History CombatPragmatist / RealLife

** Any decent Krav Maga instructor will drill practitioners to be aware of the ''legal'' consequences of using Krav Maga. Explicitly because "proper" use of KM ''will'' end up seriously injuring, crippling, or even killing your assailant, and [[RealityEnsues unlike the movies]], even a victimized party will have to account to the law for such use of force.

** In fact almost every technique taught in Krav Maga contains a GroinAttack. There is a mantra that if your attacker isn't down yet, apply as many groin shots as needed to get them down.
** Other techniques in Krav Maga focus on disarming an armed attacker. Unlike most other martial arts that focus on getting the weapon out of the opponent's hands, most Krav Maga instructors will emphasize gaining control of the weapon and then using it either to deter the attack or to strike back.

** They made extensive use of commando frogmen, most notably, the Decima Flottiglia MAS, to sabotage enemy ships and installations. Their assault on Alexandria harbour in 1941 with manned torpedoes and limpet mines disabled two Royal Navy battleships and crippling damage to a tanker and a destroyer, the latter as collateral damage, in Alexandria harbour, ''in a single raid''. A ''failed'' raid at that: not only the tanker was targeted because the carriers (the main target) were out of harbour that night, but successful masking made the Italian high command believe the ships had not been sunk, and they didn't follow it up with a larger naval offensive. The Italians wouldn't find out they had sunk the ship until well after the battleships had been raised, repaired, and used in battle.

* War in general. All (competent) warfare has this trope as gospel, as does the development and deployment of any [[StrategyVersusTactics new strategies, tactics]], organisations, equipment, or weaponry. Despite all the hubbub about honor and glory, the primary goal is to win while taking the minimal necessary losses - and that is done by making it as unfair as possible to your side's advantage. Yes, [[UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar there are rules]], and there are standards of honor and professionalism that are followed. But even when these are adhered to, the overall point is to still make things as unfair as possible. Insisting only on a fair fight doesn't just hurt your side, [[HonorBeforeReason it can actually hand victory to your enemies]]. Sometimes armies would start a large war doing the complete opposite, using very visual but quite atrocious tactics before they learned better, buckled up and got [[LetsGetDangerous creative.]] They'd start to focus only on doing what works really well, and to hell with honour and such. Classic examples include the Prussians during The Napoleonic Wars (though the French [[ZergRush started out as this trope]], to great success), the governments during the Taiping Rebellion and American Civil War, and the British Commonwealth and French forces during World War One (after a few months, the whole war being a continuous learning process for them). Generally, though it might seem obvious, Armed Forces at the end of long wars are full of ''very'' "dishonourable" soldiers and officers who are very, very good at their jobs.

* Military advancement is basically the study of forcing inequal battle: weapons development is making better ways to neutralize the enemy as efficiently as you can manage; armor development is finding better materials and designs for protecting your soldiers from getting hurt; better strategies, tactics, and organization all made an army more effective at winning wars; various little pieces of equipment that had significant impact on the effectiveness of an army (for example, stirrups are small and usually taken for granted nowadays, but they are what allowed cavalry to become dominant throughout Europe).

** If they enemy can't touch you, they can't hurt you. [[JavelinThrower Darts, javelins]], [[SufferTheSlings slings]], and the [[ArcherArchetype bow and arrow]] were the first weapons developed to [[LongRangeFighter kill from a distance]], where an opponent couldn't poke holes in you with their melee weapons. As time passed people focused on ways to get more range than their enemies. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spear-thrower Spear-throwers]] gave users more leverage to hurl their weapons, which resulted in greater range. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sling_(weapon)#Staff_sling Staff slings]] functioned on the same principle, were easier to use than regular slings, and the stave itself - which was up to two meters long - made for a handy melee weapon if an enemy got close. Bows became larger and more powerful, while arrows went from little more than sharpened sticks to having fletchings for accuracy and stone or metal arrowheads for better damage potential. Then barbed arrowheads were developed which stuck in flesh and would cause further injury when pulled out.
** By the same logic as above, [[BladeOnAStick a good spear]] was a way to keep someone at a distance where they couldn't hurt you, and easily paired with a shield for better defense. Entire armies were equipped with this simple combination and almost impossible to fight head-on without taking severe losses. Spears became longer and longer as time passed, until they were so long they weren't spears at all, but pikes. While only the first two lines of a spear formation could fight the enemy, using pikes allowed the first ''six'' lines of a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Syntagma_phalangis.jpg Macedonian phalanx]] to present a forest of sharpened metal that was functionally impossible to get past. Or at least it was until the invention of the bill: like a pike, but with a blade as well as a point. However long long your enemy's pike might have been, once you chopped the point off, it was just a stick.

