History Main / IDidWhatIHadToDo

* After UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, Italian General Luigi Cadorna, best known for his draconian discipline measures, [[AttackAttackAttack inability to conceive a different tactic from the frontal attack]], practically establishing a dictatorship in everything but name and [[CurbStompBattle getting crushed at Caporetto]] before being sacked, wrote a book in which he justified almost all his actions with necessity. Doing only frontal attacks? There was neither time nor resources to retrain the soldiers for different tactics, and he ''still'' managed to partly do it ''and'' create the most feared special forces of the war. Retiring most troops and all airplanes from Libya, thus crippling the efforts to crush the Senussi rebellion while it was still weak? He needed them to fight Austria-Hungary, and they could reconquer Libya relatively easily once the war was won. The dictatorship? Necessary to fight a war without being crippled by Italy's {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s that caused the Italian Army to enter the war underequipped, and he could have taken over and established an actual dictatorship whenever he wanted (he actually got some flak from Mussolini for backing out of a coup attempt). That draconian discipline? It had to be done. What's worse, is that, aside for the draconian discipline, [[JerkasshasAPoint ''he was right'']].

* This is Franchise/{{Batman}}'s tacit justification for every time the Justice League finds out his plans to take them down should it be needed. Interesting because Batman helps undo them anyway. He also encourages this state of mind in his protégés, especially Tim (among others, in [[BadFuture the form]] of a DangerousSixteenthBirthday worthy of the greatest [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bastards]]).

* ''ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}'': One of Iron Man's bigger refrains through the event is this. Problem is, open communication is ''not'' Tony's forte, so he never says why he's doing it (or at least, not the actual, proper reason)... until it's too late and everyone hates him.

* ''ComicBook/CivilWar'': One of Iron Man's bigger refrains through the event is this. Problem is, open communication is ''not'' Tony's forte, so he never says why he's doing it (or at least, not the actual, proper reason)... until it's too late and everyone hates him.

* After UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, Italian General Luigi Cadorna, best known for his draconian discipline measures, [[AttackAttackAttack inability to conceive a different tactic from the frontal attack]], practically establishing a dictatorship in everything but name and [[CurbStompBattle getting crushed at Caporetto]] before being sacked, wrote a book in which he justified almost all his actions with necessity. Doing only frontal attacks? There was neither time nor resources to retrain the soldiers for different tactics, and he ''still'' managed to partly do it ''and'' create the most feared special forces of the war. Retiring most troops and all airplanes from Libya, thus crippling the efforts to crush the Senussi rebellion while it was still weak? He needed them to fight Austria-Hungary, and they could reconquer Libya relatively easily once the war was won. The dictatorship? Necessary to fight a war without being crippled by Italy's {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s that caused the Italian Army to enter the war underequipped, and he could have taken over and established an actual dictatorship whenever he wanted (he actually got some flak from Mussolini for backing out of a coup attempt). That draconian discipline? It had to be done. What's worse, is that, aside for the draconian discipline, ''he was right''.

* During his recent interview with Sean Penn and Kate [=DeCastillio=], notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman listed this as the reason he entered the drug business and ended up heading his cartel.

Sometimes a decent person has to do something bad because it is the only way to prevent something ''worse'' from happening. 'I Did What I Had To Do' generally involves an after-the-fact justification for [[NecessarilyEvil morally questionable]] [[ShootTheDog actions]]. The culprit presents this statement when he's confronted with a "WhatWereYouThinking" or "WhatTheHellHero" reaction from someone (particularly TheHeart) to whom he owes an explanation.

