101 Stumbles in the March of History (New American Library, September 2016) is a collection of 101 essays on various mistakes or "stumbles" throughout history from 490 BCE to AD 2003 Iraqi invasion. Harry Turtledove contributed three essays:
- Error 8: Emperors Shouldn't Skirmish - AD 354
- This deals with Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate who tried to reverse the decision of Constantine I to make Christianity the official religion of the Empire and allow other faiths to co-exist. Julian's life was cut short when he joined in a minor cavalry skirmish during a retreat from the Persian capital of Ctesiphon. If Julian had lived, Byzantium might have been more religiously tolerant with a major impact on history.
- Error 31: Lee's Luck Fails, But McClellan Helps Out - AD 1862
- This is a variant on the lost Special Orders 191. Turtledove speculates on George McClellan being more aggressive in attacking Robert E. Lee's divided Army of Northern Virginia upon finding the lost orders. This would have been a decisive victory rather than a near run, probably ending the American Civil War in 1863. In OTL McClellan ran for President in 1864 and was defeated by Abraham Lincoln, but as a victorious general he might have won with ramifications for history.
- Error 63: Kursk - AD 1943
- In January 1943, German forces in Stalingrad surrendered and Soviet forces aggressively over-extended their lines and were stopped by Field Marshall Erich von Manstein forming a large salient centered on Kursk, 450 km or 280 miles south-west of Moscow. The Germans intended to cut this off trapping the large Soviet army but the attack was delayed for various reasons from the planned mid-April until July 5. This had given the Soviets time to dig in and defeat the attack. Turtledove speculates that if the attack had gone as planned, Germany would have won the battle but with them so badly outnumbered by not just the USSR but also the Anglo-American alliance, the war was still lost. However, the Germans would not have lost as many troops or tanks so the war would have been prolonged from May 1945 to at least that summer. Hence, Berlin would have been destroyed by atomic fire in addition to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.