History Literature / Timeline191

*** That one may be more of a WhatCouldHaveBeen than anything. Fans have long suspected that Turtledove originally meant for the USA to lose the Great War and end up being the parallel to Weimar and later Nazi Germany. Had he gone this route, Flora Blackford would have been the Rosa Luxemburg parallel, while Gordon [=McSweeney=] would have been Hitler. As it stands, Blackford develops into much more an Eleanor Roosevelt Expy.
**** In that case, who exactly was Featherston planned to be? Charles de Gaulle?

* CoolVersusAwesome: CSA Major General [[HistoricalDomainCharacter George S. Patton]] versus the USA Expy of ErwinRommel.

* EverybodySmokes: Being a period piece, this isn't so unusual (though since it's alternate history, one could argue that he's not bound by the need to make 1940s society of this timeline look like the 1940s society of this one). In the First Great War, US characters occasionally mention that the quality of tobacco products have gone downhill since the war put an end to trade with the Confederacy. Used in moderation, it adds texture to the story by reminding us of something we wouldn't really think about. But in the Second Great War, people talk about it ''[[OverusedRunningGag all the flipping time!!]]'' We GET it! But once Turtledove starts making his characters discuss cigarettes frequently, he never lets up. Never--The very last sentence of the series is about smoking.
** This seems to be a common theme with Turtledove, as smoking and the relative quality of various brands of cigarettes shows up in nearly every one of his series (excepting settings in which tobacco doesn't exist/has not yet been discovered).

** Every character interacts with as many other viewpoint characters as possible, even in incredibly minor ways. Moss and Sylvia Enos even interact, as Moss is mentioned in a throw-away line to be wearing boots with red rings on the top. Oddly enough given this series, it's only mentioned once.

** Irving Morrell meets a German Sergeant that has both won the Iron Cross, First Class, and expresses virulent hate towards Jews and Slavs. [[AdolfHitler This should remind you of someone]].

* FaceHeelTurn: Jefferson Pinkard and Jake Featherston start out as sympathetic soldiers of the Confederacy. Later on in the series, Jake Featherston becomes AdolfHitler, and Jefferson Pinkard becomes Rudolf Hoess (commandant of Auschwitz in OTL).

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Several characters are parallels of famous figures from our own history, most notably Irving Morrell (Erwin Rommel) and Jake Featherston (AdolfHitler).

** 'Daniel' MacArthur is almost identical to the original timeline's Douglas MacArthur in temperment and professional skill. The only real difference is the use of a cigarette holder instead of a corncob pipe.

** Music/LouisArmstrong was leader of the popular band "Satchmo and the Rhythm Aces". During the Second Great War he was forced to play for Confederate troops and eventually escaped into Union territory. He brought the plight of the blacks to the Union government and later recorded propaganda for them.

** The CSA starts producing rockets that sound an awful lot like V1s at the end of The Grapple, produced in Huntsville, Alabama, which is where Wernher von Braun ended up after WWII testing V2 rockets, marking the beginning of the US Space Program.

