Cavalry Refusal: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|''In 1936 it was clear to everyone that if Britain would only help the Spanish Government, even to the extent of a few million pounds' worth of arms, Franco would collapse and German strategy would be severely dislocated... Yet in the most mean, cowardly, hypocritical way the British ruling class did everything they could to hand Spain over to Franco and the Nazis.'' |'''[[George Orwell]]''', ''Looking Back on the [[Spanish Civil War|Spanish War]]'' }}

Our heroes are in trouble. They're being completely slaughtered by the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Mooks|forces]], who are obviously too strong for them... but wait! There is a large regiment of [[The Cavalry|cavalry]] in the area. Let's just [[Gondor Calls for Aid|call in]] these guys and the Big Bad will be easily defeated.

{{examples}}

* In ''[[Last Exile]]'', the Guild (an organisation supposed to enforce [[The Laws and Customs of War]]) does nothing to help an army which is being attacked with "forbidden" tactics, because they favour the offending army.

* It's hard to keep count of the times the [[United Nations]] have refused the Cavalry call, due to the decision-making process which allows several powerful nations, whose interests are often diametrically opposed, a veto.

* The [[United Nations]]' predecessor, the League of Nations, wasn't exactly eager Cavalry, either - they stood and watched while the Japanese invaded (Chinese) Manchuria, the Italians brutally conquered Abyssinia and a handful of Spanish generals staged a coup against their government which led to the [[Spanish Civil War]].

* In ''[[Zulu]]'', a force of actual cavalry arrives upon the scene where the heroes are making a [[Last Stand]]... and promptly flees. This happened in [[Real Life]], too, but in reality, the cavalry were much more [[Justified Trope|justified]] in their flight than depicted in the film.

* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'''s first order of business after [[Our Angels Are Different|inventing a cavalry]] was [[Jerkass|inventing reasons]] [[Lawful Stupid|for that cavalry not to help]]. The angels as a faction are stuck in a revolving door between this and [[Cavalry Betrayal]]. Refusal to answer the call happens regularly, but here are some notable examples:

** Castiel turns down Dean's pleas in Season 4's [[Meta Fiction|The Monster at the End of this Book]], although he does [[Could Say It, But...|offer]] [[Let's You and Him Fight|a creative solution]].

** [[Trickster Archetype|The Trickster]] refuses to help the Winchesters when they come calling on the eve of Armageddon. [[Changed My Mind, Kid|It doesn't take]].

* In the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOEGudEoSW4 introduction video] to ''[[Starcraft]]: Brood War'', a Terran colony finds itself the target of a literal [[Zerg Rush]]; a Terran warship shows up overhead, but promptly leaves again without doing anything for the besieged Terrans on the ground.

* Shepard can pull this on {{spoiler|the Citadel Council}} at the end of ''[[Mass Effect]]''.

* Britain and France in the [[Spanish Civil War]] (see the page quote). Eager to appease [[Nazi Germany]] and prevent (or rather, forestall) [[World War II]], they took this trope [[Up to Eleven]] by enforcing an ''arms embargo'' against the Republicans, on whose side they were supposed to be.

* Poland was on the wrong end of an indirect cavalry refusal where Allied air raids were prevented by Russia's refusal to let the planes refuel in their territory.