Global Dispatches

This map is inspired by “War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches”, a Kevin J. Anderson-edited anthology based on the premise that the Martians invaded all over the world, rather than just the UK.

It has been thirty years, and memories are beginning to fade, the fear to recede. The world is loosely united under a strong UN-type organization, the World Federation, based in Greater Geneva. (“Greater”, since the administration infrastructure has expanded to the point where it has spilled over into France). The Federation’s executive is dominated by the Security Council-ish Central Council, presently consisting of the recognized seven Great Powers plus India (although still backwards, there are a lot of Indians, after all). The World Federation’s military arm (The “Global Defense Force”) includes a NATO-type coordinating authority for national militaries, and also some separate units under direct WF control, such as the Prompt Response Bomber Force, designed to reach any spot on the planet in a couple hours and bomb the crap out of any Martian cylinders before the Martians can emerge and set up defenses.

The World Federation also runs the Global Development Program. It was generally accepted from early on that most of the world’s population remaining illiterate peasants was not the best use of mankind’s human resources in case the Martians returned. Therefore, after the economies of the powers had recovered from the destruction of the invasion, a program of targeted development and industrialization was put into place for the poorer and more messed up parts of the globe. This was not a universal thing: some poor countries didn’t want the outside interference, others wanted to modernize their own way, and the major states have become more grudging with the funds as the Martians failed to come back, and, like OTL, it became clear just how difficult modernizing some areas might be.

The European colonial empires were severely affected, with control collapsing entirely in some areas and rebellion breaking out as the end of the world, or perhaps just of Europeans, seemed in sight. (Many of the poorer parts of the globe saw few Martians: less in the way of strategic targets). Not that Colonial Empires ended entirely: a lot of Africa, for instance, in 1898 lacked any local political organization beyond the village chieftain, and such areas when they rebelled or Europeans fled in advance of rumors of Martian machines descended into a state of disorder or fragmentation until Europeans reestablished control. Still, a number of local regimes reemerged, (most notably, British government was never really reestablished in India) and in the wake of the Martian invasion, a strong sense of a humanity united against alien “colonizers” vitiated against the invasion and conquest of other people’s lands.

Even in those areas where Europeans reestablished control, it was done in the face of a rising popular opposition at home to a permanent subjection of other humans. Some of the poorer and less manageable parts of the formal colonial empires are either being run in cooperation with the World Federation as a way station to independence, or have been taken over by annoyed WF officials entirely (who feel people are dumping their problems on them).

Technologically this world is rather ahead of OTL 1928. Although most Martian technology remains un-duplicable (indeed, as it would be to OTL 2010 scientists), it has opened a great many lines of research, and this world spends a great deal more on basic research than ours did before WWII. National research programs coordinate their efforts through that great research center, Science City (AKA Bakersfield, California: nice climate, and the Americans can afford to lay out for the best of everything, from lab equipment to the food in the commissaries.)

The transistor has been invented, and is rapidly replacing tubes in the huge, clunky computers (Martian computers cannot be reprogrammed or even understood, but they gave various intellectual heirs of Babbage loads of ideas). Rockets have not yet gone beyond earth orbit: much time and effort was wasted and many test animals turned into spam in a can trying to duplicate the Martian process of interplanetary travel-by-cannon: it took a while for Earth scientists to cotton on to the need for a Martian inertia moderator, and longer for them to give up on trying to duplicate it. A few giant metal shells loaded with earth germs have been shot into space in the direction of Mars, more as a gesture of defiance than out of any serious belief that they will actually hit it.

Aviation, copying Martian flying machines, went to jets without getting too much experience with propeller planes, which led to a great many early fatalities, but by now people generally fly from New York to London without much trepidation. The development of the armored fighting machine has been greatly delayed: not much good against Martian heat-rays in any event, the long and ultimately only partially successful effort to create walking machines like those of the Martians has forestalled the more sensible use of treads. Still, the German Armored Cavalry is quite a sight, even if its top speed is only about 6 miles an hour.

The most recent technological marvel has been the mastery of atomic power (although Martian lukewarm fusion still continues to baffle scientists), which has been an enormous boost to human self-confidence. The Bomber Force is being re-equipped to carry atom bombs in place of the heavier conventional “block-busters” previously required, and the US, Russia and Germany are competing to be the first to develop an infrastructure that can crank them out like sausages.

There are those who are troubled by this. People being people, the push to create a true world government after the invasion stalled out, and it looks as if the half-loaf of the World Federation might be in trouble. As fears of a fresh Martian invasion recede, old national rivalries have started to raise their heads, and worriers wonder if the atom bombs will one day be used on targets rather closer to home than Mars.

Still, the world remains at peace for now. The global economy is closely interconnected and growing fast, boosted by new technologies and rising demand in Asia and other modernizing areas. People grumble about high taxes, but nations still pay up their fees to maintain the World Federation and its economic and military services. The many cities from London to Paris to Beijing to New York burned and poisoned by Martian invaders have been rebuilt and improved upon, and people imagine a future in space and other planets.

