History Main / ToppledStatue

* Following the end of [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn USSR]], many statues of Creator/KarlMarx, UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin, UsefulNotes/JosefStalin (some remaining ones at least) and other communist or Soviet figures were removed in Russia, the other former Soviet republics and the central European countries East of the UsefulNotes/IronCurtain.

** In Kyiv, the People's Friendship Arch was dismantled in April 2022. The bronze statue depicting a Russian and a Ukrainian worker holding up the Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples was removed (the Russian one was beheaded). The arch will remain and is planned to be renamed and illuminated with the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

* The invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} by UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} in 2022 caused several instances of this upon Soviet era monuments:

* The overthrow of a Saddam Hussein statue in Iraq was seen as symbolic of his utter defeat.
* During UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, the statue in New York City of George III on horseback was toppled after the Declaration of Independence. The statue was later melted down to make bullets.
* The British raised a statue of Lord Nelson in downtown Dublin (similar, but smaller than, a statue of Lord Nelson in London). Many took it as a symbol of the British dominion over the Irish. The IRA blew it up in 1966. Then they wrote [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__3v0eKHB_s several funny songs about it]].

* The Afghan Taliban blew up a number of Buddha statues.
* The statue of Josef Stalin in Budapest, built as a "gift" to him by Hungary for his seventieth birthday in 1949, was torn down in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. A recreation of his shoes was built in 2006 to commemorate its destruction.
* In Taiwan, many of the prolific statues of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek (though notably, not the massive one in his memorial) have been torn down by the public, in the two decades since the end of the half-century of dictatorship.
* In response to the Nazi/White supremacy rallies in Charlottesville (ostensibly meant as protest against the removal of a [[UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar Confederate war monument]]), activists in Durham, North Carolina [[https://twitter.com/i/moments/897240195895967745 tore down their own local Confederate memorial, complete with kicking and spitting on the broken statue.]]

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty4ModernWarfare'': During the helicopter flight sequence of "Shock and Awe", a toppleable statue of [[TheDragon Al-Asad]] can be hit with a nade from your door gun.

* In 2020, as part of global anti-racist protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police in America, protesters in Bristol, England tore down a statue of 17th-century merchant Edward Colston (notorious for his involvement in the slave trade) and dumped it into the harbour.

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', orcs defaced a monument to a king of Gondor when they took Ithilien. They broke the head of the king off and put there a boulder with Sauron's eye instead, and wrote some ClusterFBomb runes on it.
* The sonnet ''Ozymandias'' by Percy Bysshe Shelley (TropeNamer for LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair) centers on this concept, a destroyed statue lying in the middle of buried ruins.

* In ''Film/{{Confessions of Boston Blackie}}'' the body of a murder victim is concealed in a counterfeit replica statue of Augustus Caesar, and revealed when the statue is toppled.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'", Peter lies that he's a miracle healer and people start to worship him and erect a gold statue of him, which leads to God sending plagues down upon him. This culminates in a BoltOfDivineRetribution toppling he statue, which falls on Chris (the final plague is the death of the firstborn son).

* In the final story mission of ''Videogame/FarCry4'', right before you confront Pagan Min, you must blow up the golden statue of him. Afterwards, Pagan himself calls you up and complains about how many artifacts he had to melt down as well as his [[BodyDouble body double]] standing in place for god-knows-how-long to pose for the statue.
* In ''VideoGame/FarCry5'', a gigantic statue of Hope County's local [[TheCult cult]] leader, Joseph Seed, ends up destroyed. Joseph calls [[PlayerCharacter Rook]] afterward to say he's not mad, just disappointed.
* Yet another ''VideoGame/FarCry'' version: The reveal trailer for ''VideoGame/FarCry6'' shows the people of [[BananaRepublic Yara]] pulling down a statue of their unpopular president, [[TheGeneralissimo Anton Castillo]].

* ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'': During the helicopter flight sequence of "Shock and Awe", a toppleable statue of [[TheDragon Al-Asad]] can be hit with a nade from your door gun.

* The music video for Tim Pool's song "[[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B-iNIwAFzPw Will of the People]]" starts with rebels about to pull down a statue of a dictator. The end of the video shows four statues set up on a wheel so that a new one instantly pops up no matter how many times they are pulled down, symbolizing the endless cycle of {{Full Circle Revolution}}s.

* The SequelSeries, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' also features this trope at the end of Book 2:[[spoiler:Unalaq (fussed with Vaatu) topples Aang's statue while in giant form to symbolize the victory of the new "Dark Avatar"]].

* In 2020, as part of global anti-racist protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police in America, protesters in Bristol, England tore down a statue of 16th-century merchant Edward Colston (notorious for his involvement in the slave trade) and dumped it into the harbour.

* In ''Film/{{Lage Raho Munna Bhai}}'' (Carry on Munna Bhai), a gangster poses as a historian specialising in Gandhism, but is then haunted by Gandhi himself. When he is asked in a lecture what should be done to a boy desecrating Gandhi's statue, Gandhi tells him to encourage people to topple his statue and remove his pictures, but to keep him in their hearts.

* A side-quest in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' has you sneak into Hyperion's model city of Opportunity and use a hacked Constructor to destroy four big statues of the game's BigBad, egotistical Hyperion CEO Handsome Jack. In-universe however, this doesn't necessarily detract from Jack's power and it simply just pisses him off, swearing to build statues of him [[GroinAttack kicking you in the junk]] to replace those you've toppled.

* In Taiwan, many of the prolific statues of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek (though notably, not the massive one in his memorial) have been torn down by the public, in the two decades since the end of the half century of dictatorship.

* ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes'' has the iconic image of the partially buried Statue of Liberty, providing TheReveal that the planet is actually ''earth'' and humankind fell a long time ago.

* ''VideoGame/{{Crackdown}}'': As a sign of how badly things have become in Pacific City, Don Domingo Garica, one of the three ganglords ruling over the city (and arguably the most "criminal" of the three), had a giant statue of himself built on the cliff side near his mansion in La Mugre. After you've infiltrated his mansion and killed him, the residents of La Mugre are shown tearing it down.

* In Taiwan, many of the prolific statues of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek (though notably, not the massive one in his memorial) have been torn down by the public, in the two decades since the end of the half century of capitalist dictatorship.

* When a statue of UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher was erected in London, one protester, who had seen the downside of Thatcher's rule and what it did to the less favoured, proceeded to knock its head clean off. With a cricket bat.

* ''{{Mercenaries}}'' has this as an entire side quest.

** You also do this in ''VideoGame/JustCause3" to statues of Di Ravello, the dictator of the island the game takes place on, to liberate towns from his control.

* ''VideoGame/JustCause2'' lets you topple statues of "Baby" Panay, the president of the local republic, TO decrease his control.

* At the end of ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' episode "The Little People", the statue of a man who'd been lording over a microscopic civilization on another planet is toppled by the little people themselves, after the man is killed by giants.

* The special edition of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' added scenes of celebration upon the Death Star II's destruction and the Emperor's demise, and among them is a scene on Coruscant with a mob tearing down a statue of Darth Vader in the background.