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Worldwar series

January 18, 2023

"Worldwar" redirects here. Not to be confused with World Wars or Warworld.

The Worldwar series is the fan name given to a series of eight alternate history science fiction novels by Harry Turtledove.[1] Its premise is an alien invasion of Earth during World War II, and includes Turtledove's Worldwar tetralogy, as well as the Colonization trilogy, and the novel Homeward Bound. The series' time span ranges from 1942 to 2031. The early series was nominated for a Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 1996.[2]

Worldwar
AuthorHarry Turtledove
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction
Alternate history
Published1994–2004 (1994–2004)
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)

Series premise

Worldwar deals with a military invasion that begins on or around May 30, 1942 by a force of aliens that calls itself The Race, a reptilian species. It had reached Earth orbit in December 1941 but delayed the attack for various reasons.

Although the Race has the advantage of superior technology, its information on humanity had been collected by a robotic probe during the 12th century AD. The invaders are surprised to find that humanity progressed far more rapidly than any other species that they had previously studied and conquered. Contrary to its expectations, at the time of invasion, the Race's technology is only marginally more advanced than 20th-century Earth technology. The commander hesitates, and considers turning back without revealing The Race's presence to the humans but finally decides to avoid the disgrace of that course of action.

The narrative follows the intersecting fortunes of a large number of human and alien characters. Notably, the series depicts how the Axis and Allied powers must cooperate to fight the alien menace.

As is gradually revealed, the Race unified its home planet into a single state with a military technology at a level similar to our history's late 20th century. It then had tens of thousands of years of further history, but for most of the time, it fought no wars and so had no incentive or need to develop more advanced weapons. Indeed, for most of the time, it maintained no army at all. Only the discovery of other planets with intelligent beings made the Emperor proclaim a "Soldier's Time" and build up an army, and the weapons developed at the last wars when the home planet was unified were quite enough to conquer the other planets. With Earth, it turned out differently since the various human nations were faced with arms some decades ahead of theirs but were soon able to close the gap.

Literary theme

Turtledove approaches the novels' science fiction scenario by focusing less on the technological and fantasy elements that are typically associated with the genre. Instead, he shows more concern for the role of more mundane affairs, such as the political repercussions of an alliance between the Allied and the Axis powers, the impact the presence of alien creatures has on human society, and the ways in which warfare is paradoxically a hindrance to civilization and simultaneously a catalyst for the progress of civilization.[3][4]

Particular attention is given to the deep dilemma facing the Jews in both Poland and Palestine. The invaders, by landing in 1942, stop the ongoing Holocaust and close down Auschwitz for which the Jews are understandably grateful, but collaborating with the reptile invaders would brand the Jews as traitors to humanity.

First series

The first series is made up of four volumes:

It ends with neither humanity nor the aliens triumphing. Instead, each side fights to the point that facing mutually-assured destruction, they settle into an uneasy ceasefire. The aliens want to colonize Earth and have nuclear weapons but want to use them only sparingly. They cannot colonize a radioactive wasteland after a full-scale nuclear exchange.

The invasion ultimately ends with all of the major Allied and Axis powers manage to develop their own nuclear weapons, which results in a stalemate. The Race is left in control of roughly half the planet, primarily colonial possessions in the Southern Hemisphere: Africa, South and Central America, Australia, and most of Asia aside from the Soviet Union and a few Japanese coastal holdings.

Uneasy peace

The second series of novels, set in the 1960s, deals with the interaction between surviving humans and the Race. Opening with the arrival of the colonization fleet, the series ends with the defeat of Nazi Germany and the establishment of a permanently-occupied US space station in the asteroid belt. Part of the series focuses on the Reich-Race War of the mid-1960s, when the Greater German Reich and the Race fight a nuclear war.

The Germans lose and are forced to allow France to become an independent nation again under a new Fourth Republic. Nonetheless, it is a costly victory for the Race since fighting Germany on its own after 20 years of human technological advancement proved to be much more difficult than fighting all free human nations earlier. It is left obvious to both sides that the long-term trends are in humanity's favor.

