History Main / WarComesHome

* UsefulNotes/WorldWarII:
** In an inadvertent example, the British Royal Air Force accidentally bombed Berlin while targeting a factory town. An enraged Hitler took this as a personal affront, especially since the raid shook civilian confidence in his regime and contradicted Nazi propaganda that the British were on the verge of defeat. He ordered the Luftwaffe to change targets from RAF airfields to London itself in retaliation. [[{{Irony}} Unknown to Hitler, the RAF were on the verge of breakdown due to unrelenting attacks, but the Luftwaffe changing targets to London gave them enough room to recover.]] Also of note, Hermann Goering would boast to his countrymen that if any enemy planes managed to bomb Germany they could call him Meyer. Once Allied bombers started doing just that, air-raid sirens were known as "Meyer's trumpets".
** UsefulNotes/JosephStalin was made aware that Axis military forces were amassing not far from the border the Soviet Union shared with Axis territory, but because of a combination of just as much contradictory information implying an innocent reason for the buildup (e.g. the Axis forces were mustering before moving to reinforce their troops in Africa), belief that the Axis forces were tied up in the war against the British Empire, and his own refusal to believe that UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler would be [[WhoWouldBeStupidEnough crazy enough to fight a war on two fronts]], he refused to believe that war had come until reports came in of Axis forces smashing through the Soviet border units.
* Britain raised the Home Guard in 1940 specifically to bolster a depleted Army and to fight off a German invasion from their own home towns and rural localities.[[note]]As the threat of invasion receded, the Home Guard was used more and more on rear-echelon duties to release younger soldiers to the front lines.[[/note]] Germany emulated this with its own Home Guard, the Volkssturm, composed of those who would in less desperate circumstances be too old or unfit to fight. The Volkssturm units very often fought and died in their own towns, and the siege of Koningsburg in East Prussia went on to the very last gasp owing to its own Volkssturmers being reluctant to surrender their city to the Russians.
* The [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan Empire of Japan]] seemed near invincible coming out of the 1930s', as they had conquered Manchuria, and a good chunk of China, and set their sights on the Asian possessions of the European Empires. Once the Axis Powers were created, and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII was in full swing, Nazi Germany took the European countries themselves, while Japan took over their Asian colonies in a Blitzkrieg operation of their own. When the United States cut off Imperial Japan's supply of materials, chief among them oil, Pearl Harbor was attacked with the intent to destroy the [=U.S.=] Pacific fleet, and to keep them from interfering in their affairs within the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." In retaliation, the Doolittle Raid was given the go ahead to show that Tokyo itself was vulnerable to attack, and after a brutal Island Hopping campaign that lasted from 1942-1945, the Japanese Empire was beaten back, and the United States Army Air Force used the closest outlying Japanese islands to launch hundreds of bombing missions that reduced most of Japan's major cities to ashes. Operation Downfall, the proposed invasion of the Japanese home islands, was planed but ultimately cancelled after the the Imperial Government capitulated following [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] and a Soviet Blitzkrieg campaign that wreaked havoc in occupied Manchuria.

* The [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan Empire of Japan]] seemed near invincible coming out of the 1930s', as they had conquered Manchuria, and a good chunk of China, and set their sights on the Asian possessions of the European Empires. Once the Axis Powers were created, and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII was in full swing, Nazi Germany took the European countries themselves, while Japan took over their Asian colonies in a Blitzkrieg operation of their own. When the United States cut off Imperial Japan's supply of materials, chief among them oil, Pearl Harbor was attacked with the intent to destroy the [=U.S.=] Pacific fleet, and to keep them from interfering in their affairs within the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." In retaliation, the Doolittle Raid was given the go ahead to show that Tokyo itself was vulnerable to attack, and after a brutal Island Hoping campaign that lasted from 1942-1945, the Japanese Empire was beaten back, and the United States Army Air Force used the closest outlying Japanese islands to launch hundreds of bombing missions that reduced most of Japan's major cities to ashes. Operation Downfall, the proposed invasion of the Japanese home islands, was planed but ultimately cancelled after the the Imperial Government capitulated following [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] and a Soviet Blitzkrieg campaign that wreaked havoc in occupied Manchuria.

