The TVTropes Trope Finder is where you can come to ask questions like "Do we have this one?" and "What's the trope about...?" Trying to rediscover a long lost show or other medium but need a little help? Head to Media Finder and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at You Know, That Thing Where.
gropcbf
Since: Sep, 2017
29th Oct, 2019 07:27:51 AM
It sounds a bit like a Proxy War.
phalanx
Since: Jun, 2012
29th Oct, 2019 08:35:45 AM
I agree, but a Proxy War by definition doesn't directly involve the larger powers who are backing the proxies.
phalanx
Since: Jun, 2012
4tell0life4
Since: Mar, 2018
31st Oct, 2019 03:36:24 PM
Can this count "Jerry teaming up with Spike to beat Tom"?
We can never truly eradicate the coronavirus, but we can suppress its threat like influenza
Long ago, the Kingdom of Alicia conquered and occupied the territory of the Bobites. The Bobites resent their overlords, but the Alicians have more people and resources, so they cannot hope to win a war against them. Flash forward to the present day, and the Charlian Empire declares war against Alicia with the intent to conquer it. The Charlians make a deal with the Bobites where the Charlians provide them with arms, armour, and the promise of autonomy from/revenge against the Alicians, and in exchange the Bobites rise up in revolt in support of the Charlians. (They may go as far as a Full-Circle Revolution, establishing a Puppet State of Bobites ruling over Alicians - A tenuous state of affairs due to the population difference, which can only be maintained via a continuous influx of Charlian resources.)
Despite what you'd expect, this is generally a tactic of The Empire and other "bad guy" factions - perhaps because the good guys are more likely to view "freeing the oppressed" as an obligation rather than as a bargaining chip they can use to gain an advantage.
Examples:
- Saruman and the Dunlendings in Lord of the Rings.
- The Lannisters and the Boltons in Game of Thrones. (Also implied to be the standard method by which the Blackfyres gained support in the backstory - The Reynes, Peakes, and Yronwoods all joined up to get back at their ancient overlords.)
- The Reapers and the Geth in Mass Effect 3. (The "Heretic Geth" from the first game wouldn't count.)
- A common strategy in the videogame Europa Universalis 4, (and other Paradox games, to a lesser extent.) referred to as "vassal feeding". You might not have any sort of rightful claim to your enemy's territory, but if you can create a Puppet State that does...
- IRL, I vaguely recall this was a common tactic employed by the Roman Empire and European colonial powers, although I can't name any specific examples off the top of my head.
The closest tropes I can think of are Let's You and Him Fight and Fighting for a Homeland. Unlike the former, however, the instigator of the fight is simultaneously fighting against one of the two fighters, and unlike the latter the Bobites have a homeland, just an occupied one, and they're allies in a war against their oppressors rather than mercenaries fighting in an unrelated conflict in exchange for a territorial concession.