The Race is also faced with ongoing guerilla wars in much of the territory that they conquered, especially by Communists in China and by Islamists in the Arab World. The Race, confirmed conservative monarchists who never developed any concept of republic and whose only religion is veneration of their Divine Emperor and the ghosts of past emperors, find it difficult to understand either Communism or Islam, but they are forced to admit that both are highly-effective ideologies in motivating humans to fight and to cause considerable difficulties to their occupiers.

Another major issue turns out to be ginger, an innocent flavoring in human cuisine but a powerful narcotic for the Race's metabolism. It creates problems of addiction and helps create new criminal networks involving both humans and rogue members of the Race. Moreover, inhaling ginger causes females of the Race to become sexually active outside of their normal mating season. That creates new problems, as the Race has no concept whatsoever of sexual activity being private, and when sexually aroused, it tends to engage in indiscriminate orgies to the scandal of the humans who happen to watch. For their part, members of the Race find it difficult to understand humans' insistence on sex being a private act, and the humans' great annoyance when reptiles walk in on them while engaged in it.

Interstellar

The final novel in the saga deals with humanity reaching the Race's homeworld, "Home" (Tau Ceti II).[5]

List of characters

Main article: List of Worldwar characters

The following is a list of some of the major characters from the series.

Humans

  • Mordechai Anielewicz (historical): Anielewicz, together with other Polish Jews, is liberated from Nazi occupation by the Race. In the wake of salvation, Anielewicz is faced with the agonizing dilemma between siding with the Race against Nazi Germany or fighting against the Race, an act that would make them allies of the Nazis.
  • Flight Lieutenant George Bagnall: A flight engineer in the Royal Air Force.
  • David Goldfarb: A radar operator in the Royal Air Force.
  • Lieutenant Ludmila Gorbunova: One of many female pilots in the Soviet Union's Red Air Force.
  • Colonel Leslie Groves (historical): The head of America's atomic bomb development.
  • Colonel Heinrich Jäger: A tank commander in the German Sixth Army who is advancing on Stalingrad when the alien invasion begins. He is depicted as a good and somewhat charismatic officer.
  • Jens Larssen: A physicist at the University of Chicago. He is sent on a cross-country trip to alert the US government of the importance of the atomic bomb project.
  • Vyacheslav Molotov (historical): The head of the Soviet Union's Foreign Ministry. He is among the first humans to orbit the Earth and is instrumental in negotiating the Peace of Cairo with the Race.
  • Moishe Russie: A student of medicine in Poland when the Germans invaded in 1939.
  • Otto Skorzeny (historical): The Waffen-SS Hauptsturmführer, he is known for his unconventional thinking. The commando becomes a particularly feared human to the Race.
  • Sam Yeager: A minor-league ball player with the Decatur Commodores when the invasion takes place. Like many young men, he tried to enlist in the army in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor at the end of 1941 but was rejected for a medical issue.
  • Liu Han: A Chinese housewife whose innocuous village was raided by the Race and Japanese forces almost simultaneously. Kidnapped by the Race to be a part of their experiments, she becomes connected with the communist guerrillas in China, eventually joins the party, and rises through the ranks to become a leader in the revolutionary movement.

The Race

  • Fleetlord Atvar: The commander of the Race's Conquest Fleet.
  • Flight Leader Teerts: A killercraft pilot from the Conquest Fleet. He is among the jet fighters that rapidly neutralize human air power in the opening days of the invasion.
  • Straha: A Shiplord (ship captain) who vocally opposes Atvar's strategies.
  • Ussmak: A driver for the crew of a landcruiser in the Conquest Fleet. He is one of the Lizard "Everyman" viewpoint characters.

Historical characters

Numerous historical characters also appear, some having brief cameos and others having significant parts in the plot:

In the Balance
Tilting the Balance
Upsetting the Balance
Striking the Balance

See also

References

  1. ^ "Uchronia: Worldwar & Colonization". www.uchronia.net.
  2. ^ "Sidewise Awards for Alternate History: Past winners and finalists". Retrieved September 22, 2016.
  3. ^ "Worldwar: In the Balance". Publishers Weekly. Jan 3, 1994. Retrieved Sep 22, 2016.
  4. ^ Sheli Teitelbaum (1996). "Harry's war of the worlds". Jerusalem Report. Retrieved Sep 22, 2016.
  5. ^ "HOMEWARD BOUND". Publishers Weekly. Nov 29, 2004. Retrieved Sep 22, 2016. Alternate-history maestro Turtledove's conclusion to his Worldwar and Colonization sagas

