Pickelhaube against the Union blue - 1901

This time, we visit a different era. The turn of the 19th-20th century was the golden age of what we have called imperialism today. Also, the same period was the middle of a diplomacy rampage with which the German Kaiser II. Wilhelm pissed off or alienated almost all major powers and possible Allies. The measure of success in this global pissing contest was the possessing of overseas colonies, the grabbing of land and market on the few still white spots or from each other. In other words, everybody wanted to build an empire and did that in the name of a civilisation mission, which was often the globalized projection of respective national agendas and the big money behind them. Robert Conroy's alternate history novel, 1901 describes a mindblowing what if scenario from this age.

 

The modern history of the United States and the German Empire met at many spots. They both had had to establish a national unity before they entered the aforementioned global playground. It took four years of bloody civil war to preserve the Union, and the decades of reconstruction work absorbed the conquering energies of the USA. For the German unification, the Prussians had to fight their way through the armies of France and the Habsburg Empire. Both fresh predators took their first steps outside their natural hunting grounds at about the same time.  The USA declared Central- and South America offlimits for European colonialism in her Monroe Doctrine, which interfered with the Pan-Germanism and the economic interests of Imperial Germany in the aforementioned areas. 

"George, the British Empire at present covers a quarter of the globe, while the German Empire consists of a small sausage factory in Tanganyika.    I hardly think that we can be entirely absolved of blame on the imperialistic front"

With the defeating of Spain in 1898 and acquiring of the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, the USA became a major player outside the continent. This was something the German Empire was thirst for, but never really accomplished. The USA could control the major shipping routes to both American continents from her freshly acquired bases. II. Vilhem tried to purchase at least some of the US spoils, but the Americans were no sellers. One reason of the German failure was the lack of modern ocean-going warships and refueling bases in the Pacific. The land-grabbing efforts of German warships by the Philippines were frustrated by the more formidable American fleet. If latecomers like Imperial Germany wanted to be somebody in this gallery of colonialist bullies, he had to beat up one of the smaller kids in the sandbox and take his lunch money first.

Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the German navy

The German and American fleet building program started at about the same time. By 1901, the opposing battlefleets had comparable strengths, there was clear point of conflict. The USA became one of the potential war opponents of the German Empire, even war plans were made just for case. The attack on the US soil or one of her interests was the brainchild of the Kriegsmarine. The intended target was Puerto Rico, where the German Navy wanted to lure out and destroy the American battlefleet, then force a peace treaty upon the Americans with obvious territorial demands and „compensation” of war expenses. 

The plans went as far as the proposed invasion of New England, the economic and financial center of the USA, but the Army refused to be part of such risky amphibious operation on the other side of the Atlantic. The „Winterarbeiten” papers had sunk silently in the depth of the archives and didn’t reappear until 1971, when curious researchers stumbled upon them.

"The vile Hun and his villainous empire-building"

This is the point of deviation where history takes a different turn in Robert Conroy’s 1901. This time, the Germans decide  go for it, actually, and capture Manhattan and Long Island with a daring amphibious operation. 1901 is the very first alternate history novel of Robert Conroy, which explores how a fictional war between Imperial Germany and the USA would have happened. The German invasion of New England takes the Americans by surprise. The regular army is still busy at pacifying the Philippines, and the Navy is likewise scattered around the globe.

The goal of II. Wilhelm is to win a decisive battle against the American battlefleet, defeat land counterattacks, and force a peace treaty upon the US wherein Washington surrenders his oversesa possessions to Germany, pays an enormous indemnity, and does not rebuild its Navy.  This was the civilized way of war; some big battles until somebody says uncle, and the chaffering restarts at the peace conference table. The problem is that the USA did fight a total war 40 years earlier, and doesn’t seem to follow the European playbook.

The Kaiser Wilhelm II, one of the nine then modern ocean-going battleships of the Kriegsmarine in 1901. Wikipedia.

