Worldwar: Upsetting the Balance

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Worldwar: Upsetting the Balance
Author Harry Turtledove
Country USA
Language English
Series Worldwar
Genre(s) Alternate history/Science fiction
Publisher Del Rey Books
Publication date 1 January 1996
Pages 481 (hardcover edition)
ISBN ISBN 0-345-40221-9
Preceded by Worldwar: Tilting the Balance
Followed by Worldwar: Striking the Balance

Worldwar: Upsetting the Balance is an alternate history and science fiction novel by Harry Turtledove. It is the third novel of the Worldwar series, as well as the third installment in the Tosev timeline.

Contents

[edit] Plot introduction

Now armed with nuclear weapons, the United States and Nazi Germany strike back at the invading Race.

[edit] Plot summary

The United States and Germany develop atomic weapons of their own and, alongside the Soviets, engage in a nuclear exchange with the Race. The Soviets may have detonated the first atomic bomb, but it was only because their original sample of plutonium (captured from the Race) was larger than the samples given to the USA and Germany; the Soviets actually lag far behind either of these two countries in their efforts to make their own plutonium, and they used all they had in the atomic bomb they used south of Moscow to stop the Race's main thrust against the city.

Regardless, the Race is in a full state of panic that humans have been able to detonate an atomic weapon, and many commanders are shocked at the number of the Race's soldiers that died in the blast. Straha, third in command of the Conquest Fleet, demands a vote of no confidence in Fleetlord Atvar by the captains of each ship in the Fleet. Such a vote would require a 75% majority to depose Atvar, but the vote falls short at 69%. Atvar remains in control, but he recognizes that most of the shiplords no longer actively support him.

Soon, the Race launches an invasion of the British home islands (by air from south France, flying over German-held north France) and occupy a northern area (which seems to be centered on Oxfordshire and includes Northampton), and a southern area (which seems to be centered on west Sussex). The humans hold onto Market Harborough; parts of the story describe fighting around Brixworth and Scaldwell and Spratton villages which are on the front line between Northampton and Market Harborough. Another section of text describes an artillery and tank battle for Henley-on-Thames. The human forces are exposed to fire from Lizard helicopter gunships many years before humans had such craft in the real timeline. The Lizards ignore warnings from Churchill that such an attack will meet with terrible consequences. The Lizard forces in Britain are subjected to another human weapon they did not anticipate: mustard gas. Totally unprepared for a chemical attack by the humans, the Race's invasion force is devastated and thrown back: a Lizard plan to link their two areas through Maidenhead fails. London suffers heavy bombing and bombardment and loses many landmarks including Big Ben which survived the real world timeline German Blitz. The Lizards' northern pocket is obliterated, and their southern pocket evacuates in a hurry by air through Tangmere, which is the Lizards' last airfield in Britain out of range of human artillery. As a result, the British gain access to much intact Lizard technology that was abandoned in the retreat. The British use of mustard gas also inspires the Germans, Americans and Russians to use poison gas against the Race. The German use of poison gas includes the use of Sarin and Tabun

China's Communist guerillas also escalate the conflict against the Race.

In one of the Race's bases in Siberia, morale is at an all time low. The weather is a truly miserable condition from the hot one the Lizards are used to, and the Race's soldiers feel they're constantly being sent to their deaths by incompetent commanders. Many have fallen into abusing ginger, which works as a narcotic for them, even though it has been outlawed by Atvar's orders (such disobedience would have been considered unthinkable before they came to Earth). The Race's soldiers are pushed to the breaking point, and when the base commander starts berating the garrison yet again, landcruiser driver Ussmak shoots him in the head to silence him and an insurrection starts; the entire Race base mutinies and makes Ussmak their de facto leader.

[edit] Characters in "Worldwar: Upsetting the Balance"

See list of Worldwar characters for fictional and historical characters.


[edit] Allusions to Other Works

The primary concept of the novel, an alien invasion of earth, is of course a plot made popular by the H.G. Wells story War of the Worlds and similar works.

[edit] References to Actual History and Current Science

Turtledove may have based the invasion of Britain on Hitler's aborted Operation Sealion. Wargames that took place in 1974 at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst concluded that any German invasion of Britain would have failed in a way similar to the manner in which the Race is ultimately defeated. Furthermore, the use of chemical warfare during the invasion is a counter-factual proposition since, in actual history, gas was not used by any of the belligerents during the Second World War.