The United States, although it received its own cylinders, had the advantage of huge size and relatively low centralization, and bounced back fairly quickly from the invasion. As OTL, it is the richest and most technologically advanced nation on earth, although perhaps feeling a bit less “exceptional” than our US before the Great Depression. Americans are perhaps the most fervent anti-Martians on earth, the strongest proponents of planetary security and expansion into space, and would be the leader of the pro-unification movement if it weren’t for the fact most Americans fail to see why foreigners don’t see the US as the inevitable leader of the rest of humanity, which annoys people a bit. Mexico fell messily apart after the destruction of Mexico City, and descended into civil war after the Martians perished: the US eventually moved in to restore order, and some parts of North Mexico, sick of the chaos, voted to join the US when the occupation ended. (Governor Villa of the state of Chihuahua is considered one of the most colorful figures on the US political scene).

One effect of the failed effort to create a world government has been a popularization of the idea of confederations and federations on a local scale, sort of as an intermediate stage towards world government. The Central American Federation, with a more civilized relationship with the US and plentiful investment by the World Federation, is rather better off than its OTL 1928 equivalent. It has two canals, one in Nicaragua, and one in Panama (which broke away from Colombia sans US help). To the south, Latin America is slowly industrializing and building roads and rails with World Bank loans: Peru and Bolivia have formed a union, while Brazil has re-united after a brief period of separation of the southern provinces (which rejoined under certain conditions of autonomy). A lot of the Amazon is being currently cut down in the name of “modernization” and “development”: alas, although this world is ahead of our 1928 in many ways, environmentalism is not one of them.

In Europe, France has regained part of Alsace-Lorraine through a “let’s bury the hatchet” plebiscite. It has to a considerable extent dropped out of the Colonial business (the World Federation has taken over management of much of its Saharan territory, and the departure from Indochina was a while ago) but has stubbornly held onto Algeria, and has actually extended the vote to (male) [1] Arabs (cynics might note this is easier when there are six plus Frenchmen for every Arab rather than two to one).

Germany is fairly peppy, (Thanks to an army much larger than the British in 1898, ingeniously improvised gas-proof outfits, and an intelligent use of artillery spotting, the Germans destroyed more Martian War Machines than any other nation) if a bit concerned about just how many Asians there are and how fast they’re modernizing. The Germans are pushing hard for a unified Europe that will have massive global weight even if the Chinese do catch up technologically, but are frustrated by French and Italian resistance to that European dominance Germans consider their proper role as certainly as Americans assume a global one. Nerves are not soothed by the loud calls for a World Government of, by, and for the (White) people on the part of Germany’s loudest political gadfly, radio personality, former mayor of Vienna, the right-wing Fatherland Party’s perennial candidate for the Chancellorship, Herr Adolph Hitler.

Austria-Hungary broke up in the aftermath of the war, although the Habsburgs managed to hang onto the kingship of Hungary. Both Hungary and the Czechs are very closely tied to Germany economically (and Germany retains certain “rights” re Czech internal politics as a price for not gouging off the Sudetenland). Yugoslavia is a looser federation than OTL 1918-1941, and Montenegro remains independent and picturesque-poor.

The Ottoman Empire lost most of its European territories during the chaotic post-invasion period, but managed to reestablish control over its Asian territories and even managed to grab Kuwait from an extremely distracted UK: in later years, the new republican government has cooperated with the British to squash the very unprogressive House of Saud in an amicable establishment of spheres of influence in South Arabia. Some majority-Islamic territory in the Balkans has been returned to the Ottoman Republics due to World Federation pressure (ethnic cleansing is no longer considered acceptable even towards Muslims).

Africa is a mix of colonies, protectorates, and independent republics and kingdoms. South Africa avoided the Boer War and the Boers ended up joining voluntarily: Gandhi, who in this world stayed in south Africa, has here led the Indian community and played an important role in creating the loose federal system under which not only Boers and British but Indians and “coloreds” and even native Bantu have a stake in the system, if “one man – one vote” does not yet fully apply.

The king of the Belgians choked on Black Mist fleeing Brussels in a train packed with luxuries, and after considerable debate the Congo Free State became a US protectorate, little Belgium being temporarily too wrecked to afford big investments in colonial development: the US uses African-American soldiers in keeping order in the area, and has done quite a bit to develop the place, although the locals are increasingly grumpy about what they see as US arrogance and paternalism. The distinctly xenophobic Sokoto state is currently suffering from bloody infighting between traditionalists and modernizers, and there is increasing pressure for the World Federation to intervene. Ethiopia followed up on its Adowa victory by grabbing Eritrea (the Martian machines never made it to the Ethiopian highlands), only to return most of it to a grumpy Italy later (retaining a narrow seacoast).

The Russian Empire fell apart, but an oddball coalition of socialists, anarchists, liberals and even a few moderate Monarchists managed to create a working government east of Kazan, with count Leo Tolstoy as a reassuring figurehead. After some nasty battles with right-wingers and extremists of the Left, the People’s Coalition managed to reunify a fragmented Russia proper, occupy most of the Ukraine (where at least four different groups were fighting for control) and managed to bully, cajole and sweet-talk some outlying areas back into the Russian fold. (Left-leaning the government might have been, but Russian it still was).

