Worldwar
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Worldwar is a series of four alternate history science fiction novels by Harry Turtledove.
The premise of the series is an alien invasion of Earth in the middle of World War II. The military invasion begins on or around May 30, 1942, but the aliens, who call themselves the Race, reached Earth orbit in December of 1941. Presumably, six months were spent making preparations for the attack.
Although the Race, a reptilian species, has the advantage of superior technology, their last information on humans was collected by a robotic probe during the 12th century. Their technology is only slightly ahead of what we have today: hydrogen based engines, holographic projectors, and cold sleep being among the technologies not in common use at the start of the 21st century. The "Lizards," as their human antagonists quickly dub them, are extremely surprised that mankind has progressed so far since their probe visited Earth. No species they have ever encountered has advanced so rapidly: they thought the toughest military force on the planet would still be Crusader knights on horses.
On finding the real situation, the commander of the alien fleet considers turning back and asking for fresh instructions but feels that he would lose face if he does. (Our own world might be considered the alternate timeline created by his decision to turn back, the alien fleet having passed completely unnoticed by the warring humans in 1942).
The narrative follows the intersecting fortunes of a large number of human and alien characters. Most notably the series depicts how the Axis and Allied powers must cooperate to fight the alien menace. A follow-up trilogy, Colonization, carries the story forward into a very different 1960s. The timeline ends with Homeward Bound.
The volumes are:
- Worldwar: In the Balance (1994)
- Worldwar: Tilting the Balance (1995)
- Worldwar: Upsetting the Balance (1996)
- Worldwar: Striking the Balance (1996)
Contents |
[edit] List of characters
The following is a list of some major characters from the series.
[edit] Humans
Mordechai Anielewicz (historical): Anielewicz, together with other Polish Jews, is liberated from Nazi occupation by the Race, who subsequently capture and shut down Auschwitz. In the wake of salvation, Anielewicz and his fellow Jews are faced with the agonising dilemma between siding with the Race against Nazi Germany, which has postponed but not altogether forsaken the implementation of the Final Solution - and in effect becoming "traitors to humanity"; or fighting against the Race, an act which would make them Nazi allies.
Flight-Lieutenant George Bagnall: A flight engineer in the Royal Air Force serving aboard a Lancaster bomber. Bagnall is part of a 1,000 bomber flight returning from a run over Cologne in Germany when the invasion begins. The armada of bombers is under attack from German AA and fighters when the Race's killercraft descend upon the unsuspecting humans. The resulting battle leaves dozens of German and British planes destroyed with no significant damage inflicted upon the Race.
David Goldfarb: A radar operator in the Royal Air Force. When the Race carries out air reconnaissance in the months before their attack, Goldfarb and his fellow radar specialists are confused by readings indicating aircraft much faster and high-flying than anything known to humans: the RAF men nickname those echoes as "pixies". No one believes aircraft can fly as fast or as high as the readings indicate.
Lieutenant Ludmilla Gorbunova: One of many female pilots in the Soviet Union's Red Air Force. Stationed at an airfield near Kharkov in the Ukraine when the invasion begins, Ludmilla witnesses the destruction of most human aircraft, both Soviet and German, at the hands of the alien invaders. She flies a Polikarpov Po-2, a small wooden biplane with a low ceiling. Its qualities render it practically invisible to radar, enabling her to survive the initial alien attack and give her the opportunity to make light ground attacks on unsuspecting Race encampments. She develops a relationship with Colonel Jäger after she finds him conversing with some farmers. While she is suspicious of this German officer at first, both of them come to realize that there are human beings on either side of the propaganda-heavy front. Nevertheless, she treads very carefully when developing their relationship, as his letters to her are monitored and recorded by the NKVD. The character is inspired by members of the historical all-women Soviet unit known as Night Witches, many of whom were decorated for their WWII service.
Colonel Leslie Groves (historical): Head of America's atomic bomb development. His first task is to get a batch of captured alien Uranium from Boston, Massachusetts to Denver, Colorado where the Metallurgical Laboratory developing the atom bomb has been relocated. He is very well aware that the Soviet Union and Germany are also working fervently to develop the first human atomic weapons and he is eager to win the race.