* A big theme of ''ComicBook/StrangeAdventures2020'' is debating just how far this mentality can be pushed, even if the circumstances are an unequivocal matter of life and death (in this case, survival, or ''[[KillEmAll apocalyptic genocide]]''). ComicBook/AdamStrange has retired after saving his home planet of Rann from the Pykkt invasion, but many begin questioning not only whether or not his actions there were really as [[PlanetaryRomance clear-cut and romantic]] as [[WrittenByTheWinners he wrote in his memoir]], but whether [[{{Deconstruction}} they constituted as war crimes]]. Even when the series confirms him doing some ''very'' questionable things, the narrative [[BlackAndGrayMorality still tenuously sides with Adam given the sheer apocalyptic threat laid before him]]... [[spoiler:at least until it's revealed that he made the conflict ''very'' personal by faking his daughter's death and using her as a bargaining chip for a deal with the Pykkts. His wife Alanna, who previously defended his actions, is ''furious'', to say the least]].

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Upon observing the beheaded corpse of Charles I, UsefulNotes/OliverCromwell is said to have bowed his head and remarked "cruel necessity". Whether this really happened, or it was invented as propaganda to justify Cromwell's autocratic stewardship of England and his harrowing of Ireland afterwards is a matter of historical debate.
* Music/MichaelJackson's father, Joe Jackson, described this as being his mindset when it came out that his training regimen for [[Music/TheJacksonFive Michael and his siblings]] was not only exhausting, but reached a point of being mentally and allegedly even physically abusive. His children weren't allowed to [[CallingParentsByTheirName refer to him as "Dad" during rehearsals]], and it has been said by some that if they continued to mess up they would be slapped with a wooden rod, though the truth of this is uncertain. For his part, Joe's reasoning behind this was that he knew Gary, Indiana was considered a [[ViceCity slumhole town]] for good reason, and he refused to let his children fall into a gang like many other poor kids did at the time. His mindset was that it was better his children grew up to hate him and be successes than to love him and die in a shoot-out early in their lives. Even if they disagreed with his methods, Michael and most of his siblings did at least grow to forgive their father in the end.
* UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan said, on the bombing of Libya in 1986, "[[UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi Colonel Qadhafi]] is not only an enemy of the United States. His record of subversion and aggression against the neighboring States in Africa is well documented and well known. He has ordered the murder of fellow Libyans in countless countries. He has sanctioned acts of terror in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, as well as the Western Hemisphere. Today we have done what we had to do. If necessary, we shall do it again."
* The Manhattan Project and subsequent use of the atomic bomb against Hiroshima and Nagasaki and all that have come in their wake weighed heavily in the minds of those who contributed to it, even as they remained firm that they would do it again if need be:
** In television interviews in the years after World War II, UsefulNotes/RobertOppenheimer always looks haunted when discussing the moral implications of the project. Even though he believed it better that the US develop the bomb first before Nazi Germany did, he and other scientists working on the project knew well what exactly the success of it would mean:
--->'''Oppenheimer:''' We knew the world would not be the same. Few people laughed, few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Literature/BhagavadGita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.
** UsefulNotes/HarryTruman stood by his decision to use atomic bombs against Japan, saying "I knew what I was doing when I stopped the war... I have no regrets and, under the same circumstances, I would do it again." In private diaries, however, he expressed some regrets and uncertainty.
** Paul Tibbets, the pilot of ''Enola Gay'' that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima said in 2005 that "If you give me the same circumstances, I'd do it again". Crew members of ''Enola Gay'' and ''Bockscar'' (the plane that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki) said similar things, except Robert Lewis, co-pilot of the ''Enola Gay'', who had a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment.
* This is actually the law whenever an aircraft of any stripe has an emergency. [[TheCaptain The commander of the craft]] is authorized to do what he has to do to minimize the harm and prevent catastrophe, and any property damage or deaths that happen as a result of this are legally just collateral damage. Specifically, the US regulations say (as an example) "In an in-flight emergency requiring immediate action, the pilot in command may deviate from any rule of this part to the extent required to meet that emergency." but it follows it with "Each pilot in command who deviates from a rule under paragraph (b) of this section shall, upon the request of the Administrator, send a written report of that deviation to the Administrator." Short version: You can do what you have to do, but you better have a good reason.
* Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli wrote in ''Literature/ThePrince'' that a Prince should not let his morals impede the running of a state.
* UsefulNotes/JosefStalin was (in)famous for using this as justifying his actions. Along with the general claim that he was creating a new socialist utopia, Stalin also specifically said that the USSR had to industrialize, and quickly, or else it would be overwhelmed by the rest of the world. He said the following [[LudicrousPrecision exactly 10 years, 3 months and 12 days]] from the beginning of [[ThoseWackyNazis Operation Barbarossa]]:
-->We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in '''ten years'''. Either we do it, or they will crush us.
* During World War II, in the Pacific Theater, a fighter pilot crashed upon landing and was trapped in the burning wreckage. The first officer to arrive on the scene, hearing the pilot's screams as he was burned alive and knowing that the firefighting equipment to put out the fire and extricate him from the wreck would never get there in time, [[MercyKill promptly drew his sidearm and killed the pilot, sparing him an agonizing death]]. There wasn't even any talk of a court-martial, as everyone knew that he'd basically had the balls to do something unpleasant that had to be done.
