The War That Came Early

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The War That Came Early

Hitler's War (2009) West and East (2010) The Big Switch (2011) Coup d'Etat (2012) Two Fronts (2013) Last Orders (2014)
Author	Harry Turtledove
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Alternate history
Published	2009–2014 (2009–2014)
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)

The War That Came Early is a six-novel series by Harry Turtledove depicting an alternate history of World War II.^[1] As is typical of Turtledove's alternate histories, the narrative follows a large cast of both fictional and historical characters.

Points of divergence

The series's initial

(which Franco carefully avoided doing in actual history).

A second divergence occurs when British and French

rather than Poland, still drawing in Britain and France through treaty obligations, with both sides far less prepared for war than they were in 1939.

Hitler's War

Hitler's War

Author	ISBN	978-0-345-49182-4

The first book in the series covers autumn 1938 to spring 1939.

After an initial tenacious resistance to the German army, subsequent Polish and Hungarian invasions combined with a Slovak rebellion lead to Czechoslovakia's collapse. In the Spanish Civil War, Sanjurjo's decision to seize Gibraltar from Britain ties the Nationalist Spaniards to the Axis side. France starts offering some aid to the hard-pressed Spanish Republicans who were on the verge of collapse, in addition to the meager aid they got from the Soviet Union - which is enough to keep them going, but not to gain victory. The Spanish war settles into a stalemate as both sides' foreign allies turn their attention to the larger war.

When the anticommunist Polish government also decides to side with Germany, war erupts with the USSR. Both the Germans and Soviets find themselves in

we know.

Discontent grows within the German army as the Western Front is threatened and has achieved little strategically, while dissatisfaction with Hitler's rash decision in starting the war leads to a purge of the officer corps. At home, although no Kristallnacht occurs, discrimination and persecution against German Jews continues to grow.

West and East

West and East

Author	ISBN	978-0-345-49184-8

The second book focuses on the stalemates that have developed all across Europe. In the Russian Far East, the Japanese are able to sever the Trans-Siberian Railway, but cold weather, mosquitoes, and bloody assaults cause high casualties on both sides. Tension mounts between American forces stationed in China and the Japanese Army. Germany is able to gain ground in Scandinavia and introduces the new Panzer III tank, but both the British and French and the Soviets are able to mount major offensives that push toward the German border.

The Big Switch

The Big Switch

Author	ISBN	978-0-345-49186-2

The third book's title refers to Britain and France joining Germany's side against the Soviet Union. After Winston Churchill dies in a car accident (widely suspected to have been a deliberate assassination), Rudolf Hess is able to convince the two allies to send their armies into the Soviet Union. The German Army withdraws from France; the Czechoslovak exiles, betrayed by the Allies, retreat to Republican Spain, while the United States abandons its Lend Lease support for Britain and France. Soviet forces retreat into their own territory as the winter starts. Jews in the conquered lands are harshly oppressed, although those in Poland are exempt as their country is an ally of Germany. Japan finally takes Vladivostok and makes peace with the USSR. The United States enacts an embargo against Japan; in response, Japan attacks British, French, Dutch, and American targets across the Pacific on January 12, 1941.

Coup d'État

Coup d'Etat

Author	ISBN	978-0-345-52465-2

The fourth book covers a coup in Britain that turns the country away from their alliance with the Nazis, followed by the French (who did not need to change their government to do that). The Japanese gain ground throughout the Pacific and southeast Asia and bloody the American

- in which the US Navy is woefully deficiant.

Two Fronts

Two Fronts

Author	ISBN	978-0345524683

The fifth book spans from 1942 to early 1943. Having once again switched sides, the British and French have reopened the Western Front and are also fighting the Germans and Italians in North Africa. Because of the shift in German resources, the Red Army is finally able to break through and liberate Belarus and Ukraine near the end of the book. In the Pacific theater, Japan attempts a biological attack on Hawaii. President Roosevelt cuts government funding for the Manhattan Project.

Last Orders

Last Orders

Author	ISBN	978-0345524713

The last book takes place from late 1943 to 1944. After a coup in Germany takes Hitler's life, a new non-Nazi military dictatorship led by General

is worried that Germany – though no longer Nazi but still nationalist and militaristic – might be the first to gain nuclear arms. Britain is also under military rule, while Spain is united under the Republicans. The war against Japan is not over, however, and Stalin moves troops to the Far East while concluding an alliance with the United States.

References

External links

• "Hitler's War". Random House. Retrieved 2009-11-04.