Settling Accounts: In at the Death
Encyclopedia
Settling Accounts: In at the Death is the last novel of the Settling Accounts tetralogy that presents an alternate history of World War II that was released July 27, 2007. It brings to a conclusion the multi-series compilation by author Harry Turtledove
, a series sometimes referred to as Southern Victory Series. It takes place during the Southern Victory Series Earth
in 1944.
winning the American Civil War
in 1862, followed by a war between the United States
and Confederate States of America in the 1880s which is also won by the South. Thirty years later the North, allied with Germany
, Austria-Hungary
, and the Ottoman Empire
, wins an alternative World War I over the South and its allies, Britain
, France
, and Russia
. As in our actual timeline, another World War follows two decades later, and the North and its primary ally, Germany
, wins World War II against the Confederates and their primary allies, Britain
and France
.
as U.S. armies drive through the center of the Confederacy, while a second U.S. force drives into Virginia to capture Richmond
. The Confederacy (with some quiet help from Great Britain) manages to produce an atomic bomb. The bomb is smuggled via truck into the de facto U.S. capital of Philadelphia
, and detonated; however, the bomb is detonated only on the city's outskirts and does not damage any government buildings. In retaliation, the United States detonates nuclear bombs at Newport News, Virginia
, and Charleston, South Carolina
. The Newport News bomb narrowly misses Confederate President Jake Featherston
.
Texas
declares independence from the Confederacy and signs a separate peace with the United States. Jake Featherston attempts to escape to the Deep South but his plane is shot down. He survives the crash landing, only to be shot and killed by a black guerrilla, Cassius. The fourth and presumably final war between the United States and Confederate States ends officially on July 14, 1944, at 6:01 p.m after an unconditional surrender is signed between General Irving Morrell and the acting Confederate President Don Partridge
.
The United States begin full occupation of the former Confederate States and Canada, though Texas apparently remains independent but still hosts American soldiers in its territory. For the first time in almost a century America, the Stars and Stripes
flies over the whole of the pre-1861 United States territory, and Americans express their determination not to ever let go of the former Confederate territories, after Featherston came so close to crushing them.
The Confederates are bitter and far from reconciled to their fate, constantly attacking the occupying US forces, despite the grim retaliations including the execution of civilian hostage
s. Though outlawed, the Freedom Party is a still very much an active underground force.
Moreover, the United States itself - while dissolving the Confederate government and declaring a firm intention never to let it rise again - refrains from any formal annexation and (re)admitting Southern states to the Union, since any kind of free elections would likely fill Congress with the United States' most staunch enemies. Rather, the former Confederate territories are left in the same kind of legal limbo in which Canada has been since 1917, offered neither independence nor civil liberties and kept under an open-ended, harsh military rule.
Despite the major victory won by the US, the war has not truly ended, but rather changed form. To their chagrin, most of the soldiers and sailors conscripted "for the duration" are not discharged but set to occupation duty. The US is faced with the daunting task of keeping under indefinite, harsh military occupation vast rebellious territories with hostile populations, with the conquered Confederate territories added to the previously held Canadian ones, as well as the smaller Mormon
Utah
.
And at the same time, the Nuclear Age was launched with the destruction of three cities in America and six in Europe, and a fast scramble to obtain nuclear arms by powers not yet possessing them. The United States and Germany are allied in trying to prevent Russia and Japan from going nuclear, but these efforts are depicted as doomed to failure; moreover, these two erstwhile allies themselves seem likely to drift into a Cold War, glaring at each other across the Atlantic. Moreover, aside from the nuclear issue, Japan is seen as presenting an unresolved problem to the US - having won the Battle of Midway
, consolidated its hold on the Western Pacific and Eastern Asia and established a concrete threat to Australia. Having to deal with the Confederacy - either as a belligerent neighbor or as a rebellious occupied territory - the US can spare only limited resources for confronting Japan, and the idea of "an island-hopping campaign" across the Pacific is rejected out of hand by one character.
Harry Turtledove
Harry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.- Life :...
, a series sometimes referred to as Southern Victory Series. It takes place during the Southern Victory Series Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
in 1944.
