History Main / ShotAtDawn

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowing_from_a_gun Blowing from a gun]] is a particularly gory and degrading variant that replaces the squad of riflemen with a ''cannon''. Popular among colonialist regimes, particularly UsefulNotes/TheRaj.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowing_from_a_gun Blowing from a gun]] is a particularly gory and degrading variant that replaces the squad of riflemen with a ''cannon''. Popular among colonialist regimes, particularly TheRaj.

* In ''[[Anime/CaptainHarlock Arcadia of My Youth]]'', the VichyEarth government manages to capture the RebelLeader Maaya and [[Anime/QueenEmeraldas Emeraldas]] (whom they suspect to be in cahoots with the rebels) and puts them both for public execution by firing squad in an attempt to lure Harlock to their rescue (as Emeraldas is his longtime friend, while Maaya is strongly {{implied|LoveInterest}} to be his OneTrueLove). He, however, refuses to betray their shared ideals for personal sentiments and stays in orbit, while a group of former soldiers whom he managed to sway to his side earlier [[BigDamnHeroes comes to Maaya and Emeraldas' rescue]] in the nick of time instead. The skirmish doesn't go too well for them, however, as the mutineers' leader Zoll is killed, Maaya is fatally wounded, and Emeraldas is shot in the face (but survives, thanks to her badass factor) by the soldiers before they all can escape.
* This fate ''narrowly'' befalls Doraemon and gang (save for Suneo and Shizuka whom were elsewhere) in ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasLittleSpaceWar'', when they were arrested alongside their alien ally Papi by the forces of the local dictator, General Gilmore. Everyone gets caught alive and are to be shot by Gilmore's firing squad, but then the shrink-light's effects on the heroes starts to wear off.
* ''[[Anime/AfterWarGundamX Gundam X]]''

* ''Anime/IrresponsibleCaptainTylor''. Captain Tylor faces execution by firing squad after handing back the Empress Azalyn whom he had prisoner. [[spoiler:Showing his usual luck, he's not only saved at the last moment by an all-out Raalgon attack, the UPSF brass give him total command of their forces as he seems to be the only one who can get them out of this.]]

-> '''Prisoner''': (singing) "How I'd love to see someone else in my place!"

* An early RunningGag in ''ComicBook/{{Sturmtruppen}}'' had some unfortunate soldiers sentenced to the firing squad [[DisproportionateRetribution often for silly reasons.]]
* ComicBook/{{Tintin}} faces this in ''Cigars of the Pharaoh'' (where his death is faked) and ''The Broken Ear'' (where his execution is repeatedly put off due to political turmoil), as do Thompson and Thomson in ''Tintin and the Picaros'' (where they get a conventional JustInTime rescue).

[[folder:Web Comics]]

As this is a death trope, '''[[Administrivia/SpoilersOff beware of spoilers]]'''.

** Imitated by Manet in his [[http://communitas.princeton.edu/blogs/writingart6/archives/images/The%20Execution%20of%20Maximilian.jpg "The Execution of Maximillian."]]
** And by Picasso in his [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_in_Korea "Massacre in Korea."]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''The Third of May 1808'', Creator/FranciscoDeGoya]]

* Happens twice in ''Series/Soap''. In Season 3, Burt and Saul use their [[Main/TeleporterAccident transporter]] (which also appears to be a ''Main/TimeMachine'', since they also end up in ancient Rome) to escape and accidentally end up in front of a firing squad. In Season 4, the final episode has Jessica [[Main/BolivianArmyEnding facing a firing squad]] due to her relationship with the revolutionary leader [[Main/FunnyForeigner El Puerco]].

* This was a very popular method of execution during both world wars, by both sides. It was particularly used against defectors to the other side, the Germans doing this to [[LaResistance resistance movements]] and the Allies doing this to LesCollaborateurs once they liberated occupied zones. In fact, Vidkun Quisling, [[TheQuisling the original Quisling]], was executed this way in Norway after the war. But for the ''really'' bad guys, who were tried at Nuremberg in 1946, the Allies insisted on execution by hanging instead of by firing squad, as they felt that the condemned Nazis should not even receive the dignity of being executed like a soldier and to emphasise that their crimes were against civilians as well as soldiers; Hermann Göring was so distraught at being sentenced to death this way that he [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled killed himself with a cyanide pill]].

* In ''ComicBook/JudgeColt'' #4, Colt investigates a series of Sandbox/ApparentlyUnrelatedMurders where the killer [[CallingCard left a Civil War medal on each of the bodies]]. Colt eventually learns that the men [[spoiler:all served on a firing squad that executed a soldier for dereliction of duty during the Civil War. The killer is the soldier's son extracting revenge]].

* In ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'', Admiral Wolfgang Mittenmyer will not hesitate to have his own soldiers executed if he catches them abusing the population of a conquered world.

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': A group of Mechanicsburg bakers gets rounded up during the seige, and the commanding officer of the soldiers who managed it orders them "treated with respect," lined up and shot. [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20111118 The Doom Bell knocks out the invaders and the bakers decide to tie up the rank and file soldiers, and treat their officer with "respect".]]

As this is a death trope, '''beware of spoilers'''.

-->'''Sylvester:''' (''to us'') It's a good thing I have nine lives. With ''this'' army, I'll need 'em!

* ''Fiesta'' is a 1995 French film set during the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar in which the eighteen year-old son of an aristocrat, before going to fight the DirtyCommunists, is assigned to a firing squad to toughen him up.

* ''Series/{{Quiller}}''. In "Any Last Request", a British spy is captured and will face the firing squad, and Quiller is assigned to rescue him. The problem is that a rescue would be all but admitting the man was a spy, so Quiller is ordered to [[StagedShooting fake his death]] and ''then'' rescue him.

* One episode of ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' (the full-episode story "The Cycling Tour") features the Soviets trying to execute Reg Pither via the firing squad. [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy The firing squad misses]]. [[WhatAnIdiot Repeatedly]].

* Averted for the most part in ''{{TabletopGame/Warhammer 40000}}''. While there are mentions of firing squads being used, the vast majority of Commissars will use the ever-reliable DramaticGunCock->BoomHeadshot to restore morale, confidence, and enthusiasm among the troops. One comic where a planetary governor is convicted of treason gets the sentence read to him and executed within five minutes.

In order to qualify for this trope, there must be a firing ''squad''; execution by a single gunshot doesn't count.