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Genghis Gambit: Difference between revisions
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However, it's said that [[Enemy Mine|the enemy of my enemy is my friend]]. Hence, it follows that if you want to unite people, you must create a common enemy for them to oppose.
This is not for every incidence of enemy factions teaming up against a common threat -- that's [[Enemy Mine]]. This is for cases in which a character deliberately creates a common threat for the warring factions to unite against. A [[False
The threat itself is often a [[Sword of Damocles]].
Can be a Sub-trope of [[Zero
{{examples}}
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* [[Ursula K Le Guin|Ursula K. LeGuin's]] ''The Lathe of Heaven'' uses the threat of aliens to unite the nations of Earth.
* ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'': Global power blocs Eastasia, Eurasia, and Oceania are locked in constant war. The alliances between the three change so that one state can never become too powerful and dominate the others. This is an understanding between the three powers that's been ongoing for decades. The real objective is to provide a focus for their own citizens' hate and [[Patriotic Fervor]] -- to unify them, and control them.
* In [[Ben Counter]]'s ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' [[Grey Knights (Literature)|Grey Knights]] novel ''The Hammer of Daemons'', Alaric sets up a [[False
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** Not quite -- Revan's plan was actually to {{spoiler|conquer the Republic by attacking key points, while leaving the infrastructure intact and recruiting his (or her) strongest enemies. Thus, a galaxy united under Revan's rule would be more than equipped to turn to face the external threat. Malak, of course, royally screwed the pooch by spoiling the plan and engaging in much more random destruction.}}
*** The Old Republic and associated media make Revan's plans even more labyrinthine, in terms of motivations. {{spoiler|Initially, Revan and Malak are sent back to the Republic as a vanguard force for the exiled Sith Empire. At first, they do their job dutifully until they decide, as Sith often do, to rule for themselves. Thus, the initial assumptions that Revan's tactics were altruistically meant to prepare to Republic against the Sith Empire are actually a not quite correct. They were meant to properly prepare his own Empire against his master's. Malak tossing a [[Spanner in The Works]] ironically becomes the one thing which redeems Revan and, arguably, saves the Republic.}}
* ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation|Super Robot Wars: Original Generations]]'': This is Bian Zoldark's hidden motivation (and the game that inspired the story arc, ''[[Super Robot Wars 2]]''). He organizes the Divine Crusaders in a bid to conquer the world, figuring that either he will unite the world's powers against an alien threat -- or the world's powers will unite against ''him'', either way being better prepared for the invasion to come.<br /><br />He uses a double-layered version of this trope. He's able to create the Divine Crusaders in the first place thanks to a [[False
* ''[[Wild Arms 2 (Video Game)|Wild Arms 2]]'': {{spoiler|Irving Vold Valeria}} finances the terrorist group Odessa specifically so {{spoiler|1=he would have an excuse to make ARMs an international strike force to better combat a different threat later on. It should probably be noted that he was also willing [[Xanatos Gambit|to use Odessa for this if]] ''[[Xanatos Gambit|they]]'' [[Xanatos Gambit|won]].}}
* ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics a 2]]'' provided a very unintentional version of a Genghis Gambit. One particularly rich individual wanted to start a construction project in the Rupie Mountains and sent various hired hands like House Bowen to evict those clans who refused to step aside. One of the big attractions in the Rupie Mountains is the heated rivalry between the Bangaa Brotherhood and the Nu Mou Nobles. Guess what this individual, via House Bowen, wound up ending thanks to intervention by Clan Gully?
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* One theory is that the entire [[Arab Israeli Conflict]] is, at least in part, the result of Egyptian President Gamal Nassar trying to do this to the entire Arab World. He hoped that by painting the newly formed State of Israel as a common enemy of all Arabs, he would be able to unite the different regional, political, and religious factions under one banner. Unfourtnately for Nassar, the plan failed, and the situation has since taken on a life of its own.<br /><br />One of the reasons for the original Arab invasion of Israel in 48' (which the Israelis refer to as the second stage of their war of independence) is that the various Arab leaders of the area feared their unpopular regimes would soon face coups, and this was their way of avoiding it. The problem is, the Israelis won, and all of the invading Arab leaders had their governments toppled anyway just a few short years later.
* Of course, Muhammad essentially executed the trope in an [[Older Than Feudalism]] example by converting the constantly-infighting Arab tribes to Islam, which divided the globe into a "House of Islam" and a "House of War"... as in, "we should go be in charge of that to make it House of Islam". They subsequently exploded out of the Middle East, across northern Africa, and even conquered modern-day Spain. They probably only slowed down because they ran out of people who could stay behind and be in charge.
* [[Romania|Romanian]] ruler [
* [[Pakistan]], with its aid-dependent economy, failing civil infrastructure, religious persecution, and subnationalist movements in every province, generally uses a mild version of this trope. It focuses all the people's attention and hatred on Kashmir and India, respectively, always stopping just short of outright war.
* This was Hideyoshi Toyotomi's strategy in the 1590s to unite the feuding warlords of Japan: invade Korea and China and let them deal with their carnal fury. They didn't make it past Korea.
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[[Category:The Plan]]
[[Category:Genghis Gambit]]
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