History Main / ResurgentEmpire

* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'': T'kuvma seeks to reunite the Great Houses of the Klingon Empire, which has long been fractured. Though he dies very early into the series, his death inspire others to carry his legacy on.

This superpower which was once on the [[RisingEmpire rise]] went through [[VestigialEmpire decline]] after a period of time. Once controlling large swathes of territories, now it could only charitably described as a [[AuthorityInNameOnly rump state with only nominal command over its former provinces that have broken away]]. One supposes this is how TheCycleOfEmpires go: expansion, followed by stabilization and finally decay. After dying such a long death, those who have stopped grieving now hope they are [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery put out of their misery as quick as possible]]... But then something unexpected happens. They are BackFromTheBrink and rapidly regain their lost prestige and power. Or they actually do ''die'', but someone comes along with the intent (and the means) of getting this empire back to their feet. We have something that defies the natural order of things: a ''Resurgent'' Empire

*** In Shura's solo ending in all three routes, his lost city of Kogha, which was destoyed by Kotaro and his forces, is rebuilt and he becomes it's new governor.
*** In the Revelations route, Valla is able to be rebuilt after [[spoiler:Corrin kills Anankos, who destroyed the kingdom and turned most of its citizens into his undead servants.]]
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', [[spoiler:completing the Black Eagles route ends with the [[TheEmpire Adestrian Empire]] successfully unifying Fódlan once again by conquering the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and the Leicester Alliance, states which had previously seceded from the empire over the course of the past thousand or so years, thus restoring the empire to its full glory. Surprisingly, this was technically a means to an end for Edelgard, whose foremost intent is to shatter the control the Church of Seiros has on the continent in order to facilitate her plans for continent-wide reform of what she views as a broken system]].

* The (retroactively named) Neo-Hittite Empire may have been the closest to this trope in history: the Bronze Age Collapse had put enough stress on the Middle Assyrian kingdom that it contracted until by 1020 BC it only controlled the core Assyrian territories, and there Assyria would remain as a small portion of its old empire... until 911 BC, when king Adad-nirari II rose to power and set in motion a series of conquests that would restore the territories of old empire at its height, and then take advantage of the power vacuum left behind by the Bronze Age Collapse to go beyond even that, forging the iron age Neo-Hittite Empire that would remain one of the most powerful states in the world for almost three centuries.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': The First Order is the successor state of the Galactic Empire ruled by Palpatine, which fell in disarray following his death and reorganized itself while hiding in the Unknown Regions.

* UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire considered itself the resurgent Western Roman Empire, but their claim was flimsy at best and nonsensical at worst. It was established when Pope Leo III crowned UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}} as an [[TakeThat insult]] to Empress Irene of the Byzantine Empire. However, since the Papacy was never given any legal authority to decide the emperor back when Rome was around, the Pope's recognition was legally worthless. Confounding the matter further is the fact that they couldn't be a successor to something that was still going strong at the time, as Rome lived on as the so-called Byzantine Empire.

* The UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire was viewed as the successor state of the Western Roman Empire. It was established when Pope Leo III crowned UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}} as an [[TakeThat insult]] to Empress Irene of the Byzantine Empire. While certainly one of the longest lasting examples of this trope in real life, the HRE grew more and more distant from their Roman predecessors.

