Southern Victory

For the alternate history concept of the C.S.A successfully breaking away from the U.S.A, see American Civil War alternate histories.
Southern Victory
AuthorHarry Turtledove
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreAlternate history
Published1997–2007 (1997–2007)

The Southern Victory series or Timeline-191[1] is a series of eleven alternate history novels by author Harry Turtledove,[2][3] beginning with How Few Remain (1997) and published over a decade. The period addressed in the series begins during the Civil War and spans nine decades, up to the mid-1940s. In the series, the Confederate States defeats the United States of America in 1862, therefore making good its attempt at secession and becoming an independent nation. Subsequent books are built on imagining events based on this alternate timeline.[4]

The secondary name is derived from General Robert E. Lee's Special Order 191, which detailed the C.S. Army of Northern Virginia's invasion of the Union through the border state Maryland in September 1862. Turtledove creates a divergence at September 10, 1862, when three Union soldiers do not find a copy of Special Order 191, as they in fact did historically. Historians believe their find helped General George B. McClellan of the Army of the Potomac prepare for his confrontation with Lee, and contributed to the Union's eventual victory at the Battle of Antietam.[5]

  1. ^ ELHEFNAWY, NADER (1 October 2007). "SETTLING ACCOUNTS: IN AT THE DEATH BY HARRY TURTLEDOVE". Strange Horizons. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  2. ^ RAGHUNATH, Riyukta (2017). "Alternative realities: Counterfactual historical fiction and possible worlds theory" (PDF). Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA): 14. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  3. ^ "Uchronia: Great War Multi-Series (Southern Victory)". www.uchronia.net.
  4. ^ Ransom, Roger L. (17 October 2006). The Confederate States of America: What Might Have Been. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393078302. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  5. ^ Fleming, Ryan (27 June 2019). "Ryan's Reviews - How Few Remain, by Harry Turtledove". SEA LION PRESS. Retrieved 10 March 2020.