** A very similar thing happened during the UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco earthquake of 1906. A man was trapped by falling debris, with quake-started fires getting closer. A lone bystander who heard his cries for help attempted to free him, but was unable to, and could not stay much longer due to the approaching fire. The trapped man begged the bystander to kill him (he was, as most people of the time were, armed) to prevent suffering an agonizing, drawn-out death. The bystander complied, then went and found the nearest policemen to turn himself in. After listening to his explanation of the situation, the policemen (busy as they were dealing with the aftermath of the quake) said he had done the right thing and sent him on his way.
* After the surrender of the French in World War II, there was considerable concern of what would happen to the French Navy. Many French ships were, at that time, based in ports outside of France itself, or in Southern France, which was not yet under direct enemy occupation. The British were determined that these ships not fall into enemy hands, as that would drastically shift the balance of naval power, particularly in the Mediterranean. While other countries invaded by the Nazis i.e. Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, and Greece, had surrendered, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere many ships from those nations escaped to fight on with the Allies]], but most French ships refused, either because they wished to abide by the terms of the Armistice, fear of [[IHaveYourWife Nazi reprisal]], or simple stubbornness and national pride. The ships in British-controlled ports were persuaded [[JoinOrDie (sometimes at gunpoint)]] to join, but the powerful French battle squadron at Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria, refused multiple options, including joining the British, disabling themselves, or sailing to the USA and being interned. Orders came for the British battle squadron to open fire on their former allies, sinking one French warship and damaging five, and killing 1,297 French sailors. Both Winston Churchill and the British commander, Admiral James Somerville, expressed deep regret for the situation, but felt that there was nothing else they could do.
* After UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, Italian General Luigi Cadorna, best known for his draconian discipline measures, [[AttackAttackAttack inability to conceive a different tactic from the frontal attack]], practically establishing a dictatorship in everything but name and [[CurbStompBattle getting crushed at Caporetto]] before being sacked, wrote a book in which he justified almost all his actions with necessity. Doing only frontal attacks? There was neither time nor resources to retrain the soldiers for different tactics, and he ''still'' managed to partly do it ''and'' create the most feared special forces of the war. Retiring most troops and all airplanes from Libya, thus crippling the efforts to crush the Senussi rebellion while it was still weak? He needed them to fight Austria-Hungary, and they could reconquer Libya relatively easily once the war was won. The dictatorship? Necessary to fight a war without being crippled by Italy's {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s that caused the Italian Army to enter the war underequipped, and he could have taken over and established an actual dictatorship whenever he wanted (he actually got some flak from Mussolini for backing out of a coup attempt). That draconian discipline? It had to be done. What's worse, is that, aside for the draconian discipline, ''he was right''.
* Following UsefulNotes/RichardNixon's resignation in 1974, his successor UsefulNotes/GeraldFord gave him a pardon for any and all wrongdoings he may have committed as president, saying "Our long national nightmare is over." [[NeverLiveItDown This proved to be a very controversial decision]], and he knew it, [[VindicatedByHistory but now many say he did the right thing]] as Nixon's trial would have further divided and weakened the country, especially on the eve of its Bicentennial. As Ford put it in his 1979 autobiography ''A Time to Heal'':
-->'''Ford:''' America needed recovery, not revenge. The hate had to be drained and the healing begun.
* During his recent interview with Sean Penn and Kate [=DeCastillio=], notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman listed this as the reason he entered the drug business and ended up heading his cartel.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Machinima]]
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': The excuse of the Director of Project Freelancer for performing his morally ambiguous experiments. Subverted in that for all his bluster about protecting humanity from alien conquerors, his project not only exclusively fought other humans, but the whole project was just a means to try and resurrect his dead wife.
* ''Fanfic/HalfLifeFullLifeConsequences'':
** John Freeman claims he [[RougeAnglesOfSatin "MUST DO WHAT HAS TOBE DONE"]],
** "its a good day to do what has to be done by me and help my brother to defeat the enemys!"
** The sequel is even subtitled "What Has Tobe Done."
[[/folder]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Blake once tells her team that [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist Adam]] started off as a good person who became bad over time and by degrees. She said it would start as accidents that [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil escalated over time]]. In the Volume 6 Character Short, flashbacks over time [[StartOfDarkness show this descent]] into villainy. When Adam kills a human who is [[FantasticRacism trying to kill]] Ghira, [[GentleGiant Ghira]] is horrified by the unnecessary death and Adam also looks disturbed. However, [[WellIntentionedExtremist Sienna]] and the other [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]] surprise him by praising him as a hero. When Blake later challenges him about the increasing frequency of human deaths occurring on his missions, she asks him how many more there will be. Adam states he doesn't know because he's out there risking his life for the [[LaResistance Faunus cause]], and people get hurt when that happens.

