History Main / TrainingThePeacefulVillagers

!!Examples:

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* [[UrExample Ur-film example]] is ''Film/SevenSamurai'', where the samurai plan to let a few bandits past the village gates at a time so that the villagers can ZergRush them with bamboo spears from a safe distance.
* ''[[Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960 The Magnificent Seven]]'', for instance, is a direct western adaptation of Kurosawa's film.
* And ''Film/BattleBeyondTheStars'' has a RecycledInSpace version.
* The Taiwanese film, ''Film/BeachOfTheWarGods'' tells the story of a village being ravaged by Japanese pirates on a regular basis, until a heroic warrior and drifter band together six other warriors to help battle the pirates.
* ''Film/SevenSwords'' is a Chinese version.
* Done in a silly manner in the movie ''Film/ThreeAmigos''. The villagers couldn't do much except dig and sew, which was a problem since the heroes couldn't do much except pretend to be cowboys in silent movies. But with a plan cobbled together from the big finales of their various movies, a RousingSpeech that got a bit lost in the middle, and a lot of digging and sewing by the villagers, the day is saved (if you're wondering how this all works, the villagers sewed copycat outfits of the Amigos to distract the bad guys while the real Amigos picked them off, and the digging is for a large, hidden water pit to trap several of the banditos' horses).
* AppliedPhlebotinum film example: ''Film/GalaxyQuest''... again, not that the actual heroes have the skills that they're given credit for, either.
* Done in ''Film/{{Argo}}''. Not the actual ''Argo'', but the fictional FilmWithinAFilm ''Argo'', and made to sound like an allegory for the Iranian Revolution itself, gaining the approval of some Iranian guards at the airport.
* Done in ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves'', by Robin and Azeem. They actually weren't peaceful (or villagers for that matter), but Robin and Azeem ''did'' ultimately make them more effective.
* The SpaghettiWestern ''[[Film/{{Trinity}} They Call Me Trinity]]'' has the heroes teaching a community of pacifists to fight back against the villain who wants the land they've built on. The villagers are so peaceful that they have no idea how to fight, and the heroes end up repeatedly clobbering them during the training exercises.
* The whole premise in ''Film/{{Defiance}}'', which is about a group of Jewish refugees. As they gathered more people, they begin training able-bodied people (including women) to fight for survival with weapons taken from the hands of dead Nazis.
* In ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'', Ash is inexplicably seen teaching the medieval villagers, including their soldiers, on how to use a halberd. Somewhat justifiable in that he's teaching them to wield the weapons in a manner similar to a quarterstaff (halberds and pikes were normally for attacking horsemen), but staves already ''were'' used as weapons in medieval times.
* The movie ''Film/HighPlainsDrifter'' has Clint Eastwood as NoNameGiven train the villagers to fight. DarkerAndEdgier because they aren't peaceful, just cowards, and he really doesn't care much for them.
* {{Subverted}} in ''Film/IpMan'', where our hero trains the workers at Quan's factory in Wing Chun to help them resist a group of bandits, only for the bandits to prevail anyway until Ip Man pulls a BigDamnHeroes moment. The main thing the workers accomplish is a DivideAndConquer variant: to keep various small groups of bandits busy long enough for him to show up and deal with them one at a time rather than forcing him to fight all of them at once.
* This is how they deal with the bad guys in ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}''. The villagers weren't exactly peaceful, however; rather, they were worn out from trying to fight the current BigBad's father some ten years earlier, and just didn't want to get involved again. Having a dragon on their side changed their minds.
* ''Film/BlazingSaddles'' has the villagers contribute by making a fake version of their town to lure the bandits into it and then blow it up. Then the heroes lead the whole town in a massive brawl with the remaining bandits.
* Parodied in ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights'', where the Peaceful Villagers are so inept that Robin and company have to do pretty much everything themselves.
* In ''Film/The36thChamberOfShaolin'', the eponymous "36th Chamber" of the hero's training is to find and train commoners to retaliate against an evil regime of some kind. Although he pretty much does all the killing himself, it's an interesting coda to the most protracted TrainingMontage in martial arts cinema.
* Subverted in ''Film/HighNoon'', where Gary Cooper plays a marshall who hears that a criminal gang is coming to his [[TheWildWest Wild West]] town bent on revenge. Despite the fact that he was already planning on leaving, he spends most of the movie attempting to rally the villagers to the defense of their town. Everyone else proves too cowardly to fight, however, and he is forced to take on the gang almost singlehandedly.
* ''Film/CaveDwellers'' has Ator ride into a village and ''immediately'' start this sequence (seriously, he begins the "This is what we'll do" speech before he even gets off his horse)... only to get pissed off on realizing the villagers aren't playing along. Turns out they're not on his side.
* Done to a degree and lampshaded in ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven.'' After Balian knights all of the men in the village as a group, the priest asks if making a man a knight will make him a better fighter, to which Balian simply responds "yes."
* A GoneHorriblyWrong example in ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', where both Col. Kurtz and the villagers he's trained have descended into madness.
* ''Film/MagnificentWarriors'' have the heroes training the entire village of Kaal, whose forces consist of mostly civilian militia, in order to repel an invading Japanese force, who comes equipped with cannons and automatic weapons. They win... against the first wave of Japanese invaders, but then it was subverted when the villagers ends up facing a second wave, whose forces includes ''tanks'', at which point the citizens of Kaal ends up torching their homes to the ground to avoid a fatal second battle.
* The backstory of ''Film/TheSiege'', where Iraqi fighters trained (and abandoned) by the CIA have returned to America for vengeance.
* A variation of this happens in ''Film/DeathWish3'', where Paul Kersey teaches the retirees how to fight back against the young hoodlums that have moved into their neighborhood.
* Hercules does this early in ''Film/Hercules2014''. [[spoiler:It bites him in the ass when it turns out their leader is a tyrant.]]
* In ''Film/GoWestYoungLady'', all of the men in Headstone are formed into a {{Posse}} and ride out to raid Killer Pete's hideout. However, Killer Pete knows of this and plans to have the posse wiped out in an ambush by Chief Big Thunder Cloud's tribe, while he and his gang loot the town. Learning of this, Bill sends one of the women to warn the men, and hurriedly organizes the rest of the townswomen into a fighting force that ambushes the gang and does a good job of subduing them by pelting them with pots and pans and whacking them with brooms.
* Averted in ''Film/TheWildGeese''. When the mercenaries are abandoned, it's suggested that they rouse the local population with the aid of the African politician they've just rescued. It's quickly shown to be unworkable; the tribesmen don't have modern weapons, there's a regiment of the dictator's PraetorianGuard approaching and the politician refuses to lead his people to slaughter.

