Basic Trope: Interplanetary colonies declare a war of independence on their mother world.
- Straight: After increasing tension over Earth's repressive authority, a growing colony on Mars declares independence from Earth. In response, Earth sends an army to Mars to reclaim the colony, triggering a war.
- Exaggerated: Mars and the other planets of the Terran Empire declare war on Earth as a result of Earth's policies towards Mars.
- Downplayed: The war is deliberately small in scale and based on devolved authority rather than absolute independence.
- Justified:
- Earth is governed by an oppressive and corrupt regime that the interstellar colonists sought to escape. The authorities on Earth fear the result of an independent human colony on both their home population and other colonies they may have, and seek to quash the rebellion.
- Earth isn't oppressing the colonies, but the colony bigwigs are using the fanatics who sincerely believe they're being oppressed to increase their own power at any cost.
- The leaders of colonies want to be able to continue to oppress the masses, so they rebel against Earth when it seems like the Earth-based government is about to abolish debt-bondage - the main source of expendable labor for colonial aristocrats.
- Implied:
- Mars is independent, and its capital city features a memorial honoring Martian soldiers in a similar pose to Revolutionary War American soldiers.
- The hero's mentor, Star-fleet Captain W.T. Grant, is mentioned as having "saved the Terran Commonwealth" in a war 65 years ago and is frequently called a "Loyalist Veteran". It's later revealed to the audience that the war started because a coalition of colonies rebelled in the hopes of winning their independence, and that Captain Grant is seen as a hero because his actions won a major battle that turned the tide of the war in Earth's favor and lead to the rebellion's eventual defeat.
- Inverted:
- A military force from a human colony established on Mars invades and subjugates Earth, prompting Earth to form a resistance movement against the occupiers.
- Earth fights for independence from the Human Federation, whose capital has been established on Mars.
- Subverted: Tensions between Earth and Mars appear to be about to trigger a war, but cooler heads prevail; a peace settlement acceptable to both parties is negotiated, ending the crisis.
- Double Subverted: Although a peace settlement is negotiated to prevent war, one or none of the parties involved are pleased with the results; the treaty breaks down, and war is declared.
- Parodied:
- The Mars colony makes a big show of declaring independence. The Earth authorities had forgotten they were there.
- The Earth authorities don't particularly care about the Mars colony's independence, but the Mars colony becomes so obnoxious about provoking a response from Earth that Earth eventually ends up sending the smallest and most ineffective token response they can think of just to shut them up.
- More than a century after the rebellion was defeated, Martians still display Confederate Colonies of Mars flags and say "The Red Planet shall rise again". When pressed about the unsavory motives of the Confederacy, Martians insist that the Systemic Civil War was about "planets' rights" and had nothing to do with slavery.
- Zig Zagged: Tensions between Earth and Mars nearly reach a breaking point, but then the two planets hold a peace conference... which is sabotaged when the delegates are assassinated. However, the government of Mars disavows any connection to the assassins and offers to help Earth's government in tracking them down. It turns out that the whole thing was orchestrated by Earth as an excuse to garrison more troops on the planet, which does not make the local populace happy...
- Averted:
- The Mars colony remains attached to Earth.
- The nature of space travel and the distance between planets means that the Mars colonists are essentially cut off from Earth to begin with; there's no 'war of independence' because the authorities on Earth and Mars accept that both are to all intents and purposes independent from each other to start with. Any political ties between Earth and Mars are largely symbolic from the start.
- The Earth authorities are willing to let Mars secede; the question of Mars' independence is settled through a referendum rather than a violent revolt.
- Enforced:The writer wants to do a science fiction version of the American War of Independence or a similar historical revolutionary / civil war conflict.
- Lampshaded:
- "Five hundred years ago, the people of America faced the same choice the people of Mars now do. They fought for their freedom and prevailed. We shall also."
- "Four score and seven centuries ago, our fathers brought forth in this galaxy a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live ..."
- Invoked: Although Earth and Mars aren't really on the best of terms, the citizens of Mars largely don't care as long as Earth doesn't rule with too heavy a hand. Therefore, an extremist faction on Mars takes it upon itself to provoke Earth into taking extreme measures, banking on the belief that this will trigger a popular uprising.
- Exploited: The war is a perfect distraction for another faction to take advantage of a weakened Earth.
- Defied:
- The Earth is aware that some of its policies are unpopular on Mars and changes them to avert a general revolt.
- Mars citizens arrest (or kill, in extreme cases) extremists that are looking to instigate a war over rights in order to keep the peace with Earth.
- Earth, fearing possible uprisings in the future, has applied the Vetinari Job Security protocol from the beginning of the colonization phase: there is complete and total dependence from Mars for certain extremely vital supplies only Earth can give. There may be the occasional grumbling, but declaring flat-out war would lead to Mars suffering a slow and painful death.
- Discussed:
- The leaders of the Martian revolution debate amongst themselves exactly what it would take for the Earth to recognize their independence.
- Civilians in a Lunar coffee shop argue as to whether or not Mars is justified in it's rebellion, and this argument eventually devolves into a fist-fight.
- Conversed: A science fiction reader remarks that in stories of interstellar conflict, Earth always seems to be a repressive authority bullying it's valiant colonies.
- Deconstructed: Although the rebels are quick to frame the conflict in terms of 'freedom' and 'independence', the true motivating factors are the self-interest of the leaders of the colony and their desire for power over their fellow citizens rather than being puppets of their existing overlords; countless people die to effect a minor change of the status quo.
- Reconstructed: Although the rebels are themselves not entirely noble and pure in motivation or conduct, there are genuine grievances that exist between Earth and Mars that need to be addressed one way or another.
We are tired of the oppression, time to start The War of Earthly Aggression