Plot introduction
This alternative history began with the Confederate States of AmericaConfederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
winning the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
in 1862, followed by a war between the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Confederate States of America in the 1880s which is also won by the South. Thirty years later the North, allied with Germany
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, and the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, wins an alternative World War I over the South and its allies, Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. As in our actual timeline, another World War follows two decades later, and the North and its primary ally, Germany
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
, wins World War II against the Confederates and their primary allies, Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Plot summary
The United States campaigns reflect Sherman's march to the seaSherman's March to the Sea
Sherman's March to the Sea is the name commonly given to the Savannah Campaign conducted around Georgia from November 15, 1864 to December 21, 1864 by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army in the American Civil War...
as U.S. armies drive through the center of the Confederacy, while a second U.S. force drives into Virginia to capture Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. The Confederacy (with some quiet help from Great Britain) manages to produce an atomic bomb. The bomb is smuggled via truck into the de facto U.S. capital of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, and detonated; however, the bomb is detonated only on the city's outskirts and does not damage any government buildings. In retaliation, the United States detonates nuclear bombs at Newport News, Virginia
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
, and Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
. The Newport News bomb narrowly misses Confederate President Jake Featherston
Jake Featherston
Jacob "Jake" Featherston is a fictional character inthe Southern Victory Series novel series by Harry Turtledove. He is the fictional timeline's equivalent of Adolf Hitler.-Character introduction:...
.
Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
declares independence from the Confederacy and signs a separate peace with the United States. Jake Featherston attempts to escape to the Deep South but his plane is shot down. He survives the crash landing, only to be shot and killed by a black guerrilla, Cassius. The fourth and presumably final war between the United States and Confederate States ends officially on July 14, 1944, at 6:01 p.m after an unconditional surrender is signed between General Irving Morrell and the acting Confederate President Don Partridge
Characters in the Southern Victory series
The Southern Victory Series is a series of alternate history novels written by Harry Turtledove. The point of divergence involves Confederate States of America winning the American Civil War and becoming an independent nation...
.
The United States begin full occupation of the former Confederate States and Canada, though Texas apparently remains independent but still hosts American soldiers in its territory. For the first time in almost a century America, the Stars and Stripes
Flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...
flies over the whole of the pre-1861 United States territory, and Americans express their determination not to ever let go of the former Confederate territories, after Featherston came so close to crushing them.
The Confederates are bitter and far from reconciled to their fate, constantly attacking the occupying US forces, despite the grim retaliations including the execution of civilian hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
s. Though outlawed, the Freedom Party is a still very much an active underground force.
Moreover, the United States itself - while dissolving the Confederate government and declaring a firm intention never to let it rise again - refrains from any formal annexation and (re)admitting Southern states to the Union, since any kind of free elections would likely fill Congress with the United States' most staunch enemies. Rather, the former Confederate territories are left in the same kind of legal limbo in which Canada has been since 1917, offered neither independence nor civil liberties and kept under an open-ended, harsh military rule.
Despite the major victory won by the US, the war has not truly ended, but rather changed form. To their chagrin, most of the soldiers and sailors conscripted "for the duration" are not discharged but set to occupation duty. The US is faced with the daunting task of keeping under indefinite, harsh military occupation vast rebellious territories with hostile populations, with the conquered Confederate territories added to the previously held Canadian ones, as well as the smaller Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
.
And at the same time, the Nuclear Age was launched with the destruction of three cities in America and six in Europe, and a fast scramble to obtain nuclear arms by powers not yet possessing them. The United States and Germany are allied in trying to prevent Russia and Japan from going nuclear, but these efforts are depicted as doomed to failure; moreover, these two erstwhile allies themselves seem likely to drift into a Cold War, glaring at each other across the Atlantic. Moreover, aside from the nuclear issue, Japan is seen as presenting an unresolved problem to the US - having won the Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
, consolidated its hold on the Western Pacific and Eastern Asia and established a concrete threat to Australia. Having to deal with the Confederacy - either as a belligerent neighbor or as a rebellious occupied territory - the US can spare only limited resources for confronting Japan, and the idea of "an island-hopping campaign" across the Pacific is rejected out of hand by one character.