War for Fun and Profit: Difference between revisions

[[War Is Hell]] for many, and some would rather it didn't happen. They say it's unnecessary, or they wish it wasn't necessary. In fiction, however, some [[Villain|Villains]] not only like war, they frequently like to start wars for their own ends. Their motives may vary. They may set out to profit from the situation, or be trying to [[Take Over the World]]. They may be terrorists, or just [[Card-Carrying Villain|Card Carrying Villains]].

 

 

It's sometimes implied in narrative examples of this trope that [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|corporations]] would somehow profit from this war, often mentioning arms manufacturers, but this [[Did Not Do the Research|ignores]] the large amount of other companies that would only lose money in the economic recessions that inevitably accompany wars, especially their aftermaths. Then again, the corporations that incite these wars are probably not interested in what happens to other companies anyway (or in really cartelized corporate oligarchies, might actually subvert these "enemies"). It also starts the argument that only in times of (relative) peace do people ''buy'' weapons - once the war starts, weapons and relevant industries tend to be confiscated. Countered by the argument that peace tends to make arms markets flat - [[Cold War|a long-standing threat of war]] (real or [[Enforced Cold War|artificial]]) can be ''damned'' profitable for arms manufacturers... Let's just be [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|real careful]] what gets put in the [[Real Life]] section, okay?

** It seems that in the new films this is the modus operandi of {{spoiler|Quantum.}} In ''[[Casino Royale (Film)|Casino Royale]]'' {{spoiler|Le Chiffre plans to blow up a new airliner to make money as he's sold their shares short. When Bond stops the plan, Le Chiffre loses a great deal of money that belongs to other people and has to run the poker game to try and get it back}}. In ''[[Quantum of Solace (Film)|Quantum of Solace]]'' {{spoiler|Dominic Greene helps General Medrano overthrow the Bolivian government in exchange for a seemingly useless piece of desert which unknown to Medrano allows Greene to completely control Bolivia's entire water supply and charge exorbitant rates.}}

* ''[[Lord of War]]''

* In the ''[[Star Wars]]'' prequel trilogy, the Trade Federation's blockade/invasion of Naboo, the Separatist Crisis, and the Clone Wars were all orchestrated by Palpatine in his plot to become Emperor.

* In ''[[Canadian Bacon]]'', facing the prospect of economic recession from closing arms factories and low popularity among working people, the president of the US and a major arms dealer try to restart the [[Cold War]]. Since Russia isn't interested (at this point, anyway) they instead frame up ''Canada'' as the new enemy. Canadians, on the other hand, are either unaware, or just confused about the whole thing.

* The idea behind [[Richard Morgan]]'s 2004 sci-fi novel ''Market Forces''. It's referred to as Conflict Investment, where multinational corporations invest in either the government or a rebel faction in exchange for a percentage of the country's resources.

* In book 48 of ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]'', Visser Three tried to start a war between America and China to weaken the Earth so that the Yeerks could win in all-out war.

* {{spoiler|The Castigator}} from the ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' novel ''[[Grey Knights (Literature)|Dark Adeptus]]'' claims that war is its sole purpose and one it enjoys, thus leading it to ally with Chaos.

* [[The Saint]]'s foe Doctor Rayt Marius attempted to start warfare for profit. Later, the Saint used Marius' records to blackmail his accomplices to start a fund for the families of the wounded and casualties of war.

* In season 2 of ''[[Twenty Four|24]]'', a consortium of oil company executives attempt to provoke a war between the US and several Mideast countries in order to enrich their investments in Caspian Sea oil deposits, by planting evidence that incriminates those countries' leaders in an attempted nuclear strike on Los Angeles.

** Season 6 repeated the trope, with [[Renegade Russian|"renegade" Russian general]] Dmitri Gredenko supplying Arab terrorists with nukes to use against the US, in the hopes that it would precipitate a nuclear war that would destroy Russia's rivals and leave them as top dog.

* ''[[Highlander the Raven]]'' featured a villain who made a living of starting wars. He planned something so horrible than even his [[The Watcher|watcher]] broke the non-interference rule to prevent it.

* The [[Space Jews|Ferengi]] in ''[[Star Trek]]'' are fans of this.