External links

  • Worldwar Series; Official website

January 18, 2023
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Worldwar redirects here Not to be confused with World Wars or Warworld This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia s notability guideline for books Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention If notability cannot be shown the article is likely to be merged redirected or deleted Find sources Worldwar series news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2016 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Worldwar series news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2016 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message The Worldwar series is the fan name given to a series of eight alternate history science fiction novels by Harry Turtledove 1 Its premise is an alien invasion of Earth during World War II and includes Turtledove s Worldwar tetralogy as well as the Colonization trilogy and the novel Homeward Bound The series time span ranges from 1942 to 2031 The early series was nominated for a Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 1996 2 WorldwarWorldwar In the Balance 1994 Worldwar Tilting the Balance 1995 Worldwar Upsetting the Balance 1996 Worldwar Striking the Balance 1996 Colonization Second Contact 1999 Colonization Down to Earth 2000 Colonization Aftershocks 2001 Homeward Bound 2004 AuthorHarry TurtledoveCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishGenreScience fictionAlternate historyPublished1994 2004 1994 2004 Media typePrint hardback amp paperback Contents 1 Series premise 2 Literary theme 3 First series 4 Uneasy peace 5 Interstellar 6 List of characters 6 1 Humans 6 2 The Race 6 3 Historical characters 7 See also 8 References 9 External linksSeries premise EditWorldwar deals with a military invasion that begins on or around May 30 1942 by a force of aliens that calls itself The Race a reptilian species It had reached Earth orbit in December 1941 but delayed the attack for various reasons Although the Race has the advantage of superior technology its information on humanity had been collected by a robotic probe during the 12th century AD The invaders are surprised to find that humanity progressed far more rapidly than any other species that they had previously studied and conquered Contrary to its expectations at the time of invasion the Race s technology is only marginally more advanced than 20th century Earth technology The commander hesitates and considers turning back without revealing The Race s presence to the humans but finally decides to avoid the disgrace of that course of action The narrative follows the intersecting fortunes of a large number of human and alien characters Notably the series depicts how the Axis and Allied powers must cooperate to fight the alien menace As is gradually revealed the Race unified its home planet into a single state with a military technology at a level similar to our history s late 20th century It then had tens of thousands of years of further history but for most of the time it fought no wars and so had no incentive or need to develop more advanced weapons Indeed for most of the time it maintained no army at all Only the discovery of other planets with intelligent beings made the Emperor proclaim a Soldier s Time and build up an army and the weapons developed at the last wars when the home planet was unified were quite enough to conquer the other planets With Earth it turned out differently since the various human nations were faced with arms some decades ahead of theirs but were soon able to close the gap Literary theme EditTurtledove approaches the novels science fiction scenario by focusing less on the technological and fantasy elements that are typically associated with the genre Instead he shows more concern for the role of more mundane affairs such as the political repercussions of an alliance between the Allied and the Axis powers the impact the presence of alien creatures has on human society and the ways in which warfare is paradoxically a hindrance to civilization and simultaneously a catalyst for the progress of civilization 3 4 Particular attention is given to the deep dilemma facing the Jews in both Poland and Palestine The invaders by landing in 1942 stop the ongoing Holocaust and close down Auschwitz for which the Jews are understandably grateful but collaborating with the reptile invaders would brand the Jews as traitors to humanity First series EditThe first series is made up of four volumes Worldwar In the Balance 1994 Worldwar Tilting the Balance 1995 Worldwar Upsetting the Balance 1996 Worldwar Striking the Balance 1996 It ends with neither humanity nor the aliens triumphing Instead each side fights to the point that facing mutually assured destruction they settle into an uneasy ceasefire The aliens want to colonize Earth and have nuclear weapons but want to