** And if you want to start twirling your mustache as well, you can even throw some land-mines in with the ordinance as well, further delaying the repairs to the runway as some unfortunate souls have to get out there and clear the mines, while crossing their fingers that there aren't any more time-delayed bombs ready to go off, and potentially having their commanders threaten their own lives if they don't get the runway fixed faster. Needless to say, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JP233 JP233]] combined all of the above into one nice little device.

** Combat engineers take this trope UpToEleven. They are trained in mine warfare, booby trapping and improvised munitions. The classical booby trap is to tilt a picture on the wall slightly, then rig an explosive charge with a mercury trigger behind it. When an enemy soldier - usually an officer - attempts to right the harmless-looking picture on the wall -- KABOOM!
** At that note Radio Operators. "Request fire mission on coordinates XXXX-XXXX, full barrage, over." BOOM. "Thank you TOC, out."
* Note, however, that adhering to certain rules in warfare can be a form of CombatPragmatism as well. There is a good reason for NOT allowing troops to attack civilian targets at will, achieve objectives through deception, treachery and sheer terror, alter action plans unpredictably to increase personal safety at any cost, ignore command structure and loot their own army's supplies for additional resources. Arguably, in the course of the war, the troops must be kept controllable and sane. If methodical application of combat pragmatism turns one's own men into dangerous killing machines, and enemy's civilian population into desperate fighters for survival, the long-term perspectives are not very bright.

** Even closer to the enemy (often with areas they think well secure) is sabotage. Particularly of note is Brigadier Philip Toosey, the real life senior officer of the British POW construction teams in Thailand. Far and away from Pierre Boulle's Lt. Colonel Nicholson (and in fact Toosey was pretty much Nicholson's opposite in every way), Toosey actively encouraged sabotage of all kinds to slow down construction of the bridges.

* Snipers in general either are this trope or on the receiving end of this trope. By their nature, they are operating at ranges that mean other small arms cannot retaliate back, and/or use stealth to avoid retaliation. Snipers often wait until the target is at its most vulnerable before striking out of no where. Many snipers also employ psychological warfare, such as shooting the first in line, to make no one want to lead a patrol.

** A well known tactic for snipers is to aim for a soldiers leg. This means that the sniper can also kill anyone who tries to help him, and that the rest of the platoon is forced to tend to the wounds and carry him, which can seriously hinder their mobility.

** Add to this snipers tactics that include: use of demolition charges for [[DemolitionsExpert different purposes]], [[TrapMaster booby-trapping]], mandatory [[StealthExpert camouflage and stealth]], good old sound-masking, taking full advantage of different electronics and computers (range measuring, satellite communication, thermal scopes for night shooting, lasers, video feeds, etc), strongly encouraged tendency to request for fire mission before demasking their position, [[DoubleTap double tapping]], [[ColdSniper injuring one of the group to bait others out the cover]] and [[ProperlyParanoid increase the pressure]], general AwesomenessByAnalysis (they even use [[EverybodyHatesMathematics math]], what can be more [[CombatPragmatist "anything goes"]]!) and quite real [[EagleEyeDetection Eagle-Eye Detection]] achieved by tough training, and you have the dirty fighter by definition trained that way by the army.

* Artillery in general. With most weapons, you at very least have to see who you are attacking, which in turns the enemy theoretically could see you as well. Artillery often doesn't even grant this small mercy, firing over obstacles or even over the horizon at grid coordinates on a map, detached from the horror experienced by the unfortunate target.

* Sun Tzu, general during the Warring States period in China, not only was a warfare pragmatist to put others to shame, but quite literally wrote the book on it. It's worth noting that the same book, ''The Art of War'', is ''still'' used to teach tactics and strategy (fighting dirty on the strategic scale) to this day.
** This one famous quote by Sun Tzu makes it obvious that there is no place in the battlefield for sentimental values like honor, mercy, love, sympathy, or even honesty.

** And then there's the modern counterpart to the siege, the blockade. A blockade is simply where you take your fleet, and park it ''just'' out of range of the enemy, and sink anything trying to enter or leave said port. It has much the same effect, but on a larger scale. Rather than starving out a single castle, a blockade attempts to starve an entire nation's economy by restricting it's access to trade.