Nations seeking to restore their lost prestige and and revive themselves isn't new. As long as there has been an empire on decline and those that remember how great they used to be, this has been a [[TropesAreTools motivation for both heroes and villains]]. On one hand, you have a protagonist who sees his nation occupied by foreigners and he wants to reassert their right to exist by preserving their customs. On the other hand, you have an VisionaryVillain who inherits an empire in shambles and observes that territories that once under their rule are thriving, they [[EntitledBastard believe that these lands are rightfully theirs]] and gives them an excuse to invade and claim their prosperity, which will serve as a stepping stone for continue their expansionist campaign. If successful enough, the empire will become more powerful than the previous one if the ruler avoided the same mistakes that led to their predecessors' decline. Of course, heroic examples will avoid bloody conquest like their EvilCounterpart to preserve the audience sympathy. What really makes this trope is the intention of reviving their lost and prestige back - the difference between a succeeding state or dynasty and this trope is that the new state sees itself as an heir whose duty is restore the GoodOldWays. As such, expect it to be called New/Neo X Empire.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'':
** In Shura's solo ending in all three routes, his lost city of Kogha, which was destoyed by Kotaro and his forces, is rebuilt and he becomes it's new governor.
** In the Revelations route, Valla is able to be rebuilt after [[spoiler:Corrin kills Anankos, who destroyed the kingdom and turned most of its citizens into his undead servants.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', [[spoiler:completing the Black Eagles route ends with the [[TheEmpire Adestrian Empire]] successfully unifying Fódlan once again by conquering the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and the Leicester Alliance, states which previously ceded from the empire over the course of the past thousand or so years, and restoring the empire to its full glory. Surprisingly, this was technically a means to an end for Edelgard, whose foremost intent is to shatter the control the Church of Seiros has on the continent in order to facilitate her plans for continent-wide reform of what she views as a broken system.]]

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHeroes'', [[spoiler:completing the Black Eagles route ends with the [[TheEmpire Adestrian Empire]] successfully unifying Fódlan once again by conquering the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and the Leicester Alliance, states which previously ceded from the empire over the course of the past thousand or so years, and restoring the empire to its full glory. Surprisingly, this was technically a means to an end for Edelgard, whose foremost intent is to shatter the control the Church of Seiros has on the continent in order to facilitate her plans for continent-wide reform of what she views as a broken system.]]

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'': In Shura's solo ending in all three routes, his lost city of Kogha, which was destoyed by Kotaro and his forces, is rebuilt and he becomes it's new governor.

* ''Film/ManOfSteel'': General Zod intends to revive Krypton and bring it's glory back at Earth's expense by [[HostileTerraforming transforming it in a new Krypton]].

* ''Franchise/DragonAge'': The [[TheMagocracy Tevinter Imperium]] used to govern the entire world - in fact, the name of the setting Thedas translates to "outside of Tevinter domain", which referred to the rest of the continent as their empire shrank. It has become a shadow of its former self after being hit by the Blights, Exalted Marches from the South and being locked in a ForeverWar with the Qunari. By the time the series takes place, the Orlesian Empire has replaced Tevinter as the current richest and most powerful nation. However, in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Fenris alleges that they slowly but surely have recovered from their losses and they might represent a threat to the world again. This is questionable given Fenris is biased (though [[MadeASlave with]] [[RapeAsBackstory good]] [[DarkAndTroubledPast reason]]) and in the following game ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', it's stated that Tevinter doesn't really have the time or the interest to TakeOverTheWorld, since it's not the same nation as it used to be. With that in mind, one of the factions that serves the [[BigBad Elder One]] are the Venatori, a Tevinter extremist terrorist group with the explicity goal of restoring the Imperium to its former glory.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''
** The Thalmor had restored the Aldmeri Dominion, which was initially dominated by Tiber Septim and incorporated into the Empire of Cyrodiil until the Oblivion Crisis allowed the Altmer to break away and form their own nation. By the time of the game, they are significantly weakened in the Great War aftermath, but they are in a better position than the Empire since the Khajilt and the Bosmer are firmly within their grasp (while the Empire lost all of their provinces except High Rock and Skyrim, the latter being in CivilWar) and they are just biding their time and regain their strength to resume hostilities.
** Depending on your options, the Empire of Cyrodiil is poised to regain its strength if you finish the Civil War questline on the side of the Legion and [[spoiler:destroy the Dark Brotherhood]]. Alternatively, their fate might apparently be sealed if you side with the Stormcloaks (putting Skyrim out of their power and potentially isolating High Rock as well) and [[spoiler:join the Dark Brotherhood, which will inevitably end with the Emperor Titus Medes II being assassinated]].

In real life, this is considered part of irredentism, which refers to any political movements that seek to regain any lost territory that the movement's members feel it belongs to them. The term was coined in the 19th Century from ''Italia irredenta'' ("unredeemed Italy"), referring to Italian territories that were under Habsburg control. The reality is more complicated than that: not all irredentist movements are aspiring Resurgent Empires - many are/were functioning societies that are fine remaining the way they are without bringing some old regime back, thank you very much. That doesn't stop some people of accusing certain governments of wanting to establish a "Greater X" country, [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment though whether these charges are founded or not is a discussion for somewhere else]]. The straighter examples that resembled fiction didn't last long and some didn't really amount to anything more than a claim that never came close to reality.

