Breakthroughs (The Great War, Book 3) [Hardcover]

Harry Turtledove (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2000 | Series: The Great War, Book 3 (Book 3)

Is it the war to end all wars--or war without end? What began as a conflict in Europe, when Germany unleashed a lightning assault on its enemies, soon spreads to North America, as a long-simmering hatred between two independent nations explodes. Twice in fifty years the Confederate States of America had humiliated their northern neighbor. Now revenge may at last be at hand.

Under the leadership of Teddy Roosevelt, and following a general named Custer--military genius or madman?--the United States are fighting a war on two fronts in 1917. In the north, from the Pacific to Quebec, U.S. forces in the air and on land are locked in battle against Canada and Great Britain. To the south, at the heart of a line that stretches from the Gulf of California to the Atlantic, Custer intends to do what none of his predecessors had ever managed: to smash through the Confederate barbwire entrenchments in Tennessee.

Into this vast, seething cauldron plunges a new generation of weaponry-- submarines, barrels, attack planes, poison gas, and flame throwers--changing the shape of war and the balance of power. While the Confederate States are distracted by an insurgency of African Americans with a dream of establishing their own socialist republic, the United States are free to bring their military and industrial might directly to bear--and to unleash the most horrific armored assault the world has ever seen.

Here are leather-jacketed daredevil pilots flying unproved fighters into anti-aircraft fire. Here is a melee on the sea, as U.S. sailors duel Confederate submariners, while the English, French, and Japanese surface navies vie for control of the shipping lanes. In Harry Turtledove's incredibly imagined alternate history, the Great War is played out over a cast of vivid characters. Amidst the sound and fury of battle, as nonaligned nation-states choose sides and politicians spew bombast far from the front lines, The Great War: Breakthroughs captures a world war at an apocalyptic turning point. Victory is at hand--but at a price that may be worse than war itself . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The historian and the creative writer unite in Turtledove to craft another impressive novel, this one the third in his series about an alternate WWI (American Front, Walk in Hell), which has seen a weakened Confederate States of America not only combating the U.S.A. but facing a communist revolt from within staged by its black slaves. In this imaginative sequel, Turtledove displays his usual mastery at maintaining suspense across a broad canvas, with characters that fans will be glad to encounter again: feisty Southern aristocrat Anne Colleton leads a group of militiamen to try to wrest control of her shattered plantation, Marshlands, from the Reds; short-order cook Nellie Semphroch and her amorous daughter escape trial as collaborators thanks to a visit from Teddy Roosevelt; General Custer and his unprecedented command of the army's "barrels"AtanksAdivision leads to the U.S. scoring some lightning-fast victories. Peace is won, but at a high cost: working mother Sylvia Enos must face the future without a job and as a widow, while Confederate sub commander Roger Kimball may face a war crimes tribunal. Echoing the Treaty of Versailles, the victors make the grave mistake of punishing their enemies so that they dream of revenge. Although a complete and skillfully executed tale in itself, this epic story leaves enough plot threads dangling to demand a fourth novel to tie them up. (Aug.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

As World War I rages across a divided American continent, the beleaguered United States seeks the opportune moment to gain revenge against its Confederate enemies regardless of the cost. Building on the momentum of the previous two series novels, The Great War: American Front and The Great War: Walk in Hell, Turtledove follows his large cast of historical and fictional characters through the turning point of the war to end all wars. Alternate history's grand master displays his acute knowledge of American history as well as his keen imagination as he paints a vivid portrait of a past that could have been. A good choice for most libraries.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; 1st edition (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345405633
• ISBN-13: 978-0345405630
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,408,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Harry Turtledove is the award-winning author of the alternate-history works The Man with the Iron Heart; The Guns of the South; How Few Remain (winner of the Sidewise Award for Best Novel); the Worldwar saga: In the Balance, Tilting the Balance, Upsetting the Balance, and Striking the Balance; the Colonization books: Second Contact, Down to Earth, and Aftershocks; the Great War epics: American Front, Walk in Hell, and Breakthroughs; the American Empire novels: Blood & Iron, The Center Cannot Hold, and Victorious Opposition; and the Settling Accounts series: Return Engagement, Drive to the East, The Grapple, and In at the Death. Turtledove is married to fellow novelist Laura Frankos. They have three daughters: Alison, Rachel, and Rebecca.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Turtledove's done in quite a while!, August 7, 2000

By 

Jeph Gord - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breakthroughs (The Great War, Book 3) (Hardcover)

The Great War series has been excellent, and this is undoubtedly the best so far! The pace of the action picks _way_ up, and doesn't slow down till the end.

I haven't reviewed the previous two books, so I'll start with a few words about the series in general, for the benefit of those who haven't read them. It is set in the same world as Turtledove's earlier (and highly recommended) "How Few Remain". In this world, the Confederates won the battle of Antietam, and went on to secede from the Union with help from Britain and France. The first book ("The Great War: American Front") opens up in 1914 with the beginning of World War I. The war in Europe goes much as it did in real life, with Britain, France, and Russia squaring off against Germany and Austro-Hungary. At this point, however, things get more complicated. The CSA is quick to join the war on the side of its old friends, Britain and France. The US is equally quick to join the war on the side of its one European ally, Germany. The result is a bloody, grinding trench war along the US-Confederate and US-Canadian borders, accompanied by battles between the US and British Pacific fleets. Like the real WWI, the result is slow, gory, and not terribly decisive. It is tense and well told, but not much land changes hands.