* In [[http://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/big-red Big Red]], a story in ''Wiki/TheWanderersLibrary'' a village offers children's hearts to a monster attacking them.

* The 6th episode of the Wiki/TVTropes original webseries ''WebVideo/EchoChamber'' has Tom claim that, when he dumped his [[PsychoExGirlfriend ex-girlfriend]], he was just doing what he had to do. [[spoiler: For once, it seems like [[{{Jerkass}} he]]'s [[AssholeVictim telling]] [[UnreliableNarrator the]] [[JerkassHasAPoint truth]].]]

* A common theme of the Wiki/SCPFoundation, but by far the most extreme example is the [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-231 SCP-231 project.]] Pregnant girl of undetermined age carrying what appears to be [[FetusTerrible some monster]] that, if birthed, will be TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. The only way to prevent the birth? [[spoiler: Procedure 110-Montauk, which (while never actually described ''what'' it entails), must be carried out once every 24 hours by 6 Class D Personnel]] Yes, it ''is'' as bad as you think. No, the girl cannot be put out of her misery. No, the girl cannot be drugged into unconsciousness. She has to be fully awake for the procedure to work. In fact, she is routinely given amnesia drugs so that she can't ever get used to it. Yes, it is just as horrifying a prospect as you could imagine. [[spoiler:A hidden message on the page claims the Foundation has no intention of trying to save the girl and want whatever is inside her right where it is]].

-->-- '''[[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark,]]''' ''ComicBook/CivilWar''

[[caption-width-right:349:[[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Well he got them to where they needed to go!]]]]

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': The excuse of the Director of Project Freelancer for performing his morally ambiguous experiments.