Colonel Heinrich Jäger: A tank commander in the German Sixth Army advancing on Stalingrad when the alien invasion begins. Jäger fought in the trenches of World War I as a teenager and saw firsthand the devastating effects of armored vehicles on infantry. After the Armistice he stayed in the army, serving in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic. When Hitler began rearming Germany in the 1930s, Jäger requested reassignment to the Panzer Corps. If he was going to see combat in another war, he wanted to fight from a tank cupola. The character has some similarities with Colonel Sabrino, a dragon-rider in Turtledove's Darkness series.
Jens Larssen: A physicist at the University of Chicago. When the Race begins its attack on Earth, they detonate several atomic bombs just above the Earth's atmosphere hoping to disrupt human electronics with the resulting electromagnetic radiation. This attempt at subterfuge fails since electronics of the 1940s use vacuum tubes rather than integrated circuits, making the effect of EM radiation minimal. However, Larssen is among the handful of human scientists to realize that the attack proves nuclear fission is feasible. This is important since Larssen is working alongside several other scientists to develop an atom bomb.
Vyacheslav Molotov (historical): Head of the Soviet Union's Foreign Ministry, Molotov is given the unenviable task of negotiating with Fleetlord Atvar. Possessing an icy and taciturn demeanor, he proves adept at reading the intentions of his adversaries, both human and alien. The only time Molotov reveals any sign of emotion is around Stalin, who elicits a certain amount of fear in him. Along with Germany's Joachim von Ribbentrop, Molotov is among the first humans to orbit the Earth.
Moishe Russie: A student in medicine in Poland when the Germans invaded in 1939. Since he is Jewish, Moishe and his family are forced by the German authorities to live in the Warsaw ghetto. It is revealed later that plans were underway to ship most of the Jews in the ghetto to a place called Auschwitz. When the alien invasion begins, Moishe advises his fellow Jews to greet the Race as liberators after one of their bombs inadvertently blows a hole in the ghetto wall, and they are treated as such even after the Race destroys Berlin with a nuclear device. (Despite objections by Anielewicz, Russie insisted on praying for the souls of the civilians killed in the blast.) The Jews of Poland are cruelly disillusioned as to the nature of their "liberators," especially Russie, when he is told by the new Race governor to make a radio propaganda broadcast praising the subsequent nuclear destruction of Washington, D.C..
Otto Skorzeny (historical): SS Hauptstürmfuhrer, Skorzeny is known for his "outside-the-box" thinking and his commando missons. He becomes a particularly feared human to the Race. He staged a major turnover for the Nazis in Croatia, and bargained for a Race landcruiser with a backpack full of ginger, which turns out to have narcotic and possibly hallucinogenic effects on members of 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. However, he was rejected because he must wear a full plate of dentures after losing his teeth during the Influenza epidemic of 1918. His train was strafed south of Dixon, Illinois during the opening hours of the invasion. Not long afterward, he was drafted by a desperate US Army to defend Chicago from the invading Race.
Liu Han: A Chinese housewife whose innocuous village was raided by the Race almost simultaneously with Japanese forces. Her family was killed when her house (and that of the local magistrate's) was immolated in a Japanese bomb attack. She is abducted by the Race along with apothecary Yi Min, and after a bit of interesting conversation between an initially scared Yi Min and some officers of the Race, she is subjected to what are literally sexual experiments devised by the Race to study the mating habits of the "Big Uglies." She is subsequently forced to have sex with several different males, eventually ending up going steady with Bobby Fiore, one of Yeager's teammates. Ironically, these experiments are not done for the reptilian humanoid Race's perverted enjoyment, rather it is a dramatic species reversal as humans often observe the mating habits of animals. She later becomes pregnant by Fiore, one of Yeager's teammates, and finds her impressions of foreign human "devils" are dispelled (albeit replaced by that of the "scaly devils.")
Yi Min: A Chinese apothecary abducted with Liu Han when the Race raided his village. Thanks to some negotiation, he finds his stay aboard the Race's ship rather entertaining as he is subjected to "experiments" which effectively give him a harem of women to "mate" with. Later on he is found back on Earth in a Race prison camp, dealing in ginger. It is implied that he is the one who introduced the Race to this highly addictive spice, and he is more than eager to trade it for rather technologically advanced Race items, though he intends to sell these items off for even more prestige. As a result, his dwelling in the camp is more lavish than the ones the other Chinese prisoners are forced to stay in.