The opposing forces in this scenario are fairly asymetrical. On sea, the two battlefleets are close to each other in strength. We are talking about the pre-Dreadnought era here; the battleships facing each other became second or third rate vessels by World War One, and the respective ship classes missed Jutland or any major naval action. But in 1901, they are state of art, and instead fading into obscurity, they engage in the biggest naval battle since Trafalgar on these very pages. At first, I found the number of German ocean-going vessels excessive, but if the Russians could sail their coast defence barges from the Baltic to the Tsushima Strait four years later, then why the hell not?

The rival from the other side, the battleship USS Alabama

Last shell? Last man? Last foot of ground? Last Germ?

On land, the Americans have the numbers, but National Guard and State Militia units are nowhere comparable to the Prussian war machine. The soldiers in the piked helmets carry the newest bolt-action Mauser rifles, whereas the boys in blue start this war with the Civil War breech-loading muskets. In real life, the German military staff had a very low opinion about the military virtues of the Americans; they described the Civil War as two armed mobs chasing each other for four years, whereas the Prussian army soundly defeated his continental opponents in weeks. Well, it doesn’t turn out like that in the book otherwise it would be a short entertainment. The situation of the German expeditionary force kinda reminded me the Crusades, where the Western knights were doomed to sink into the ocean of Arabs. 

 

Robert Conroy describes siege and partisan warfare, propaganda, the case of German-speaking immigrants, token naval actions in 1901. Some turns of events are upright hilarious but very entertaining. Reactivated military leaders of the US will come from surprising places and with a colourful past. These antediluvian generals have just one more war before they will meet their past comrades and answer them how could they change the grey with blue after the cause had been lost. They might refer to the enemy as Yankees sometimes, but that is entirely forgiveable. The other hilarious plot element is how the author likes to kill off historical, famous and infamous big shots in a very early stage of their careers.

 

Robert Conroy’s 1901 lost no entertaining value since its first appearance in 1991. Most things I have told about Red Inferno by the same author can be applied here. The only major flaw I found that the novel is short. It’s not a hardcore alternate history work, but for casuals like me it was very enjoyable. In fact, I found it so good and easy to read that I will definitely come back with a review about Robert Conroy’s more recent works because the good man is still in business.

And about those two "armed mobs"...

Redcoats of the Twentieth Century – The Foresight War

Happy new year! What could trigger the most cataclysmic changes in world history in historical fiction? The most dangerous gamechanger is not a single piece of equipment or a lone ship but a single human mind from the future. Unexplained time travel occurs, and the dream scenario of military history buffs comes true, they can aid their favourite side with their tremendous knowledge. One Englishman can reshape the way his nation will fight this war. Who knows, maybe  the British Empire endures after the Foresight War. Military history expert Anthony G. Williams presents:

 The foresight superpowers (minor SPOILERS)

This is what this book, The Foresight War is about. A British military history professor (who else) makes an unexpected and unexplained time travel from 2003 to 1933. Maybe it's an odd alien sociological experiment, but the fellow actually has the chance to change the course of history and trigger something better than the pyrrhic victory awaits the British twelve years later. Now, to make the story more interesting, someone from future prompts the other side, the Axis as well! I don't think I reveal a big secret if I tell you that the British got the brighter one.

 

The novel is good enough to inspire fans. British  "Churchill" main battle tanks of The Foresight War. Picture from http://paintfan08.deviantart.com/gallery/7826067

The existence of these two messengers results in that the two World War Two combatants, Britain and the Nazi Germany will be far ahead in military doctrine and technology than the rest. What more, this reality's real contenders will strive for not repeating the mistakes of the „future”. The outcome of this altered war will lay on the struggle of these two foresight superpowers.

 

And the counterpart: the German Panzerkampfwagen IV "Panther"

A cleaner war for a better outcome

The battlefield technology in The Foresight War is more and more Cold War-like. This alternate World War Two is about the arms race between the two foresight powers, a cleaner war with more button-pushing and less of the human element. It's almost a clean war instead of the all out struggle, at least on the Western Front it is. 

The flow of events and the reshaped balance of power reminds me the Napoleonic Wars, where the only real opponent in the open was the British Army for the French, and the Old Guard is now the elite of the German army. This time, not a peace-minded nation tries to endure an unwanted war. These British redcoats of the 20th Century are an even match for the German war machine, and are prepared to set things right on the continent, before the commies take it all.

