Crushing the Populace
Finally, the rebellion is crushed and the Empire has firmly taken control of the area. All we need to do is restore the area so it becomes a meaningful piece of our empire.
Well, as soon as La Résistance have been judged, condemned and executed, of course. And we also need to take care of all the enemies and anyone who hopes to restore the old regime. And I'm afraid those people who worked for us will wince at the atrocities that we will commit! I have no choice. I have to show an extremely iron-handed approach to anyone who shows even the slightest hint of mercy, as hearts and minds are meaningless. Oh, I am also establishing a squad of super soldiers made up entirely of Brainwashed citizens to keep the people in line -- Battle Thralls are so much fun to use.
This is the will of the Empire. Those who oppose it will be crushed and hanged for all to see.
This trope is for the aftermath of The Empire conquering any country where the Empire should be restoring order, but instead is more interested in plundering the place.
See Reign of Terror for the rebel version for You Rebel Scum.
No real life examples, please; there are enough examples of despotic rule ruining the lives of people.
Anime and Manga
- In Code Geass, nations conquered by Britannia are called Areas. All cultural identity is extinguished and citizens are completely at the mercy of the soldiers who can kill them for sport without anyone batting an eye.
Film
- In Star Wars, the Galactic Empire's Moffs follow the Tarkin Doctrine, which basically boils down to "Use fear to rule them all." That is, it's actually a variation of this: it involves ruling by fear of violence rather than by lots of direct violence, but in order to be estabilished, some very noticeable acts of intimidation have to be conducted.
Literature
- This trope meets Truth in Television when Don Quixote travels to Barcelona, a province of the Spanish Empire which is facing a Civil War. Sancho gets lost at night in a forest whose trees are filled with feet wearing shoes and stockings. Don Quixote calmly explains that the authorities hang outlaws by twenties and thirties when they catch them.
Video Games
- Caesar's Legion in Fallout: New Vegas if Legate comes to rule; he will murder anyone and everyone who he sees as an insult to the Legion, including the Followers of the Apocalypse as he claims they have "dishonored" Caesar's reputation. The Legion also does not treat its citizens well.
- Mace: The Dark Age has the evil characters doing exactly this if they win the game. This naturally causes a stagnation in technological development to the world.
- In Homefront, the first action we see the Greater Korean Republic take is shooting several parents in front of their children before they get sent to labor camps/breeding pens. It Gets Worse from there.
- In Gungnir, after Esperanza is temporarily forced to give up their rebellion, Imperial commander Regina orders all Leonica in the slums to be killed by their fellow poor if said fellow poor don't want to be executed too.
- Many strategy games (Civilization, the Total War series) give the player a choice between integrating a newly conquered settlement or pillaging and razing it. The latter usually gives an immediate substantial cash bonus at the cost of a significant hit to foreign relations.