use them only sparingly They cannot colonize a radioactive wasteland after a full scale nuclear exchange The invasion ultimately ends with all of the major Allied and Axis powers manage to develop their own nuclear weapons which results in a stalemate The Race is left in control of roughly half the planet primarily colonial possessions in the Southern Hemisphere Africa South and Central America Australia and most of Asia aside from the Soviet Union and a few Japanese coastal holdings Uneasy peace EditThe second series of novels set in the 1960s deals with the interaction between surviving humans and the Race Opening with the arrival of the colonization fleet the series ends with the defeat of Nazi Germany and the establishment of a permanently occupied US space station in the asteroid belt Part of the series focuses on the Reich Race War of the mid 1960s when the Greater German Reich and the Race fight a nuclear war The Germans lose and are forced to allow France to become an independent nation again under a new Fourth Republic Nonetheless it is a costly victory for the Race since fighting Germany on its own after 20 years of human technological advancement proved to be much more difficult than fighting all free human nations earlier It is left obvious to both sides that the long term trends are in humanity s favor The Race is also faced with ongoing guerilla wars in much of the territory that they conquered especially by Communists in China and by Islamists in the Arab World The Race confirmed conservative monarchists who never developed any concept of republic and whose only religion is veneration of their Divine Emperor and the ghosts of past emperors find it difficult to understand either Communism or Islam but they are forced to admit that both are highly effective ideologies in motivating humans to fight and to cause considerable difficulties to their occupiers Another major issue turns out to be ginger an innocent flavoring in human cuisine but a powerful narcotic for the Race s metabolism It creates problems of addiction and helps create new criminal networks involving both humans and rogue members of the Race Moreover inhaling ginger causes females of the Race to become sexually active outside of their normal mating season That creates new problems as the Race has no concept whatsoever of sexual activity being private and when sexually aroused it tends to engage in indiscriminate orgies to the scandal of the humans who happen to watch For their part members of the Race find it difficult to understand humans insistence on sex being a private act and the humans great annoyance when reptiles walk in on them while engaged in it Colonization Trilogy Second Contact 1999 Down to Earth 2000 Aftershocks 2001 Interstellar EditThe final novel in the saga deals with humanity reaching the Race s homeworld Home Tau Ceti II 5 Homeward Bound 2004 List of characters EditMain article List of Worldwar characters The following is a list of some of the major characters from the series Humans Edit Mordechai Anielewicz historical Anielewicz together with other Polish Jews is liberated from Nazi occupation by the Race In the wake of salvation Anielewicz is faced with the agonizing dilemma between siding with the Race against Nazi Germany or fighting against the Race an act that would make them allies of the Nazis Flight Lieutenant George Bagnall A flight engineer in the Royal Air Force David Goldfarb A radar operator in the Royal Air Force Lieutenant Ludmila Gorbunova One of many female pilots in the Soviet Union s Red Air Force Colonel Leslie Groves historical The head of America s atomic bomb development Colonel Heinrich Jager A tank commander in the German Sixth Army who is advancing on Stalingrad when the alien invasion begins He is depicted as a good and somewhat charismatic officer Jens Larssen A physicist at the University of Chicago He is sent on a cross country trip to alert the US government of the importance of the atomic bomb project Vyacheslav Molotov historical The head of the Soviet Union s Foreign Ministry He is among the first humans to orbit the Earth and is instrumental in negotiating the Peace of Cairo with the Race Moishe Russie A student of medicine in Poland when the Germans invaded in 1939 Otto Skorzeny historical The Waffen SS Hauptsturmfuhrer he is known for his unconventional thinking The commando becomes a particularly feared human to the Race Sam Yeager A minor league ball player with the Decatur Commodores when the invasion takes place Like many young men he tried to enlist in the army in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor at the end of 1941 but was rejected for a medical issue Liu Han A Chinese housewife whose innocuous village was raided by the Race and Japanese forces almost simultaneously Kidnapped by the Race to be a part of their experiments she becomes connected with the communist guerrillas in China eventually