Calidore  01-24-2017
15:05 UT
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“Operation R.S.V.P.” was published in 1951. But according to wikipedia,
Novaya Zemlya was not used as a nuclear test site until 1954. (And as a
consequence was probably a secret installation.) So was Piper ahead of
his time, or was there another reason for his choice? Looking at a
map, “Nova Zembla” (to use his spelling) is almost directly north of
Afghanistan, placing the Ameer’s missile’s flight path between Moscow
and Nanking. And the distance traveled makes it plain that it could
reach both cities. The Ameer was therefore giving both of his neighbors
a “shot across the bow”, which of course is explicit in the story.
The
flight path is closer to Moscow than Nanking, and only crosses Soviet
territory; probably because the USSR (sorry, UEESR) shares a long border
with Afghanistan, making it a greater threat to the country than China.
The more so because the Ameer states that both of his communist
neighbors are contesting over the right to conquer India, which for the
Russians would obviously entail rolling over Afghanistan along the way.
Why
is Nanking the capital of the UPREA? Possibly because Peking is too
close to the Russian border, making it vulnerable to conventional
attack. The two communist blocs are already at odds (the Khakum River
dispute), and for the Chinese to similarly threaten far-distant Moscow
would be next to impossible.
On the other hand, Russia and
China were communist allies at first, meaning the defense issue should
not have been an early concern. So another reason could be that Nanking
is more centrally located. Beam does not define the member states of
the UPREA, but one would guess that it includes Manchuria (separate from
China in “Hunter Patrol”), Sinkiang (Xinjiang) and Tibet, with Han
China being the ‘Russia’ of this imitation Soviet Union. The UPREA
could also include North Korea, Mongolia and North Vietnam, since they
are East Asian peoples. The Russians might have something to say about
the former two, but I assume history progressed a bit differently on
this timeline, which after all is suggested by the ‘alternate’ names
Piper used. In fact, ‘UEESR’ suggests that the divergence occurred
before the creation of our USSR in 1922.
But back to China.
Perhaps the Japanese crippled the Kuomintang during WWII (I assume the
war happened here), so that the Communists were the only group powerful
enough to continue the fight. With the defeat of its Nationalist ally,
and the Japanese on the verge of conquering China, the United States
would be forced to ally with Mao, as it did with Stalin (assuming these
men are this timeline’s leaders). Stalin was particularly brutal to the
Germans who invaded his country, and Mao would be at least as brutal to
the Japanese who invaded his. Particularly in order to repay the
infamous Rape of Nanking. And that repayment could be symbolically
hammered home with a triumphant Communist march into Nanking in 1945,
rather than 1949, as in our timeline. The avenged and liberated city
would be China’s capital once again!
Furthermore, with the
Kuomintang out of the picture, the US could even give their Communist
Chinese allies Taiwan, with the President’s blessing. That could have
been promised in a "Yunan Conference", paralleling the Yalta Conference
in Europe. And assuming the alliance with Mao was an early one, the
President could have also promised them Korea. South Korea might not
exist on this timeline; the whole peninsula may be part of the UPREA.
A
final reason for the choice of Nanking could be the fact that
communists are anti-monarchists. Lenin moved the Soviet capital to
Moscow at least partly because St. Petersburg was the Tsarist capital.
(Moscow was also more centrally located, like Nanking.) And since
Peking was the Imperial capital of China, Nanking would be a natural
choice for an anti-monarchist capital. Which in fact it already was,
being the capital of the Chinese Republic since 1912, after the last
Emperor abdicated. Assuming that event also occurred on this timeline,
that would place its divergence with ours somewhere between 1912 and
1922.
Very interesting connection between Piper’s story and real history, though. Thanks for the inspiration, David!
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David "PiperFan" Johnson 01-22-2017
23:05 UT
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~
Operation R.S.V.P.: Nanking and Nova Zembla
Reread "Operation R.S.V.P." recently:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18261/18261-h/18261-h.htm
and noticed a couple of interesting items.
The
first is Beam's choice for the capital of the "United Peoples'
Republics of East Asia." Beam makes Nanking (Nanjing) the capital of
this East Asian communist federation, rather than Peking (Beijing),
which was the capital of the People's Republic of China at the time Beam
was writing "Operation R.S.V.P." This seems an odd choice, especially
because Nanking had been the capital of the Chinese Nationalist
government, before it was forced to Taiwan by the Communists. (It seems
especially odd because Beam leaves the capital of the "Union of East
European Soviet Republics" at Moscow. One wonders why he didn't also
place the quasi-Soviet federation capital at Leningrad/St. Petersburg.)
The
second interesting item is Nova Zembla (Novaya Zemlya), the Arctic
Ocean site of the Ameer of Afghanistan's demonstration of the new
"carbon-hydrogen cycle bomb." A bit over a decade after "Operation
R.S.V.P." appeared, Nova Zembla was the location of the most powerful
nuclear weapons test ever. Obviously, Beam understood that Nova Zembla
was a Soviet nuclear test site but it's uncanny that it ended up being
the site of the biggest nuke test ever.
I have the honor, etc., etc., etc.,
David
--
"You
either went on to the inevitable catastrophe, or you realized, in time,
that nuclear armament and nationalism cannot exist together on the same
planet, and it is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of
knowledge." - H. Beam Piper, ~Uller Uprising~
~
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David "PiperFan" Johnson 01-05-2017
02:12 UT
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~
Garland hardcover of ~Lord ~Kalvan~ at ABEBooks.com
A reasonably-priced copy of the only hardcover edition of ~Lord Kalvan~ is available at ABE:
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=21414414204
Appears to be an ex-library book, which may explain the price. Still, I'd buy it if I didn't already have one. . . .
