Title:
1632
Author:
Eric Flint
Publisher:
Baen Books, 2000
ISBN
0-671-57849-9

I've written before that I don't generally read alternate history, but this one has an irresistable hook. What if a twentieth century American mining town were transported into the middle of the Thirty Years' War?

Many people might not understand the significance of the question. The Thirty Years' War was, in terms of History, writ large, a matter of Protestant Northern Europe defending itself against the Counter Reformation of the Catholic League. In terms of history as most people experienced it, it was a brutal battle between largely mercenary armies, against whom the peasant farmers of either side were left undefended. In the end, the war resulted in a shattered central Europe, united two hundred years later by the Iron Marshall, Bismarck. The resulting Germany was blamed for World War I, and its successor, the Weimar Republic, started World War II, with its attendant horrors.

Of the war's brutality I had learned in class, and I had read Simplizissimus - "The Greatest Fool" - a contemporary fictionalized critique of the war (don't recall the author) which used satire to bring home the horrors of what was happening to the people, and basically asked to what end everyone was made to suffer.

What if Sweden had beaten Habsburg? What if central Europe had been spared thirty years of ravaging, and the ensuing instability?

Flint's story sends the cavalry to the rescue. The people of the small West Virginian mining town Grantville have no idea what happened, at first, but they know who the bad guys are when they find a band of marauding mercenaries torturing a farmer and raping his wife.

Flint's little town is a miracle of USAn (I want to say "Yankee," in the spirit of Twain's "Connecticut Yankee") can-do attitudes and cooperation. Except for one outsider and his small band of malcontents, the town's leadership is unchallenged, and their decisions are quickly made: Grantville would become the new United States, formed a century and a half ahead of schedule. With their modern weapons, their modern know-how, and their modern attitudes, the seventeenth century world lies at their feet.

Flint's story is unabashed USA cheering. He writes in his afterword that he wanted to put common people back in the center of his story's action, and he does so by promoting almost every American to hero. Young boys ride their motorcycles into battle with pump action shotguns. All-American cheerleaders become dead-eye sharpshooters. Schoolteachers hold hords of marauders at bay with pistols. All act with self assurance, almost arrogance worthy of one of Heinlein's characters. If there is anyone acting in an un-praiseworthy manner, Flint considers them almost beneath notice.

The entire story is presented in sweeping, panoramic strokes, with loving attention paid to battles. That Flint manages to include some amazingly well written descriptions of the Thirty Years' War's real history is a pleasant bonus. (No, I'm no historian, and if there are errors, even howlers, I didn't catch any.) The only part that I didn't like was Flint's German. If he can call on historians to vet his history, why couldn't he also ask someone to check his German? This last was, however, a very minor flaw.

I read the story with some mixed feelings. For one, the notion that Nazi Germany's sins might be blamed on this awful past is tempting, especially to a German. For another, I do believe that USAn values include some very important ideas for dealing with the sort of issues that ostensibly caused the Thirty Years' War in the first place. (No doubt in part because the lessons of history were still fresh in the minds of the framers of the USAn Constitution.)

But, tempting though it is, historians pretty much reject this facile view of the Thirty Years' War. I also recognize that Nazi Germany was not the first tyranny of its sort in the world, nor am I confident that the human race has seen the last of its like. I don't doubt that a different course of history might not have propelled Hitler into power in 1932, but Hitler was hardly the only problem the twentieth century faced. In any case, whether Nazi Germany could have been averted three hundred years earlier or not, Germany must own her history. Like it or not.

As for the other point, I think that it is unrealistically optimistic. Individually, most human beings are wonderful. As a group, we tend to forget that and revert to primitive and instinctual behaviors when pressed. As for the lessons of history, I consider the mass of fools who want to mandate prayer in schools and the like. We have the ideas and the tools to do things right, but primitive urges still drive us to throw rocks at those who look and act differently. While it is tempting to think of the USA as the gods' gift to humanity, the USA is also home to militia groups, certain white-hooded cretins, religious extremists, and self-serving or misguided individuals in all walks of life. I think it is dangerous to lose sight of all that.

However, as a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed Flint's little romp. Give it a read.