History Main / HumansAreDivided

* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Most of the races of Middle-earth are shown to be loyal and united, the Elves are peacefully ruled by Lord Celebrimbor and TheHighKing Gil-galad, the Dwarves are ruled by king Durin III, and even the Orcs are blindly loyal to their chieftain, Adar. Same things cannot be said about Men. The Men of Numenor think they too good for everyone else, and are divided among themselves between those who hate and are still faithful to the Valar. There also the Low-Men of the Southlands, whose ancestors joined forces with Morgoth during the War of Wrath, and even in present day, a part of them sided with the Orcs led by Adar.

* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Most of the races of Middle-earth are shown to be loyal and united, the Elves are peacefully ruled by Lord Celebrimbor and the HighKing Gil-galad, the Dwarves are ruled by king Durin III, and even the Orcs are blindly loyal to their chieftain, Adar. Same things cannot be said about Men. The Men of Numenor think they too good for everyone else, and are divided among themselves between those who hate and are still faithful to the Valar. There also the Low-Men of the Southlands, whose ancestors joined forces with Morgoth during the War of Wrath, and even in present day, a part of them sided with the Orcs led by Adar.

So you have your fantasy setting. The elves are all ruled by the gracious [[TheHighQueen Queen Bona]], the dwarves are all loyal to the mighty King Stormhammer, and the [[TheHorde orcish hordes]] are all under the iron fist of [[EvilOverlord Lord Grimdark]]. And the humans?

* ''Literature/TheTripods'': Before the Masters conquered the Earth, humans regularly fought with each other as they do today. During the trilogy, humans from different national areas joined together and carried out several attacks to defeat the Masters. Shortly after the victory, the humans from different areas had already started squabbling with each other again, to the dismay of the narrator/protagonist.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' has humans as part of numerous different nations, the majority of which you will probably never see, counting TheEmpire, Bretonnia, the [[HornyVikings Chaos Hordes]], the enterally-squabbling city-states of Estalia, Tilea and the Border Princes, and distant nations such as Araby, the countless kingdoms of Ind, and Far Cathay. By contrast, all other races are united under a single government or, at least, a single unified culture each.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' has humans as part of numerous different nations, the majority of which you will probably never see. The main examples are TheEmpire, Bretonnia and the [[HornyVikings Chaos Hordes]]. By contrast, all other races are united under a single government or, at least, a single unified culture each.

Well, the humans have King James, King Seth, Queen Alex, President Ian, and [[TheArchmage Archmage]] Bill. And they all hate each other.

It also has to do with the writing of the other races. There are a number of reasons on why other races tend to be depicted with only 1 ruler (including but not limited to):
* The assumption that the fantasy races are tribes of like-minded people.
* The convenience of having 1 ruler for each fantasy race (other than humans in this case). As each race is represented by only 1 country, "racial problems" (including being AlwaysChaoticEvil) are automatically "country's problems" as well.

Please note that this is only for cases where the humans are divided, ''in stark contrast'' to other races/species in the setting. If ''everyone'' hates each other, and the humans aren't special, then it's not an example.

[[folder: Anime And Manga ]]

* Discussed in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. Pixis quotes to Eren the philosophy that humanity needs a common enemy to unite them in purpose. Eren dismisses it as naive, since humanity is currently at the brink of extinction due to the Titans, but are still as divided as ever.

[[folder: Fan Fiction ]]