[[folder:Literature]]
* The Rabbitmen in ''Literature/ArifuretaFromCommonplaceToWorldsStrongest'' are so averse to violence that every other tribe of demi-humans considers them absolute cowards. They're ''not'' cowards, [[ActualPacifist they just don't like fighting]]​. (If they were cowards, they would have just surrendered [[spoiler:Shea]].) When Hajime decides to train them, they take to it with a literal vengeance. Turns out "be very fast, be very quiet" are traits useful to both shy prey animals and[[spoiler: assassins.]]
* ''Literature/WolvesOfTheCalla'', the fifth book in Stephen King's ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series, concerns the ''[[TrueCompanions ka-tet]]'' defending a village from a raid of bandits. It's a very intentional homage to ''The Seven Samurai'', which becomes a plot point when [[BreakingTheFourthWall the fourth wall starts falling away]] later in the series.
* ''Literature/FightingFantasy'':
** ''Literature/BlackVeinProphecy'' ends with the AmnesiacHero realizing his true heritage as a prince destined to stop a tyrant, as he leads an army comprising of conscripted villagers and HomeGuard units which he had trained alongside his partner, the LaResistance leader Merzei, in order to battle his evil, ruthless brother.
** This is an option in ''Literature/KnightsOfDoom''. The village of Assart is being menaced by an undead necromancer, and if the reader chose the ''Battle Tactics'' skill at the beginning, they can form the villagers into a surprisingly effective improvised fighting force. Doing this allows them to join the player's own forces in battle against [[BigBad Belgaroth]]'s vanguard.
* This is the plot of one of the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' books, where the peaceful villagers and the threatening invaders are both aliens. Also joining the fight are a group of {{Muggles}} who are helping to resist the invasion simply because they JumpedAtTheCall. They're all [[AscendedFanboy Trekkies]] on their yearly camp out.
** It was also the plot of The Hork-Bajir Chronicles. An Andalite trains the Hork-Bajir to fight against the invading Yeerks. This was necessary because the Hork-Bajir were bark-eaters, and had never had conflict before. They, at first, couldn't even conceive of using their blades to deliberately harm another.
* The ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' series takes this to ridiculous extremes. The villagers are frequently absurdly outnumbered, pacifists who have never fought a day in their lives, ''and'' the villains bother to use actual strategy. (Although to be honest, all but the small handful of leader-types in any given vermin horde tend to be hopelessly inept redshirts in their own right.)
** Defenders' Advantage--it's commonly accepted that to take a walled city or castle (which Redwall Abbey pretty much is) using medieval weaponry, the attackers need to outnumber the defenders by at least ten to one.
** Too bad the strategy never seems to extend to using siege weaponry to knock a wall down and rebuild it. The plans are still around, aren't they?
** To give an actual trope example: in "Mariel of Redwall," a group of sea rats are besieging Redwall Abbey, as they do. The searats have just hit on a strategy to get inside that may actually work -- fling balls of burning pitch over the walls to burn them out -- when a Long Patrol of three hares from Salamandastron arrive and teach the Redwallers the construction and use of longbows.
** In the animated adaptation this often turns comical, with one attempt to tunnel into the Abbey repulsed with a vat of [[LighterAndSofter hot oatmeal]]. In the original book, it was [[TruthInTelevision boiling water]].
* Harry Potter does this with 'Dumbledore's Army' in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix''.
* Subverted in ''[[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire The Sworn Sword]]''. Much time is spent by Dunk, Egg, and Ser Bennis in training the villagers in use of arms for a proposed battle against the Webbers of Coldmoat despite many of them never holding a sword in their life. In a thorough deconstruction of the trope, Dunk decides that these villagers will get butchered since the time window is too short to be trained properly and he decides to resolve the conflict himself before it spills into bloodshed.
* Kel does this with the occupants of her refugee camp in the final book of ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'', because [[WithThisHerring she doesn't have enough guards to keep them safe.]]
* Kelsier does this in the first book of Brandon Sanderson's ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' trilogy. They then get slaughtered after the army's leader gets hot-blooded and attempts a general uprising instead of the targeted attacks that Kelsier was intending, before the next stage of the plan said army was to be a part of was ready.
* Subverted in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' with the Tuatha'an (an ethnic {{Expy}} of the Roma), who follow a pacifistic moral code known as, "The Way of the Leaf". The Tuatha'an refuse to defend themselves even against what are essentially the Hordes of Hell, much to the anguish of Perrin [[spoiler: and Aram, a Tuatha'an who becomes "Lost" and learns to fight when his parents are killed by the Trollocs]]. The [[spoiler: Aiel]] have a mass BSOD when they discover that their ancestors were this.
** However, played straight when Perrin rallies the people of Two Rivers to defend themselves against first the Trollocs, and then the Children of the Light.
*** Of course, the Two Rivers folk turn out to be pretty skilled already, being some of the best archers in the world and having the blood of Manetheren, which counts for a lot in Randland.
* In ''[[Literature/KingSolomonsMines Alan Quartermain]]'', when a Masaii warband kidnaps the daughter of a missionary, the Zulu warrior Umslopogaas makes the plan for the parishioners to attack and [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge annihilate]] the war party.
* In Creator/BarbaraHambly's ''Literature/TheLadiesOfMandrigyn'', the eponymous, and previously very traditional, women secure the services of mercenary captain Sun Wolf to train them in weapons use so that they can free their men from imprisonment in the local mines and help to overthrow a vicious wizard/warlord.
* In the Literature/CiaphasCain novel ''Death or Glory'', Cain creates a small army by having the PDF troops he had gathered train volunteers among the civilian refugees to supplement their ranks. The popular histories of that war claim that the bulk of the army was made of such volunteers (which was most definitely not true). In ''Cain's Last Stand'', Cain realizes that the understrength PDF on the same world doesn't have the manpower to repulse the incoming Chaos fleet, so he creates militia units across the planet using this trope. Subverted in that he had no illusions about the ability of the militia to repulse the invaders: He was simply hoping that they could pin enemy units down long enough for properly trained soldiers to show up (and as the retired Sister says, if the war was lost they'd be slaughtered anyways by Chaos cultists).
* Vanyel tries to do this in the first book of the ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Last Herald-Mage]]'' trilogy; he realizes almost immediately that he just doesn't have time to train them in new weapons, and focuses on stratagems involving things they already know how to use, like pitchforks.
* In the second book, ''Eldest'', of the Literature/InheritanceCycle, Roran does something similar in Carvahall.
* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', the clan cats lead the normally peaceful Tribe of Rushing Water to battle against invaders. And then they [[ZigZaggedTrope teach them both diplomacy.]]
* In the alternate history novel ''Literature/TheYearsOfRiceAndSalt'', a [[{{Ronin}} samurai from Chinese-conquered Japan]] makes his home among a native American tribe. He teaches them the arts of warfare and modern agriculture and industry so that they will be able to withstand the advances of the Chinese colonisers on the West Coast (and the Islamic colonisers on the East Coast). Centuries later, the various native American tribes formed the Hodenosaunee League, which survives as a major world power.
