(idiom) to drive someone into a fatal position; to push someone to their doom or into a situation where survival is impossible

To find a way to emerge from a dire situation by being forced to fight for one's life; based on the strategy of deploying troops in a way that leaves no possibility of retreat, forcing them to fight desperately.

To push someone to the point of death or ruin before feeling satisfied.

to be placed in a desperate situation and then find a way to survive; to come out of a dead end and find new life