* Egypt's invasion of Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Not only was it a religious holiday for Jews, it was also during Ramadan - the Muslim fasting month where war is ''supposed'' to be ceased. Some Arabs know it as the Ramadan War, by the way, while others call it the October War. In Egypt it's usually just called '73.
** During Yom Kippur it is traditional to fast from sundown of the previous evening to the next sundown--so not only were they praying, they were also underfed.
** It's generally agreed that this actually backfired on the Egyptians: Attacking on a day when everyone was easily reachable, when the roads were empty (Yom Kippur is the one day in the year when even secular Israelies avoid driving) meant that mobilisation of the reserves was very quick. Had the Egyptians attacked on, say, Passover, when everyone's either abroad on holiday or stuck in traffic jams, the result would've been more to their advantage...

* Speaking of Egypt vs. Israel, Israel's actions during the Six-Day War are all about this. Israel attacked first, even though they had not (yet) been attacked. A large-scale surprise air strike that was the opening of the Six-Day War, with Israel destroying about the entire Egyptian air force, which guaranteed Israeli air superiority for the rest of the war.

** At Agincourt, the French attacked on foot. The original battle plan was about dismounted knights attacking on foot at center, then when the battle was engaged, the mounted knights attacking at flanks, performing an envelopment operation, and a local knight, Isembard d'Agincourt, attacking at the English rear with his retinue as he knew the local pathways. Because of extremely bad leadership, rain which had turned the fields into mud and that Isembard d'Agincourt was more interested in looting the English baggage than fighting, it all ended up in Total Snafu.

** This happened just twice - at Crecy 1346 and Agincourt 1415. The reason why the English prevailed was that they just had better discipline and better generals. The French eventually learned this, abolished the feudal army and set up a professional army consisting of competent professionals - knights, infantry and artillery.
* Legendary Vietnam-era Marine sniper Carlos Hathcock demonstrated this when he was sent to one camp that was being constantly harassed by a good enemy sniper. After observing the terrain and seeing where the enemy's targets were when shot, he figured out where the sniper had to be shooting from. Instead of readying his weapon, Hathcock decides it to be more pragmatic to set up a rocket that's targeted at the sniping position and wait. The next time the sniper attacks, the rocket is fired, and it starts raining sniper chunks. In general, while Sniper Duels may seem cool and honorable in fiction, heavy artillery tends to be the more traditional recourse.

** This concept is OlderThanPrint. The warfare during the Age of Chivalry wasn't particularly chivalrous; rather than risking troops on field battles, knights far rather waged war by attrition - by fighting the enemy's ability to fight rather than his forces. That meant killing his peasants, burning his crops and devastating his countryside.

** Grant's strategy wasn't explicitly one of attrition by throwing his army at Lee's without regard to his own casualties (although he was often accused of it). By possessing an army roughly twice the size of Lee's, Grant was able to pin Lee down with half of his army then maneuver with the other half towards Richmond. Lee was then forced to retreat least Grant get between him and the capitol of the Confederacy. Each time the maneuvering part of Grant's army would continue until it engaged Lee in new defensive positions resulting in an inconclusive battle with high casualties. The strategy continued until Grant ran out of room to maneuver to the east and was forced into trench warfare around Petersburg, which was the rail hub that supplied food to Richmond. The stalemate was finally broken when Grant finally managed to cut all the rail links and flushed Lee's army out into the countryside where he could be chased down and defeated.

** Whether he qualifies as a pragmatist or a psychopath is a matter of some debate, though it is worth noting the above example of his suggestion for handling civilians was very much ''not'' pragmatic. Slaughtering a bus full of civilians would have been a war crime, and earned America a sharp drop in international reputation, diplomatic penalties, and a reckoning with the UN. To qualify as a pragmatist, one needs to actually plan for the long term impact of their actions.

** To a certain degree, the second bombing was one of political pragmatism, as well. Hiroshima proved the U.S. had a superweapon. Nagasaki proved the ability to produce more than one, and do so reliably. This was something of a bluff, as the three devices produced thus far (Trinity, Fat Man and Little Boy) represented essentially all of the U.S. reserves of fissionables suitable for such devices, but it did make a very important implication that things had changed, and that the U.S. had the ability and will to use such weapons in war. China and the U.S.S.R. were also intended recipients of this implication.