In "The Great War: Breakthroughs", this changes very quickly. What has long been a war of positions makes the slow but inexorable transformation into a war of mobility.

Throughout the series, many new tactics and technologies have been introduced. In this volume, they really begin to pay off. The result is some of the fastest, most exciting military-SF action to be found this year. Airplanes drop increasingly deadly and accurate payloads of bombs, wreaking destruction on both civilian and military targets. The US and it's Latin American allies launch an assault against vital supply lines in the Pacific, hoping to starve Britain into submission. Confederate submarines struggle to break the US Navy through hit-and-run tactics. Artillerymen concoct increasingly nasty chemical weapons. General George Armstrong Custer, long thought useless, finally does some good with his innovative use of barrels (tanks).

The result of all this: soldiers are no longer safe in their own trenches, and war will never be the same again. The viewpoint characters must learn to live with this rapidly changing world. As artillery shells fall on Washington, DC, Nellie Semphroch quickly learns that obnoxious men are no longer her biggest concern. Gordon McSweeney, solidly religious but thoroughly bloodthirsty, delivers the Fires of Heaven to the Confederate heathens through the barrel of a flamethrower. George Enos hunts Confederate subs from the deck of the USS Ericsson. Jake Featherston, a stalwart Southern nationalist, turns his battery of howitzers on any who would dare hinder the Confederate war effort. The end result: one whopper of a read! The action never stops, and there's also a decent supply of nasty politics. Since book one, I've been anxiously awaiting the conclusion. The wait is almost up! I won't give away the ending, but suffice to say that the war is over by the end of the book (I won't say who wins). I guess book IV will deal with an alternate Treaty of Versailles, which will surely make an interesting conclusion.

I don't give books five stars very often, but this one deserves it for sheer entertainment power.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The end of WWI on American soil, October 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Breakthroughs (The Great War, Book 3) (Hardcover)

The final book of the Great War trilogy, I was a bit disappointed to see Turtledove stick to his rather annoying habit of mirroring the actual events. In this book, he has basically turned the CSA into the Germany of 1917-1919 that we know. A breakthrough that cannot be plugged up allows an enemy to penetrate deep into the countryside, forcing an armistice. The currency is devaluated, and the disgruntled army is still semi-mobilized waiting to avenge themselves. (If you replace Featherston with Hitler, "Over Open Sights" with "Mein Kampf", and the Richmond War Department with Munich Beer Hall and jump ahead approximately 5-10 years, then the last few chapters make more sense.) It is rather evident what the sequel will bring: Jake Featherston as a Hitler-type leader of the CSA, bringing a holocaust on the blacks as "backstabbers" of the Confederacy, with another minor character (probably someone from this series-Major Potter or Jeff Pinkard?)as his Himmler. In the USA, Irving Morrell will have evolved into an advocate of armored warfare, maybe one of the British desert war generals?? However, I must say that Dr. Turtledove's style is intriguing and I can't wait to read his conclusion, especially what he will do with the European situation and where he will place the Battle of Britain.

35 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars And so, they have spoken..., August 3, 2000

By 

Robert Daguillard (Bethesda, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Breakthroughs (The Great War, Book 3) (Hardcover)

Book III of Turtledove's "Great War" tetralogy answers most of the questions asked in "American Front" and "Walk in Hell," while hinting at those to be confronted in Volume IV, settling account.

This volume, while very well written, is also the hardest and least optimistic, thus far, of the series: An invitation, perhaps, to carry the "Great War" timeline on to World War II?

More than anything, "Breakthroughs" rests on a shaky intellectual basis, as does the rest of the "Great War" series.

There are few surprises from Volume II: Tanks, airplanes, poison gas and sheer manpower propel the US-German alliance on to victory while, one after the other, the CSA and its allies must sue for peace. The Americans logically resolve to annex whatever territories they've conquered.

Turtledove's character development remains strong even as events become more dramatic. Bigotry and bitterness co-exist in many a heart. Confederate Soldier Jake Featherston, who blames the defeat on blacks and C.S. brass, is a sure candidate to lead a postwar, Nazi-like Ku Klux Klan.

Turtledove gives too much treatment to superficial, unpleasant Anne Colleton and her cowardly servant Scipio. But he is at his best when dealing with the defeated: Canadian Farmer Arthur McGregor, who becomes an embittered monster, recoiling at nothing to gain revenge; and one-time C.S. bigot Reggie Bartlett, who actually becomes a better man -no small feat in wartime- as he learns to give blacks a measure of respect. The author's minor literary offenses are not enough to detract from the general quality of the series. But there are too many repetitions, for instance: We don't need to read fifty times that taking Winnipeg from Canada will split that country in two. One reference to "black-bordered casualty lists" in daily newspapers is more than enough. And every family in North America seems to eat chicken stew for dinner, every evening!

The major question, as we consider Turtledove's hard, and impoverished world, becomes this: How realistic is his theory in the first place?

Turtledove willingly challenges one of the strongest tenets of International Relations Theory: that democracies trade with each other and don't wage war on one another. Would the US so willingly have turned its cannons on France and Britain?

Even if the CSA had won the Civil War, would Britain and France so willingly have allied with a slave-holding nation? Would public opinion in either of these countries have stood for this, and for post-1882 apartheid in the American South? Would the United States so willingly become the pupil of Imperial Germany, a nation with doubtful democratic credentials at best?

Turtledove's highly entertaining series is a must for anyone with the curiosity to ask "what if.." But it may be no more than that: Great entertainment...