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', the [=ParaNet=] is organized to protect minor talents from being abused by black wizards or other supernatural threats.
** It's more successful than anyone expected and becomes necessary for survival after [[spoiler: Harry dies]].
* The most controversial book of the Literature/SwordOfTruth has a pacifist MacGuffin people called the Bandakar Empire, that Richard and Co. train to fight.
* Creator/GeorgeRRMartin short stories:
** "And Seven Times Never Kill Man." The fanatical [[HumanityIsSuperior Steel Angels]] create a colony on the world of Corlos and begin systematically wiping out the native, simian jaenshi whenever they feel the need to expand their territory. The overweight, amiable, and formerly pacifistic trader Arik neKrol takes it upon himself to organize a jaenshi resistance. [[spoiler: The story subverts the trope. Very few of the jaenshi gravitate to his plan, all are half-wild survivors of previous Steel Angel attacks on villages who did not join other existing clans, only one of the group has any kind of discipline, and Arik is killed in their first and only skirmish. But then it's double-subverted because it turns out that the jaenshi didn't really need an armed resistance at all. They apparently concoct a ruse (the how of which is deliberately left vague) using the mysterious pyramids their villages are based around, which plays on the Steel Angel's fanatical religious beliefs. The only thing Arik's resistance ends up accomplishing is killing the one Steel Angel officer that suspected the jaenshi were somehow deceiving them.]]
** Subverted in "The Sworn Sword," where Dunk has to rally his master's peasants and train them in preparation for a conflict with the neighboring lord. The peasants are too few and completely incapable of becoming a fighting force in such a short time, forcing Dunk to figure out a better way to handle the conflict.
* In the 10th book of the ''Literature/RangersApprentice'' series, Horace and Will do this with Kikori peasants, whose greatest combat attribute is their ability to cooperate and coordinate. The results are shockingly effective against the more skilled but highly individualistic samurai, who don't really know how to handle a shield wall.
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' - the "Scouring of the Shire", where the pacifistic hobbits, previously subdued by the barrel-scrapings of Saruman's armies, are roused to fight by the return of the four adventurers of the Ring. Becoming an efficient guerilla army, they destroy Saruman's mooks and effectively become their own Rangers, now the original protectors of the Shire have moved to Minas Tirith.
* In ''Literature/TheDinosaurLords'', Karyl and Rob, as the best dinosaur commander in the country and the man who defeated him, respectively, are hired by a TechnicalPacifist sect to help them defend themselves against raiders and a marching army out to burn the "heretics".
* The Bulgarian novel ''Literature/UnderTheYoke'' has the rebels train their own people in the villages surrounding the town of Byala Cherkva. In the movie adaptation, the villagers are so inept that when training them to march, the rebels have to replace "left" and "right" with the names of two villages lying in the respective directions.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' has done this more than once.
* ''Series/MacGyver1985'' likewise has to train a peaceful village in a [[BananaRepublic Republica del Platano]] to fight their drug lord oppressors, in the episode "The Golden Triangle."
* The ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "Marauders" has the Enterprise crew do this with a mining colony that was being raided by a Klingon warbird.
* Combined with a StableTimeLoop in a particularly bizarre episode of ''Series/KungFuTheLegendContinues''. A time-displaced Peter is surprised to learn the besieged group of Shaolin monks he's landed among have no clue how to fight off their attackers. The rudimentary self-defense he teaches them eventually became the basis for the kung fu his Shaolin father taught him.
* Done in the third season finale of ''[[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]]'' and many a character's SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.
* ''Series/RedDwarf'': Rimmer tried this with a group of entertainers and pacifists in "Meltdown," and expended the few troops that survived his training on a suicide mission.
* An episode of ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' uses this trope after the title character's home village is attacked by raiders.
* ''Series/TheMandalorian'' Chapter 4 "The Sanctuary" embraces the trope as the hero saves peaceful villagers from raiders and a rampant AT-ST. A {{Training Montage}} displays how far they have to go. He meets a {{Retired Outlaw}} {{Action Girl}} who helps him train the villagers. {{The Hero}} finds a {{Love Interest|s}} -- a widow with whom he "wished he could" settle down with, but [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies he can't]].
** The spin-off ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'' has a more reciprocal version. While the Tuskens are anything but peaceful, they ''are'' woefully outdated when it comes to fighting against "outsiders with machines." Boba not only trains them in using speeders, but also helps organize them into a fighting unit capable of taking down the Pykes. In turn, they have also been training him in the ways of fighting as a Tusken. [[spoiler:However this backfires because it them becomes more expedient for the Pykes to wipe out the entire tribe, leaving Boba the SoleSurvivor.]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho''
** A variation on this trope occurred in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks The Daleks]]". Rather than being ignorant the Thals were instead morally opposed to violence due to the wars of their past, which was OK until [[ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer the Daleks decided to massacre them]].
** PlayedForLaughs in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E5TheGirlWhoDied The Girl Who Died]]". After their best Viking warriors are abducted by aliens, the Doctor and his companion decide to do this trope with the remainder, who lack any experience in fighting. HilarityEnsues when they burn down their village by accident during training. Of course the Doctor comes up with a cunning plan instead to save the day.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' subverts this in "Errand of Mercy," when war breaks out and Kirk and Spock try to get the [[SpaceAmish apparently primitive citizens]] of the planet Organia to side with the Federation. However, the Organians aren't interested and seemingly go along with the Klingons seizing control of the planet while resolutely protecting the Starfleet officers, who are trying to rouse a resistance, with incomprehensible motives and means. In the end, the Organians suddenly stop the war themselves and reveal that they are actually [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens energy beings of godlike power]] and were only humoring the warring powers around until their patience ran out.
** Played straighter in "A Private Little War" where Kirk must decide whether to arm and train the Hill People of a planet who are being attacked by previously peaceful Town People (and to make matters worse, he had surveyed the planet beforehand and found it a peaceful paradise, as well as befriended the Hill People personally). It turns out the Town People were [[spoiler:being given lessons in weapons development by the Klingons, allowing Kirk the legal pretext to arm the Hill People, while tortuously aware that he is starting an arms race that will plague the planet]]. It's an allegory to [[spoiler:the then-ongoing UsefulNotes/VietnamWar]].
** In "The Omega Glory", Kirk has to ''stop'' a fellow officer from arming the villagers [[spoiler:of the last village left on the planet, who all look Chinese]] with phasers against wild, brutish invading [[spoiler:Americans who worship freedom but are pretty fuzzy on its finer points]]. This one is also a UsefulNotes/ColdWar fable.
* Subverted in ''Series/RobinHood''. In an early S3 episode Robin rallies the villagers and tells them that one day he will call upon them to fight; likewise a press release revealed that Tuck would be organizing a "people's army." Turns out that what Robin and Tuck had in mind was for the villagers to stage a peaceful sit-in protest.
