History Main / TheWarOfEarthlyAggression

* In ''Literature/AllTomorrows'', the Martian humans cut off all non-essential trade with Earth, crippling the Terran economy and sparking an interplanetary war. In a rare {{aver|tedTrope}}sion of SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance, this war is mostly fought remotely, taking months to send autonomous warships to the enemy's planet. The Terrans blow up Phobos, one of Mars's moons, and Mars causes a polar impact on Earth that kills off a third of the planet. Eventually they make peace, after 8 billion have died, and use LegoGenetics to modify themselves into one new species, the [[TranshumansInSpace Star People]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Killzone}}'', while not involving Earth itself, involves a separatist movement from a somewhat Earthlike planet breaking away to form a new colony separate from the human colony, forming a [[PuttingOnTheReich totalitarian Nazi-like regime]], and then invading the mother planet ''en masse''.
** It's worth noting that the separatist movement in this case is technically no longer the same subspecies as mainline humanity -- the planet they were on is [[DeathWorld incredibly hostile to human life]], and even with protective measures, they needed to adapt significantly to survive; they consider ordinary humans inferior and worthy of being enslaved or wiped out.
*** It actually went both ways. Humans hate the Helghast and want them dead, and it didn't even begin with a speciesist conflict. It began with the Helghan Corporation objecting to the UCN's unfair treatment of the corporations they sent to colonize planets for resources, and the ISA was sent to drive them out of Vekta, forcing them to settle on the only other world they had, Helghan.

* Creator/DreamPod9's older franchises tend to incorporate this. In ''TabletopGame/HeavyGear'' Earth decides to reclaim its colonies after years (well, more like a ''millennium'') of neglect only to find the Terra Novans are more than willing to fight them rather than each other. ''TabletopGame/JovianChronicles'' also has this, but things aren't so clear cut.

* ''VideoGame/{{Titanfall}}'' presents an inverted scenario: the frontier planets are the ones who are being oppressed, forming the Frontier Defense Pact because Hammond Robotics and their PrivateMilitaryContractors, the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation, have been aggressively and violently abusing the frontier planets for their resources. Because of this, none of the conflict happens on Earth but in Frontier space (although the aforementioned tropes still apply). The closest the Frontier Militia gets to Earth during the war is when they attempt to sabotage the IMC fuel depot at Demeter (which is the farthest settled point IMC forces can reach via hyperspace travel without running out of fuel).

** Mars is especially notable as it was under martial law for ''almost a century'', and, differently from the others, it wasn't as the result of Clark taking over and turning Earth Alliance into a dictatorship but utter mismanagement: Mars' first colonists practiced strict population and immigration control as to avoid their population outstripping their expanding but still scarce ability to produce food and only accepted new immigrants with useful skills until Earth suddenly allowed its member nations to exile their undesirables to Mars, and it only got worse from there[[note]]After the Earth-Minbari War, Mars even lost their representatives in the Senate and had their government replaced by an Earth-imposed provisional government. Or rather, three: the first endured until a large-scale rebellion in 2257, the second [[EveryoneHasStandards proclaimed independence in 2260 when Clark imposed his dictatorship]], and the third was installed after Montoya's death and his loyalists and the Mars Resistance were driven underground[[/note]] until Clark was defeated and Interstellar Alliance posed the restauration of Mars as a full nation (with its membership of Earth Alliance depending on Mars' own consent) as a condition for Earth's admission.

* ''VideoGame/CallofDutyInfiniteWarfare'': The players in the campaign are fighting for the Earth-based United Nations Space Alliance against the Settlement Defense Front, a Mars-based space terrorist organization who view themselves as [[FantasticRacism superior to earthborn humans]] and earthborn humans as [[SnobsVsSlobs fat cats living off of what colonists have produced]]. Best of all, they’re led by [[Series/GameOfThrones Jon Snow]]!

