Consequences of HG Wells Martian invasion of England

[Amalric]

I have been pondering what the consequences of H.G. Wells War of the Worlds Martian invasion of England might have been. At the end of the story, Wells states that they have been unable to successfully use the salvaged Martian tech. With England devastated by the invasion attempt but possessing what the Martian’s left behind, how would our history have changed?

Would there have been a WW1 and if so would England have been in it?

Would the colonies rallied to devastated England or make bids for freedom?

I am wondering because I am trying to think how the Pulpy 1930’s would look 30 plus years after the invasion.

What do you think?

Thanks
Amalric

[The Somnambulist]

You should probably check out these Graphic novels, War Of The Worlds, Scarlet Traces and The Great Game by Ian Edgington and the artist D'Israeli. The first book is a graphic representation of the novel, with the other two book dealing with the exploitation of the technology by the Britsh Empire.

[Thunderchicken]

I'm thinking Britain would have recovered relatively quickly.

The invasion was restriced to the South East of England and centred on London, the chapter 'The Earth Under The Martians' is misleading; its actually the viewpoint of the narrator who thinks the world is doomed. In all ten cylinders landed in and around London, each contained five tripods, one or two handling machines and in some the apparatus for a flying machine. It is not known why no more cylinders were fired from Mars but the assumption is made that the huge gun that fired them out of the Martian atmosphere either malfunctioned or the residual gas polluted the atmosphere to a dangerous level. I cant recall how long the attack lasts but I think its only a matter of a few weeks (if that) until the Martians succumb to bacteria. Most of the fifty tripods and their dead occupants are found in a huge camp at Primrose Hill in the centre of London so it is assumed they only spread their destruction as far as London and the Home Counties.

With this in mind most of Britain's manufacturing might was based outside of London in the Midlands and further north where the rich coal seams were located. Although the partial destrucion of London would have an immediate effect on Britain's economy its manufacturing base was still in place. Remember the Martians preferred to use the Black Smoke so much of London's infrastructure was still in place although it is highly likely the Martians would have targetted lines of communication such as railways. To what extent the government and its administration survived is not known.

As I said I think recovery would be relatively quick but Britain's will or ability to maintain an empire may have been in question, her vulnerability to attack had been sensationally highlighted to a world audience and many resources may have been re-directed to defence against another attack. In addition I think many other industrial nations around the world may have been pondering the same thing so it's not unlikely for some sort of international council to be formed to address the issue.

I haven't read the books Somnambulist mentions (I should really) so these are the ponderings and ramblings of a WOTW nut.  

 

  

[OSHIROmodels]

After reading the thoughts of TC (very well put dear boy), it strikes me that there might have been a much earlier world war (say, 1903-4), with other industrial countries seeing how humbled England became and perhaps they would think to take advantage of the situation. If that is the case then a nineteen thirties world probably wouldn't have a certain moustachoed chap raising his ugly head on the world scene.

Would the fact that the 'First World War' was ten years earlier make any impact on the technology race (assuming that we didn't crack the Martian technology)? Or would things pan out as they have already?

Food for thought maybe  

cheers

James

[Thantsants]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the "sequel" Edison's Conquest of Mars -

The Earth rallies around when it becomes apparent from observations that Mars is planning a second invasion - of course the Americans save the day by invading the Red Planet with a fleet of electric ships armed with disintegrator rays, led by their inventor - the heroic Thomas Eddison!

Very hammy stuff and not what you're looking for I'm sure! 

I always loved the illustration from the Jeff Wayne album of the underground Victoiran city - again probably not what you're looking for as the Martians would have to survive for it to come to pass - fun anyway.   

From a cynical point of view I would imagine other industrial nations would look on England with envious and probably fearful eyes, what with all that extraterrestrial technology falling under their control - albeit probably useless. The colonies could go either way - wanting a piece of the action as part of a newly dominant British Empire (with the help of martian weaponry) or seeing a good chance to break away and gain independence.

An earlier World War could be a distinct possibility with a posse of nations demanding to send weapon inspectors to England and a pigheaded/proud Blighty refusing! 

Conventional weapon development may well speed up - look what happened to the aeroplane's development between the two World Wars.

Could give lots of scope for espionage scenarios, fifth columnist, saboteurs and suchlike as British scientists race to unlock the Martian tech in the face of massive world wide hostility....



... And then the martians could invade again! 

[fastolfrus]

Would probably put a different slant on things politically.