Most of Central Asia was eventually abandoned as more trouble than it was worth, and there was no interest in even _trying_ to reestablish control over Poland. Nowadays Russia is a democracy, albeit a somewhat turbulent one with a tendency for short-lived governments, and has made substantial strides in catching up in terms of living standards to such paragons of modernity as Italy and Japan. It’s still a very peasant country, but the cities have expanded enormously in the last generation, and Russian industry, having advantages of bulk and having successfully duplicated American mass production techniques, is growing fast.

Martian cylinders landed in south and northwest India, and order soon crumbled in panic and rout. However, India did not collapse into chaos from which the British could return to “rescue” the Indians: a coalition of local troops, British officials and officers, Indian politicians and nobles managed to restore a fragile order in the NE, and formed a new government in the temporary capital of Calcutta. However, when fresh orders arrived from the interim government in Newcastle, a lot of the Indian members of the emergency government proved very hard of hearing…

In the end, reestablishing British full control in India proved impossible, and a fairly amicable parting was arranged in 1907: India remained nominally an Imperial Commonwealth until 1925, when a clash with British officialdom led the Indians to leave the Empire entirely. India has developed substantially since 1898, but has been hampered by weakness of the central government in outlying areas, where protection of local apple carts has only slowly been overcome: there have been several rebellions, and some areas have broken off entirely. (Indian identity was far less defined in 1898 than OTL in 1947). An obstructionist ruler of Mysore has been overthrown by a republican popular rising; the Nizam of Hyderabad still holds his throne, but has been forced to give his people a constitution and a parliament.

Although he only survived the invasion by seven years, the sickly emperor of China managed to use the invasion to free himself from his more conservative “advisors”, and managed to put forward the Seven Great Decrees and the Forty Virtuous Laws that provided the basis for his successors’ modernization effort. The temporary collapse of western power (plus the Martian landings in Japan) gave China necessary breathing space to consolidate a reform program, and the anti-colonial, “one world” mood of the 00’s and ‘teens provided a favorable environment for further growth uninterrupted by foreign gunfire. The Qin still rule China, although nowadays Manchu and Chinese are legally fully equal, and considerable power is now held by an elected legislature (elected by literate people with property, of course, although there are some republican radicals which question this). There are some troubles in Tibet: although Chinese officials are quite respectful of Buddhist clergy and monasteries, they still express a Chinese disdain for Tibetans, and the aforementioned clergy are not happy with the replacement of their legal role with a new western-inspired Chinese legal code, or the freeing of the serfs which played an important role in supporting the aforesaid monasteries.

Economic growth is rapid, and China is substantially wealthier than India, although most Chinese are still dirt-poor by European or North American standards. China is in any event too strong now for the Japanese to risk a war, even if international opinion and the World Federation would stand for it. Japan has had a fairly hard time of it: unlike peasant-filled and decentralized China, Japan was hit hard when major urban centers went up in smoke, and suffered an economic collapse worse than most European states in the aftermath. Japanese influence in Korea was curtailed, never to be fully reestablished, and hopes for a mainland empire were crushed in the post-war atmosphere. The Japanese managed to pick themselves up and slowly recover, and in the free-trade, pro-development atmosphere the Japanese managed through trade and manufacturing to raise their standard of living greatly even without the captive markets and raw material sources of Korea. Still, being kneecapped just as they were starting to make real progress still rankles, and the fact that Japan and relatively backwards (if huge) China became Central Council members in the same session feels like an insult. Finally, they are under increasing pressure from the World Federation to cede Taiwan to China…and on this point, the Japanese so far have dug in their heels.

The British Empire has slowly and painfully reworked itself into a mostly White (There are a lot of black people in South Africa, but they don’t (so far) run the place) democratic federation, something which worked here in this pro-world-union TL better than it might have OTL. Many Brits are rather dubious about the Kenyan Federation, the Empire’s poster child for directed development, which became a self-governing member state only last year: will this curious agglomeration of white and Indian settlers, native tribal groups, Eton-educated black politicians and a population which has gone from almost entirely illiterate to 70% English-literate in a generation manage to hold together? Only time will tell. Sarawak is still ruled by its hereditary White Rajas, and Singapore has a small but vocal “union with China” party which the British suspect is secretly funded by the Chinese government.

The world spins on into the mysterious future. On teeny black and white TVs, Brits and Germans as well as Americans watch the adventures of Captain Steele of the Solar Patrol; Tsiolkovsky hunches over a typewriter as he plots an ambitious new program for the Russian sector of the World Space Program; the Emperor of China attends the opening of the Chinese terminus of the completed Beijing-Paris rail line; the French artist Jean Crotti prepares to épater le bourgeois with a display of downright disturbing art based on motifs found in Martian living quarters; and beneath the Arctic Ocean something sinister is going on, as the Canadian Mounties investigate a series of mysterious disappearances among the Inuit of Victoria island.

[1] The “we’re all humans together” attitude has helped advanced female suffrage here and there, but the French remain stubborn on the subject.