Alternate Generals: Edited by Harry Turtledove
An Alternative History of Famous Military Commanders
Sep 15, 2008
From Alexander the Great to Julius Caesar to General Patton, history remembers its great military figures. Edited by alternative history legend Harry Turtledove, the premise of Alternate Generals is to displace, replace and rewrite the role of such warriors as General Robert E. Lee and Horatio Nelson in this compilation of 16 short stories.
The anthology opens with Lillian Stewart Carl's “The Test of Gold” in which Roman Tribune Marcus Valerius is sent to Britannia to collect a gold tribute left to Rome by a recently-deceased British king. But he falls under the spell of the king's widow, Boudica, in a tale that suggests that the truth is a double-edged sword.
Naval History Rewritten
Elizabeth Moon's “Tradition” transplants Rear Admiral Christopher Craddock from his ill-fated attack on the German fleet off Coronel to the Mediterranean two months earlier, where Craddock hunts the German battlecruiser Goeben. Moon's contribution is excellent, serving both as a vindication of Sir Craddock's character, and as a well-observed critique of the Admiralty that so mismanaged British naval encounters in 1914.
David Weber's “The Captain from Kirkbean” is a competent naval tale, and suffers only from being in the same anthology as Moon's superior “Tradition”. The story sees Captain John Paul Jones, founder of the US navy, switching sides, and leading the King's navy against the French at Chesapeake.
The Usual Suspects: Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte and Horatio Nelson
Brad Linaweaver's “And to the Republic for Which it Stands” and Bill Fawcett's “The Last Crusader” are short, predictable, albeit well written stories, retreading alternative histories for Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte respectively. These, along with Jody Lynn Nyer's longer, annoyingly flippant “Queen of the Amazons”, are the weakest of the gathered stories.
In contrast, John Mina's “Vive L'Amiral” could be accused of predictability, yet his tale, of an alternate Horatio Nelson, is full of unexpected humour. His lampooning of Nelson's famous last words elevate this story above the mundane.
Similarly, R.M. Meluch's “Vati” should be predictable. Instead, we are offered a disturbing story that fittingly concludes this anthology on a literal bombshell, with a chilling alternative ending to the Second World War.
Pearl Harbour Revisited
Equally shattering to our own timeline is “Billy Mitchell's Overt Act” by William Sanders. Written in a reportage style through a series of magazine cuttings, book excerpts and personal accounts, Sanders's story recounts how one man, flying from Pearl Harbour with his squadron of B-17s one December morning, draws an unwilling America into war with Japan.
The journalistic approach to the telling adds a sense of immediacy to this story, and the implications of General Mitchell's actions leaves a lasting impression. Sanders's contribution is one of Alternate Generals gems.
The remaining stories include S.M. Stirling's “The Charge of Lee's Brigade”; Lois Tilton's “The Craft of War”; “An Old Man's Summer” by Esther Friesner; Janet Berliner's “A Case for Justice”; Brian M. Thomsen's notable “Bloodstained Ground”; “A Hard Day for Mother” by William R. Forstchen and “The Phantom Tolbukhin by ever-reliable Harry Turtledove.
Highly Recommended for Fans of Alternative History
Alternate Generals offers a diverse range of stories, and delves into many historic periods. As a themed collection of fiction, Alternate Generals works well. The wide ranging subject prevents the premise from growing stale. Individually, many of the included stories, such as “Billy Mitchell's Overt Act” and “Vati”, are powerful enough to engage the reader beyond the final page.
- Alternate Generals edited by Harry Turtledove
- Available from Baen
- 320 Pages, Mass Market Paperback
- Originally Published July 1998
- ISBN 0-6718-7886-7
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