* Discussed in ''FanFic/WorldwarWarOfEquals''. Atvar points out that there are plenty of Earth nations and that they may be able to use that as an advantage. Not so much since pretty much every nation on Earth is a member of an alliance of some kind since the fleet was spotted.
* Alluded to and averted in ''Fanfic/TheNegotiationsVerse''. Celestia, Luna and Shining Armor (if not most of the ponies) thought the war with the humans would be easy due to humanity's history of conflict, divisions over past grudges and petty grievances against each other. To put it lightly, they were [[DidntSeeThatComing taken by complete surprise]] and were ''very'' grossly unprepared for when the humans unanimously put their differences aside to defeat the Equestrians.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Men are the only race to fight on both sides of the War of the Ring. The good side has Men of Dale, Gondor and Rohan, along with Dwarves, Elves, Ents and Hobbits. The evil side has Men of Dunland, Harad, Khand, [=Rhûn=] and Umbar, along with Orcs and other AlwaysChaoticEvil races. There was also a long-standing rivalry between Rohan and Gondor that slowed the building of their alliance.
** This is inverted for the War of the Ring, in which ''only'' the Elves did not have warriors on both sides of the fight. This implies that there ''were'' orcs in alliance with the West, actually!
* Creator/JohnChristopher's ''Literature/TheTripods'' trilogy. Before the Masters conquered the Earth, humans regularly fought with each other as they do today. During the trilogy, humans from different national areas joined together and carried out several attacks to defeat the Masters. Shortly after the victory, the humans from different areas had already started squabbling with each other again, to the dismay of the narrator/protagonist.
* ''Spin Control'' by Chris Moriarty features a human-to-human example that is effectively ''Earthlings'' Are Divided. The bulk of human-controlled space is run by the United Nations, but Earth is hardly under a OneWorldOrder and its feuding nation-states present an unfamiliar wrinkle to offworlders trying to negotiate with Earth.
** John Scalzi's ''Literature/OldMansWar'' initially looks similar, although by ''The Last Colony'' it's apparent that the Colonial Union is just as divided; it's probable that the only reason none of the colonies have warred on each other is because the Colonial Union has all the ships.
* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' series, the Race invades earth during World War II. America, the Soviets, and Nazi Germany only work together just enough to keep the Race from conquering the entire planet. And even then, they're constantly at one another's throats.
** Notably, this is one of the reasons the Race has such a hard time conquering Earth: The Race is fully unified and hasn't faced serious warfare in a looong time, while humans are constantly sharpening their war-making abilities against each other. Plus all that warfare causes humans to [[HumansAdvanceSwiftly develop technology much more quickly]] than the Race, who are at about the same level of technology as they were 800 years ago.
* In the ''Literature/GarrettPI'' series, humans are the only race inclined to prolonged large-scale conventional or magical warfare. Other races have the occasional internal spat, but it's usually either at the level of tribal feuding or else decided by a single battle. Civilized non-humans are more inclined to fight members of other species, or as mercenaries for human factions, than their own kind.
* In ''Literature/EndersGame'', Earth is united under the Hegemon thanks to the threat of the Formics, but the counter-invasion fleet hasn't even reached the Formic homeworld by the time countries start plotting against one another. [[spoiler: Within 24 hours of the Formic's extinction there is a war on earth.]] There are references to Formic hive queens fighting against one another in the distant past, but an ancient hero called "the Great Queen, the Mother of All" learned to make peace and cooperate with other queens, those who couldn't or wouldn't cooperate were quickly destroyed by those who could, and by the time of the first book internal Formic warfare is a distant memory.
* Played with in ''Literature/TheCobraTrilogy''. Humans start out united under the Dominion of Man, but [[spoiler:the Cobra Worlds eventually break away to avoid a renewed war with the Trofts]]. It's also a recurring plot point that the [[spoiler:Trofts]] are even ''less'' unified. The Dominion starts out thinking they're an empire like themselves or the Minthisti, but they're actually a loose confederation of two-to-three star system "demesnes".
* Discussed in the ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' {{novelization}} ''Liberty's Crusade''. Mike Liberty states in the [[FramingDevice framing narrative]] that one of the main reasons the terrans can hold their own against the zerg and protoss at the tactical level is because they fought among themselves a lot before FirstContact. That's also the reason they ''can't'' hold their own at the strategic level: they're terrible at making the large coalitions required.
* ''{{Literature/Vampirocracy}}'': In addition to humans being [[HumansAreMorons moronic]] [[HumansAreBastards bastards]], the vampires believe that human-run governments will eventually lead to there not being any more humans. So they take over.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* In ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'', the story arc starts with a unified human government called the Earth Alliance, which encompasses Earth and every other planet colonized by humans. However, by the end of the arc (after the Earth Civil War), Mars (which had a sizeable separatist movement since before the civil war) and some other colonies are independent entities[[note]]though some post-Civil War stories has Mars as part of the Earth Alliance, suggesting that independence might have ended up meaning becoming a full self-governing member like the Russian Consortium rather than actually ceasing to be part of the EA[[/note]]. The Minbari also had a civil war, between castes in that case, but their race rather quickly reunified when that was settled. All other alien races were also under unified governments and stayed that way.
* In ''Franchise/StarTrek'' in general, when there is warfare within a planet, it is always described as "civil war", without regard to whether sovereign states are involved, in stark contrast to how we describe wars on Earth. In something of an {{inversion}}, not only are Trek's future humans so good at cooperating that they've put an end to most divisions among themselves, they've also [[TheFederation gotten really good at politically uniting with other species too]].
* In ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' the twelve colonies of Kobol weren't politically unified until the Cylon rebellion. Amongst the refugee fleet infighting seems to kill as many as the Cylons.
* ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'': The Systems Commonwealth fell thanks to the Nietzscheans, a HumanSubspecies, rebelling. Once the Commonwealth was shattered the Nietzscheans fragmented into hundreds of competing prides (the pride that had been running things was all but annihilated in the last battle of the war). Many of the assorted planetary governments during the Long Night are also human. In contrast the Vedrans all vanished, the Perseids retreated to their homeworld, the Than re-established their pre-Commonwealth Hegemony...
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'s'' resident HumanAliens, [[spoiler: who are heavily implied to be TransplantedHumans]] the Sebaceans, are divided into the highly militaristic Peacekeepers and the more peaceful Breakaway Colonies.