* Likewise, the Japanese were certainly no strangers to these tactics during the war. This was the reasoning behind the Pearl Harbor attack, both the attack being by surprise and the way the Japanese didn't break off diplomatic relations with the US until minutes before the attack began. During the war, the Japanese used extremely aggressive tactics against Allied troops; {{booby trap}}s, [[SuicideAttack suicide bombings, kamikaze attacks]], [[ISurrenderSuckers pretending to surrender]], using civilians as shields, attaching bombs to civilians, and telling their civilians that the Allies would do horrible things to them if they were taken prisoners. It's no wonder that the Allied invasion of Japan was estimated to take another two years and one million Allied casualties.
** At some point, however, their over dependence on those tactics ended up losing what pragmatism there was. Their refusal to retreat and desperate suicide attacks just ended up depleting their forces of experienced veterans faster.

** The Red Army also had a history of using of "blocking units" or "barrier troops" from its inception in 1918 -- formations behind the front lines meant to act both as a reserve and to shoot at any retreating units from their own side. Stalin re-instituted the practice in 1941 with Order 1919.

* The reason why the {{Ninja}} were so successful as spies and assassins was because of their complete disregard for the code of honor that almost all warriors in Japan were expected to follow, as well as the social code that civilians followed. Ninja had no issue with running from fights, catching their enemy off guard and using weapons disguised as farming or gardening implements. They also would disguise themselves as farmers, gardeners and even [[DisguisedinDrag geisha and prostitutes]]. A samurai would literally die before being seen dressed as anything other than a proper nobleman.

** The Kingdom of Sardinia had little money or plains for actual cavalry, so they trained the Bersaglieri, fast running light infantry trained to quickly form an infantry square, repeal cavalry charges and then ''charge the cavalry as it pulled back to regroup, [[UpToEleven possibly on the flank]]'' (they actually charged Russian cavalry busy attacking French infantry at the Battle of the Chernaya, routing the Russians, and then continued when they pulled back to regroup. [[OhCrap The Russians ran]]).

** It was mentioned above that dropping bombs from air being was originally a war crime. The Italians not only pionereed the art of bombing enemy troops while knowing that, but ''did this on the technologically-inferior Libyan bedouins''. When Turkey (that at the time ruled Libya and was trying to defend it from the Italian invasion) protested, the Italians replied that [[ExactWords the ban specified it was forbidden dropping bombs from a]] ''[[ExactWords blimp or balloon]]'', [[LoopholeAbuse and they were using airplanes]].
** During UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, the Italian Navy developed a nasty habit of strapping torpedoes on speedboats and send them to sink Austro-Hungarian warships in harbour. After the first time, the Austro-Hungarians wised up and upped the surveillance and started placing torpedo nets. This, and shock, saved them the second time: the speedboats ''still'' evaded surveillance, but the torpedoes were stopped by the nets, and the fleet being too shocked to give chase (the torpedo nets had been placed against the protests of the captains, because the surveillance was believed adequate to thwart another attempt) saved them from ''being torpedoed by a flotilla of destroyers and other torpedo-armed ships waiting them at the exit of the bay''. Then they sank the Austrian flagship after stumbling on it, with another Austrian ship filming what had happened and nobody realizing what the hell had just happened until the Italian radio started bragging on it.

** They made extensive use of commando frogmen, most notably, the Decima Flottiglia MAS, to sabotage enemy ships and installations. Their assault on Alexandria harbour in 1941 with manned torpedoes and limpet mines disabled two Royal Navy battleships and crippling damage to a tanker and a destroyer, the latter as collateral damage, in Alexandria harbour, ''in a single raid''. A ''failed'' raid at that: not only the tanker was targeted because the carriers (the main target) were out of harbour that night, but successful masking made the Italian high command believe the ships had not been sunk, and they didn't follow it up with a larger naval offensive. The Italians wouldn't find out they had sunk the ship until well after the battleships had been raised, repaired and used in battle.

** Recently the Italian Navy started fielding [[HomingProjectile homing shells]] with their newest multi-purpose 76mm and 127mm guns for point defense (the 76mm one is also used by the French navy). Not to be outdone, the Italian Army is evaluating homing shells for a ''155mm howitzer'', capable of firing four of them at the same target in such a way they all hit at the same time. Let's face it, when at war the Italians are assholes.
* British just after the Fall of France in 1940. With France defeated and the BEF having been chased out of Dunkirk with great loss of heavy equipment, the majority of the German command were under the impression that the British would soon come to the peace table for negotiations. While they waited for the British to come to their senses, they scaled back production, cancelled designs that clearly would no longer be needed for the war that was about to end, and went on photo op tours of Paris. Instead the British chose not to negotiate and that rather than risk French warships being taken over by the Germans and then be used against them, decided it was easier to just attack and destroy the French navy in port. Which they did, much to the anger of the French who were allies only weeks before and to the horror of the Germans who suddenly discovered that Churchill was playing for keeps.