* One episode of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' ("Heart of Gold") involved the crew digging in to help train and defend the local... [[BandOfBrothels whorehouse]], complete with {{montage}}. It works.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' tries to do this with a planet about to be invaded by the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Ori]]. They only have time for a quick crash course in using [=P90s=], which does not include reloading. As soon as ammo runs out, the villagers surrender.
** Stargate also has a villainous example with the Ori followers. Aside from the whole burning people thing, the Ori army were previously decent people. The Ori whipped them into an effective army rather quickly.
** And also in ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', in a BadFuture where Ronon trains villagers as a guerrilla army to fight Michael's army of hybrids.
** Averted in the first-season episode "The Nox," as SG-1 attempted to warn the pacifist SpaceElves the Nox about the invading Goa'uld. It turned out the Nox were a PerfectPacifistPeople who already had such advanced defenses (including invisibility, healing powers, and ''raising the dead'') that the Goa'uld posed no threat to them at all.
* The outlaws in ''Series/RobinOfSherwood'' travel to the village of Uffcombe in the two-part adventure "The Swords of Weyland" (originally broadcast as a feature-length special), where the villagers are being terrorised by the Hounds of Lucifer [[spoiler: not supernatural demons as it turns out but merely the horseriding, mask-wearing minions of the local Priestess of a Satanic coven which is pretending to be a religious order of nuns. No, really. Actually...it works.]]
* An episode of ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'' [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zags this]]. On finding a peaceful village being harassed by raiders, Richard tries to train volunteers to fight in defense, only to find that they're under an old spell that paralyzes them should they even try to be violent. Richard convinces Zedd to remove the spell despite his objections, and finds out why it'd been cast in the first place: The villagers are the descendants of a group of brutal enforcers for an ancient ancestor of Richard's. Their anger is linked to him, and through him to the Sword of Truth, fanning their rage. This leads to them attacking and killing some of the raiders in their sleep, prompting the rest of the raiders to move for revenge--leaving Richard with only himself and a handful of men freed from the spell against the hundreds of raiders. They set up a bluff, arming the rest of the village, and try and convince the raiders to leave...which only works because one of the (still peaceful) villagers had saved one of the raiders earlier in the episode.
* An ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' episode has Dylan arrive to train a tribe of peaceful locals to fight off-world pirates armed with guns. Dylan brings a crate-load of force lances (extendable pikes that double as guns with guided ammo), but a missionary, ironically the one who called him there thinking he'd bring his warship and scare the slavers off, destroys them, refusing to allow Dylan to corrupt the locals as they had GeneticMemory and their descendants would know violence from birth. Instead, Dylan has them build fortifications and trains them to throw spears from the walls. [[RockBeatsLaser They win]], briefly. But when the slavers stated they were coming back with reinforcements [[spoiler: one of the villagers sacrificed herself to spawn a group of [[ChestBurster Magog]] with her memories that could protect the rest.]]
* When Krane and his gang take over the town and hold all of the Dons hostage in the ''Series/QueenOfSwords'' episode "The Hanged Man", the Queen has to train the Dons' wives to fight back.
* ''Series/TheMusketeers'' has this in the episode "The Return", where Athos is dragged back to his lands by the tenant farmers, who want him to reclaim the title of Comte de la Fère to protect them from a baron who sees the land as abandoned. Instead of reclaiming his title, he gifts the land to the people and the Musketeers train them to fight so they can keep it.
* ''Series/TourOfDuty'': In "Paradise Lost", Bravo Company is saved from a group of VC by some Montagnards, who then bring the guys back to their village, home of a former Special Forces agent. Brigade determines that Bravo Company should train the villagers on weapons. The Special Forces agent opposes giving the tribe the weapons, as it will cause them to become a target. Brigade wants the Montagnards to cut off the VC trail running near the village.
* ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'': In "Sharpe's Peril", Sharpe and Harper do this.
* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Arondir stays behind and teaches the remaining refugees in Ostirith to fight and improvise weapons for the upcoming battle with the Orcs.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* This is in the backstory of Mortarion, Primarch of the Death Guard SpaceMarine legion in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''. He was adopted by one of the overlords of the planet he was found on, but later escaped into the valleys, where the air was breathable for normal humans, and trained them to resist the overlords (who used them as slaves and experimental subjects), forming the Death Guard (not originally Marines, but the legion took the name) to fight. The Salamanders' Primarch pulled off a similar trick, beating Eldar raiders around the head with his blacksmithing hammers.
** Also a tactic sometimes used by the Space Wolves, as described in the codex. An example has a squad of grey hunters being ordered to evacuate the main spaceport to allow orbital bombardment of it to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. The Space Wolves, in their rebellious natures, instead decided to stay and not evacuate the spaceport, to train the local populace until the enemy arrived so they could defend the spaceport instead of losing it forever.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'', mercenaries are often hired to do this.
* Frighteningly prevalent with experienced players in ''TableTopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''.
** The degree to which this can work varies by edition. As of 4E, you can arm everyone in town with reasonable gear and give them weeks of training, but they'll still have exactly one hit point and die from the indirect side effects of a single enemy's attacks. Third edition let them live long enough to buy the heroes time and/or provide flanking bonuses. Second edition would let them win almost any fight hands-down through mob rules for overbearing.
** Once used to [[http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59107 defend a village]] against a rampaging horde of kythons. This was not the worst thing in the campaign.
* Though perhaps more frightening when done in ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}''. [[TrainingFromHell Tiger Warrior Training]] can turn even the smallest peasant villager into a lethal combatant.
** Also, one of the secondary signature Zenith Caste Solars, Karal Fire Orchid, does this in her origin story.
** Infernals can't train them anywhere near as well ([[FaustianRebellion yet]]), but can provide the peaceful villagers with ''power-enhancing mutations'' to make them just as dangerous. If you really want an unholy terror, get a mixed Circle to use multiple Charms of this sort on the same group of villagers, then hold off the monsters with firebreathing, taloned {{Super Soldier}}s.
* Happens in one of the ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' Society modules taking place in the Asian-inspired continent. A village holding the lost heir to an artifact's power is annually attacked by bandits at harvest time. It is up to the [=PCs=] to train the villagers to defend themselves in the upcoming battle. It's a WholePlotReference to Film/SevenSamurai.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* A lot of strategy games start out this way, usually as the tutorial.