**** Then again, when a business deal goes wrong for Gaila, he's got to deal with government hit squads who will nail his head on a pike, while Quark likely just has to deal with Odo or angry bruisers. Note the Ferengi Rule of Acquisition: "The Greater the Risk the Greater the Profit".

* The Weatherman in ''[[NCIS]]'' intended to use knowledge of the US plan for handling war in Israel to make a killing on the stock market.

* In the ''[[Star Trek the Original Series]]'' episode "Journey to Babel", the Orions tried to sabotage a diplomatic conference and attacked the Enterprise in the hopes of starting a war, preventing the Federation from interfering with their operations and allowing them to profit by selling dilithium to both sides.

** [[Star Trek Enterprise|Enterprise]]: The Romulans used a holoship, disguising it as several different ships (depending on who they attacked) in an attempt to disrupt the very first Babel peace conference. They wanted to simply prevent an alliance between the Vulcans, Humans, Tellarites and Andorians because of the predicted shift in power in the quadrant, but the actions they took would have definitely ended in war.

** But then again, ''[[Magnificent Bastard|everything]]'' is orchestrated by {{spoiler|Nemesis}}.

* ''[[Freelancer]]'' starts with the colonies in the brink of war. It later turns out {{spoiler|the Nomads are secretly parasiting the top politicians in Sirius and using their power to declare all-out war, in order to soften the human defenses and let the Nomads mop the sector with their blood, and the Order is actually here to defend the Sirius sector against the Nomads}}.

* In ''[[Runescape]]'', most of the quest 'Royal Trouble' revolves around this. {{spoiler|A group of kids unable to pass tests that would make them full adults of their tribe go to two warring islands and decide to start a war, stop it, and then be seen as heroes.}}

* In ''[[Utawarerumono]]'', court adviser and [[Humongous Mecha]] pilot Hien encourages Kuuya to unite the world under the Kunnekamun for the sake of peace. Fellow adviser and pilot [[Ax Crazy|Hauenkua]] also wants to invade the other countries as Hien does, but only so he could kill people.

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[Captain Planet and The Planeteers]]'' had a few episodes where the bad guys did this.

* In one episode of the [[Disney Animated Canon|Disney's]] ''[[Aladdin (Disney)|Aladdin]]'' series, the imps stole "the most sacred crock of cheese" from the Odiferians (cheese loving barbarians) and framed Agrabah for the theft. The angry Odiferians declared war on Agrabah and the imps made a fortune selling war machines to both sides until Aladdin and the gang uncovered the whole scheme.

* In the original ''[[The Transformers (Animation)|Transformers]]'' cartoon, the eponymous robots were actually originally built by (or, by the time of the series, built by 'bots that were built by) alien war profiteers known as the Quintessons. The evil Decepticons were the military models to be sold to both sides of a conflict, the heroic Autobots were consumer goods. Even after the [[Robot War]] that freed the Transformers, they continue to sell weapons to the highest bidder in-between trying to get revenge.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

** Like most examples on this list, there were geopolitical reasons behind the Opium Wars, as well as ideological ones (free trade). The profitability of the opium trade, however, was certainly a factor.

* Many groups in the United States were accused of this during [[World War One]], including the President by his own cabinet members.

* The Second Congo War and its still ongoing offshoots. The aftermath of the Rwandan genocide mixed with the realization that the DRC had a crapload of resources to be exploited resulted in most of its neighbors and some countries further afield taking sides in order to loot the country's mineral riches. And killing several million people.

* I'm gonna go and throw out the mandatory War on Terrorism/Iraq example. I'm not saying they are, I'm saying people think they are.

** Th War on Terrorism is an interesting subversion, but not from NATO's side, from the Taliban side. The Taliban's strategy of triggering a war, then hiding in the Afghan mountains while carrying out minor hit-and-run missions, is specifically intended to drain the resources of their enemies and then strike back when they're weak. Historians and tacticians noticed this strategy used on the Russian occupation of Afghanistan in the 80s and 90s, and drew parallels to what they're doing now. Some could argue that, to some degree, it's working.

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[[Category:War For Fun And Profit]]