English Civil War Battles
Edge Hill, 1642
Newbury, 1643
Marston Moor, 1644
Naseby, 1645
Naseby was the decisive Roundhead victory. We can negatively summarize the alternative history in Poul Anderson's A Midsummer Tempest by saying that, in it, there is no Naseby.
I have found in the past that historical fiction can generate interest in particular historical periods. The same might be true of alternative history fiction. After reading Anderson's "Delenda Est" while at secondary school, I translated a Latin sentence about the younger Scipio rescuing his father at the Battle of Ticinus. Similarly, reading science fiction should generate at least some interest in astronomy and cosmology. See here.
Space explorers and entrepreneurs visit solar and extra-solar planets whereas Time Patrol agents visit events like the Battle of Ticinus. I will shortly visit the realm of Morpheus.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, there was no Naseby because Rupert of the Rhine because history changed in the Shakespearean universe after he was captured at Marston Moor. Events changed because of what seemed a further disaster for Rupert (being captured).
And if Scipio Africanus to be had NOT rescued his father at Ticinus would history truly have changed so drastically? I mean would Hannibal Barca had decisively defeated and crushed Rome? All we know is that Anderson used that idea in "Delenda Est."
Ad astra! Sean
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