This trope is usually the darkest point in a narrative, but there is also a happier variant, when it's a form of HeroicRematch, with the protagonists reclaiming a hometown/country that had previously been conquered. Sometimes the defenders are able to use their HomeFieldAdvantage to fight back which can turn the tide. Can also involve the sister trope of kicking OccupiersOutOfOurCountry if the liberating forces are successful, and will often happen in a BackFromTheBrink plot. Should this occur at great loss, expect them to want revenge [[PayEvilUntoEvil by pressing a counter-invasion against the former invaders]].

** In a much more general sense, what causes the usual FallingIntoTheCockpit scenario for a number of Gundam protagonists is the fighting making its way to their home colony.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/RedDawn1984 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/red_dawn_war_comes_home_2.png]]]]

War coming to the home front, whether that be the hometown, capital, or a major city of a nation, collection of nations, or even an entire planet is something that makes the combat and fighting extra personal. Maybe you have relatives, family, and close friends that were never supposed to be involved now victims of the war and possible casualties. Maybe the fighting has [[StormingTheBeaches come to the beaches]], the streets, and the very homes you wanted to protect. Either way, this battle or series of battles carries a personal stake for the heroes. It's one thing to battle BigBad in their hometown or in an unrelated front that you don't have any immediate connection to. But to see your own home being ravaged? Expect the hero to have an intense wave of panic hit them as they are simultaneously fighting on the front lines while also worrying about noncombatants and places that are dear to them. War coming home is one of the worst things that can happen to you.

Often a direct reason for many as to why WarIsHell, seeing that this causes civilians to wake up to the horrors of combat and realize [[WarIsGlorious war isn't fun or glorious at all]]. See also ArmiesAreEvil, MoralEventHorizon, InItsHourOfNeed for when a leader stays to fight in their homeland and LastStand which can overlap depending on the scope of the conflict. This trope can allow for the creation of both LaResistance and LesCollaborateurs, especially if the country's government falls in the process of the enemy invasion. Compare CapitalOffensive which can apply should the hero be a resident or have family living in the capital now under attack. In the darkest stories, in which [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs the base of operations could get attacked or even destroyed]] expect an inevitable DayOfTheJackboot scenario should the home country fall, especially if the invaders are TheEmpire or some variant thereof that can successfully crush resistance and pillage the homeland of the hero(es). Not to be confused with FightingForAHomeland, though it can be a result of this trope, with the exile's own home having been invaded or destroyed and forced to flee to their new homeland as a result. In this scenario, the hero(es) have seen what happens if they fail and are thus determined to protect their new home at all costs to prevent this atrocity from happening again. The absolute worst case scenario is when your home isn't just attacked, not even invaded, but completely and utterly destroyed to the point where it ceases to exist while the hero can only watch. For this depressing outcome, see WatchingTroyBurn.

Can overlap with DoomedHometown, where the town's destruction is the hero's impetus to begin their adventure. In video games, this can overlap with DungeonTown, especially if TheHero's hometown is raided by a powerful army. See also UrbanWarfare and RememberTheAlamo. Compare and contrast TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive.

* ''Film/{{Red Dawn|1984}}'': The very plot is centered on this trope. High school students living in rural Colorado are invaded by the Soviet Union and her allies. They are forced to fight a guerilla war against the occupying force as the ''Wolverines'' without realizing that this invasion was but another front in the now raging WorldWarIII. TheRemake, ''Film/{{Red Dawn|2012}}'', follows a similar plot, but with the North Koreans invading Washington State. The established Wolverines at the end of the film even mention the spiel about how invaders from other countries always act like they're they heroes "liberating" the country.