[edit] The Race
Fleetlord Atvar: The commander of the Race's Conquest Fleet. He is apparently related to the Emperor and owes his position partly due to that fact. In the course of the series it is revealed that aptitude tests back on Home indicated Atvar would be either a proficient architect or military officer. He chose a military career believing it would be more exciting. At the beginning of the conflict he is faced with the decision to invade Earth or return home to ask for directions (the latter apparently having a humiliating and degrading connotation.) However he starts to grow discouraged as he is faced with a significantly more technologically advanced species than initial reports suggested; the most recent intelligence on Earth (Tosev-3 as labeled by the Race) dated back to the Middle Ages.
Flight Leader Teerts: A killercraft pilot from the Conquest Fleet. His is among the jet fighters that rapidly neutralize human air power in the opening days of the invasion. By the end of the first few weeks, the Race achieves air supremacy over most of the planet, forcing human pilots to engage in small limited attacks upon isolated targets or risk nearly certain death. However he is unfortunate enough to be shot down when Japanese bullets lodge themselves in the engines of his fighter plane, and is captured by the Japanese. While he is somewhat curious (and rather condescending) of Japanese imperial customs, he is even more afraid of their officers, who seem all too happy to want to extract as many Race secrets as they can from him, by cruel physical torture if need be. He is also unpleasantly surprised to find out firsthand that these "Nippon-ese" soldiers are also very proficient at martial arts.
Straha: Shiplord who vocally opposes Atvar's strategies. He will ask for a confidence vote which Atvar wins, forcing Straha to exile (in shame) among the humans. He lands in the United States, where he is kept as a prisoner of war, and intensely questioned on Race technology.
Ussmak: A driver for the crew of a landcruiser in the Conquest Fleet. Essentially, the Lizard "Everyman" viewpoint character. At first, Ussmak and his crewmates revel at the ease with which they manage to destroy Soviet T-34s and German Panzer-IV's, the most advanced armored fighting vehicles available to the Soviets and Germans, respectively. However, they soon grow disillusioned when the humans continue to resist the invasion despite their clear military inferiority, compounded by the weather conditions of the planet, which are more adapted to human than Race machinery. Ussmak eventually finds himself wondering if this is a fight worth waging.
[edit] Historical characters
Some historical characters also appear for brief cameos, to give a historical feel to the story:
In the Balance
Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski: General, Polish Home Army
Winston Churchill: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Enrico Fermi: Nuclear physicist, University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory
Adolf Hitler: German Führer
Cordell Hull: U.S. secretary of state
George Marshall: U.S. Army Chief of Staff
Vyacheslav Molotov: Soviet foreign minister
George Patton: U.S. 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 Togo: Japanese foreign minister
Walt Zinn: Nuclear physicist, University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory
Tilting the Balance
Mordechai Anielewicz: leader of Jewish fighters in Poland
Eric Blair: BBC talks producer, Indian Section, London
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
Aleksandr German: Commander of Second Partisan Brigade in Pskov
Winston Churchill: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Werner Heisenberg: Nuclear physicist, Hechingen, Germany
Nieh Ho-T'ing: Chinese Communist guerrilla officer
Cordell Hull: U.S. secretary of state
Ivan Koniev: 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 Łódź ghetto
Iosef Stalin: General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Leo Szilard: Nuclear physicist with the Metallurgical Laboratory
Shigenori Togo: Japanese foreign minister
Nikolai Vasiliev: Commander, First Partisan Brigade in Pskov
Georgi Zhukov: Marshal of the Soviet Union