* England. 1455, 22nd of May. The First Battle of St. Albans started a mixture of political and combat pragmatism that would characterise thirty years of intermittent conflict; go in, kill their leaders, any way you can. At Barnet, the Earl of Warwick was killed by a common soldier while trying to retrieve his horse. At Wakefield, the Duke of York and his sons were specifically targetted and killed by the Lancastrians. The English had long favoured combat pragmatism ever since Edward III had demonstrated it's necessity at Dupplin Moor, up to the moment your opponent was defeated; after which the foe (provided he was noble) was spared and ransomed. After St. Albans? Kill him, kill his sons, eliminate his claim to the throne, and do it by any means necessary. This resulted in the Battle of Towton, the bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil, and Tewkesbury, where Lancastrians were dragged out of a church seeking sanctuary and executed. By the end of thirty years of it? Henry Tudor won, essentially by being the last man standing.

** When the Romans invaded Africa to end the First War, the Carthaginian commander, the Spartan mercenary Xanthippus, took advantage of the Roman's belief in the invincibility of their heavy infantry by having it overran with ''eight times their numbers of Numidian light cavalry'', too fast to be engaged and armed with javelins that could defeat Roman armor, while the Carthaginian phalanx kept the Roman infantry pinned down long enough for the Numidians to do their job and attack the main Roman force from behind. [[CurbStompBattle It was a very one-sided battle]].

** How the Romans dealt with the revolt of the Greek cities of Sicily: lay siege to the invincible Syracuse while [[RapePillageAndBurn pillaging everything in the area]]. At first it only caused even the neutral and Roman-aligned cities to revolt... But when Syracuse suddenly fell, the Greek cities surrendered wholesale for fear of being next.
** How Roman general Scipio Africanus (Africanus being Roman slang for "[[TheMagnificent he went to Africa and wiped out anyone who dared not to bow at his magnificence]]") ultimately drove Hannibal out of Italy ''and'' took out his Numidian cavalry: he ''invaded Numidia'', took advantage of the Numidians having light cavalry only to install a friendly king, and had him recall his troops in Hannibal's army (a crucial part of his normal tactics) while marching toward Carthage, [[XanatosGambit forcing Hannibal to come back to defend his hometown against unsurmontable odds and having no way to invade Italy again even if he won]]. [[WorthyOpponent Hannibal himself admitted Scipio had won the war with that simple move]] and he could at best get lenient peace conditions. The final battle was fought because his government could not accept this, resulting in the Roman Senate imposing crushing peace conditions once Scipio won thanks to the Numidian cavalry that had been the key to Hannibal's previous victories (as Hannibal had ''still'' found a way to defeat Scipio, but the Numidians ruined it).

[[folder:MartialArts]]
* Your basic self defense class is simply a few "dirty" techniques that will buy the attacker time to run away from the encounter. Assuming you fail to run away as an opener. However some dirty tricks are considered ill advised, such as clawing the face, for the other pragmatic reason that if the other guy's face looks like a bloody mess, people might confuse you for the aggressor.

** European fencers were well practiced in a wide variety of practical techniques, such as wrestling and grappling in the midst of a swordfight. Some techniques also involved grasping your sword by the blade and using the handle like a hammer. This strike is often called a "murder strike."

** The handbook by fifteenth-century master Hans Talhoffer contains advice on how to (amongst other things) boot your opponent in the gut, snatch his sword off him, pull a dagger as a surprise weapon and how to stab or slice a man from behind.
** Other standard techniques include hitting your foe with your sword's pommel (which was often weighted to improve the overall balance of the sword) without taking your hand off the hilt. It's rather difficult to fight effectively when your opponent has just hit you in the face with what felt like a small hammer. If you're in close, this can be a lot easier and more effective that trying to strike your foe with the blade of the weapon.

** Some places teach it the hard way. When someone wants to enter the "roda", the one entering must offer his extended hand to the one already inside, with the insider giving it a tap. After the tap, even before the hands stop touching, the game is on, and is not that rare for one of them to hold the other's hand, pull it and deliver a punch to the face with the other hand. That's fair game, the one who fell for that should know that Capoeira is, first and foremost, about deception.