*** Though it should be noted that Churchill only becomes PM by forming a coalition government with the much more popular Oswald Mosley. If he hadn't, Mosley would have become Prime Minister instead.
** One that bugs me even though it's obviously just something that Turtledove didn't think about : Emperor Maximillian of Mexico reigns into the 1880s, implying that the Austrian-French alliance that placed him on the throne in the 1860s succeeded due to the USA not being in a position to support the rebellion that toppled it in real life. In reality, there would have been more ripples from the success of this alliance, which was meant to be the first step in a joint Austro-French empire in the New World that would challenge Anglo-American dominance of the area, as well as the dominance in Europe of Prussia/Germany. However, it's never really brought up again, and Austria and France still end up on opposite sides of the World War I alliances.
*** The German Empire seems to be much stronger in this timeline, which may have led to Austria seeking out a stronger (and more geographically available) partner. France turns to Britain as a result, and the Hapsburgs on the throne in Mexico end up at odds with their Austrian cousins (but by this point the Confederates are pulling the strings, the Emperor is a figurehead, and Mexico was never at any point powerful enough to pose a threat to Austria anyway). In any case, Maximilian I though Austrian was primarily a French client (the Austrians were the junior partner in the scheme, having been defeated by the French in a fight over influence in Italy three years earlier). Resentment over the way Mexico worked out may have further driven Austria into the German camp.
*** Maximilian I had no children and adopted two grandchildren of Augustin Iturbide, the founder of the First Mexican Empire, as his heirs, establishing them as a cadet branch of the Habsburgs with no blood ties to the original dynasty. By the time the Great Wars take place, any connection with the Austrian Habsburgs is tenuous at best (and it's entirely possible that the Mexican Civil War--this timeline's Spanish Civil War {{expy}}--resulted in a new dynasty on the Mexican throne for the Second Great War).
*** Franz Ferdinand and his wife (presumably Sophie, though unnamed) are assassinated in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, as in our own history, though they're killed by a bomb rather than gunshot (possibly Nedjelko Cabrinovic's bomb goes where it was supposed to when it's thrown). Butterflies might not necessarily have affected the death of Crown Prince Rudolf (or Rudolf may have died early anyway due to his various health issues - he had syphilis, for example), so it's not unreasonable to suppose that he would also have become ''Thronfolger'' (heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne) in TL-191. It's more doubtful, however, that he would ever have married Sophie Chotek, as history would have diverged enough by the time their relationship became serious in our own timeline (in 1898) that they might never have even had the opportunity to fall in love. (For that matter, Empress Elisabeth herself may never even have been assassinated in TL-191.)
** Also, the early 20th century has two world wars and an economic Great Depression, starting and ending almost in the exact same years - which makes little sense, since a different outcome of the ACW would certainly influence history to be a lot different than ours. It becomes markedly ridiculous once you discover that HarryTurtledove has actuallly always been well aware of tropes like ButterflyOfDoom and InSpiteOfANail - yet he never uses them in any of his AlternateHistory novels, possibly either because RuleOfFun or his perception that [[ViewersAreMorons Readers Are Morons]].

*** Regular atomic weapons are referred to as superbombs. Sunbombs are mentioned at the very end of the series as a future development and are described as far more devastating, so that term is likely referencing hydrogen/thermonuclear bombs (the first of which was tested in our timeline's 1952).

* FalseFlagOperation: Both the Union of Confederacy make use of soldiers who sound like Southerners/Northerners and dress them in the other side's uniforms to cause confsion behind the lines. This is how Potter manages to [[spoiler:smuggle a nuke over the border.]] His status as a KarmaHoudini is only due to the Union doing the same thing.

** MarkTwain is a newspaper columnist in San Francisco using his real name of Samuel Clemens (see below) and scoffs at the idea of becoming an author, stating that the minimal pay would not be worth it.

** Clarence Potter is placed on trial for war crimes at the end of the story [[spoiler: for having disguised himself and his troops in US uniforms to smuggle a nuclear weapon into Philadelphia]]. He is acquitted thanks in no small part due to testimony from Irving Morrell saying that US troops had also used the same strategy against the Confederates. This is reminiscent of the Nuremburg trial of ''Kriegsmarine'' chief (and Hitler's successor) Karl Dönitz, who dodged sentencing on the charge of unrestricted submarine warfare thanks in part to testimony from the British Admiralty (that the British had done the same to German shipping) and US Admiral Chester Nimitz (that the US had done the same to the Japanese).[[note]]Dönitz received a sentence of 10 years on other charges and would become one of only two senior Nazi officials (along with Albert Speer) to be even ''remotely'' rehabilitated after the war. His funeral in 1980 was attended by naval officers from both Great Britain and Germany, several in uniform despite orders from the West German government that Dönitz be denied military honors.[[/note]]
*** It was actually based off the trial of Otto Skorzeny, who during the battle of the Ardennes put on US uniforms with a unit of Germans and snuck behind American lines. He was acquitted due to his claims that his soldiers only used the uniforms for sneaking and wore German uniforms in combat, which is allowed under the laws of war. The Allies let him off in part because convicting him would've required them to admit that they'd used similar tactics.

* AllohistoricalAllusion:

** LouisArmstrong was leader of the popular band "Satchmo and the Rhythm Aces". During the Second Great War he was forced to play for Confederate troops and eventually escaped into Union territory. He brought the plight of the blacks to the Union government and later recorded propaganda for them.

** WilliamHowardTaft was never elected President, instead serving as a Democractic Congressman.

** WoodrowWilson was president of the Confederate States from 1910 - 1916, and led the Confederacy during the early years of the Great War.
** HarryTruman was elected Vice President in 1944, alongside running mate Thomas Dewey.