* You '''had''' to do this in ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance 2'' if you wanted to keep [[PresidentEvil Deidranna]] from re-taking any liberated towns. the unofficial v1.13 update makes them a ''lot'' more dangerous.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'', the titular creatures are nigh-extinct until Captain Olimar assembles them and exploits their sheer numbers and abilities. When he takes off, the Pikmin start fending for themselves. By the time the sequel came around, they are found to be, while not numerous, in much better shape than before, managing to survive on their own.
* In ''Roadwar 2000'', your gang can recruit the starving "Needy" people, who are hands down the most worthless of all the post-apocalypse city wanderers who can possibly join you... but with a good drill sergeant, you can promote these recruits into worthy gang members after only a few firefights or road battles to harden them.
* The Wild West chapter of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' mostly features The Sundown Kid (the hero) and his rival/partner Mad Dog searching the town for items to give to the peaceful townfolks to use as traps (ranging from stuff like dynamite, ropes, carrots, horse dung, and a naughty poster), in order to decimate the villain gang.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonBallOnline'', the Z-Fighters managed to do this for humanity in TheUnmasquedWorld. After Gohan wrote a book reintroducing KiManipulation to the general public, Trunks and Goten started a swordsmanship school. As a result, when the Frieza Force performs a full-scale AlienInvasion of Earth 40 years after the events of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' humanity is able to defend itself [[HumansAreMorons for once]].
* In ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', you can help the population of Big Town defend themselves from Super Mutants with guns, robots, mines, or even just hiding inside depending on what skills you have. However, you may find it more amusing to leave them to die.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'':
** Deconstructed in the DLC ''Honest Hearts'', where the player must choose to help a pacifist tribe called the Sorrows, either by teaching them to fight back or help them escape and settle elsewhere. Daniel, the Mormon missionary who advocates resettlement, worries that training them will lead to the loss of the Sorrows' innocence and [[WhatTheHellHero calls you out if you choose to do so]]. If you help them by fighting, the epilogue reveals they end up becoming aggressive {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s that start waging wars with other tribes. The other option is not better, however, since the Sorrows lose their homeland with it and the epilogue shows that Daniel himself felt doubtful if it really was the right choice.
** It's also played straight in the early quest "Ghost Town Gunfight" where you form an impromptu militia of Goodsprings townsfolk to fight Joe Cobb and his small group of Powdergangers. The best thing you can do is get Trudy to round up the townsfolk, get dynamite from Easy Pete, armour from Chet, and meds from Doc Mitchell. This allows the town to beat the gang. If you take the opposing quest they'll still put up a spirited fight, but the chips fall against them this time.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'', you're expected to build defenses for your settlements and arm your settlers in order to protect them against raids by Raiders, Super Mutants, Gunners, [[CrapsackWorld and whatever else the Wasteland decides to throw at you]]. The ironic thing is that the player ([[GladiatorGames and arena fights]] in the Wasteland Workshop DLC) is the only thing in the game that can kill settlers.
* In ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'', villages may ask you to help teach them how to fight better to fend off bandit attacks. You had to drill them, beat up several of the recruits, and then fight off an attack after completion. Their relation with you improves as a result.
** The opinion of their respective lords, however, worsens.
* The entire point of ''VideoGame/BattleRealms''. Unlike most other RealTimeStrategy games, you can not actually purchase new units (aside from Heroes). Instead, you train the worker units (aka Peasants) into different schools to get the units you want. Training them again in one of the remaining schools mixes their education and makes them into different units; and so on.
* The village of Redcliffe in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' is besieged by TheUndead. You can choose to help the villagers defend themselves by convincing their drunk-off-his-ass blacksmith to supply them with new armor and weapons, persuade/coerce the somewhat shady dwarven warrior Dwyn and his thugs to fight, offer an Elvish archer spying on Redcliffe for Loghain mercy in exchange for his help, convince Lloyd the bartender through threat or persuasion to offer the militia free ale and/or make him fight too, find oil that can be used to set a trap at the village entrance, and provide the Knights of Redcliffe with amulets from the local Chantry that help boost their morale. Of course even with all of this, they still won't stand a chance without you and your party fighting alongside them. If you don't want to go to all of this trouble, [[VideogameCrueltyPotential you can also just leave them to the hungry zombie horde]].
* You can help the settlement on Dantooine in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' fight off a group of mercenaries by recruiting new blood for the militia, repairing their droids and turrets, shoring up the defenses with mines, and giving a RousingSpeech. And, if you've got the Restored Content, take part in an epic siege battle... or you could sell out to the mercenaries, sabotage the defenses, and get paid a lot more.
* Human players in ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'' can convert their peasants into militia in an emergency. They turn back into normal peasants after a while, though.
* If Shepard has the 'War Hero' background in ''Franchise/MassEffect'', s/he (at 22 years old) rallied the civilian colonists of Elysium against a slaver attack. When the defenses fell, Shepard single-handedly held a position for several hours until reinforcements arrived.
* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}} Scribblenauts Unlimited]]'', the Starite quest in Abjad Dunes requires you to train and fortify a small desert village to protect against invading DesertBandits.
* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'', there's a quest where you help build weapons and train villagers to fight the Forged. "Help X train" is a pretty common quest format in the game, although usually you're helping out other armed groups.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In Webcomic/KarateBears [[http://www.karatebears.com/2011/03/open-classes.html this is a common theme]]
* {{Subverted}} in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance''. Torg is trapped in a MirrorUniverse that is [[PlanetOfHats the very epitome of niceness and pacifism]], under attack from demonic hordes. He runs through a TrainingThePeacefulVillagers montage to teach them how to fight back. In their first and only battle, the one soldier smashes a demon's toe before running away in remorse, and TheMedic actually heals the ''enemy's'' wounds.
-->Mirror!Gwynn: If we must resort to brutality and violence to survive, then we have already lost!
-->Torg: Then go. Be lost.
* Also subverted in ''Webcomic/TalesOfTheQuestor'' where the town of Freedom Downs has a Farmer's Militia for self-defense and if Quentyn is any indication, [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00275.html the standard training]] he got long before he decided on his calling was damn good stuff.
** Alluded to earlier when Gilder wants to thrash Quentyn for his choice, but the village Man-At-Arms [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00031.html flatly says that Quentyn would have handed Gilder his ass.]]
* Played straight in ''Webcomic/NoNeedForBushido'' when the four-man band of protagonists attempts to avert a war. It's worked thus far.