Upsetting the Balance
Mordechai Anielewicz: Jewish partisan, eastern Poland
Lord Beaverbrook: British Minister of Supply
Kurt Chill: Wehrmacht Lieutenant General
Kurt Diebner: Nuclear physicist, Tübingen, Germany
Albert Einstein: Physicist, Couch, Missouri
Dwight Eisenhower: U.S. Army General, Couch, Missouri
Enrico Fermi: Nuclear physicist, Denver, Colorado
Aleksandr German: Partisan Brigadier, Pskov, USSR
Robert Goddard: Rocket expert, , Couch, Missouri
Lord Halifax: British ambassador to the United States
Cordell Hull: U.S. Secretary of State
Nieh Ho-'Ting: People's Liberation Army officer, China
Benito Mussolini: Il Duce (Italian Dictator)
Joachim von Ribbentrop: German foreign minister
Iosef Stalin: General Secretary, Communist Party of the USSR
Leo Szilard: Nuclear physicist, Denver, Colorado
Nikolai Vasiliev: Partisan brigadier, Pskov, USSR
Striking the Balance
Mordechai Anielewicz: Jewish fighting leader, Łódź, Poland
Menachem Begin: Jewish guerrilla, Haifa, Palestine
Omar Bradley: U.S. Army lieutenant general, outside Denver
Walter von Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt: Wehrmacht lieutenant general, Riga, Latvia
Kurt Chill: Wehrmacht lieutenant general, Pskov, USSR
William Joseph Donovan: U.S. Army major general, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Anthony Eden: British foreign secretary
Aleksandr German: Partisan brigadier, Pskov, USSR
Robert Goddard: Rocket scientist, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Cordell Hull: President of the United States
Igor Kurchatov: Nuclear physicist, north of Moscow
Mao Tse-Tung: Communist Party leader, Peking
George Marshall: U.S. Secretary of State
Joachim von Ribbentrop: German foreign minister
Iosef Stalin: General Secretary, Communist Party, USSR
Stern: Jewish guerrilla leader, Jerusalem (Note: identity uncertain, best possible match is Avraham Stern)
Shigenori Togo: Japanese foreign minister
Nikolai Vasiliev: Partisan brigadier, Pskov, USSR
| Series of Books by Harry Turtledove | ||
|---|---|---|
| Videssos Books | Videssos Cycle | The Misplaced Legion | An Emperor for the Legion | The Legion of Videssos | The Swords of the Legion |
| The Tale of Krispos Series | Krispos Rising | Krispos of Videssos | Krispos the Emperor | |
| Time of Troubles Series | The Stolen Throne | Hammer and Anvil | The Thousand Cities | Videssos Besieged | |
| The Bridge of the Separator | ||
| Worldwar & Colonization Series | Worldwar Tetralogy | In the Balance | Tilting the Balance | Upsetting the Balance | Striking the Balance |
| Colonization | Second Contact | Down to Earth | Aftershocks | |
| Homeward Bound | ||
| Southern Victory or Timeline-191 Books | How Few Remain | |
| The Great War Trilogy | American Front | Walk in Hell | Breakthroughs | |
| The American Empire Trilogy | Blood and Iron | The Center Cannot Hold | The Victorious Opposition | |
| The Settling Accounts Tetralogy | Return Engagement | Drive to the East | The Grapple | In at the Death | |
| Darkness Series | Into the Darkness | Darkness Descending | Through the Darkness | Rulers of the Darkness | Jaws of the Darkness | Out of the Darkness | |
| War Between the Provinces Series | Sentry Peak | Marching Through Peachtree | Advance and Retreat | |
| Hellenic Traders Series | Over the Wine Dark Sea | The Gryphon's Skull | The Sacred Land | Owls to Athens | |
| Crosstime Traffic Series | Gunpowder Empire | Curious Notions | In High Places | The Disunited States of America | The Gladiator | |
| Pacific War Series | Days of Infamy | End of the Beginning | |
| Scepter of Mercy Series | The Chernagor Pirates | The Bastard King | The Scepter's Return | |
| Other Books by Harry Turtledove | ||
| Agent of Byzantium | A Different Flesh | Noninterference | Kaleidoscope | A World Of Difference | Earthgrip | The Guns of the South | The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump | Departures | Down in the Bottomlands | The Two Georges | Thessalonica | Between the Rivers | Justinian | Household Gods | Counting Up, Counting Down | Ruled Britannia | In the Presence of Mine Enemies | Conan of Venarium | Every Inch a King | Fort Pillow | Beyond the Gap | The Battle of Teutoberg Forest | ||
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