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* Downplayed in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''. Humans are all united under the Imperium, but it's in a constant state of civil war (being so large) and their worlds are constantly at risk of being annexed by the Tau or falling to [[TheLegionsOfHell Chaos]]. However they're nowhere near as bad as the Orks (who'll fight each other if they can't find anyone else to have a scrap with).
** In general, all of the factions have one reason or another to fight with each-other, to facilitate CivilWarcraft... however, humanity as a whole has the most unique factions, which do not always get along...
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' has humans as part of numerous different nations, the majority of which you will probably never see. The main examples are TheEmpire, Bretonnia and the [[HornyVikings Chaos Hordes]].
* The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'', of the twelve nations that formed from the breakup of the old Kingdom of Galifar, five are ruled by humans. Every other base race has one nation (except for the elves, but Aerenal -- which was never part of Galifar -- is isolationist and distant enough that for most Khorvairan political purposes there is only a single elven nation).
* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' has a lot of human empires. Due in part to the [[{{Precursors}} Ancient's]] habit of abducting primitive humans from earth and [[TransplantedHumans placing them on distant planets]]. During the reign of the Third Imperium there's the Imperium itself and its numerous client states, the semi-autonomous Solomani Confederation, the Zhodani Consulate, the Sword Worlders, the Darriens...
** Meanwhile the Hivers and K'kree have single unified states, while the Droyne live in scattered enclaves and the Aslan and Vargr seem incapable of forming stable large governments.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* While all the three races in ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' experience some CivilWarcraft the Terrans have it worst. Factions include the Terran Confederacy, the Sons of Korhal which become the Terran Dominion, Raynor's Raiders, and the United Earth Directorate. In contrast the Zerg are a HiveMind who only fight one another when the Overmind's power is disrupted, and the Protoss have one major division who set aside their differences and reunite by Brood War.
* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' had this during ''Warcraft II''. The world was expanded from one kingdom fighting off a horde of orcs in the first game, to multiple human kingdoms having to unite against a unified Horde despite hating each other (which leads to some betrayals). Meanwhile, the human Alliance also includes elves and dwarves that have no significant internal conflict. Future games move away from this, with the Horde fracturing, revealing that the orcs were fractured before the Horde, and also revealing major factional conflicts for the other races as well.
* The ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' series has this happen due to Earth's [[LostColony colonies getting cut off]] from the homeworld. The four nonhuman core factions are all under OneWorldOrder, but by ''X3: Terran Conflict'' there are four separate human governments: the Argon Federation, the Earth State (better known as the [[PlanetTerra Terrans]]), the Free State of Solara (otherwise known as Aldrin), and the [[AllThereInTheManual Hatikvah Free League]]. Earth's paranoia means that they and the Argon immediately become embroiled in a SpaceColdWar when Earth is reconnected to the [[PortalNetwork gate system]], which turns into a GuiltFreeExterminationWar by the next game, ''Albion Prelude'', after the Argon [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope suicide bomb]] Earth's [[RingworldPlanet Torus Aeternal]].