* Played with in ''Webcomic/{{Starslip}}''. When a peaceful, telepathic race is exposed to galactic conflict for the first time:
-->It's amazing how fast a completely peaceful civilization can whip up a couple million shotguns.
* Subverted in ''Webcomic/LadySpectraAndSparky'' when Lady Spectra convinces a not-so-peaceful village to wage their revolution with non-lethal weapons.
* ''Webcomic/PlanetOfHats'' episode "[[http://www.mezzacotta.net/planetofhats/episodes/0026.html Errand of Mercy]]" presents Kirk and Spock's mission to protect the peaceful Organians from the ravages of the Klingons, and makes specific references to all three of ''Film/SevenSamurai'', ''[[Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960 The Magnificent Seven]]'', and ''Film/BattleBeyondTheStars''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' did this with a planet of "peaceful space turtles".
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' had Jack teaching a group of peaceful monkey-men (and their human friend) to defend themselves from a thieving, bullying rival tribe, in exchange for their giving him some [[TrainingFromHell training]] to enhance his [[InASingleBound jumping abilities]].
-->Jump good!
* Done in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforceGo''.
* ''WesternAnimation/BountyHamster''. Parodied in "The Good, the Bad, and the Adorable", most notably in the scene where the cute alien villagers decide that the best solution is to steal their saviour's spaceship and run away en masse.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Centaurworld}}'''s first season ends with [[spoiler:Horse deciding to stay in Centaurworld in order to help prepare the peaceful centaurs for the coming war with the Nowhere King's army.]]
* The first episode created for ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' (chronologically the fifth episode) has this as a premise, the heroes trying to teach a peaceful society of blob-people to stand up against the bull-creatures who are stealing from them.
* A hilarious example in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Birdbot of Ice-Catraz", in which Bender teaches the rapidly-multiplying penguins how to defend themselves against humans, [[SubvertedTrope only to have the flock be hilariously devoured by an orca in one gulp]]... On Pluto. The trope is played with at the ending, in which a pair of penguins pick rifles, and glare menacingly.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MaoMaoHeroesOfPureHeart'', Mao Mao hears word that his old partner Bao Bao is coming to Pure Heart Valley and decides to arm the local Sweetiepies with cheap spears, regardless of their fighting ability (or lack thereof) or number of fingers (or lack thereof).
-->'''Mao Mao:''' You pick up that spear, Kevin! Grab it...GRAB IT...!!
* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka, along with four bounty hunters, teach the farmers of a small village to fight pirates and protect their homes.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats 2011}}'' episode "Berbils" has Panthro and the Cats' teach Ro-Bear Bill and the cute and cuddly Ro-Bear Berbils how to defend themselves from those who would use them as slaves.
* Creator/{{Filmation}} liked this trope, using it in episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Bravestarr}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower.'' Although in both cases, it was more a matter of getting the villagers to work up the courage to defend themselves than actually training them.
* Tragically {{subverted|trope}} in a {{flashback}} episode of ''Westernanimation/{{Phantom 2040}}'': at the end of the Resource Wars, the still-human Graft is drafted by [[{{megacorp}} Maximum Inc]] to clear out native villagers from the Amazon so that Maximum can strip the resources. Graft defies his employer and trains the villagers to fight back... but they still get massacred, and Graft is turned into a {{cyborg}}.
* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeRenegades'': In the fourth episode the Dreadnoks debut by taking over a peaceful town. The Joes show up and work with the bullied citizens and two emergency service workers to train them to fight back against the biker gang.
* ''WesternAnimation/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeasts'': In "[[Recap/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeastsS1E08TwinBeaks Twin Beaks]]", the gang encounters a community of raccoons living in resigned fear of a giant predatory bird and teaches them that they can fight back against it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* TruthInTelevision, to an extent. Certain special forces groups worldwide, including the British SAS and the US Army's Green Berets, are sometimes tasked with raising up rag-tag revolutionary armies to bring down governments perceived as exploitative or antagonistic. The peacefulness of the villagers in question, however, varies wildly.
** Afghanistan is the key example most folks will use. The villagers were never peaceful, but their pre-1900 rifles didn't do squat to attack helicopters. US trainers and assistance came in and gave them Stinger missiles, and not long after the Soviets learned how America felt in Vietnam.
*** The Taliban then used this against the Coalition forces during UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror. Although in this case, "training" consisted of giving local farmers a wad of money and a cell phone and telling them to call the only phone number in the directory when a Coalition convoy passed by the nearby road. And that's how you got the many, ''many'' ISAF deaths.
** Ironically, this happened in Vietnam too. There was a group of tribes collectively known as the Montagnards, who were routinely harassed by the North ''and'' South Vietnamese. US Special Forces provided them with training and some supplies and tools, and in return, they ended up proving to be very resourceful allies on the battlefield, who provided American forces with LOTS of helpful information. Too bad we didn't use that knowledge to make our lives easier in the past two decades' conflicts.
** America itself only had a small standing army between 1865 and 1916, and especially between 1920 and 1940. Even in the latter case, the ability to raise an army as quickly as they did surprised a lot of other countries' leadership, on both sides.
*** Of course there is the example of the Prussian officer Baron von Steuben who, during the Revolutionary War, taught the ill-trained American Continental Army how to fight as well as the British.
* The Semai people had no violence, or even any ''words'' for violence. When they were taught to fight when the area became a war zone, they surprised their "teachers" by becoming frenzied and intoxicated with the bloodshed, since they didn't fully understand the effects of their actions. Fortunately, they are still extant and returned to their non-violent ways following the conflict ending.
* A key job of the British Special Operations Executive and the American Office of Strategic Services during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII was to organise and train operatives to go behind enemy lines and train / supply resistance groups. Given the nature of the job, it was often a one-way journey.
** This was also done by the Soviets whose partisans were often quite effective against the German Army. In this case, however, they were usually Soviet citizens but not necessarily ethnic Russians.
** This came back to bite Stalin in the bum, as many of the partisans trained and recruited in the Ukraine saw no reason to stop fighting after the Russians reconquered the Ukraine from Germany. Anti-Russian and anti-communist partisans carried on sporadically fighting until well into the 1950s, the goal being a genuinely free Ukrainian state. This latent anti-Russian feeling may well become active again in today's little difficulties in that region.
** The downside to this is well illustrated in the aftermath of the war. Those same resistance groups that were so effective against the Axis powers were just as effective against colonial powers. Among the numerous groups helped was a group of resistance fighters in French Indo-China led by [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Ho Chi Minh.]]
[[/folder]]