*** Various members of the [[JohnFKennedy Kennedy clan]] also offer an aversion, as they end up in the same roles during the Second Great War that the Kennedys of our timeline held in World War Two: JFK is a naval officer, Joseph Kennedy Jr. a pilot in one of Jonathan Moss's squadrons, etc. As with the historical Kennedys, the family is also politically powerful (Joseph Kennedy Sr. is still a Massachusetts political operative), able to arrange the early discharge of George Enos Jr. from the Navy.
*** RonaldReagan is a radio sportscaster, paralleling his real-life career at this point in history.
*** Another aversion: [[JohnWayne Marion Morrison]], who still plays war heroes in motion pictures. He is described as making "a first-rate [[UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt TR]]."
** ElvisPresley as a young boy is wounded by US troops while participating in the Confederate 'National Assault Force', an analogue to the ''Volkssturm''.
** [[RichardNixon Nixon]] himself as noted above is a US Army specialist...[[spoiler: in wiretapping and bugging rooms.]][[note]]Nixon in reality served as a Navy logistics officer during World War Two, and saw no combat, although by his own admission he became (not surprisingly) a very good poker player during this period.[[/note]]

** A bald US general named [[DwightDEisenhower Ironhewer]] accepts CS General George Patton's surrender. In real life Eisenhower and Patton were friends and colleagues.
** FidelCastro appears in ''The Grapple'' as a 16 year old kid who is part of the underground resistance in Confederate Cuba, opposing the Freedom Party. Sam Carsten, who commands the ship smuggling guns, ammo and supplies into Cuba, is told that despite his young age and being white (unlike his black comrades), Fidel was clearly the one in charge.

** [[ShelSilverstein Shel Silverstein]] is a surgeon in the United States Army, who operated on Irving Morrell after the attempted assassination on his life. In real life Shel Silverstein was a Korean War veteran, not a World War II veteran.

** JimmyCarter was a Confederate sailor who was killed by black rebels while on leave.

** WinstonChurchill still manages to become Prime Minister of Great Britain, but his authority is limited by the more powerful member of the coaltion government, Oswald Mosley. Churchill is ousted as Prime Minister after London, Norwich and Brighton are destroyed by sunbombs, and Horace Wilson becomes Prime Minister.
** [[MarkTwain Samuel Clemens]] is a journalist in San Francisco.
** CalvinCoolidge ran for President in 1928 and 1932, winning in the latter. He died before he could be inaugurated, and his running mate HerbertHoover became President.

** Due to the Nazis never rising to power, AlbertEinstein remains in Germany and works on the German sunbomb project.

** AdolfHitler is a Sergeant in the Germany Army an orderly to Heinz Guderian. While his hatred of Jews and Slavs is present here as in the real world, the changed history means he never rises to a position of authority.

** JosephStalin and Vyacheslav Molotov became the leaders of the Red forces in the Russian Civil War, which the Whites ultimately won.

* SlidingScaleOfAlternateHistoryPlausibility : Starts out reasonably hard in ''How Few Remain'', but, sadly, [[{{Sequelitis}} gets softer and softer with every sequel]]. The historical parallelism of the last 3 or 4 novels (depicting an alternate WWII set mostly in North America) [[MirrorUniverse often runs to absurd degrees]] (basically becoming just an American re-telling of European history of the first half of the 20. century). Harry apparently became a little lazy by then. [[{{Sequelitis}} No wonder...]]

* TitleDrop: In the last book Flora Blackford notes that "Not many men got to be in at the birth of something wonderful. Failing that, being ''in at the death'' of something foul could be nearly as good."

** On one occasion when Flora Blackford is speaking to FranklinDelanoRoosevelt, she thinks to herself that it's a shame his being wheelchair bound prevents him from ever being able to run for President.

** FranklinDRoosevelt was Secretary of War in the Hoover administration and later Assistant Secretary of the Navy under two Socialist Administrations. He was also responsible for the the Union's sunbomb project.

*** Another aversion: [[JohnWayne Marion Morrison]], who still plays war heroes in motion pictures. He is described as making "a first-rate [[TeddyRoosevelt TR]]."

** TeddyRoosevelt led a volunteer cavalry regiment in the Second Mexican War, and was the US President from 1913-1921.[[note]]Interestingly, the cavalry unit in this book is actually made up of men on horseback. In Real Life, Roosevelt was the only member of his "cavalry" unit to have a horse.[[/note]]