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.

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.

Horatio Seymour succeeds 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.

Washington, DC is NOT the U.S. Capital
For one reason or another, 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 became Omaha after Washington was destroyed in the Third World War. In Worldwar, the capital is moved to Little Rock after it is destroyed by the Race. In Southern Victory, Philadelphia is the de facto capital (although Washington remains the de jure).



How Harry Turtledove Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb
Harry Turtledove makes prodigious use of atomic bombs in his fiction.

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.

...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.

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.

Atomic Bombs Rarely Called By That Name
Atomic bombs are called by other names in Harry Turtledove's fiction. In Southern Victory, they are popularly called "superbombs." In Worldwar, they are called "explosive-metal bombs." In "Ready for the Fatherland", they are called "sunbombs".

The Sunbomb
"Sunbomb" is a term that describes atomic weapons in Southern Victory and in "Ready for the Fatherland." In the former, the term refers specifically to the then-theoretical hydrogen bomb. In the latter, it is (evidentally) applied to atomic weapons generally.

Nuclear Free-For-All
In OTL, only the United States has used atomic bombs in war, using two against Japan in 1945. But in many of Harry Turtledove's timelines, beligerents 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 and even during peacetime, 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.

Cities Destroyed by Atomic Bombs in Multiple Timelines
The following cities were destroyed by atomic bombs in at least two Harry Turtledove timelines:
 * Hamburg (Southern Victory, Worldwar)
 * Los Angeles (The Valley-Westside War, "Half the Battle")
 * Philadelphia (In the Presence of Mine Enemies, Southern Victory)
 * Tokyo ("Ready for the Fatherland", Worldwar)
 * Washington, DC (In the Presence of Mine Enemies, Worldwar)

Multiple National Capitals Victims of Atomic Attacks
In both Southern Victory and Worldwar, several national capitals fall victim to damage or destruction courtesy of the atomic bomb. In Southern Victory, the capitals of Russia (Petrograd), France (Paris), Britain (London), and the United States (Philadelphia) are subject to superbomb attacks. In Worldwar, the capitals of Germany (Berlin), the United States (Washington, D.C.), Japan (Tokyo), and Denmark (Copenhagen) are attacked during the Race Invasion. During the Race-German War of 1965, Germany's new capital Nuremberg is destroyed by a Race explosive-metal bomb, and the capitals of Romania (Bucharest) and the defunct nations of Turkey (Istanbul) and Poland (Warsaw) were destroyed by German bombs.

''See Also:Cities Destroyed by Atomic Bombs



Post-Nuclear Societal Regression
Both "Half the Battle" and The Valley-Westside War are set in a post-nuclear Los Angeles where medieval kingdoms have sprung up fighting over small tracts of land. Another story, "Secret Names", shows Texans living as hunters and gatherers once again after a nuclear disaster.

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. In addition, in The Disunited States of America, Prussia is one of two countries to send manned flights to Mars (the other being California).



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.

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

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.

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 (it should be noted that in ItPoME, Goering appears to have predeceased Hitler).

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.

Huey Long, Enemy of Tyrants, is Shot to Death
Huey Long was assassinated in OTL when he was shot by Carl Weiss. Long is also assassinated in "Joe Steele" (officially shot while trying to escape imprisonment) and in Southern Victory. In both works, Long was a possible hindrance to a duly elected president's efforts to seize absolute power.

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.

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.

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.

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. And while the Nazis aren't in power at the end of The Man With the Iron Heart, Turtledove strongly implies that they will be within the foreseeable future.

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.

Abbreviated World Wars
The analogs of World Wars depicted by Harry Turtledove are usually much shorter (and sometimes more destructive) than their OTL analogs. World War I lasts a matter of months in Curious Notions and in "Uncle Alf". In Southern Victory, the Great War ends in 1917, one year earlier than the OTL WWI. 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. Morever, in Southern Victory, the Second Great War begins in 1941, a few years later than in OTL, where the conflicts that were folded into WWII began in 1937 in Asia and in 1939 in Europe. In Atlantis, a war similar to the Seven Years' War (a world war in all but name) appears to have started a few years later than in OTL (Turtledove was ambiguous on this.)

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."

The Kaiserreich Occupies Belgium
Imperial Germany occupies Belgium following a World War I analog in both Southern Victory and "Uncle Alf".



The Wireless
Domestic radio service (and international shortwave) is referred to as "the wireless" in Southern Victory and in The Two Georges. This Briticism is understandable in a book without the American Revolutionary War (the book is filled with them) but not so understandable for United States citizens to use it in a series where the Confederates won the American Civil War and are allied with the British.

Russian Alaska
In Southern Victory, The Two Georges and in The Disunited States of America, Alaska is a Russian territory into the 20th and 21st century.