** Attempted in the first-season episode "The Nox," as SG-1 attempted to warn the pacifist SpaceElves the Nox about the invading Goa'uld. It turned out the Nox were a PerfectPacifistPeople who already had such advanced defenses (including invisibility, healing powers, and ''raising the dead'') that the Goa'uld posed no threat to them at all.

See also TheMagnificentSevenSamurai, TheParagon, PerfectPacifistPeople, HomeGuard, InstantMilitia, or HoldingOutForAHero. The village is often a DoomedHometown that fights back. Compare DefiantStoneThrow. Contrast OneManArmy, where this sort of thing is not necessary.

* In ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'', Ash is inexplicably seen teaching the medieval villagers, including their soldiers, on how to use a halberd.

* Done in a silly manner in the movie ''Film/ThreeAmigos''. The villagers couldn't do much except dig and sew, which was a problem since the heroes couldn't do much except pretend to be cowboys in silent movies. But with a plan cobbled together from the big finales of their various movies, a RousingSpeech that got a bit lost in the middle, and a lot of digging and sewing by the villagers, the day is saved.

* The Rabbitmen in ''LightNovel/ArifuretaFromCommonplaceToWorldsStrongest'' are so averse to violence that every other tribe of demi-humans considers them absolute cowards. They're ''not'' cowards, [[ActualPacifist they just don't like fighting]]​. (If they were cowards, they would have just surrendered [[spoiler:Shea]].) When Hajime decides to train them, they take to it with a literal vengeance. Turns out "be very fast, be very quiet" are traits useful to both shy prey animals and[[spoiler: assassins.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', you can help the population of Big Town defend themselves from Super Mutants with guns, robots, mines, or even just hiding inside depending on what skills you have. However, you may find it more amusing to leave them to die.

* You can help the settlement on Dantooine in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic 2'' fight off a group of mercenaries by recruiting new blood for the militia, repairing their droids and turrets, shoring up the defenses with mines, and giving a RousingSpeech. And, if you've got the Restored Content, take part in an epic siege battle... or you could sell out to the mercenaries, sabotage the defenses, and get paid a lot more.

* The ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "Marauders" has the Enterprise crew do this with a mining colony that was being raided by a group of Klingons.

** Darkly and surprisingly often--another, even earlier story had women being kidnapped by an airship. Groo "trains" the villagers (with the usual complaints of the attack having been less painful and going into battle being safer than Groo's training). Turns out that the women were being held in a... basically a resort... and had no intention of leaving, and that they rather resented being "rescued". A later story involved bandits riding giant birds, and while Groo's "training" more or less worked, his help, as usual, backfired spectacularly.

* ''ComicBook/BlazeOfGlory'': ComicBook/KidColt suggests this in Issue #3, but he draws the line at teaching [[ComicBook/{{Gunhawks}} Reno's]] son Cass how to fight, because he won't let him go down the same path as he did.

* The Taiwanese film, ''Film/BeachOfTheWarGods'' tells the story of a village being ravaged by Japanese pirates on a regular basis, until a heroic warrior and drifter bands together six other warriors to help battle the pirates.

* The whole premise in ''Film/{{Defiance}}'', which is about a group of Jewish refugees. As they have gathered more people, they begin training able-bodied people (including women) to fight for survival with weapons taken from the hands of dead Nazis.

** To give an actual trope example: in "Mariel of Redwall," a group of sea rats are besieging Redwall Abbey, as they do. The searats have just hit on a strategy to get inside that may actually work -- fling balls of burning pitch over the walls to burn them out -- when a Long Patrol of three hares from Salamandastron arrive, and teach the Redwallers the construction and use of longbows.

* Subverted in ''[[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire The Sworn Sword]]''. Much time is spent by Dunk, Egg and Ser Bennis in training the villagers in use of arms for a proposed battle against the Webbers of Coldmoat despite many of them never holding a sword in their life. In a thorough deconstruction of the trope, Dunk decides that these villagers will get butchered since the time window is too short to be trained properly and he decides to resolve the conflict himself before it spills into bloodshed.

* In the alternate history novel ''Literature/TheYearsOfRiceAndSalt'', a [[{{Ronin}} samurai from Chinese-conquered Japan]] makes his home among a native American tribe. He teaches them the arts of warfare and modern agriculture and industry so that they will be able to withstand the advances of the Chinese colonisers on the West Coast (and the Islamic colonisers on the East Coast). Centuries later, the various native American tribes had formed the Hodenosaunee League, which survives as a major world power.

** It's more successful than anyone expected, and becomes necessary for survival after [[spoiler: Harry dies]].

** "And Seven Times Never Kill Man." The fanatical [[HumanityIsSuperior Steel Angels]] create a colony on the world of Corlos, and begin systematically wiping out the native, simian jaenshi whenever they feel the need to expand their territory. The overweight, amiable, and formerly pacifistic trader Arik neKrol takes it upon himself to organize a jaenshi resistance. [[spoiler: The story subverts the trope. Very few of the jaenshi gravitate to his plan, all are half-wild survivors of previous Steel Angel attacks on villages who did not join other existing clans, only one of the group has any kind of discipline, and Arik is killed in their first and only skirmish. But then it's double-subverted, because it turns out that the jaenshi didn't really need an armed resistance at all. They apparently concoct a ruse (the how of which is deliberately left vague) using the mysterious pyramids their villages are based around, that plays on the Steel Angel's fanatical religious beliefs. The only thing Arik's resistance ends up accomplishing is killing the one Steel Angel officer that suspected the jaenshi were somehow deceiving them.]]

