History Main / Plunder

* During the mass scale invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} by UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} since February 2022, the most notorious (to the point of [[invoked]]MemeticMutation) subjects of mass plunders by Russian soldiers were... toilet bowls and washing machines. Apparently there's a severe lack of such commodities in a number of UsefulNotes/TheGloriousFederalSubjects, altough in the case of washing machines, Russians apparently plundered them for microchips, facing shortages of them for their highter tech equipment early on in the invasion until they got resupplied via China and sanctions-evading third party states.

* During the mass scale invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} by UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} since February 2022, the most notorious (to the point of [[invoked]]MemeticMutation) subjects of mass plunders by Russian soldiers were... toilet bowls and washing machines. Apparently there's a severe lack of such commodities in a number of UsefulNotes/TheGloriousFederalSubjects, altough in the case of washing machines, Russians were said to have plundered them for microchips, facing shortages of them for their highter tech equipment early on in the invasion until they got resupplied via China and sanctions-evading third party states.

* During the mass scale invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} by UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} since February 2022, the most notorious (to the point of [[invoked]]MemeticMutation) subjects of mass plunders by Russian soldiers were... toilet bowls and washing machines. Apparently there's a severe lack of such commodities in a number of UsefulNotes/TheGloriousFederalSubjects.

* The ''ne plus ultra'' of WWII looting was the Soviet invasion of Germany. The Soviets looted whatever they wanted, secure in the knowledge that there was almost zero chance of punishment. One of the most famous images of the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Berlin is [[http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS2I34D8TtctNSf-KdnBtXKv2956kaRO5XzwXXI1_nXysN8AmCJQQ just such an occasion]]. Soviet soldiers often resorted to violence and threats to get their way; a British officer of the occupation recalled seeing a Soviet NCO ask an old German man the time, and then shoot him for his watch. When the shocked Briton took the man to the Soviet headquarters at gunpoint for punishment, he was spat at and forced to present the murderer with a medal. Even the famous image (itself a propaganda shot) of a Soviet soldier raising the Red Banner over the Reichstag [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Red_army_soldiers_raising_the_soviet_flag_on_the_roof_of_the_reichstag_with_no_Watch.jpg had to be edited]] to hide the fact that one of the Soviet soldiers was wearing two watches, a sure sign of looting.
** And it was not only Germany the USSR plundered, but ''also their own allies'' through which they marched. It is said the march of the Red Army through the Eastern Europe 1943-1945 was far worse a catastrophe to those countries than Mongol conquest 700 years earlier. Most of the Eastern Europe ''has not still'' yet fully recovered from WWII.

* When a certain city fell in ancient China, the soldiers immediately flocked to the treasury and looted the gold and precious stones within. Meanwhile, the prime minister of the invading force instead ordered his men to loot the city's ''archives'', collecting documentations on the city's affairs, population demographics, resource capacity and so on. When the invader had to establish control over the city, they did so easily as they knew how to properly allocate their resources and address any local problems. The king of the invaders ultimately commended the prime minister's wisdom in looting 'the real treasure'.

* During the mass scale invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} by UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} since February 2022, the most notorious (to the point of [[invoked]]MemeticMutation) subjects of mass plunders by Russian soldiers were... toilet seats and washing machines. Apparently there's a severe lack of such commodities in a number of UsefulNotes/TheGloriousFederalSubjects.

* During the mass scale invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} by UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} since February 2022, the most notorious (to the point of [[invoked]]MemeticMutation) subjects of mass plunders by Russia were... toilet seats and washing machines. Apparently there's a severe lack of such commodities in a number of UsefulNotes/TheGloriousFederalSubjects.

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeology_awareness_playing_cards archaeology awareness playing cards]] were designed to prevent this trope by educating US troops in the Middle East about cultural heritage, as soldiers often spend their downtime playing cards.

** Watch officer Nobby was in the military, and was infamous for stealing equipment from both sides, sometimes just to make profit and sometimes to make himself look like a member of whichever side was winning.
** In ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'', when a young Nobby suggests that boots are a decent battlefield haul, a career soldier in the room implies that anything ''that'' heavy just isn't worth the time or effort: best to stick to jewelry.

** Of course, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_plunder previous Nazi looting of occupied territories]] (including Soviet Union) was [[CycleOfRevenge what set]] these events into motion.

*** The fandom has long nicknamed the Blood Ravens Chapter as "the Bloody [[ThievingMagpie Magpies]]" because their army has a lot of wargear from different Chapters, which are usually claimed to have been gifted to them when the other Chapter have no records of such an exchange. Because an AscendedMeme in one of the novels when one character compares a trophy room to a magpies' nest.

* ''Film/ThePatriot'': one of the principal financial motivations for some of the French-Indian war veterans to join Mel Gibson's protagonist was the ability to sell back every English gun or uniform found or recovered.