Without the Entente-Cordiale the Faschoda incident could easily escalate.
Animosity with the French might actually lead to an Anglo-German alliance - the Kaiser would probably offer to help his cousin (inspired by the new toys in the playroom).

I suspect the Empire would stay fairly loyal, I think the independence movements only really burgeoned after the Great War, and the Martians didn't actually cause any losses to the Empire. It may even draw the Empire closer together - rallying to the cause (in the same way many volunteered in 1914).

As for technology, the Thunderchild may inspire an earlier development/deployment of the Dreadnought. Black smoke would probably inspire earlier use of chemical weapons, but also earlier development of gas masks etc. The book is set pre-Wright brothers, but it might focus more attention onto their achievement, possibly not as a military platform.

[6milPhil]

I feel a game of a Very British Martian Invasion Aftermath coming on... 

[gamer Mac]

Great speel Thunderchicken.
You do know its all a story and not real do you?
Very interesting thread.
Can anybody supply more info on the books you are talkng about?

[commissarmoody]

I feel a game of a Very British Martian Invasion Aftermath coming on... 

I concern, wasn't there some rules for a early 1904 great war or some such floating around?

[Red Orc]

Some of us were kicking around a 'Back of Beyond in Space' a while ago. The idea I think was that we could do a pulp-sci-fi BoB as the disintergrating Russian Space Empire fights the Astro-Hungarians.

My take on the idea (that I was writing up only last week) was a series of conflicts between 1881 and 1927.

The 'First Martian War', 1881; Martian Invasion of Earth (this is the WotW incident, lasting a couple of months as TC says) - if you want, I don't see why some colonies wouldn't have taken the opportunity to declare independence here; perhaps there was no Boer War/unification of South Africa, for instance, or General Gordon might have been recalled from Sudan before his disasterous expedition or something like that, so some bits of history could be very dfferent

'Second Martian War', 1886-1895; Earth nations, particularly British (as they have best access to Martian technology and eventually start to work out interplanetary travel) invade Mars - this is a slightly 'Martian Empires' kind of thing, a colonial scramble leading to diferent competing zones of influence and control, but is fairly short-lived as war is hard to sustain at such a distance and colonies continue to slowly develop

'Third Martian War', 1909-16; this is more of a series of space-battles, between the Aether Fleets of Britain and Russia versus France and Austria (and allies of all of these) for control of the aether between Earth and Mars, and over territorial rights in outlying parts eg the Asteroid Belt

'Fourth Martian War', 1921-27; Re-invasion by Britain of Mars, to combat Franco-Austrian gains, but both Russian and Austrian zones (especially in the Asteroid Belt) are in revolt - this ties in with the 'BoB in Space idea

[Onebigriver]

There was a Japanese anime "sequel" to WOTW. I remember posting a link to the trailer in the VSF section.

[Onebigriver]

This is it:

http://www.wotw-goliath.com/video_trailer.html

[Amalric]

Thanks everyone for the great ideas and food for thought!

Amalric

[Patrice]

I do not think anyone would have wanted to start a great war so early in the century. The big countries were menacing each other but they did not really "need" to go to war because they were still happy with economics.

There had been an economic crisis in 1873, but the expansion of colonialism opened new markets so the economy did quite well till 1913. And then... a new crisis was almost beginning... so... 1914: hey, let's destroy everything so we can find new markets on the ruins! (but it did not work till 1945).

But, economical history does not mean that you cannot imagine a war in 1904 if you want to play it 

[Thunderchicken]

The aftermath, whichever scenario you invent, will be interesting to game. There's a myriad of tangents so you'll have to let us know how you get on.

Rather than invade Britain I think the industrial powers would be more inward looking as it would not be known if, when or where another Martian attack will happen. It may well be smaller less industrial nations will look to the industrial world for protection and then you have all sorts of land grabbing going on with nations offering the best 'protection treaty' while getting their hands on the best resources (and then probably exploiting them). Mind you, in the epilogue of the book the narrator claims little is being done to prepare for another invasion as there is strong evidence the Martians have landed on Venus and although there is a degree of insecurity, complacency has set in. That's just asking for it!  .
 

Whether Britain shared the Martian technology or not I think there would still be a great deal of espionage, it's all about trust. On the other hand in the book the narrator tells us scientists couldn't grasp Martian technology, especially the heat ray, 'The terrible disasters at the Ealing and South Kensington laboraories have disinclined analysis for further investigation......'. 

You do know its all a story and not real do you?

Would certainly have made history lessons at school more interesting