** ''Then'' Savate got mixed with the wrestling styles from the north, styles that included eye gouging and other tricks. Paris' criminal gangs known as the Apache practiced this style, and thanks to this, other bits of combat pragmatism (like the infamous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_revolver Apache revolver]]) and their numerical superiority over the police, they dominated Paris until UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.
*** How the French government got rid of them is possibly the ultimate example of combat pragmatism: they ''enrolled them in the army and sent them to fight the German Army''. After the war, the Apache (or those who survived, at least) weren't in the mood to cause trouble anymore, or even teach someone their style of Savate (hence why modern Savate is more civilized).

* UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi. Many of his famous fights included pragmatic tricks to give him an advatange.
** His first kill was at the age of 13, when he signed up for a duel with a swordsman who came to the local village looking for duels. When his uncle found out, he arranged to formally apologize to the swordsman for wasting his time. As said uncle was apologizing, the young Musashi charged him with a bo (also called a quarterstaff or "a 6-foot-long stick"), knocked him to the ground, dazed him with a blow to the head, and then beat him to death. That is not how duels are typically supposed to go.

** Much of the Book of Five Rings emphasizes that it is foolish to believe you have a single technique that will bring you victory and instead promotes leveraging every possible advantage you can get. Most techniques in the book seem rather too simple and the text appears somehow boring, until one realizes Musashi intended the fight to be off from the first cut, the second at worst. Flashy acrobatics were definitely not for the battlefield.

* A longtime boxing legend was that Mickey Walker, a champion at welterweight and middleweight, pulled this on Harry Greb, a middleweight champion many experts pick as one of history's greatest boxers. After losing to Greb in a championship bout, the two bumped into each other later in a bar. They drank together for awhile until Walker made some comments about Greb's dirty and unsportsmanlike conduct in the ring, which Greb countered by offering to fight for real outside. The original story goes that while the two were standing in the street Walker waited until Greb was tied up in taking off his jacket and vest, and then hit Greb with a monster shot while Greb was constrained. This version of events was repeated for a long time, until about 30 years later Walker, then a painter long since retired from the sport, admitted that it was a wild exaggeration of events, and the fight was stopped before it started when a bystander separated the two.

* Creator/BruceLee. His personally-developed fighting-style, Jeet Kune Do, is based on the philosophy of doing 'whatever it takes' to win. In one apocryphal case, during a sparring-match, he was pinned by a judo practitioner who asked what he'd do if this was a real fight. He responded, "Bite you, of course." Basically, he acknowledges that, if you're fighting for real, you use ''everything'' at your disposal, including crotch kicks, eye-gouges, hair-pulling, biting, or even using weapons (he always carried a gun on him, since all the martial arts in the world would be meaningless if your opponent wanted to shoot you). Of course, he was also perfectly capable of fighting 'by the rules' for martial-arts tournaments and movies, but that's another matter.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8icoCU2AGs This]] video of a Vale Tudo fight between Gary Goodridge and Pedro Otavio. [[Website/{{Cracked}} Seanbaby]] best described it with this quote: "Gary Goodridge was finding more uses for a human dick than I did during two years of puberty. And I grew up on a farm." Goodridge, incidentally, had complained before the match that two of his favorite techniques, biting and eyegouging, were banned.

* During a promotional match between the famous Japanese wrestler Wrestling/AntonioInoki and world heavyweight boxing champion UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli, Inoki spent almost the entire match lying on the mat, kicking Ali in the leg. This came about after Ali's promoters introduced several rules at the last minute to effectively prevent Inoki from using any wrestling techniques in the fight. Unwilling to simply stand around and get pummeled, Inoki exploited a loophole in the rules that allowed him to kick so long as one knee was on the mat. This resulted in the match being declared a draw, instead of the win both fighters were hoping for, an enraged crowd, damage to Inoki's foot and serious bruising to Ali's leg. This developed into two blood clots, which briefly threatened the boxer with amputation, though he was eventually able to recover.

** Cats in particular do not like fair fights. This means that, unlike many dangerous animals, [[StaringDownCthulhu staring down a big cat can save your life]]. Wolves, too, tend to attack in packs, and only when their target is fleeing. To a gorilla or a bear, you're a threat, and staring it down will make it feel like it must defend itself. To a cat, you're a potential meal, and if it doesn't have surprise it will likely go look for easier prey. To a wolf, if it doesn't have an advantage and/or you aren't fleeing, it wants no part of you.
*** Pure carnivores in general have to be this since even a minor injury can keep them from hunting causing them to be weakened from hunger. Therefore, it's in their best interest to stay as healthy as possible by avoiding unnecessary fights..

