Customer Reviews

1901

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

"1901", Robert Conroy's first (and, so far, only) novel, is a suprisingly well written, well thought-out work. It isn't a masterpiece by any means, but it is a very good and entertaining alternate history that deals with a very original divergence point. In 1901 Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, desiring a colonial empire to rival England and France, and angered by the USA's refusal to sell their newly acquired colonies from Spain, launches an invasion at New York. As the United States has almost little or no standing army in the country, and Germany has the largest and best army in the world, it becomes clear that the United States may very well lose this war.

Conroy does pretty well with his divergence. It's plausible, which is the golden rule of alternate history. Conroy makes the reader believe that there could have been German troops wandering around Brooklyn and Manhattan, and portrays convincingly a U.S. government, led by Theodore Roosevelt, desperately trying to fight off these very aggressive, very professional invaders. Conroy is also particularly effective in evoking images underlining the brutallity of war. Men are mowed down, heads explode, bodies break, soldiers scream, and cities burn. Essentially, Conroy creates a microcosm of the First World War on American soil.

Conroy also gives a pretty wide set of view-points. He criss-crosses from New York, to Washington D.C., to Berlin, and back again. His protagonist, Patrick Mahan, is thrust into an overwhelming situation, leading a rag-tag brigade of German- and African-American troops, while finding true love. Ludwig Weber wonders why he has come from Germany to this strange country in the service of a ruler he believes insane. TR gnashes his teeth, trots around enthusastically, while managing to hold the country together. Kasier Wilhelm gnashes teeth, asserts his greatness, and constantly demands reassurances from his council, none of whom really are loyal to their ruler.

Conroy is also suprisingly good at maintaining suspense. We care about the characters by and large, and the fact that they could die keeps the reader on his/her toes. More importantly, Conroy builds his suspense by rewriting history. Initially when I began reading, I was convinced the U.S. would win. But as the book progressed, I wasn't so sure, particularly given the one-sided quality of the events. And regardless of who won, the ultimate consequences on the world would be amazing.

Conroy does have some clunky passages, and some of his plot lines are cliched. Not all of his characters are a well defined as they could be. The kaiser in particular seems a little cartoony (in all fairness to Conroy, every biographical essay, text, etc. suggests that Willy had no depth). However it is a first novel, and these problems are easily overlooked. Conroy's novel is simply entertaining and enjoyable. It's a shame it is out of print five years after publication, as it would be an obvious book for DelRey or some other such publisher of alternate history to snap up. I also hope Conroy continues writing books, as he does have a great deal of skill and craft that just needs to be refined. The overall quality of "1901" is proof of that.

This is an "Alternate History" story based on factual plans of the German Army to invade the US that were never used. Believablity is added to the story by the fact that the US Atlantic Squadron conducted manuvers in the Caribbean and South Atlantic each summer while the rest of the navy showed the flag around the world.

The story is told through several characters including Teddy Roosevelt. I found some of the characters to be lacking but others were well done, I especially like the German soldiers and the German politican Holstein. However, Conroy overuses the ploy of putting old conferate generals back into uniform to "whip them damn-yankee Germans".

There is a great deal of military information but unfortunetly much of it is wrong. The Germans are in Feldgrau when in fact it was not adopted by the German army until 1910. The US soldiers are in blue despite the US Army having issued khaki field uniforms since 1898. Conroy also has the US soldiers armed with single shot "Trapdoor" rifles despite the magazine-fed Krag Rifle having been first issued in 1895. By 1901 the Krag equiped the US Regular Army and many National Guard regiments.

Conroy's information on the US Navy is very good but he has the German navy about twice it actual size for 1901. In the book it is claimed to be second only to the British when it was smaller than the French and Russian fleets and equal to the US Navy. Per the 1905 Jane's Fighting Ships in mid-1901 the US Navy had 9 battleships, 2 armored crusiers, 6 large monitors, 6 protected crusiers (armored decks but no side armor) and a number of light crusiers and gunboats. The German's had 9 battleships, one armored crusier. 8 coast defence ships and 6 protected crusiers with many smaller ships. The four battleships of the Brandenberg class were slow, shortranged and with an inadequate secondary battery. The five Kaiser class battleships had a good secondary battery but only four 9.4 main guns (second rate size)The coast defence ships were very slow, shortranged, unstable and with a useless secondary battery of only six 3.5" guns. Going against the US Navy would have been risky business.