One single scout plane  in the right place and at the right time can change the outcome of the most dramatic battle over the Pacific

Everything before this big showdown are foreplay, and the book builds up this suspension well. What I did miss are more battle details from France, and the Eastern Front is very obscure as well. The flow of events are not really worked out well sometimes. The endgame is hasty and for me it was unbelievable. The historical characters, big shots are made from cardboard.

The green Americans enter the fray with the new Pershing tank in Europe in The Foresight War

A honourable effort

The way I see it, Anthony G. William's The Foresight War isn't much of a serious work about historical fiction, rather an interesting peak about the fictional use of shelved or afterthought technology that didn't make it to the front in time. It has its moments. If people outside the military history buff circles will appreciate it is an open question. Despite my grieving I enjoyed it, but the Foresight War wasn't something that made my mind moving. It's a tribute for the forum dwelling military-minded ilk and the odd British, God bless them!

Attila

Hippie's wet dream - The Neanderthal Parallax

I think I get it what bugs people in Neanderthals, the presumably bushwhacked cousin of ours. Since the belief that humans are the best thing happened to Gaia shattered, and our taking of the planet can well lead to our own demise make some people wonder about different ways of living. Being a human as Homo Sapiens is not so straightforward anymore. The gap between us and the supposed Neanderthal traits closes by every year. It's not only we had a common ancestor. The hunched, hairy, dim-witted caveman evolved into a conscious being with language, comparable intelligence in the eyes of the scientific community. And, the human club was joined by at least two, possibly three other hominids in the last decade only. 

 The fear of extinction and the Neanderthal agenda

Knowing and understanding the Neanderthal and the truth about their demise might bear answers about the true nature of mankind. Who are we? What can we do differently to save our natural environment? There are very few things we know about Neanderthals with a certain degree of sureness. Genetical and anatomical research pointed out that they were capable of talking and producing their own language. They buried their dead, they made clothing, they might had beliefs in the afterlife. A one–digit percentage of the human genom carried by non-African populations is shared with the Neanderthals, so presumably there was some interscrewing around when the Homo Sapiens and the Neanderthal populations overlapped in time and space. But the when and where is an open debate, there isn't a consensus about if us and the Neanderthals in Eurasia ever shared the habitat, and the exchange of genes might had occurred somewhere in the Middle East when the modern Homo Sapiens was swarming out from Africa some 40 000 years ago.

What happened then and there is the field of interpretation, theories and speculation, just like the rest of Neanderthal traits are, nobody knows for sure. There had to be some contact, genes don’t lie about that. Either the yet dark-pigmented, tall and lither hunters blitzkrieged them into oblivion with their projectile weapons, raved them with their new pathogens carried, just like it happened with the meso-americans when the Spaniards began their conquest. Climate change could take its toll on the already sparse Neanderthal populations, the more prolific new people swarmed and absorbed them by the virtue of their numbers, or all the above at once. I just hope it wasn’t always the classic tribal hostile takeover scenario when all males and women in non-productive age are slain, and the survivor females are for daily rape and hard labour.

Ginger people have no soul, but what about Neanderthals?

The ways of the Clan

Writers in the popular culture profit from this uncertainty, and truth to be told, describing a fictional encounter between the two human species is at least as interesting and chilling as a contact with aliens. Readers like me are hungry for the worlds collide experience. Among more known works, the Quest for Fire and Iceman movies introduce the Neanderthal as simple but simpathetic wildmen. Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children novels establish a whole pre-writing universe of two different hominins and shows the Neanderthal, the Clan as a kind of archaic people with intimate knowledge about their environment and barely known and understood culture by the newcomer Others who tend to overlook those primitive and besides rare flatheads. The first novel, the Clan of the Cave Bear is really intriguing. A young girl, Ayla grows up between Neanderthals and struggles with the biologically determined conservativeness of the Clan.

It's well worth to read, but I gave up by the third because the rest of the novels felt like a feminist parade, where Ayla becomes a cultural Eve. I actually enjoyed the movie version as well, and not only because of Daryl Hannah's  (the blondie gal from Wall Street and Blade Runner) long legs. The Clan is shown as people with unique and fascinating straits but with numbered time. They were left behind in the dust and silence once, just like the protagonist did that in the movie.