* The ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' two-parter "Year of Hell" features an alien commander using a ship capable of manipulating time to [[RetGone wipe out his people's enemies]] and restore the Krenim Imperium to a world-spanning superstate. However, because time is a harsh mistress, [[ButterflyOfDoom any change he makes could have dire unforeseen consequences]].

Nations seeking to restore their lost prestige and and revive themselves isn't new. As long as there has been an empire on decline and those that remember how great they used to be, this has been a [[TropesAreTools motivation for both heroes and villains]]. In one hand, you have a protagonist who sees his nation occupied by foreigners and he wants to reassert their right to exist by preserving their customs. On the other hand, you have an VisionaryVillain who inherits an empire in shambles and observes that territories that once under their rule are thriving, they [[EntitledBastard believe that these lands are rightfully theirs]] and gives them an excuse to invade and claim their prosperity, which will serve as a stepping stone for continue their expansionist campaign. If successful enough, the empire will become more powerful than the previous one if the ruler avoided the same mistakes that led to their predecessors' decline. Of course, heroic examples will avoid bloody conquest like their EvilCounterpart to preserve the audience sympathy. What really makes this trope is the intention of reviving their lost and prestige back - the difference between a succeeding state or dynasty and this trope is that the new state sees itself as an heir whose duty is restore the GoodOldWays. As such, expect it to be called New/Neo X Empire.

Nations seeking to restore their lost prestige and and revive themselves isn't new. As long as there has been an empire on decline and those that remember how great they used to be, this has been a [[TropesAreTools motivation for both heroes and villains]]. In one hand, you have a protagonist who is sees his nation occupied by foreigners and he wants to reassert their right to exist by preserving their customs. On the other hand, you have an VisionaryVillain who inherits an empire in shambles and observes that territories that once under their rule are thriving, they [[EntitledBastard believe that these lands are rightfully theirs]] and gives them an excuse to invade and claim their prosperity, which will serve as a stepping stone for continue their expansionist campaign. If successful enough, the empire will become more powerful than the previous one if the ruler avoided the same mistakes that led to their predecessors' decline. Of course, heroic examples will avoid bloody conquest like their EvilCounterpart to preserve the audience sympathy. What really makes this trope is the intention of reviving their lost and prestige back - the difference between a succeeding state or dynasty and this trope is that the new state sees itself as an heir whose duty is restore the GoodOldWays. As such, expect it to be called New/Neo X Empire.

* ''Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes'' has a very dead empire brought back to fight the genocidal Achuultani when this turns out to be the only way to save humanity.

* [[UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire Justinian I]] wanted to reunify the lost Western territories into proper Roman rule after the Western half of TheEmpire fell when the warlord Odoacer overthrew Romulus Augustulus. He only managed to take Italy, Northern Africa and parts of Spain for a short period of time, but France, Germany and Britain would never be under Roman rule again.

This superpower which was once on the {{rising|empire}} went through [[VestigialEmpire decline]] after a period of time. Once controlling large swathes of territories, now it could only charitably described as a [[AuthorityInNameOnly rump state with only nominal command over its former provinces that have broken away]]. One supposes this is how TheCycleOfEmpires go: expansion, followed by stabilization and finally decay. After dying such a long death, those who have stopped grieving now hope they are [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery put out of their misery as quick as possible]]... But then something unexpected happens. They are BackFromTheBrink and rapidly regain their lost prestige and power. Or they actually do ''die'', but someone comes along with the intent (and the means) of getting this empire back to their feet. We have something that defies the natural order of things: a ''Resurgent'' Empire

* ''Manga/DragonBall'': The Frieza Empire can be considered this. After Frieza, his officers, and the hundreds of foot soldiers were slain by Goku, Vegeta, and Trunks' hands, the organization fell into disrepair for over fifteen years. It became even ''more'' run down after Frieza was revived and killed a second time and his remaining soldiers were wiped out. It's only after the Tournament of Power does it get back on it's feet, though it does not have anywhere near as big of a fighting force as it did before.