* Contrary to the [[ArtisticLicenseHistory popular image]], knightly warfare wasn't exactly chivalrous. The usual means of waging war was by using what is called "indirect warfare" - instead of attacking the enemy army, knights and soldiers attacked the enemy's ''means'' of waging war. This is known as ''chevauchee'' and meant [[RapePillageAndBurn attacking the enemy's agriculture]], his peasants - yes, they were prime targets, as they were crucial for producing food! - his supplies, his logistics, assassinating his leaders, and arranging ambushes whenever possible. Field battles were considered as an erratic and uncertain way of winning battles, and most field battles occurred either when one of the armies had trapped the other and the other had no way of averting it, or when they blundered into each other unexpectedly. Therefore, two groups would basically rush at each other until one side was weakened enough to get unorganized and wounded. Then, the burning of supplies continued.

** It wasn't just the knights either. Peasants fought brutally, rarely if ever taking prisoners and delighting in their reputation for unforgiving savagery -- the Swiss were the most infamous for this, but so were the Frisians, the Dithmarschers (both from Northern Germany), and the Spanish. Indeed, Spanish Almogavars, specialist light infantry raiders, were ''notorious'' for eagerly taking on mounted and armored knights one on one and killing them with contemptuous ease.

* Similarly, Samurai warfare easily matched European medieval warfare in brutality. The Samurai started as horse archers, letting them fire from a distance and easily run away. Attacking farms, fields, and peasants were common. Guns were wildly adopted by the Samurai when they were first introduced by the Portuguese. Japanese castle sieges, like their European counterpart, usually involved starving the defenders out

* Snipers in general either are this trope or on the receiving end of this trope. Many snipers try to have a consistent pattern when killing the enemy, such as shooting the first in line, to make no one want to lead a patrol and to ruin enemy morale.

** A common counter-sniping tactic is the ''[[DeathFromAbove artillery strike on their position]]''. Usually it's from a mortar carried by infantry (who this way won't expose themselves to the sniper's fire), but when things get ''really'' ugly they'll use howitzers (and on D-Day, ''[[NoKillLikeOverkill the full main battery of a battleship]]''). Incidentally, snipers equipped with anti-materiel rifles will shoot the mortars and other heavy weapons first, both to save their own skins and to prevent them from massacring their own infantry.

* During a promotional match between the famous Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki and world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, Inoki spent almost the entire match lying on the mat, kicking Ali in the leg. This came about after Ali's promoters introduced several rules at the last minute to effectively prevent Inoki from using any wrestling techniques in the fight. Unwilling to simply stand around and get pummeled, Inoki exploited a loophole in the rules that allowed him to to kick so long as one knee was on the mat. This resulted in the match being declared a draw, instead of the win both fighters were hoping for, an enraged crowd, damage to Inoki's foot and serious bruising to Ali's leg. This developed into two blood clots, which briefly threatened the boxer with amputation, though he was eventually able to recover.

* George Washington was quite the pragmatist when it came to waging war. Launching a major attack on ''Christmas morning'', when the enemy was sure to be drunk/sleeping/both, is only his most infamous act of dishonorable warfare. Many historians have attributed the American victory to this, as there was little chance of them beating a town-full of badass [[PrivateMilitaryContractors mercenaries]] by any other method available to them.

** The Mongols were known to have suffered a defeat by someone carefully out-[[PerfeclyCromulentWord pragmating]] them: Executing their envoys to force them to attack a walled city where all large rocks and other siege ammunition had been removed in a large radius, and doing so in a season where their horses would find no fodder.

* Perhaps surprisingly, Tai Chi, that meditative martial art like exercise that old people and hippies do in the park? That's based on a Chinese martial art. Recall that big, flowing, windmill motion you make with your arms where you sink into a crouch as you sweep your hands across and out from you? What you're actually doing is grabbing dirt... and throwing it in your enemy's eyes.

** And if you want to start twirling your mustache as well, you can even throw some land-mines in with the ordinance as well, further delaying the repairs to the runway as some unfortunate souls have to get out there and clear the mines, while crossing their fingers that there aren't any more time-delayed bombs ready to go off, and potentially having their commanders threaten their own lives if they don't get the runway fixed faster. Needless to say, the JP233 combined all of the above into one nice little device.