The story lacks an dramatic incident to trigger the crisis, relying instead on the convoluted "logic" of the Kaiser to start the war. It is also difficult to believe that the Germans could assemble a large invasion fleet then sail through the North Sea and across the Atlantic in total secrecy. This is made less believeable when in the story the scope of British intelligence is more fully revealed.

Nevertheless, it was a good read and did succeed in capturing some flavor of the period. I especially enjoyed the description of "Fightin" Bob Evans taking on a German crusier squadron with a lone US battleship. The ambush of a German battalion by Gen. Fred Funston was also very well done. It is not in the class of Morris's "Theodore Rex" or Massey's "Dreadnaught" but it is a worthwhile addition to the period.

I bought 1862 after reading a great newspaper review of it. When I went to post my own review at Amazon.com, I noted how many other reviewers had written "not as good as his other book, 1901". So, I figured I would see if 1901 was actually better.

The good news is that 1901 is actually better than 1862 [I gave that two stars also].
Unfortunately, it's not all that much better (not enough to raise this to three stars), and has the same problems as 1862. Of course, since 1901 was written first, I guess one might expect this.

I won't go into plot details too much, as many other reviews here cover those things. Quick synopsis: Just as in 1862, there is a historical twist. In this case, Prussian-dominated Germany invades the USA in 1901. Just as in 1862, we see most of the action through the eyes of a young military-trained man, who gets involved with a young woman. Just as in 1862 the US is led by an old General who everyone thought was over the hill; just as in 1862, the enemy is over-confident and makes stupid mistakes.

Along the way the the author gets to show how he thinks the US would prevail against overwhelming odds, the author attempts some very clumsy love scenes, you meet the one good enemy combatant (so you know all Germans aren't bastards, just most of them), and the reader must endure writing far below the standards of Stephen King's or Alistair MacLean's worst.

Ands that last point is the biggest problem: Conroy is simply not a good writer. His writing style and character development are more worthy of an internet site or day-time television soap opera than a good book.

His books start with a good solid premise, but the characters are cliches. His descriptions of them are insulting stereotypes: Apaches who hate white men and kill like invisible stalkers; blacks who move like panthers in the night; Germans who butcher with bayonets. I could cite many more examples.

At times when reading the book, I would break out laughing, and my wife would ask what was so funny. I would then read the awful passage aloud. She would cringe and say "Oh, that's awful".

By the way, that is a technique my college writing & composition professors taught me: If you want to know how something reads, read it aloud. If it sounds awful, it reads awful.

Having read two of Conroy's books, I now think of the old saying "Fool me once shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." I don't plan to buy a third Conroy book.

If the historical twist really interests you and thus you really want to buy this book for a quick summer read, be sure to buy a used copy.

Some books are fun to read and review even a couple of years after they are published. That is especially true if they are novels, do not sell well and suddenly become available for no more than a dollar or three from Edward Hamilton, Bookseller or some other discounter. Such a novel is "1901." There is something in it for students of President Theodore Roosevelt, of Confederate General James ("Old Pete") Longstreet of Gettysburg fame, for military tacticians and strategists and for folks who just like a rollicking good yarn.***

There is just enough historical truth behind "1901" to make it possible to suspend disbelief and enjoy a tale rooted in German Kaiser Wilhelm II's lust for empire and his fictional belief that God intended the Americans to share with him a modest portion of the fruits of their 1898 war with Spain: Guam or the Philippines, perhaps, or maybe Puerto Rico. With the world's most awesome land forces at his disposal, the Kaiser invades Long Island and prepares his navy to shield it until the Americans come to their senses.***

The challenge ruptures President McKinley's weak heart and he is promptly succeeded by his Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt of Rough Rider fame, San Juan hill, etc. Not for nothing is the first Roosevelt called "the Sage of Sagamore" (his New York residence). He is one of quite a few who believe that the American Civil War could have been shortened by two years had the Union but tenaciously followed "the Anaconda plan" of its then commander-in-chief of the army, General Winfield Scott.***

Teddy deftly or daftly (your call) at this moment of great peril summons the now deaf octogenarian erstwhile Confederate General James Longfield back into service of his country. The plot then leaps forward with support from Longfield, Roosevelt and a supporting cast of cabinet members and a young fictional hero, Major Patrick Mahan, cousin of the great naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan. The Major's earlier acquaintance with Kaiser Wilhelm and observation of German military behavior in Peking during the Boxer rebellion are pressed into service. By story's end Patrick is a general and bearer of the Congressional Medal of Honor. He is married and about to run for Congress.***

Despite 25,000 casualties the Americans have inflicted 40,000 on the German invaders and prevailed in a massive naval engagement. The Kaiser goes off to exile in Denmark. Subplots of romance, cross cultural friendships and brutalities complicate a basically simple story line. This is not a book to be read slowly or searching for metaphysical significance. For the historian there are vignettes of German leaders which lend some plausibility to the plot.

