressing but if they do, expect a dark form of ItWillNeverCatchOn. In more rare cases, sometimes they fail, sometimes they fail and die, and sometimes they even [[NiceJobBreakingItHero start the war in the first place.]] Can overlap with YouCantThwartStageOne and YouCantFightFate. Alternately, a touch of Bittersweetness can be added with the addition of bloodthirsty villains of more fantastical Steam- or DieselPunk analogues to modern-era weapons that the heroes kept from being used that would have made things so much worse. World War I was bad enough, but we could've had a [[WeirdHistoricalWar weird]] World War I with HumongousMecha, carpet bombings, augmented {{Super Soldier}}s, or Nuclear weapons had our heroes not won the day.

It involves a PeriodPiece adventure story that takes place in the late 1800's or early 1900's with a plot that centers around stopping a plot that would lead into what would become World War I. The hero or heroes catch wind of the BigBad planning to start a war between the various empires of Europe (usually with a FalseFlagOperation or two) and they are the only ones who can stop them. The SteamPunk setting and political intrigue of the time provides a rich atmosphere for a globe-trotting adventure yarn as the heroes race the clock to stop the bad guys. They will almost always succeed (unless AlternateHistory is involved), but this usually makes the story HarsherInHindsight. Sure, the hero just stopped this particular villain from starting a world war, but we all know one happened anyway. Then there was a [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo second one]]. The writers may not reference this in order to avoid making the story too depressing but if they do, expect a dark form of ItWillNeverCatchOn. In more rare cases, sometimes they fail, sometimes they fail and die, and sometimes they even [[NiceJobBreakingItHero start the war in the first place.]] Can overlap with YouCantThwartStageOne and YouCantFightFate. Alternately, a touch of Bittersweetness can be added with the addition of bloodthirsty villains of more fantastical Steam- or DieselPunk analogues to modern-era weapons that the heroes kept from being used that would have made things so much worse. World War I was bad enough, but we could've had a [[WeirdHistoricalWar weird]] World War I with HumongousMecha, Carpet bombings, augmented {{Super Soldier}}s, or Nuclear weapons had our heroes not won the day.

It involves a PeriodPiece adventure story that takes place in the late 1800's or early 1900's with a plot that centers around stopping a plot that would lead into what would become World War I. The hero or heroes catch wind of the BigBad planning to start a war between the various empires of Europe (usually with a FalseFlagOperation or two) and they are the only ones who can stop them. The SteamPunk setting and political intrigue of the time provides a rich atmosphere for a globe-trotting adventure yarn as the heroes race the clock to stop the bad guys. They will almost always succeed (unless AlternateHistory is involved), but this usually makes the story HarsherInHindsight. Sure, the hero just stopped this particular villain from starting a world war, but we all know one happened anyway. Then there was a [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo second one]]. The writers may not reference this in order to avoid making the story too depressing but if they do, expect a dark form of ItWillNeverCatchOn. In more rare cases, sometimes they fail, sometimes they fail and die, and sometimes they even [[NiceJobBreakingItHero start the war in the first place.]] Can overlap with YouCantThwartStageOne and YouCantFightFate. Alternately, a touch of Bittersweetness can be added with the addition bloodthirsty villains of more fantastical Steam- or DieselPunk analogues to modern-era weapons that the heroes kept from being used that would have made thing so much worse. World War I was bad enough, but we could've had a [[WeirdHistoricalWar weird]] World War I with HumongousMecha, Carpet bombings, augmented {{Super Soldier}}s, or Nuclear weapons had our heroes not won the day.

It involves a PeriodPiece adventure story that takes place in the late 1800's or early 1900's with a plot that centers around stopping a plot that would lead into what would become World War I. The hero or heroes catch wind of the BigBad planning to start a war between the various empires of Europe (usually with a FalseFlagOperation or two) and they are the only ones who can stop them. The SteamPunk setting and political intrigue of the time provides a rich atmosphere for a globe-trotting adventure yarn as the heroes race the clock to stop the bad guys. They will almost always succeed (unless AlternateHistory is involved), but this usually makes the story HarsherInHindsight. Sure, the hero just stopped this particular villain from starting a world war, but we all know one happened anyway. Then there was a [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo second one]]. The writers may not reference this in order to avoid making the story too depressing but if they do, expect a dark form of ItWillNeverCatchOn. In more rare cases, sometimes they fail, sometimes they fail and die, and sometimes they even [[NiceJobBreakingItHero start the war in the first place.]] Can overlap with YouCantThwartStageOne and YouCantFightFate. Alternately, a touch of Bittersweetness can be added with the addition bloodthirsty villains of more fantastical Steam- or DieselPunk analogues to modern-era weapons that the heroes kept from being used that would have made thing so much worse. World War I was bad enough, but we could've had World War I with HumongousMecha, Carpet bombings, augmented {{Super Soldier}}s, or Nuclear weapons had our heroes not won the day.

It involves a PeriodPiece adventure story that takes place in the late 1800's or early 1900's with a plot that centers around stopping a plot that would lead into what would become World War I. The hero or heroes catch wind of the BigBad planning to start a war between the various empires of Europe (usually with a FalseFlagOperation or two) and they are the only ones who can stop them. The SteamPunk setting and political intrigue of the time provides a rich atmosphere for a globe-trotting adventure yarn as the heroes race the clock to stop the bad guys. They will almost always succeed (unless AlternateHistory is involved), but this usually makes the story HarsherInHindsight. Sure, the hero just stopped this particular villain from starting a world war, but we all know one happened anyway. Then there was a [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo second one]]. The writers may not reference this in order to avoid making the story too depressing but if they do, expect a dark form of ItWillNeverCatchOn. In more rare cases, sometimes they fail, sometimes they fail and die, and sometimes they even [[NiceJobBreakingItHero start the war in the first place.]] Can overlap with YouCantThwartStageOne and YouCantFightFate. World War II is much less prone to this trope, largely due to HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct.

* Towards the end of ''The Black City'', Literature/ErastFandorin is hired to investigate the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand before the conflict escalates. Unfortunately, he never makes it to Austria in time.

* The film version of ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' involves the mysterious "Phantom" ([[spoiler:eventually revealed to be Professor Moriarty]]) provoking the European nations, so that he can supply super-weapons and {{super soldier}}s for a world war. The term "world war" is even mentioned for audience members who weren't paying attention.