** Come ''Videogame/XRebirth'' and the shutdown of the [[PortalNetwork jumpgate network]], the three inhabited LostColony systems the player is in are lead exclusively by humans; the [[OneNationUnderCopyright Plutarch Mining Corporation]] in Albion, the Argon remnant in Omicron Lyrae (a former regional headquarters for the Argon), and the Republic of Cantera in [=DeVries=] (an Earth State colony). The ProudWarriorRace Split Dynasty is represented by the Family Rhonkar [[TheRemnant remnant]] who controls a single station in Xenon territory, and the ProudMerchantRace Teladi Union who controls a couple massive space stations in a sparsely developed system.
* At first glance, the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series appears as this, with the [[UnitedNationsIsASuperpower UNSC]] still in the process of putting down many colonial insurrections when the multi-species [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Covenant]] attacked. However, despite its unified government, the Covenant itself is rife with factionalism even within individual species, to the point where they don't even have a unified military- just individual martial organizations that often wage war against ''each other'' on behest of their puppet masters in the Covenant's various Ministries.
** Indeed, once the Covenant falls apart post-''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'', it splits into a multitude of opposing factions, many of which cut across species lines or represent specific sides in various intra-species conflicts; for example, the Arbiter's pro-human Elite-led successor state is opposed by Jul 'Mdama's anti-human Elite-led successor state, while the Brutes spend as much time fighting each other as they do against everyone else.
* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'' the GDI and Brotherhood of Nod are still fighting as the alien Scrin invade.
* PlayedWith in ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'', the Hivers, Tarka, and Zuul are more factional than humanity, but the Liir and Morrigi are more unified.
* ''VideoGame/EndlessSpace'' has three separate human factions; the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive capitalistic]] [[TheEmpire United Empire]], the [[LaResistance Pilgrims]] who broke off from the rule of the empire to pursue their own goals, and Horatio, who are all clones of a billionaire named Horatio, who decided to create an empire consisting entirely of himself. There's also a 4th human faction, the Sheredyn, but background-wise they aree the [[EliteArmy elite fleet]] of the United Empire and not a separate entity. The ''Disharmony'' ExpansionPack also introduces the Vaulters, descendants of the similarly named human faction in ''Endless Legend'', who specialize in science and defense.
** The [[{{Prequel}} sort-of-prequel]] ''Videogame/EndlessLegend'' has three human factions ([[AnimatedArmor and one formerly human]]) fighting with the unified alien races over control of the LostColony of Auriga. The Vaulters, [[ProudMerchantRace Roving Clans]], [[MagicFromTechnology Ardent Mages]], and Broken Lords. The Vaulters are the only ones who remember their origins, and their canonical victory results in them returning to space - where they become another human faction fighting for control of the galaxy in ''Videogame/EndlessSpace''.
* When ''VideoGame/EverQuestII'' first launched, there were only two starting locations: The Human cities of Qeynos and Freeport. Both of these cities were the only ones that survived through 500 years of wars, cataclysms that tore up the entire planet, and one of Norrath's moons exploding and raining down debris. All the other races had to abandon their homes for various reasons and flock to those cities. With the continent literally split apart and separated by rough seas, a Cold War scenario developed between all the good races of Qeynos and all the evil races who fled to Freeport.
* ''VideoGame/WildStar'' has Cassians and Exile Humans. Cassians are the proud humans of the Dominion, who revere the mysteriously-vanished Eldan as gods and fervently believe in their divine right to rule and spreading the Empire's goodwill throughout the galaxy. The Exile humans are the rebel faction that split away from the Dominion after a series of oppressive laws created a caste system that caused much dissent among those who found themselves on the lower end of the hierarchy. Both sides agree that reconciliation is impossible at this point.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' there are two preset empires of humans that can exist in the same game, the United Nations of Earth and the Commonwealth of Man (descendants of a LostColony). And every game mechanic relating to species treats them as one and the same, up to and including xenophobia and genocide. The UNE is a Xenophilic Fanatic Egalitarian Democracy, while the COM is a Xenophobic Fanatic Militarist Dictatorship.