My thanks to Peter Hobson for pointing out that I wrongly said "Juggernaut" for "Dreadnought." As he rightly suspects, all reviews can be at risk for errors, including his own. The author of "Dreadnought" is Robert (not Richard) K. Massie.

I was looking forward to reading Conroy's book. I bought it after reading Massie's book, about the British and German naval buildups leading to the First World War, and Hannah Pakula's, "An Uncommon Woman," about Empress Vicky, the mother of Kaiser Wilhelm. Some years ago, I had read "The Kaiser and His Court," a memoir by one of the Kaiser's admirals. Although the Victorian era is not my chief interest, I spent two years giving guided tours in a Victorian mansion and learned more about the customs of that day.

Conroy has obviously read "Dreadnought" as well, and including Count von Holstein as a sinister presence was an interesting touch. I enjoyed the battle scenes, and it was an interesting reversal to have Halsey die in the book's Battle of the Atlantic.

Having said all that, I had to struggle to finish the book because it was so irritating. Whatever Conroy has read about social customs and manners of that day, he has forgotten. This wouldn't matter so much if he stuck to writing about battles, but he insists on including a romance between an officer and an heiress. People like Conroy are a reason why snobs are snobs. The man is tone-deaf about the behavior of anyone who doesn't hang out at pool halls. If he wrote a story about the British Royal Family, he would have the Queen addressing her husband as "Phil."

Conroy's heiress receives a male caller unchaperoned and even lets him move in as a house guest. Her visitor, a college-educated man, is surprised to find that the Schuyler family is as prominent as it is and that it goes back so far in American history. He refers to her servants as "hired hands," answers her in the negative at one point by saying "Naw," and uses words like "lingo." When they decide to get married, they have trouble locating a Protestant chaplain, so they use a Catholic priest, who willingly complies.

In terms of how middle and upper class people actually behaved 100 years ago, this is ridiculous beyond belief. Conroy might as well write a novel in which Woodrow Wilson leaves the White House every Saturday night, goes to a jazz club in a poor part of Washington, and plays the piano with a group of black musicians. When his first wife dies, he marries a woman who is noted advocate of open marriage and, since his Presbyterian minister is ill, has the ceremony performed by a rabbi who happens to be a good friend.

I know this is meant as a novel of military history, but it is Conroy himself who insists on including a romance, and he gets it wildly wrong. His notions of how the other half lives evidently come from "The Inquirer" or Jerry Springer. Find the battle sections of the book and skip the rest. And if you would really like to dig into that period, read "Dreadnought" (or "Juggernaut," should Massie ever write a book by that title!) and "An Uncommon Woman."

I gave this book 3 stars only because I couldn't give it 2.5. As a history buff when I first read the premise of 1901, I was excited. It was new and refreshing in a genre dominated by "what ifs" dealing with either the Civil War or WW2. So when I finally spotted a copy I grabbed it and dove in eagerly. The book starts off well enough and is quick to get to the main plot without meandering. Though not expertly written it is still pleasant to read at first, but it is evident that this is the author's first novel. A plethora of characters were introduced within the first half of the book, and they all seem, at first, crucial and intriguing.
But soon I found myself wondering where the plot was going. About three quarters through, I was already getting completely bored. It felt as if the author began to forget about certain characters, and they disappeared for a bulk of the second half of the novel. The plot became stale as nothing new or exciting occurred. The climax of the novel was at best tepid. The fate of many of the characters was left to the reader's imagination. I felt as if the author didn't really know how to end the book and just rushed it. There were historical and political occurrences that I absolutely detested and I hope the educated reader will feel the same way. Sadly the author missed a chance for a groundbreaking novel, and also missed out on so many opportunities to expand on it. The novel should have also been shortened by 100 pages or so, there was so much useless fluff it was disgusting.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes alternate history. For all its faults I did enjoy reading it somewhat. The idea was amazing; the execution was what was lacking. 2.5/5

Simply put, this book is terrible. The fictional characters are one-dimensional and boring and the historical characters are... well, they're one-dimensional and boring as well. The passage where Teddy Roosevelt breaks down into uncontrollable tears after one of several cartoonishly stereotypical German atrocities was especially cringe-inducing. The author stops short of having the Germans march through Jamaica, Queens with babies on pikes, but he doesn't stop much short of it. Conroy even stoops to the mind-numbing cliche of injecting a romantic storyline, complete with hilariously clumsy sex scene. It's not quite as unnecessary as a sex sequence in a Ken Follett book, but it possesses the same disregard for fundamental elements of eroticism that make it about as stimulating to read as a clinical description of a vasectomy.