The Nation of Quebec
Quebec is an independent country in Southern Victory and in the short story "Elder Skelter". It is also independent in The Disunited States of America, but that features North America that is totally Balkanized.

Edward VIII Holds the Throne
Edward VIII remains monarch of Britain in both The Two Georges and in Southern Victory.

Austria-Hungary Forever
For one reason or another, the Austro-Hungarian Empire survives into the 20th and 21st century in Southern Victory, Curious Notions, and The Disunited States of America.

The Ottoman Empire Forever
For one reason or another, the Ottoman Empire survives into the 20th and 21st centuries in Curious Notions, Southern Victory, and The Two Georges.

The Brazilian Empire Forever
For one reason or another, Brazil is still an empire in Curious Notions and Southern Victory. In the former, however, the Empire is beholden to the German Empire.

Japan Controls Korea
In In the Presence of Mine Enemies, Southern Victory, and The Two Georges, Korea fails to be liberated or liberate itself from the domination of Japan. (For a switch, the Race controls Korea in Worldwar, which might actually be a better situation.)

Southern Empires Join Northern Barbarians to Resist Even More Northern, Even More Barbaric, Barbarians
In King of the North, Gerin the Fox, an Elabonian feudal lord-turned-sovereign monarch, joins with the Elabonians' longtime enemies, the Trokmoi who live to the north of the Empire's lands, in an uneasy alliance to fight the Gradi, a much crueler, much more aggressive barbarian tribe from even farther north. In Beyond the Gap, the Raumsdalian Empire, the Bizogots, and the Rulers copy the same dynamic both geographically and socio-politically. And in Krispos of Videssos, survivors of Kubrat help the Videssians fight Harvas's Halogai.

The World Turned Upside Down
In both the Derlavai series, which is a sorcerous analog of World War II, and the War Between the Provinces series, which is a sorcerous analog of the American Civil War, Turtledove gives his fantasy worlds a map in which the southern hemisphere is the site of the action (both wars were fought principally in the northern hemisphere), generally puts southern points in the north and vice versa so that the climate conditions will be comparable (one notable exception is the Land of the Ice People, a North Africa analog) and also reverses the maps along longitudinal axes, so that, for example,geographical areas in the southwest of the Derlavaian and Detinan maps play roles analogous to points in the northeast of the real world map.

Blondes as the Underclass
In two fantasy works, the Darkness and the War Between the Provinces, ethnic groups that are distinguished by their blond hair stand-in for OTL groups that have traditionally been oppressed. In the former, the Kaunians stand-in for the Jews (although there are certain historical similarities to the Kaunian Empire and the Roman Empire). In the latter series, blondes do double duty, paralleling the black slaves of the United States, and to a lesser extent, the Native Americans.

Chemical Weapons in WWII Analogs
In both Worldwar and Southern Victory, events analogous to World War II see the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield. In the former, the banned weapons are used in a measure of desperation against The Race. In the latter, the weapons are not banned and are simply used as a matter of course, with some soldiers reacting in a somewhat blaise manner to them.

The Accidental Deaths of Werner Heisenberg
German physicist Werner Heisenberg meets an unfortunate accidental death in two Turtledove stories. In Worldwar, Heisenberg is killed when the atomic pile he is working on melts down. In The Man With the Iron Heart, Heisenberg is accidentally shot in the head by one of Reinhard Heydrich's men.

Germans Blow Up St. Paul's Cathedral in the 1940s
In both In the Presence of Mine Enemies and in The Man With the Iron Heart, St. Paul's Cathedral is specifically noted as being destroyed by Germans. In the former, the Cathedral (and most of London) is destroyed by a German invasion early in World War II. In the latter, the Cathedral is destroyed by a German truck bomb. As London is destroyed by a German atomic bomb in Southern Victory, St. Paul's Cathedral was also implicitly destroyed, but is not specifically referred to.

Germans Destroy the Eiffel Tower
In three Turtledove works, the Eiffel Tower is destroyed by Germans during a World War II analog. In Southern Victory, the Tower is melted down to a stump when Paris is destroyed by a German superbomb. In The Man With the Iron Heart,post-war terrorists level the Tower with a truck bomb in 1946. In Hitler's War, the Tower is destroyed in aerial bombings in 1939.

Benjamin Butler Sucks!
While this bias is probably borne out by the historical record, Turtledove works the idea that Union General and onetime military governor Benjamin Butler was a slimeball into three works. In The Guns of the South, Robert E. Lee and his colleagues revile Butler. In How Few Remain, Abraham Lincoln has few kind thoughts about Butler. In "Must and Shall", Neil Michaels views a statue of Butler, concluding that Butler was an unlikely choice for such an honor.