 Now I admit, I’m a bit in trouble (SPOILERS ONWARD)

I usually recommend good stuff they are worth to watch and read, but I have ambiguous feelings about Robert J. Sawyer’s Neanderthal Parallax trilogy. I cannot criticize it without spoilers. Long story short, a quantum-computer experiment in the Neanderthal world (where they reached consciousness and became the dominant species) opens a transdimensional portal accidently into the present day World of Homo Sapiens. Cliched as it is, I was over it. Besides, I couldn’t really follow the scientific mambo jambo, but I gave the plot a chance nevertheless. 

The first book, the Hominids proved to be promising. I started to envision the story as a tv-show, and the female protagonist as a younger Jodie Foster exploring a different human existence. The fish out of the water element is there on both sides of the portal. That’s all well, I was hungry for the sequence. 

The second book (Humans) functions as a suspended tension before the endgame provided by the third book, the contact of the two different hominims didn’t escalate yet, but the promise was there. The real deal about these kind of books is what changes such contact can inflict on the human perception of life. The bitchslap came with the third book (Hybrids) which I put down feeling cheated. The neanderthal civilisation on the other side is essentially the antithesis of ours. And hey presto, the original sins of humanity are no less than agriculture and religion themselves with all the social issues brought with them. Everything since then is a screw-up. The still hunter-gatherer Neanderthals managed to build a technological civilisation without the aforementioned bollocks and without ravaging their natural habitat. Every hippie and treehugger would love that.

This is gonna be a trainwreck...

These Neanderthals keep their population in bay. Men and women live separately most of a month and make sex per calendar method. They practice eugenics so their classic evolutionary straits didn’t degrade over time, and even physics professors enjoy recreational mammoth-hunting under the sky still darkened by passenger pigeons. It’s like some reclused sect in the Latin-American jungle, the only spot on their clean face is the deranged juristic system. So, not only they are physically stronger and faster, but smarter too with a hardcoding for eco-consciousness. The author is preaching through the Neanderthal protagonist’s mouth and points his finger at the deeply flawed development of this humanity. By this verdict, we cannot think and act responsibly about our lives and our home as long as the religion puts the consequences in the afterife, something hardcore materialists and well, Neanderthals refuse to exist.

I had the inside gut that the author demands some kind of paradigm-shift in human thinking, and the neanderthal contact potentially is comparable to Jesus and the advent of Christianity. Now it’s not like I’m against some floor-sweeping by more advanced and/or different conscious beings, it worked pretty will in The Swarm, but do it in a more credible and more original way. This story bleeds through multiple wounds, and I feel sorry for wasting my nights for a three volume anti-religion pamphlet and cleric-bashing it turned out to be in the end. Frankly, what I would do with the author is dropping him out of a hovering helicopter naked over the Amazonian Jungle like deceased Tom Clancy or one of his ghostwriters did that with those eco-terrorists in Rainbow Six. Here is your chance to live in harmony with mother nature, sucker!

I have other issues with these books. I sort of expected the author to unfold the neanderthal world better in the third book, more shades of grey, a real conflict and movement in both worlds, but nothing like that. What we get are the sexual adventures of the female protagonist and her road to the liberating polygamy and bisexuality, the cream of the Neanderthals keep on their guiding us into a new Enlightenment, some awful madman story with bioweapons (how original…). And yes, we get a fix on the deficient shielding of our brain, the reason we are suspectable to religious ideas. Human consciousness came by accident, and the next big change of the planet's magnetic field will make us drooling retards again who beat each other up with bones. For crying out loud...

What gives, the humanoid wolf idea resurfaced several years ago. Give that man a script to write!

Word of advice, if you are really interested, read the first book, maybe the second, but avoid the third because it's really a screw-up, and it does not really more than enforce some American stereotypes about Canadians and their leftism. I wonder how much the author's concept would have changed if the trilogy had appeared ten years later, because some new results about Neanderthals came up since then. As a science-fiction the Neanderthal Parallax is obsolescent by now

Attila