* ''Martian Rainbow'' by Creator/RobertLForward plays with the trope a little. First, a Russian colony on Mars is forcibly conquered by American-led United Nations forces when the Russians won't let anyone else set up colonies there. Then the resulting UN scientific colony is cut off after the leader of that multinational fleet hooks up with a [[SinisterMinister corrupt televangelist]], gets himself elected [[PresidentEvil President]] [[OneWorldOrder of the World]], and makes all space travel illegal as part of a general anti-science campaign to satisfy his religious backers, who have in the meantime declared him the new Messiah. So the scientists in the Mars Colony, cut off from resupply and rescue, are essentially forced to admit they are now independent, and try to make a go of things. Finally, they send the chief scientist from the Mars base, who happens to be the identical twin brother of the DarkMessiah President of Earth, to assassinate his brother and take his place, and resume legal space travel. Oh, and both twins are Neil Armstrong's identical grandsons.

* In Charles Harness' ''The Ring of Ritornel'', Earth has been bombed back to the Azoic after starting a nuclear war against rebellious colonies, and is so execrated that most people have forgotten that "Terror" used to be "Terra".

* Paul [=McAuley's=] novels ''The Quiet War'' and its sequel ''Gardens of the Sun'' involve both covert and overt conflict between an alliance of powerful and reactionary Earth [[SpaceFillingEmpire superstates]] led by Greater Brazil and the European Union, and a loose group of transhumanist colonies spread throughout the Solar System.

* In Creator/RogerZelazny's series about Francis Sandow (''Isle of the Dead'' and ''To Die in Italbar'' novels) the war happened between the books and Earth had become a volcanic wasteland. The second novel is about a quest for retribution [[GoneHorriblyRight which is getting too far]]. [[spoiler:The Earth is repaired in the end]].
* Creator/JohnVarley’s ''Red Lightning'': Mars, which isn’t much more than a holiday resort at the time, gets invaded and pretty much all that is known about the invaders is that they came from Earth, have guns, and wear black. Then Mars gets invaded again, in pretty much the same fashion. And a third time. "All nation-states, corporations, power-mad billionaires, and disgruntled liberation groups wishing to invade Mars, please take a number and wait your turn." [[spoiler:The Martians eventually steal one of the invasion fleets and intimidate Earth into granting them independence]].

* ''Voyager from Yesteryear'' by Creator/JamesPHogan. A probe is sent to Alpha Centauri containing a genetic bank to escape an impending world war. RaisedByRobots in a PostScarcityEconomy, the colonists form a community where money and authoritarianism are meaningless. This causes problems when the authoritarian Earth governments established during the war decide to send an expedition to bring them back into the fold, which proves difficult than expected due to CultureClash and SuperweaponSurprise.

[[folder:Film]]

[[quoteright:349:[[VideoGame/RedFaction https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/red_faction_poster_war_earthly_aggression_2.png]]]]

We've got news for you: They aren't happy. They're chafing under excessive taxation, lack of political representation, not getting paid enough for whatever they're exporting, discrimination, poor governance, and a host of other real or perceived injustices that Earth has inflicted on them. Now they've decided to fight for their freedom, spawning a movement that strongly parallels historical insurrections on an interplanetary or even interstellar scale. It's a CivilWar... [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]!

The trope title comes from "The War of Northern Aggression", a term commonly used in the Southern United States for UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar.[[note]]Even though it was the ''South'' that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Sumter started the war]].[[/note]]

* RedshirtArmy

* ''VideoGame/{{Killzone}}'', while not involving Earth itself, involves a separatist movement from a ''marginally'' Earthlike planet breaking away to form a new colony separate from the human colony, forming a [[PuttingOnTheReich totalitarian Nazi-like regime]], and then invading the mother planet ''en masse''.

We've got news for you: They aren't happy. They're chafing under excessive taxation, lack of political representation, exploitation of their resources, discrimination, poor governance, and a host of other real or perceived injustices that Earth has inflicted on them. Well, now they've decided to fight for their freedom, spawning a movement that strongly parallels historical insurrections on an interplanetary or even interstellar scale. It's a CivilWar... [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]!

An interesting note is that, since the Earth loyalists are frequently TheFederation, the War of Earthly Aggression has a much higher chance of subverting TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified than any other "rebellion" plotline. However, the War of Earthly Aggression is usually depicted in [[GreyAndGrayMorality morally ambiguous terms]], with both the loyalists and the rebels having good reasons for their actions, and one can often find {{General Ripper}}s and [[PsychoForHire Psychos For Hire]] on either side. Occasionally both sides at once.