David (not the seller)
--
"Do
you know which books to study, and which ones not to bother with? Or
which ones to read first, so that what you read in the others will be
comprehensible to you? That's what they'll give you [at university].
The tools, which you don't have now, for educating yourself." - Bish
Ware (H. Beam Piper), ~Four-Day Planet~
~
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David "PiperFan" Johnson 01-04-2017
03:19 UT
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~
Jon Crocker wrote:
> That might work towards why someone is naming fuzzies after
> characters in The Mikado. New Zealand, Australia, South Africa,
> all Commonwealth members...
Point taken. Though if I had undertaken an exercise like Scalzi's, I would have dumped "Ko-Ko" but kept "Government House."
Perhaps
I simply don't appreciate the appeal of ~The Mikado~ but it does seem
to me that one choice by Beam--Federation civilization modeled on the
remnants of Commonwealth civilization which endured in (parts of) the
Southern Hemisphere--was "intentional," while the other--naming a
tertiary character after a figure from his contemporary popular
culture--was happenstance.
Yeek!
David
--
"I was
born in Antarctica, on Terra. The water's a little too cold to do much
swimming there. And I've spent most of my time since then in central
Argentine, in the pampas country." - Glenn Murell (H. Beam Piper),
~Four-Day Planet~
~
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Jon Crocker 01-04-2017
01:56 UT
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That might work towards why someone is naming fuzzies after characters
in The Mikado. New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, all Commonwealth
members...
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David "PiperFan" Johnson 01-03-2017
14:34 UT
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~
James "jimmyjoejangles" Romanski wrote:
> he was a member of the British war cabinet during the
> first war, which is why I was confused.
You're in good company. Here's Ed Chalmers talking about that period:
"I
can't recall the exact manner in which I blundered into it. The fact
that I did make such a blunder was because I was talking
extemporaneously and had wandered ahead of my text. I was trying to
show the results of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after the First
World War, and the partition of the Middle East into a loose collection
of Arab states, and the passing of British and other European spheres of
influence following the Second. You know, when you consider it, the
Islamic Caliphate was inevitable; the surprising thing is that it was
created by a man like Khalid. . . ."
Though already in decline,
the British Commonwealth was a much more substantive entity in Beam's
lifetime than it has become in ours. This is why elements of
Commonwealth civilization survive, via Southern Hemisphere states like
(pre-apartheid) Smuts's South Africa, into the Federation era. It's
why, for example, Uller Company headquarters are at "Company House."
Znidd Suddabit!
David
--
"You
either went on to the inevitable catastrophe, or you realized, in time,
that nuclear armament and nationalism cannot exist together on the same
planet, and it is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of
knowledge." - H. Beam Piper, ~Uller Uprising~
~
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jimmyjoejangles 01-03-2017
11:52 UT
|
except that Smuts was prime minister of South Africa, not Britain. True but he was a member of the British war cabinet during the first war, which is why I was confused. Edited 01-03-2017 12:05
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David "PiperFan" Johnson 01-03-2017
03:40 UT
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~
James "jimmyjoejangles" Romanski wrote:
> So this may come as no surprise to you guys but Jan Christain
> Smuts was a British prime minister during the war. He attended
> the conference where the united nations charter was written.
> He also has the distinction of being the only person to attend
> both Versailles Peace conferences in 1919 and 1946.
I think that's mostly right, except that Smuts was prime minister of South Africa, not Britain.
> So the capital ships of the first empire are named after statespeople.
Well,
the ~Smuts~ was an Uller Company contragravity ship, but it does makes
sense that Federation era folks would be naming their ships after
prominent, historical Southern Hemisphereans. . . .
> I believe I had run into Harriet Barnes in the past but I can't remember.
I've
never been able to find an appropriate source for the Transcontinent
& Overseas contragravity ship's namesake, but I do wonder if Beam
had been thinking of this little contraption at the time he was writing
~Junkyard Planet~:
http://blogs.nybg.org/plant-talk/2011/08/a...y-the-floral-flyer/
It's patron's (Mrs. Harold Irving Pratt) maiden name was Harriet Barnes (still not quite right with the "s" but, who knows?).
Znidd Suddabit!
David
--
"You
know what Lingua Terra is? An indiscriminate mixture of English,
Spanish, Portuguese and Afrikaans, mostly English. And you know what
English is? The result of the efforts of Norman men-at-arms to make
dates with Saxon barmaids." - Victor Grego (H. Beam Piper), ~Fuzzy
Sapiens~
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jimmyjoejangles 01-03-2017
02:45 UT
|
So this may come as no surprise to you guys but Jan Christain Smuts was a
British prime minister during the war. He attended the conference
where the united nations charter was written. He also has the
distinction of being the only person to attend both Versailles Peace
conferences in 1919 and 1946. So the capital ships of the first empire
are named after statespeople. I believe I had run into Harriet Barnes
in the past but I can't remember.
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David "PiperFan" Johnson 01-02-2017
16:33 UT
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~
Happy New Year, Piper fans.
Thank you to those who have made
contributions to support the Piper discussion forum and mailing list
for another year. Your generosity is very much appreciated.
David
--
"I always was a present-peeker [on] New Year's. . . ." - Elaine Karvall (H. Beam Piper), ~Space Viking~
~
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