* After the surrender of the French in World War II, there was considerable concern of what would happen to the French Navy. Many French ships were, at that time, based in ports outside of France itself, or in Southern France, which was not under direct enemy occupation at the time. The British were determined that these ships not fall into enemy hands, as that would drastically shift the balance of naval power, particularly in the Mediterranean. While other countries invaded by the Nazis i.e. Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, and Greece, had surrendered, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere many ships from those nations escaped to fight on with the Allies]], but most French ships refused, either because they wished to abide by the terms of the Armistice, fear of [[IHaveYourWife Nazi reprisal]], or simple stubbornness and national pride. The ships in British-controlled ports were persuaded (sometimes at gunpoint) to join, but the powerful French battle squadron at Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria, refused multiple options, including joining the British, disabling themselves, or sailing to the USA and being interned. Orders came for the British battle squadron to open fire on their former allies, sinking one French warship and damaging five, and killing 1,297 French sailors. Both Winston Churchill and the British commander, Admiral James Somerville, expressed deep regret for the situation, but felt that there was nothing else they could do.

* After the surrender of the French in World War II, there was considerable concern of what would happen to the French Navy. Many French ships were, at that time, based in ports outside of France itself, or in Southern France, which was not under direct enemy occupation at the time. The British were determined that these ships not fall into enemy hands, as that would drastically shift the balance of naval power, particularly in the Mediterranean. While other countries invaded by the Nazis i.e. Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, and Greece, had surrendered, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere many ships from those nations escaped to fight on with the Allies]], but most French ships refused, either because they wished to abide by the terms of the Armistice, fear of [[WeHaveYourWife Nazi reprisal]], or simple stubbornness and national pride. The ships in British-controlled ports were persuaded (sometimes at gunpoint) to join, but the powerful French battle squadron at Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria, refused multiple options, including joining the British, disabling themselves, or sailing to the USA and being interned. Orders came for the British battle squadron to open fire on their former allies, sinking one French warship and damaging five, and killing 1,297 French sailors. Both Winston Churchill and the British commander, Admiral James Somerville, expressed deep regret for the situation, but felt that there was nothing else they could do.

* A big theme of ''ComicBook/StrangeAdventures2020'' is debating just how far this mentality can be pushed, even if the circumstances are a matter of life and death. ComicBook/AdamStrange has retired after saving his home planet of Rann from the Pykkt invasion, but many begin questioning not only whether or not his actions there were really as [[PlanetaryRomance clear-cut and romantic]] as [[WrittenByTheWinners he wrote in his memoir]], but whether [[{{Deconstruction}} they constituted as war crimes]]. Even when the series confirms him doing some ''very'' questionable things, the narrative [[BlackAndGrayMorality still tenuously sides with Adam given the sheer apocalyptic threat laid before him]]... [[spoiler:at least until it's revealed that he made the conflict ''very'' personal by faking his daughter's death and using her as a bargaining chip for a deal with the Pykkts. His wife Alanna, who previously defended his actions, is ''furious'', to say the least]].

-->'''Oppenheimer:''' We knew the world would not be the same. Few people laughed, few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Literature/BhagavadGita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', Optimus says this when he finally realizes that the war will never end until he kills Megatron. Since it's Optimus, [[spoiler: he obviously doesn't go through with it. He gets interrupted when the literal Transformer Devil wakes up]]

-->[[spoiler:'''Ratchet:''' All of our struggles and energon spilled and countless sacrifices, for '''''NOTHING'''''!?\\

* In the finale of ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' Optimus, Rattrap, Cheetor and Botanica were barricaded inside Megatron's fortress while Megatron and his Vehicons were trying to get in, but were unable to as long as the shields were up. Stalemate. However, being separated from the soil meant Botanica (Rattrap's love interest) was losing her life energy. Rattrap opened a small hole in the shields in order to get Botanica out and back to the ground - which worked, but which Megatron immediately picked up on and used to destroy the base. Optimus and Cheetor flipped out at Rattrap, who used this as his justification.
** Optimus ended up dropping the issue while noting that the shields would have failed sooner or later after the initial flip out.