Turtledove is careful to avoid any elaborate technical details about the Race's technology. However, from the descriptions given in the novel it is possible to surmise that much of the technology used by the Race is not only feasible but is in fact in common use at the start of the twenty-first century.

The military equipment of the Race is almost entirely analgous to human technology. Their primary ground forces are composed of tanks and mechanized infantry with supporting self-propelled artillery and gunships. In one respect, at least, the Race's military equipment is actually inferior to human technology, that being naval warfare. Since the Race's homeworld has only a few large lakes and rivers, they never developed the sophisticated warships of the human forces. Battleships and aircraft carriers in particular strike the Race as literally unimagineable. Presumably the Race also lacks any historical experience with chemical warfare, judging from their total lack of preapredness for the British use of mustard gas.

The mutiny of the Race's base in Siberia parallels the real-life French Army mutinies in World War I, in which over half of the French Army's divisions refused to keep fighting. In both the French Army and Ussmak's unit at the Siberian base, the demoralized soldiers mutiny en masse because they felt that their officers were incompetent and leading them to their deaths.

Their air forces are not fundamentally different from human air forces in terms of tactics and doctrine, being based primarily on the concept of achieving air superiority through the use of fighters. From a technical standpoint, the Race's aircraft have a tremendous advantage over human planes in that they are powered by turbine engines whereas most human aircraft in mid-twentieth century were propeller-driven.

The Race apparently makes use of several theoretically feasible but not yet materially possible technologies, namely nuclear fusion power and interstellar travel. Turtldove describes the alien vessels making the journey from Tau Ceti to Earth in twenty years, implying that they can travel at one-quarter the speed of light. Vessels of the Race seems to create artificial gravity by means of rotation. During their long interstellar travels, part or all of a ship's crew is placed in suspended animation by some unexplained method of artificial metabolic arrest referred to simply as cold sleep.

See article on World War II.

[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] Release details

[edit] Translations

[edit] Sources, references, external links, quotations

Page for this book in the Turtledove wiki

v • d • e
Works by Harry Turtledove
Videssos books Videssos Cycle The Misplaced Legion | An Emperor for the Legion | The Legion of Videssos | The Swords of the Legion
The Tale of Krispos Krispos Rising | Krispos of Videssos | Krispos the Emperor
Time of Troubles The Stolen Throne | Hammer and Anvil | The Thousand Cities | Videssos Besieged
The Bridge of the Separator
The Race or
Tosev timeline series		 Worldwar Tetralogy In the Balance | Tilting the Balance | Upsetting the Balance | Striking the Balance
Colonization Second Contact | Down to Earth | Aftershocks
Homeward Bound
Southern Victory
or
Timeline-191		 How Few Remain
Great War Trilogy American Front | Walk in Hell | Breakthroughs
American Empire Trilogy Blood and Iron | The Center Cannot Hold | The Victorious Opposition
Settling Accounts Tetralogy Return Engagement | Drive to the East | The Grapple | In at the Death
Darkness Into the Darkness | Darkness Descending | Through the Darkness | Rulers of the Darkness | Jaws of the Darkness | Out of the Darkness
War Between the Provinces Sentry Peak | Marching Through Peachtree | Advance and Retreat
Hellenic Traders Over the Wine Dark Sea | The Gryphon's Skull | The Sacred Land | Owls to Athens
Crosstime Traffic Gunpowder Empire | Curious Notions | In High Places | The Disunited States of America | The Gladiator | The Valley-Westside War
Pacific War Series Days of Infamy | End of the Beginning
Scepter of Mercy The Chernagor Pirates | The Bastard King | The Scepter's Return
Other, non-series books
Agent of Byzantium | A Different Flesh | Noninterference | Kaleidoscope | A World Of Difference | Earthgrip | The Guns of the South | The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump | Departures | Down in the Bottomlands | The Two Georges | Thessalonica | Between the Rivers | Justinian | Household Gods | Counting Up, Counting Down | Ruled Britannia | In the Presence of Mine Enemies | Conan of Venarium | Every Inch a King | Fort Pillow | Beyond the Gap | Opening Atlantis | The Battle of Teutoberg Forest