** The original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' had the Principality of Zeon, who declared war on the Earth Federation and then tried to ColonyDrop their military headquarters right off the map.[[note]]They missed and ended up wiping Sydney, Australia off the map instead.[[/note]] The [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam next]] [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ couple]] [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack of]] [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn stories]] spring from this conflict (and the ExpandedUniverse implies that there's some Zeon influence even [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91 further down]] [[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam the line]].

* ''VideoGame/CallofDutyInfiniteWarfare'': It finally happened; ''Call of Duty'' RecycledInSpace. The players in the campaign are fighting for the Earth-based United Nations Space Alliance against the Settlement Defense Front, a Mars-based space terrorist organization who view themselves as [[FantasticRacism superior to earthborn humans]] and earthborn humans as [[SnobsVsSlobs fat cats living of off what colonists have produced]]. Best of all, they’re led by [[Series/GameOfThrones Jon Snow]]!

** In the game itself, of course, you can also do this by allowing unhappiness on distant worlds to build up to the point that they rebel against you. Bonus points if it's because of oppression or slavery, and if you're playing as a human empire based on Earth. Indeed, it is popular for players to create analogues (or even direct copies) of [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 the Imperium of Man]] or [[Literature/StarshipTroopers the Terran Federation]], to the point that the developers, seemingly in anticipation of this, created a pre-made analogue to the latter in the form of the Commonwealth of Man, albeit based on a LostColony instead of Earth.

* The Crystal Gems in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' are the last remnants of a group that rebelled against the tyranny of their homeworld (conveniently known as Homeworld) to stop them from making Earth into a fully-fledged Gem colony, [[PlanetLooters which would require hollowing out the Earth and depleting its surface]].[[/folder]]

The era of space colonization is a wonderful time to be alive. Humanity has stepped beyond its cradle into a new era of resources and opportunities. Well, that's how it might look if you're living in the capital of the [[PlanetTerra Terran]] [[TheEmpire Empire]] or TheFederation, but what about for all the folks who're actually out there doing the colonizing?

We've got news for you: They aren't happy. The colonies have rebelled against the taxation, lack of representation, exploitation of their resources, poor administration, and pretty much every other real or perceived injustice that Earth has inflicted on them, spawning a movement that strongly parallels historical insurrections on an interplanetary or even interstellar scale. It's a CivilWar... [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]!

An interesting note is that, since the Earth loyalists are frequently TheFederation, the War of Earthly Aggression has a much higher chance of subverting TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified than any other "rebellion" plotline. As a general rule, however, The War Of Earthly Aggression is usually depicted in [[GreyAndGrayMorality morally ambiguous terms]], with both the loyalists and the rebels having good reasons for the conflict, and one can often find {{General Ripper}}S and [[PsychoForHire Psychos For Hire]] on either side. Occasionally both sides at once.

* LaResistance... in space!

* OneWorldGovernment (governing Earth)
* {{Planetville}} (governing the rebels)

Earth might look good if you're living in the capital of the [[PlanetTerra Terran]] [[TheEmpire Empire]] or TheFederation, but what about for all the folks on the offworld colonies?

We've got news for you: The colonies have rebelled against taxes, lack of representation, exploitation of their resources, and pretty much every other real or perceived injustice that Earth has inflicted on them, spawning a movement that strongly parallels historical insurrections on an interplanetary or even an interstellar scale.

An interesting note is that, since the Earth loyalists are frequently TheFederation, the War of Earthly Aggression has a much higher chance of subverting TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified than any other "rebellion" plotline. As a general rule, however, The War Of Earthly Aggression is usually depicted in [[GreyAndGrayMorality morally ambiguous terms]], with both the loyalists and the rebels having good reasons for the conflict, and often one can find [[PsychoForHire Psychopaths]] on either side. Occasionally, both sides.

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption

The trope title comes from "The War of Northern Aggression", a term commonly used in the Southern United States for UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar.[[note]]Fun Fact, it was the ''South'' that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Sumter started the war]].[[/note]]

The trope title comes from "The War of Northern Aggression", a term used by several Southern US states for UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar.[[note]]Fun Fact, it was the ''South'' that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Sumter started the war]].[[/note]]

The trope title comes from "The War of Northern Aggression", a term used by several Southern US states for UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar. (.[[note]]Fun Fact, it was the ''South'' that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Sumter started the war]].[[/note]])