Roman Republic in the New World
Both A Different Flesh and the Atlantis series depict republics analogous to the United States in terms of history, but that adopt governments much more closely patterned on the Roman Republic than the actual US is. Interestingly, the PODs of both timelines are in prehistory.

Stan the Man
Turtledove has on two separate occasions named female POVs' young grandsons Stan: Stan Enos, grandson of Sylvia Enos, in Southern Victory; and Stan Neft, grandson of Diana McGraw, in The Man With the Iron Heart.

Grant Back on the Sauce
In both Southern Victory and The Guns of the South, disappointment at the Confederate victory over the Union causes Ulysses S. Grant to relapse into alcoholism.

Palestine: Sleepy Backwater
In Southern Victory and in The Two Georges, Palestine is specifically referred to as a sleepy backwater province of the Ottoman Empire.

Terrible Cooks, But Not Too Terrible
In any Turtledove story, be it fantasy, alternate history, science fiction, or straight fiction, short story, standalone novel, or series, any time a character finds himself in a situation in which a meal must be hurriedly prepared under field conditions, he will almost invariably find himself being served meat that is "burnt on the outside and raw on the inside," and Turtledove will mention that he eats it anyway.

World War I in North America
In both Southern Victory and The Disunited States of America, Turtledove posits that, on a North American continent on which several nation-states compete with one another and none gain hegemony, different North American governments would align with different European governments, and the Sarajevo Incident would lead to the Central Powers and the Entente invoking these American alliances, and WWI being fought on the North American continent with all the ferocity and devastation seen in Europe in OTL. In both timelines, the war is known as "The Great War".

Los Angeles: Attacked by Asian Countries
In both Southern Victory and "Getting Real", Los Angeles is attacked by an Asian power. The Japanese bomb the city in Southern Victory in the 1930s, and the Chinese attack outdated American defenses in "Getting Real." Both countries attack L.A. in order to humiliate the United States, a plan that succeeds in each story.

US Conquers Canada after the North Loses the Civil War
In both Southern Victory and The Guns of the South, timelines where the South won the American Civil War, the United States conquers Canada and annexes the nation into their own. In the latter, it happens very shortly after the Civil War. In the former, it happens during the Great War.

The Babe Always Calls his Shot
Babe Ruth's legendary called homerun from the 1932 World Series is fondly remembered, but actually shrouded in mystery (did he actually mean to call his homerun, or was his dramatic pointing something else). In the works of Harry Turtledove, Ruth undeniably calls his shot. In "Before the Beginning", the time-viewer confirms that Ruth indeed was calling his shot. In "The House That George Built", Ruth, a minor leaguer, calls his shot while playing for Baltimore Orioles in the early 1920s. And in The Disunited States of America, a "George Hermann" called his shot while playing a game of rounders.

A VIP's Death Sparks World War II
Much as the assassination of Franz Ferdinand triggered World War I in OTL, Harry Turtledove has used the death of a prominent person to help trigger several World War II analogues. In Southern Victory, the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II helps trigger the Second Great War. In Darkness, the death of Aledro, Duke of Bari is the catalyst for the Derlavaian War, a war closely based on our World War II. And in Hitler's War, the assassination of Konrad Henlein triggers a different World War II in 1938.

Japan Attacks Soviet Union
In OTL World War II, Japan and the USSR fought a series of border skirmishes in the late 1930s, then reached a ceasefire and remained at peace with each other all through World War II until the Soviets invaded Japanese holdings in mainland northeastern Asia in August 1945. In Hitler's War, in which the main war begins while the Soviet-Japanese war is still festering, the Japanese take advantage of Soviet distraction in Europe to launch an offensive, and northeast and central Asia remains an active secondary front, albeit a rather insignificant one, throughout the time that the Soviets are fighting the Germans. In the Darkness series, Gyongyos, which is a Japanese analog, resumes its earlier war in the sparsely inhabited forests of the Gyongyos-Unkerlant border region, again forcing Unkerlant to keep an eye on its remote frontier while fighting a major war at the other end of its massive territory.

Racial Enlightenment Not Gender Enlightenment
Turtledove has written several characters, in different stories, who call for reforms of institutionalized racial discrimination within their societies, but who, when given the opportunity to extend their belief in racial equality to matters of gender equality, fail to do so. Examples include Frederick Radcliff in Liberating Atlantis and Alva in Advance and Retreat.

Storm=Strom
In The Victorious Opposition, Turtledove implies the presence of the historical figure Strom Thurmond by having Anne Colleton make an offhand reference to "Storm or something like that." In Liberating Atlantis, Thurmond is invoked by Storm Whitson.