My personal impression is that the bulk of the "research" for this novel involved reading "Empire" by Gore Vidal and then cribbing as much of the historical "flavor" as seemed ethical to graft on to an inane story. There was just too much about this book that felt like the author went out to Barnes & Noble and bought a "Build Your Own Novel" kit. There was the aforementioned romance angle. There's a reluctant German soldier who reminded me of the line in Full Metal Jacket about inside every Vietnamese there's an "American waiting to get out." But more than anything, I was irritated by the lack of action. I wasn't expecting Melville when I bought this book, but I was at least expecting a trashy read with some exciting battle sequences. However, the bulk of the novel contains very little actual fighting. That means the novel needs to rely on characters to carry it. Unfortunately the characters are so poorly conceived that there's nothing to carry the book.

I sought this book out with some enthusiasm; the premise of a turn of the century conflict between the German and American "Empires" seemed to be fertile ground for some alternative history making. Instead the author chose to make the Germans into essentially two-dimensional cut-outs of evil storm troopers... such as
- commiting countless atrocities - slaughtering prisoners, pillaging and raping without a second thought, shelling cities without essential military value.
- the Kaiser is painted as a mad-man. From my reading, he was an egotist, and not too bright, but not a monster.
- would the desire for an Empire cause the Germans to start a cross-Atlantic war without securing at least an entente with other european powers?
- If the Germans wanted to "steal" an empire, wouldn't they consider invading little Holland next door, who had a large colonial empire, were militarily weak, and thereby not risk picking on a nation larger in population, across the ocean?

The atrocity episodes could have been written as a response to partisan activities by american patriots (as they were in Belgium in 1914); instead they are commited without any apparent goal in mind. There are but a few German characters who question the overall merits of such an approach.

The American Army of 1901 is armed with single shot black powder rifles in the book, but I recall them having the magazine fed Krag rifles of 1898...

Overall, a missed opportunity for opening another road through history's "What-Ifs"

Overall, this is a good alternate history book of an Imperial German invasion of the US East Coast in 1901. The battles on land and at sea are very exciting and entertaining and in my opinion are the best parts of the book.

There were, however, a couple things I did not like about the book. First of all, every character swears and curses like there's no tomorrow (although there might not be with Germany invading), which just doesn't seem to fit the time period. Granted most characters are military men, but the foul language is a bit over used. Secondly, I think a more plausible start to the war would have been at the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898(?) when the German Asiatic Squadron had the opportunity to attack and (unless Britain intervened)destroy America's forces in the Philippines. Instead, Conroy opted for Kaiser Wilhelm make the decision a few years later when America would be quite able to oppose a foreign invasion (although Conroy's timeline does afford Germany the time to assemble a large invasion force).

In conclusion, if you like military history, I think you will enjoy this book, if not immensely, then at least a great deal.

The premise of 1901, a theoretical Imperial German invasion of the United States, pitting the best of Prussia's seasoned armies against a rag-tag defensive force led by James Longstreet, would seem at a glance to be a fan of military history's dream come to life. As it turns out, Robert Conroy's 1901 is high on sex and gore, low on facts, and full of one-dimensional real-life actors who embody few - if any - of the myriad traits they possessed in real life. Let me just go ahead and list a few of the flaws of this book:

1) Conroy's interpretation of many historical figures is both lax and depressing. As an example, the author's research into writing about Kaiser Wilhelm II seems to have only involved a trip to the U.S. Archives to look up anti-German propaganda from World War I. The real-life Kaiser was a complicated figure - a windbag, as Conroy points out, to be sure - but hardly a temper-tantrum-throwing, overgrown child as 1901's author would have his readers believe (for some real history of the Kaiser, check out Dreadnought). Conroy's interpretation of Imperial Germany's government essentially amounts to a select circle of half a dozen thugs wringing their hands and cackling as they 'hatch their evil plans.' As history happened, the Kaiser actually took a back seat when real war occurred, with the German General Staff essentially running the country for four years from 1914-18.

