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 seceeds 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 #4), 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 a losing a World War I analog in 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...on the United States.  Germany is the first country to develop and use the atomic bomb in both In the Presence of Mine Enemies and in Curious Notions.

9. December 7 is important.  December 7 actually proves to be a key date twice in Southern Victory. The United States attacks the British base at Pearl Harbor on the Sandwich Islands on December 7, 1914. Later in the series, Japan attacks the U.S. base at Midway on December 7, 1941. Of course, December 7, 1941 is important to Days of Infamy, as well.