History Main / DayOfTheJackboot

* As the storm clouds gathered over Europe and the Far East, PulpMagazine hero ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_No._5 Secret Service Operator #5]]'' (1934 - 1939) fought attempts by various foreign armies from South America, [[{{Fatherland}} Europe]] and the [[YellowPeril Orient]] to conquer the United States. The events are completely over-the-top as benefits the pulp genre, except for the time the Japs destroy an entire city (Philadelphia) with their evil atomic bomb. [[HarsherInHindsight Only Orientals would do such a dastardly deed…]]

* [[CaptainObvious It happened in Germany and Italy in the 1930s.]] There were also strong fascist movements in America and the United Kingdom, but neither was successful. (France was able to internally resist fascism, but the point was rendered moot when Germany forced them to surrender.)
** It depends on what you mean by "Strong". They were a tiny percentage of the population at large.

* There was a miniseries in TheEighties called ''Amerika'', about a Soviet takeover of, well, guess where. It was ''hilarious''. [[{{Narm}} Not intentionally.]]

* JackLondon wrote ''TheIronHeel'', which details the long resistance against a then-futuristic American fascist state.

* The ColdWar novel "The Fourth Protocol" by FrederickForsyth details how a hard-left faction within the Labour Party could take over Britain. And on the other side of the political spectrum, "A Very British Coup" by Chris Mullin has British conservatives and the CIA plotting to overthrow a socialist Prime Minister.

* RobertAHeinlein wrote ''Sixth Column'' (aka ''The Day After Tomorrow'') in 1949, in which the [[YellowPeril [=PanAsians=]]] take over a United States which had retreated into isolationism.
** In Heinlein's ''Future History'' ‘verse, the USA goes through a period as a fascist Christian theocracy, begun by [[SinisterMinister televangelist]] Nehemiah Scudder.

* ''Tracer'' by Stuart Jackson, set in a [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 1999 Britain]] controlled by a neo-fascist government as a result of the AIDS crisis. The protagonist is a [[BigBrotherIsEmployingYou policeman whose job is to track down AIDS carriers]] -- he gets caught up in a power struggle involving the Conservative Party who are trying to wrest power back from the new Hard Right.

DayOfTheJackboot is when Nazis, Communists or [[ANaziByAnyOtherName people who look and act suspiciously like either of them]] take over the protagonist's country or hometown. Communism is a less common target for this now, thanks to TheGreatPoliticsMessUp.

* GeorgeOrwell's ''[[NineteenEightyFour 1984]]'' is probably the most famous example of Communist-analogues conquering the world (or at least, most of it).
** Maybe, or maybe not. We never find out how large Oceania REALLY is. It could be just propaganda.
*** Also debatable who the villain is on the political spectrum. With "English Socialism" (INGSOC) being either National Socialism or Communism, it makes the point that the people in charge are after power for the sake of power - a universal vice.
** Considering that Orwell was a convinced "Democratic Socialist" and witnessed the Barcelona May Days of the Spanish Civil War makes it seem much more likely that it was specifically a TakeThat to Stalinism and orthodox Communism and socialism at the time of his writing coming from within the far left, equating the Stalinist left with a typical far-right regime, the extreme solipsism and doublespeak being extrapolations on attitudes he'd witnessed personally.
** It's not about socialism or communism or even facism; as stated above it's about the quest for POWER over other people, something that occurs in any and all political systems. The socialist/communist/facist aspects are just convenient means of exercising that power to control the population and perpetuate the system.
** The scariest part of Oceania society isn't the state controlled economy or the constant shortages of luxaries and necessities, it's the total lack of freedom (or even any conception of what "Freedom" means as we understand it today in terms of personal liberty).
** WordOfGod: ''NineteenEightyFour'' "is NOT intended as an attack on Socialism or on the British Labour Party (of which I am a supporter) but as a show-up of the perversions to which a centralised economy is liable and which have already been partly realised in Communism and Fascism... I believe also that totalitarian ideas have taken root in the minds of intellectuals everywhere, and I have tried to draw these ideas out to their logical consequences. The sccene of the book is laid in Britain in order to emphasise that the English-speaking races are not innately better than anyone else and that totalitarianism, ''if not fought against'', could triumph anywhere."

* ''Tracer'' by Stuart Jackson, set in a [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 1999 Britain]] controlled by a neo-fascist government as a result of the AIDS crisis. The protagonist is a policeman whose job is to track down AIDS carriers -- he gets caught up in a power struggle involving the Conservative Party who are trying to wrest power back from the new Hard Right.
* The sci-fi trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton about psi-boosted private investigator Greg Mandel is set against a Britain recovering from a communist dictatorship.

* ''[[EscapeFromNewYork Escape From LA]]'' (1996) had the United States ruled by a Christian fundamentalist president, with people being sent to L.A. just for being Muslim.

* The sci-fi trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton about psi-boosted private investigator Greg Mandel is set against a Britain recovering from years of communist dictatorship.

* The sci-fi trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton about psi-boosted private investigator Greg Mandel is set against a Britain recovering from years of Hard Left dictatorship.

* A movie called "The Wave" has this happen successfully in a high school. Making this TruthInTelevision.

* There was a miniseries in TheEighties called ''Amerika'', about a Soviet takeover of, well, guess where. It was ''hilarious''. Not intentionally.

[[AC: Real Life]]

* ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' had President Clark's administration, complete with the gestapo-style (with black armbands) Night Watch.

** Which is a bit silly, in this troper's opinion, since the Hard Left would tend more towards anarchy.

[[caption-width:311:Nazis? In my capitol? It's more likely than you think.]]

** It's not about socialism or communism or even facism; as stated above it's about the quest for POWER over other people, something that occurs in any and all political systems. The socialist/communist/facist aspects are just convenient means of exercising that power to control the population and perpetuate the system