2) Conroy's belief that the American people would jubilantly accept James Longstreet's promotion to command is ridiculous. Historical acknowledgement of Longstreet as an excellent general has only taken place in the past three decades or so. He would have been a politically unacceptable figure to return to service at the turn of the 20th Century.

3) 1901 is built around the idea that the German Navy could successfully ferry - largely in secret - a massive invasion force across the Atlantic Ocean some forty three years before a similar American/British invasion in Normandy barely succeeded. The logistics that Conroy casually chooses to ignore damn the entire book from the outset.

4) Once landed, the Germans are content to sit in a tiny pocket in southwestern Connecticut and southeastern New York and essentially wait to be defeated. Conroy points out repeatedly in his book that the Germans had previously fought 'minor wars to fulfill limited goals,' ignoring the fact that, even in those 'minor wars' (I surmise he is talking about 1864's Second Schleswig War, 1866's Austro-Prussian War, and the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71) the Prussian Army remained highly mobile, with the goal in both of the latter conflicts being the capture and occupation of the enemy nation's capital and utter defeat its armed forces - hardly a limited war. This was also essentially the German plan at the outset of World War I. Conroy chooses to ignore this historical strategic precedent and assert that, in a German invasion of the United States, that the commanders of the German Army would essentially be willing to sit on their hands and allow the Americans half a year regroup, train, rearm and finally seize the initiative and attack. The Germans only accepted trench warfare in World War I when their momentum ground to a halt - it wasn't a willing or planned design. That the invading Germans would simply occupy a relatively unimportant (with the exception of NYC) stretch of American coastline, settle in, and wait to be annihilated is one of Conroy's most startling blunders.

5) The romantic relationships in 1901 are both predictable and unnecessary. Chapter after chapter is wasted (or largely wasted) with Conroy's unwilling/willing protagonist (who at one point tells now-president Theodore Roosevelt that 'I'm resigning after the war, I've had enough,' followed a few sentences later by, 'I want a command') wooing his wealthy New York lady friend. It's an affair that's introduced early in the book and manages to gobble up mass numbers of pages throughout the remainder of the novel. That our spit-and-polish hero both abhors war and is brilliant at executing it is quite a stretch; that he falls in love with a blonde, wealthy New York socialite who has a caring heart and is committed to charity work is beyond belief. These figures lack flaws - they are ideal personified.

6) Similarly, Conroy's average Germans are equally dehumanized, rampantly raping, pillaging, and gleefully slaughtering prisoners. I suppose Conroy throws a bone to the German people in introducing the reader to Ludwig Weber, another relatively-spotless character who also happens to hate war, and is conscripted into the Kaiser's armies. Ludwig is, of course, surrounded by a collection of murder-loving rapists (read: ordinary German citizens), and at the conclusion of the book he chooses to immigrate to Wisconsin rather than return to Germany - huge surprise.

7) Naval battles are far less about tactics than they are about average sailors getting blown up and maimed. Conroy seems to neither understand pre-Dreadnought naval warfare, nor to take much of an interest in what should be one of the central focuses of his book. Instead, the 'big naval battle' involves the brother of Patrick's love interest (how convenient) standing in the foretop of the U.S.S. Alabama, receiving minor wounds, getting knocked down, and waking up to find that the fighting is over, with the Americans miraculously proving the victors. It takes Conroy a full two pages to describe this action - obviously he wouldn't want to detract any pages from Patrick's stirring infatuation with his love interest.

8) The Germans, despite a record as being excellent warriors, prove to be incompetent soldiers both on the land and at sea. As World War I was to prove, Germany's High Seas Fleet was, if anything, at least equal to the Army in terms of battle prowess, as the Germans gave as good as they got in several notable confrontations (The Battle of Coronel, the Battle of Jutland, etc). Conroy's German sailors are rank amateurs who appear to be worse seamen than contemporary Russians.

I could go on. The sad fact of the matter is that this is a short-story-gone-novel written by an author who doesn't possess the historical know-how or creative writing skills to flesh it out appropriately. Conroy is flag-waving, America-first writer who would probably argue that the United States also single-handedly won World War I and World War II, and perhaps even the Napoleonic Wars, conveniently ignorant of the fact that we weren't even involved in the latter. It's a darned shame, because the basic premise of a one vs. one duel between the United States and Imperial Germany is a stirring one. However, Conroy's setting, characters, logistics, and unfolding strategy are all either flawed, broken or nonexistent. Unless you're more concerned with bloody, pointless slaughter, predictable romances, and stilted, hollow characters than plausible 'what-if' historical story writing, Robert Conroy's 1901 is one to avoid.