Home by Christmas: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
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== [[Literature]] ==
* In the [[Discworld]] book ''[[Discworld/Jingo|Jingo]]'', the [[Upper Class Twit
** Later in the book, one character bemoans that "We were going to sail into Klatch and be in Al-Khali by teatime, drinking sherbet with pliant young women in the Rhoxi," mirroring the confident statements of some WWII soldiers that "We'll be drinking coffee in Berlin by teatime."
* In ''[[Honor Harrington|The Short Victorious War]]'', The People's Republic of Haven leaders decide to resort to war against Manticore. A short, victorious war, they believe, will both distract the proles from their current economic problems and allow them to use the riches of the Manticore system to prop up their welfare state. Needless to say, the war is a disaster for Haven and ends up lasting for almost 20 years.
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* In the story "Heart of the Lion" from ''[[The Wulf Archives]]'', the White Empire attempts to conquer the Veldt Lands in order to enslave the natives. This "quick campaign," led by an arrogant [[Upper Class Twit]] by the name of Lord Heatham, fails
== [[Real Life]] ==
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* In 1903, on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War, V.K. Plehve, Russian Minister of the Interior, said: 'What this country needs is a short, victorious war to stem the tide of [[Red October|revolution]].' The war was neither short nor victorious for the Russians, and the revolution came fourteen years later.
* The start of [[World War One]] is probably the most [[Egregious]] example. All sides were confident that their soldiers would come home victoriously within months - as we all know, nothing of the kind happened, and the war lasted four ''years''.
** Later on in [[World War One]], the Germans tried to force a breakthrough at Verdun. Their [[A Simple Plan|plan]] was to shell the French trenches empty (of ''live'' Frenchmen, that is), then rush in before the French could bring reinforcements to the scene. German troops were unpleasantly surprised when they found that a handful of French soldiers had survived the bombardment and [[Last Stand|fought back bitterly]], holding out long enough for French reinforcements to arrive. The result was a long battle which came to be
* At the beginning of the [[Finns With Fearsome Forests|Winter War]], Stalin was expecting Finland to surrender in a couple of weeks - after all, it was a small backwoods country up against a world power - but the war went on for three and a half months and ended in a stalemate.
* Subverted in the early stages of [[World War II]], in that Germany really ''did'' conquer much of Europe without much effort. Even the USSR suffered blow after blow at first; what saved them was just how large the nation is. The ''Wehrmacht'' simply couldn't reach Moscow before the winter kicked in, and Russia still had two thirds of the country to retreat to.
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