* ''Film/ManOfSteel'': General Zod intends on reviving Krypton and bring it's glory back at Earth's expense by [[HostileTerraforming transforming it in a new Krypton]].
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': The First Order is the sucessor state of the Galactic Empire ruled by Palpatine, which feel in disarray following his death and reorganized itself while hiding in the Unknown Regions.

* ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'': In the ''Titans'' Campaign, Atlantis is rebuilt and remade into it's own civilaization after it's utter destruction by [[spoiler:[[BigBadDruumvirate Gargarensis and Poseidon.]]]]
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'': The [[TheMagocracy Tevinter Imperium]] used to govern the entire world - in fact, the name of the setting Thedas translates to "outside of Tevinter domain", which referred to the rest of the continent as their empire shrank. It has become a shadow of it's former self after being hit by the Blights, Exalted Marches from the South and being locked in a ForeverWar with the Qunari. By the time the series takes place, the Orlesian Empire replaced Tevinter as the current richest and most powerful nation. However, in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Fenris alleges that they slowly but surely have recovered from their losses and they might represent a threat to the world again. This is questionable given Fenris is biased (though [[MadeASlave with]] [[RapeAsBackstory good]] [[DarkAndTroubledPast reason]]) and in the following game ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', it's stated that Tevinter doesn't really have the time or the interest to TakeOverTheWorld, since it's not the same nation as it used to be. With that in mind, one of the factions that serves the [[BigBad Elder One]] are the Venatori, a Tevinter extremist terrorist group with the explicitly goal of restoring the Imperium to it's former glory.

** Depending on your options, the Empire of Cyrodiil is poised to regain it's strength if you finish the Civil War questline on the side of the Legion and [[spoiler:destroy the Dark Brotherhood]]. Alternatively, their fate might apparently be sealed if you side with the Stormcloaks (putting Skyrim out of their power and potentially isolating High Rock as well) and [[spoiler:join the Dark Brotherhood, which will inevitably end with the Emperor Titus Medes II being assassinated]].

** [[spoiler:In the Revelations route, Valla is able to be rebuilt after Corrin kills Anankos, who destroyed the kingdom and turned most of its citizens into his undead servants.]]

* [[UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire Justinian I]] wanted to reunify the lost Western territories into proper Roman rule after the Western half fell when the warlord Odoacer overthrew Romulus Augustulus. He only managed to take Italy, Northern Africa and parts of Spain for a short period of time, but France, Germany and Britain would never be under Roman rule again.

* The [[UsefulNotes/LetatCestMoi Second French Empire]] established by Napoleon III. The first one was established and ruled by his uncle Napoleon Bonaparte until his eventual defeat in Waterloo and the Bourbon monarchy being restored. After another French Revolution overthrew that monarchy and established a second republic, his nephew Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was elected president and launched a coup'd etat in 1851 that eventually allowed him to become the new Emperor (he styled himself as the Third because he acknowledged his cousin Napoleon II's term, even though he never ruled France and died very young). It was in his interest to reassert French influence in Europe and throughout the world (such as UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}} and UsefulNotes/{{Lebanon}}) via diplomatic relations and relying less on the strength of arms like his uncle had done. Needless to say, it went poorly for him in the Franco-Prussian War.

* His Axis partner UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini was even more blatantly about wanting to rebuild UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire by taking its former Northern African provinces in Libya, and attempted to occupy the Balkans region. It went ''even poorly'' for him, requiring the Nazis to bail him out.

This superpower which was once on the {{rising|empire}} went through [[VestigialEmpire decline]] after a period of time. Once controlling large swathes of territories, now it could only charitably described as a [[AuthorityInNameOnly rump state with only nominal command over it's former provinces that have broken away]]. One supposes this is how TheCycleOfEmpires go: expansion, followed by stabilization and finally decay. After dying such a long death, those who have stopped grieving now hope they are [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery put out of their misery as quick as possible]]... But then something unexpected happens. They are BackFromTheBrink and rapidly regain their lost prestige and power. Or they actually do ''die'', but someone comes along with the intent (and the means) of getting this empire back to their feet. We have something that defies the natural order of things: a ''Resurgent'' Empire