joins the party and rises through the ranks to become a leader in the revolutionary movement The Race Edit Fleetlord Atvar The commander of the Race s Conquest Fleet Flight Leader Teerts A killercraft pilot from the Conquest Fleet He is among the jet fighters that rapidly neutralize human air power in the opening days of the invasion Straha A Shiplord ship captain who vocally opposes Atvar s strategies Ussmak A driver for the crew of a landcruiser in the Conquest Fleet He is one of the Lizard Everyman viewpoint characters Historical characters Edit Numerous historical characters also appear some having brief cameos and others having significant parts in the plot In the BalanceTadeusz Bor Komorowski General in the Polish Home Army In reality he became commander of the Home Army in the second half of 1943 after the previous commander Stefan Grot Rowecki was arrested by the Gestapo Winston Churchill Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Adolf Hitler German Fuhrer Cordell Hull US Secretary of State George Marshall US Army Chief of Staff George S Patton US Army Major General Joachim von Ribbentrop German foreign minister Leo Szilard Nuclear physicist University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory Hans Thomsen German ambassador to the United States Shigenori Tōgō Japanese foreign minister Walter Henry Zinn Nuclear physicist University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory Enrico Fermi Italian nuclear physicist University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory Tilting the BalanceEric Blair BBC talks producer Indian Section London Better known by his pen name George Orwell Kurt Chill Wehrmacht general and interpreter in Pskov Arthur Compton Nuclear physicist with the Metallurgical Laboratory Kurt Diebner Nuclear physicist Hechingen Germany Enrico Fermi Nuclear physicist with the Metallurgical Laboratory Laura Fermi Enrico Fermi s wife Georgy Flyorov Soviet nuclear physicist Winston Churchill Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Werner Heisenberg Nuclear physicist Hechingen Germany Cordell Hull US secretary of state Ivan Konev Red Army general Igor Kurchatov Soviet nuclear physicist Edward R Murrow Radio news broadcaster Yoshio Nishina Japanese nuclear physicist Joachim von Ribbentrop German foreign minister Franklin D Roosevelt President of the United States Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski Eldest of the Jews in the Lodz ghetto Joseph Stalin General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Leo Szilard Nuclear physicist with the Metallurgical Laboratory Shigenori Tōgō Japanese foreign minister Georgy Zhukov Marshal of the Soviet Union Upsetting the BalanceMax Aitken Lord Beaverbrook British Minister of Supply Kurt Chill Wehrmacht Lieutenant General Kurt Diebner Nuclear physicist Tubingen Germany Albert Einstein Physicist Couch Missouri Dwight D Eisenhower U S Army general Couch Missouri Enrico Fermi Nuclear physicist Denver Colorado Robert H Goddard Rocket expert Couch Missouri Lord Halifax British ambassador to the United States Benito Mussolini Il Duce Italian Dictator Joachim von Ribbentrop German foreign minister Joseph Stalin General Secretary Communist Party of the Soviet Union Leo Szilard Nuclear physicist Denver Colorado Striking the BalanceMenachem Begin Jewish guerrilla Haifa Palestine Omar Bradley US Army lieutenant general outside Denver Walter von Brockdorff Ahlefeldt Wehrmacht lieutenant general Riga Latvia Kurt Chill Wehrmacht lieutenant general Pskov Soviet Union William Joseph Donovan US Army major general Hot Springs Arkansas Anthony Eden British foreign secretary Robert H Goddard Rocket scientist Hot Springs Arkansas Cordell Hull President of the United States following the death of Franklin D Roosevelt Igor Kurchatov Nuclear physicist north of Moscow Mao Zedong Communist Party leader Peking George Marshall US Secretary of State Joachim von Ribbentrop German foreign minister Joseph Stalin General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Shigenori Tōgō Japanese foreign ministerSee also EditAlien space bats Kishin Corps another alternate history series involving an alien invasion during World War II References Edit Uchronia Worldwar amp Colonization www uchronia net Sidewise Awards for Alternate History Past winners and finalists Retrieved September 22 2016 Worldwar In the Balance Publishers Weekly Jan 3 1994 Retrieved Sep 22 2016 Sheli Teitelbaum 1996 Harry s war of the worlds Jerusalem Report Retrieved Sep 22 2016 HOMEWARD BOUND Publishers Weekly Nov 29 2004 Retrieved Sep 22 2016 Alternate history maestro Turtledove s conclusion to his Worldwar and Colonization sagasExternal links EditWorldwar Series Official website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Worldwar series amp oldid 1132226222, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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