* Literature: The Bulgarian novel ''Literature/UnderTheYoke'' has the rebels train their own people in the villages surrounding the town of Byala Cherkva. In the movie adaptation, the villagers are so inept that when training them to march, the rebels have to replace "left" and "right" with the names of two villages lying in the respective directions.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'' tries to do this with a planet about to be invaded by the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Ori]]. They only have time for a quick crash-course in using [=P90s=], which does not include reloading. As soon as ammo runs out, the villagers surrender.

** The degree to which this can work varies by edition. As of 4E, you can arm everyone in town with reasonable gear and give them weeks of training, but they'll still have exactly one hit point and die from the indirect side-effects of a single enemy's attacks. Third edition let them live long enough to buy the heroes time and/or provide flanking bonuses. Second edition would let them win almost any fight hands-down through mob rules for overbearing.

** It's also played straight in the early quest "Ghost Town Gunfight" where you form a impromptu militia of Goodsprings townsfolk to fight Joe Cobb and his small group of Powdergangers. The best thing you can do is get Trudy to round up the townsfolk, get dynamite from Easy Pete, armour from Chet, and meds from Doc Mitchell. This allows the town to beat the gang. If you take the opposing quest they'll still put up a spirited fight, but the chips fall against them this time.

* In ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'', villages may ask you to help teach them how to fight better to fend off bandit attacks. You had to drill them, beat up several of the recruits and then fight off an attack after completion. Their relation with you improves as a result.

* Human players in ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'' can convert their peasants into milita in an emergency. They turn back into normal peasants after a while, though.

* Also subverted in ''Webcomic/TalesOfTheQuestor'' where the town of Freedom Downs has a Farmer's Militia for self defense and if Quentyn is any indication, [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00275.html the standard training]] he got long before he decided on his calling was damn good stuff.

* Played straight in ''Webcomic/NoNeedForBushido'' when the four man band of protagonists attempts to avert a war. It's worked thus far.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', Obi Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka, along with four bounty hunters, teach the farmers of a small village to fight pirates and protect their homes.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats 2011}}'' episode "Berbils" has Panthro and the Cats' teach Ro-Bear Bill and the cute and cuddly Ro-Bear Berbils how to defend themselves form those who would use them as slaves.

** Ironically, this happened in Vietnam too. There was a group of tribes collectively known as the Montagnards, who were routinely harassed by the North ''and'' South Vietnamese. US Special Forces provided them with training and some supplies and tools, and in return they ended up proving to be very resourceful allies on the battlefield, who provided American forces with LOTS of helpful information. Too bad we didn't use that knowledge to make our lives easier in the past two decades' conflicts.

*** Of course there is the example of the Prussian officer Baron von Steuben who, during the Revolutionary War, taught the ill-trained American Contintental Army how to fight as well as the British.
* The Semai people had no violence, or even any ''words'' for violence. When they were taught to fight when the area became a war zone, they surprised their "teachers" by becoming frenzied and intoxicated with the bloodshed, since they didn't fully understand the effects of their actions. Fortunately, they are still extant, and returned to their non-violent ways following the conflict ending.

** This was also done by the Soviets whose partisans were often quite effective against the German Army. In this case however they were usually Soviet citizens but not necessarily ethnic Russians.
** This came back to bite Stalin in the bum, as many of the partisans trained and recruited in the Ukraine saw no reason to stop fighting after the Russians reconquered the Ukraine from Germany. Anti-Russian and anti-communist partisans carried on sporadically fighting until well into the 1950's, the goal being a genuinely free Ukrainian state. This latent anti-Russian feeling may well become active again in today's little difficulties in that region.

* The western chapter of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' mostly features Sundown Kid (the hero) and his rival/partner Mad Dog searching the town for items to give to the peaceful townfolks to use as traps (ranging from dynamite and ropes, to horse droppings, a pachinko machine, and a naughty poster), in order to decimate the villain gang.

* The western chapter of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' mostly features Sunset (the hero) and his rival/partner Maddog searching the town for items to give to the peaceful townfolks to use as traps (ranging from dynamite and ropes, to horse droppings, a pachinko machine, and a naughty poster), in order to decimate the villain gang.

* ''Literature/BlackVeinProphecy'' ends with the AmnesiacHero realizing his true heritage as a prince destined to stop a tyrant, as he leads an army comprising of conscripted villagers and HomeGuard units which he had trained alongside his partner, the LaResistance leader Merzei, in order to battle his evil, ruthless brother.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* The first ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon did this with a planet of "peaceful space turtles".

* In the 10th book of ''Literature/RangersApprentice'' series, Horace and Will do this with Kikori peasants. The results are shockingly effective.

** Deconstructed in the DLC ''Honest Hearts'', where the player must choose to help a pacifist tribe called the Sorrows, either by teaching them to fight back or help them escape and settle elsewhere. Daniel, the Mormon missionary who advocates resettlement, worries that training them will lead to the loss of the Sorrows' innocence and [[WhatTheHellHero calls you out if you choose to do so]]. If you help them by fighting, the epilogue reveals they end up becoming aggressive {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s that start waging wars with other tribes.

** Briefly mentioned during the Crew separation arc, where Brook tried to train the villagers who thought he was the devil (long story) into fighting back against the people who kidnapped some of their women. [[RealityEnsues It didn't work, since even with training, they had no real experience whatsoever, and Brook ended up fighting the kidnappers by himself.]]

* Kelsier does this in the first book of Brandon Sanderson's ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' trilogy.

* {{Subverted}} in ''Film/IpMan'', where our hero trains the workers at Quan's factory in Wing Chun to help them resist a group of bandits, only for the bandits to prevail anyway until Ip Man pulls a BigDamnHeroes moment. The main thing the workers accomplish is to keep various small groups of bandits busy long enough for Ip Man to show up and deal with them one at a time rather than forcing Ip Man to fight all of them at once.

* ''ComicBook/BlazeOfGlory'': ComicBook/KidColt suggests this in Issue #3, but he draws the line at teaching [[ComicBook/Gunhawks Reno's]] son Cass how to fight, because he won't let him go down the same path as he did.

[[folder:Comicbooks]]

* Done in ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves'', by Robin and Azeem.