Turtledove's Tropes

Because Harry Turtledove often writes alternate histories set in roughly the same time periods, or that address many of the same themes, certain specific ideas often turn up as plot-points in separate timelines. 1. Kentucky Plebiscite. The state of Kentucky has joined the Confederate States after a plebiscite in The Guns of the South and in Southern Victory. In fairness, the plebiscite in Southern Victory was to rejoin the Confederacy.

2. Horatio Seymour suceeds Abraham Lincoln in 1865. In both The Guns of the South and Southern Victory, in the aftermath of a Confederate Civil War victory, Abraham Lincoln was defeated in his bid for re-election by Horatio Seymour.

3. Washington, DC is NOT the U.S. Capital. For one reason or another (see below), Washington, DC is rarely the capital of the United States in Turtledove's fiction after the point of departure. In In the Presence of Mine Enemies, the capital is Omaha. In Worldwar, the capital is moved to Little Rock. In Southern Victory, Philadelphia is the de facto capital (although Washington remains the de jure).

4. Washington, DC is destroyed by an atomic bomb. In both In the Presence of Mine Enemies and in Worldwar, Washington, DC have been destroyed by an atomic bomb.

5. Nazi Germany goes to Mars. In both In the Presence of Mine Enemies and in Worldwar, Nazi Germany makes a manned trip to the planet Mars, although in Worldwar, the United States goes there shortly after.

6. Protracted Russian Civil War Post-World War I. Russia falls into a lengthy civil war after being on the losing side in a World War I analog in both Southern Victory and in Curious Notions.

7. Revanchist Britain and France. Britain and France become revanchist after losing a World War I analog in Southern Victory and in Curious Notions.

8. Germany uses the A-bomb first... Germany is the first country to develop and use the atomic bomb in Southern Victory, In the Presence of Mine Enemies and in Curious Notions. It is also the first human nation to deploy an atomic bomb completely of its own manufacture, without any material captured from the Race, in Worldwar.

9. ...on the United States.   In In the Presence of Mine Enemies and in Curious Notions, Germany drops the first atomic bombs on the United States.

10. Oswald Mosley Controls Britain. Although he doesn't quite rule Britain in Southern Victory, Oswald Mosley is extremely powerful and influential in the British government. He does attain the office of prime minister in In the Presence of Mine Enemies. 11. Himmler succeeds Hitler. In both Worldwar and In the Presence of Mine Enemies, Heinrich Himmler becomes the head of state for the Greater German Reich upon the death of Adolf Hitler, despite the PODs of both those stories having come at a time when Hermann Goering was next in line.

12. James McReynolds, Enemy of Tyrants. In Southern Victory and in "Joe Steele," Supreme Court Justice James McReynolds is a temporary hinderence to a duly elected president's efforts to seize absolute power.

13. Huey Long, Enemy of Tyrants. In Southern Victory and in "Joe Steele," Louisiana governor Huey Long is temporary hinderence to a duly elected president's efforts to seize absolute power, and dies for his efforts.

14. Russia is where the first human-made atomic bomb is used. In Worldwar, the Soviet Union detonates the first human-made bomb against the Race near Kaluga; in Southern Victory, Germany uses the bomb against Petrograd.

15. A major war starts in the wake of a territorial dispute involving Germany. In Southern Victory, the Second Great War starts after Germany refuses to return Alsace-Lorraine to France. In Worldwar, the Race-German War of 1965 begins when Germany attempts to reclaim Poland, which it claimed was rightfully theirs.

16. Multi-lateral Cold War. In two stories, "Ready for the Fatherland" and Worldwar, the Cold War that develops after a World War II analog is fought out by several parties jostling for position. In "Ready for the Fatherland", the United States and its allies face not only the Soviet Union, but Nazi Germany as well. In Worldwar, the Race is added to that mix.

17. Japan is divided by the United States and the Soviet Union. In both "Joe Steele" and in "Ready for the Fatherland", Japan is divided up between the United States and the Soviet Union. In both stories, the Soviets control Hokkaido.

18. United States and Soviet Union Exchange Atomic Bombs in Japan. In both "Joe Steele" and "Ready for the Fatherland", the United States and the Soviet Union trade atomic bomb attacks in their respective spheres of occupied Japan.

19. Nazi Germany Survives World War II. Nazi Germany manages to continue after World War II in three stories, In the Presence of Mine Enemies, "Ready for the Fatherland", and Worldwar. Only in the first does Germany actually win the war. In the second and third stories, circumstances of the war change, allowing for its continued existence without actual victory.

20. Hamburg Is Destroyed By An Atomic Bomb. This occurs in both the Worldwar timeline, in which the Race destroyed the city in 1943 as punishment for the similar German destruction of Rome, and in the Southern Victory timeline, in which the British destroy the city in 1944.

21. Nuclear Free-For-All. In OTL, only the United States has used atomic bombs in war, using two in 1945. But in many of Harry Turtledove's timelines, belligerents involved in major wars have traded multiple atomic weapons. In Worldwar, the Soviet Union, Germany, and the United States swapped several atomic attacks with the Race in the year before the war ended. Subsequently, during the Race-German War of 1965, even more bombs were swapped. In Southern Victory, members of the Entente (the Confederate States and Britain) and the Central Powers (Germany and the United States) attacked members of the opposing alliance several times with atomic weapons before the Second Great War ended. In In the Presence of Mine Enemies, Germany and the United States used atomic bombs on each other during the Third World War.

22. Throat-Slitting as an Act of Mercy. In several of Turtledove's military works, various soldiers have slit the throats of comrades who have been fatally and painfully wounded.

23. Tokyo is destroyed by an atomic bomb. In both "Ready for the Fatherland" and Worldwar, Japan's capital is submitted to nuclear destruction; in the former story, the Soviet Union destroys the American-occupied city, while in Worldwar, the Race destroys Tokyo in order to prevent Japan from buidling an atomic bomb.

24. A second major world war ends in 1944. In both Southern Victory and Worldwar, the second round of warfare between major powers comes to an end in 1944, one year earlier than in OTL.

25. Confederacy subject to harsh U.S. occupation by 1940s. In both "Must and Shall" and Southern Victory, the victorious United States defeats and occupies the entire Confederate States, placing it under martial law and initiating retributions against anti-U.S. rebellion. In addition and in comparison, the occupation of the C.S. in Southern Victory takes place in 1944, rather than beginning in the 1860s and continuing into at least 1942 as had occured in "Must and Shall."