* Certain types of Combat Pragmatism are illegal by the laws of warfare, not the least of which is not wearing an identifiable uniform. You break the rules, you lose their protection, such as eligibility for Geneva Convention rights. For instance, [[ISurrenderSuckers feigning surrender and then opening fire]] is ''very'' likely to get you shot without trial if you get caught.

* During a promotional match between the famous Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki and world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, Inoki spent almost the entire match lying on the mat, kicking Ali in the leg. This came about after Ali's promoters introduced several rules at the last minute to effectively prevent Inoki from using any wrestling techniques in the fight. Unwilling to simply stand around and get pummeled, Inoki exploited a loophole in the rules that allowed him to to kick so long as one knee was on the mat. This resulted in the match being declared a draw, instead of the win both fighters were hoping for, an enraged crowd, damage to Inoki's foot and serious bruising to Ali's leg. This developed into two blood clots, which briefly threatened the boxer with amputation, though he was eventually able to recover.

** Combat engineers take this trope UpToEleven. They are trained in mine warfare, booby trapping and improvised munitions. The classical booby trap is to tilt a picture on the wall slightly, then rig an explosive charge with a mercury trigger behind it. When an enemy soldier - usually an officer - attempts to right the harmless-looking picture on the wall --- KABOOM!

** Add to this snipers tactics that include: use of demolition charges for [[DemolitionsExpert different purposes]], [[TrapMaster booby-trapping]], mandatory [[StealthExpert camouflage and stealth]], good old sound-masking, taking full advantage of different electronics and computers (range measuring, satellite communication, thermal scopes for night shooting, lasers, video feeds, etc), strongly encouraged tendency to request for fire mission before demasking their position, [[DoubleTap double tapping]], [[ColdSniper injuring one of the group to bait others out the cover]] and [[ProperlyParanoid increase the pressure]], general AwesomenessbyAnalysis (they even use [[EverybodyHatesMathematics math]], what can be more [[CombatPragmatist "anything goes"]]!) and quite real [[EagleEyeDetection Eagle-Eye Detection]] achieved by tough training, and you have the dirty fighter by definition trained that way by the army.

* War in general. All (competent) warfare has this trope as gospel, as does the development and deployment of any [[StrategyVersusTactics new strategies, tactics]], organisations, equipment, or weaponry. Despite all the hubbub about honor and glory, the primary goal is to win while taking the minimal necessary losses - and that is done by making it as unfair as possible to your side's advantage. Yes, [[UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar there are rules]], and there are standards of honor and professionalism that are followed. But even when these are adhered to, the overall point is to still make things as unfair as possible. A fair fight doesn't just hurt your side, it can actually hand victory to your enemies. Sometimes armies would start a large war doing the complete opposite, using very visual but quite atrocious tactics before they learned better, buckled up and got [[LetsGetDangerous creative.]] They'd start to focus only on doing what works really well, and to hell with honour and such. Classic examples include the Prussians during The Napoleonic Wars (though the French [[ZergRush started out as this trope]], to great success), the governments during the Taiping Rebellion and American Civil War, and the British Commonwealth and French forces during World War One (after a few months, the whole war being a continuous learning process for them). Generally, though it might seem obvious, Armed Forces at the end of long wars are full of ''very'' "dishonourable" soldiers and officers who are very, very good at their jobs.

** He wasn't a full-time sniper, but [[OneManArmy/RealLife the real]] ''Film/SergeantYork'' used the opposite technique, learned in his Tennessee hunting days. He picked off six charging German soldiers back to front, reasoning -- correctly -- that in the noise and chaos of battle, the men wouldn't notice the guy ''behind'' them dropping still it was too late.

* Krav maga is founded on the concept and designed to have your ''survival'' as the highest goal of a fight. Put simply, ''everything'' is allowed, including the GroinAttack, going for the eyes, the throat, clawing and ''especially'' biting.

** He wasn't a full-time sniper, but [[RealLife/OneManArmy the real]] ''Film/SergeantYork'' used the opposite technique, learned in his Tennessee hunting days. He picked off six charging German soldiers back to front, reasoning -- correctly -- that in the noise and chaos of battle, the men wouldn't notice the guy ''behind'' them dropping still it was too late.

** This is one reason why guerrilla warfare often turns brutal. Conventional rules of war are often thrown out in guerrilla wars in the name of pragmatism until everyone is acting with utter deceptiveness and brutality, with everyone losing out in the end. See above for pragmatism behind rules of war.