Futuristic sf reflects the time at which it was written and can become dated but can also remain relevant for quite some time. When the Terran fleet invests Avalon, the Avalonian Admiral Daniel Holm retorts to Terran Admiral Cajal:
"'Standard technique. Eliminate a space fleet and its planet has to yield or you'll pound it into radioactive slag. Nice work that for a man, that, hunh?'" (p. 554)
We still deal only in parts of one planet and our slag is not radioactive - yet. But what does the future hold? Dystopias warn us what to avoid. Space operas and future histories can also.
Fair winds forever.
8 comments:
Well, that's war -- "do what I want, or I'll kill you".
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Exactly, and many other combatants in other wars would not have shown the restraint we see from the Terrans. In fact, the Avalonians built their plan of counter attack precisely around that moral self restraint of the Imperials.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: yeah, which shows why moral restraint doesn't last if you have enemies even remotely comparable to you in strength.
In other words, it's a luxury for the very powerful. Otherwise it gets you screwed good and proper.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, and it was still good of the Empire that it settled for gaining most, but not all of what was disputed between Terra and Ythri.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: yup, that was a 'cabinet war', fought for limited aims. Neither party was out to destroy the other. OTOH, 'total' wars between nation-states don't work that way.
For example, in 1870, Bismarck maneuvered Napoleon into declaring war on Prussia, which then used it (and hatred of the French from Napoleon's day) to unite Germany.
OTOH, once Napoleon was deposed, the war didn't end. A republic was declared, and it launched a levee en masse and a popular war against the Germans, which they had to fight a second (and costly) campaign to put down.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Hope this gets uploaded.
And we both know that didn't work out so well for France! I think Prussian irritation at a prolonged war contributed to a defeated France being forced to accept harsher peace than what might otherwise had been the case.
Ad astra! Sean
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