The Foresight War

The theme is what would have happened if a present day person founed himself in the recent past. The past is the years immediately prior to the second world war and the war years. The viewpoint is of an Englishman. What makes this story very different from the usual what if's is that the story revolves around the changes of (1) a modern historian, (2) changes that are relatively minor but significant (i.e defeat of the Germans during their attack on Norway) what could be done. (3) ultimately allied victory more than a year earlier with less losses and prevention of Stalin's post war expansion. It show how victory could happen without defeat causing losses and that is a significant difference from the current timeline.

This was a really different alternative history in that the focus was almost entirely on the Brits. It's sort of a British "fantasy version" of how WW2 might have turned out. What I liked about this was it didn't get too focused on personalities, love interests, or that sort of thing. Also, it was almost non-stop action. If you like Tom Clancy's novels - the ones where the Russians invade the West, for example - you'd love this. It's really "techy." It takes an incredibly detailed look at how a little foresight would have led the Brits and Germans to develop a wide range of tanks, aircraft, infantry weapons, and naval vessels. Anthony G. Williams, the author, previously wrote what looks like some obscure books on armaments: the development of the assault weapon and a book on aircraft machine guns. But this sort of scholarship and detail have served him well in The Foresight War. So the premise that a couple of guys go to sleep in 2004 and wake up in 1934 is cheesy. That's true. But that part is over in a page, and then you can just look at how a little foresight would have influenced the war - something any of us who study the war think about all the time. I like Williams' take on it. Is it unrealistic? Duh. But who cares? It's fun! On a side note, though character development wasn't on a par with, say, Jane Austen, I did like the analysis of how key Nazi figures would have responded to some foresight. Wiliams' suggestion is that Hitlet, Goering, et al, were so messed up and the Nazi system was so corrupt that foresight in their case would have made little difference.

While different choices for World War II in strategy, tactics, armamemnts using hindsight's been played by everyone from War Departments, Generals, Admirals, Defense Contractors, Historians, etc. even before the war started (see H.G. Wells, and many military writers of the 20's & 30's), and it's the basis for both recent books like John Birmingham's "Axis of Time" trilogy, Harry Turtledoves' 4 series dealing with alternative WWII, Newt Gingrich & Bill Fortschen's on 1945 and 1941, Douglas Niles, and others...all of which exceed the standards of most historical or science fiction for that matter, this is an exceptional piece. While the author doesn't deeply develop the characters or describe the settings in lush detail, the story moves along with plenty of twists and surprises that still make sense. What's particularly impressive is how deeply thought out the changes are...these are the realistic, doable changes with what was available, what was known, who was choosing, etc.. The limit of the genre is also explored as Williams posits a PhD in the period's military history and shows even then how quickly the practical limits of that knowledge is reached in aeronautical engineering, naval architecture, metallurgy, electronics engineering, materials science, atomic physics, combat tactics, etc...something too many "straight" historians lose sight of with an assumed omniscient discussion of all relevant trends and facts when no one ever knows the whole story about anything. John Birmingham addresses it probably the most succinctly by having thousands of time travelers nearly all of whom have relevant and deep technical training/experience along with thousands of computers and references AND still struggling like hell to move a timetable up a few years in product development and field deployment. Anyone curious about World War II would enjoy the book, the more you know the more impressive and intriguing the book is.

This is what my buddies and I would talk about every time we'd play games, but done by an expert. It's educational too!

Firstly I'd like to `dip me lid' to Tony Williams for attempting to write an alternate history of the Second World War at all. The potential audience tend to be opinionated, critical and well informed so much kudos to him for the effort. The premise is that a British historian goes to sleep in 2004 and wakes up in 1934. He convinces the powers that be that war is coming for which Britain will be inadequately prepared and in so doing initiates an altered and more thorough strategic purpose in British re-armament. The opening chapter is available to read on Tony Williams website www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/ I am a little bit wary of time travel scenarios but I found The Foresight War to be a satisfying read and a large and complicated plot is deftly handled, the narrative is well paced, there are surprising plot turns and the book is sufficiently gripping to be read at one sitting, there is also a great deal of detail and some laugh out loud humour. Other reviewers have taken issue with a few of Mr Williams interpretations of historical events but with subject matter as contentious as the Second World War this is inevitable. It is often the case that a well informed historian can proceed from sound scholarship to a completely different conclusion about an event from another well informed historian also proceeding from sound scholarship on the same event. The Foresight War works well, not least because Tony underlines the very prescient point that WW2 was a conflict between cultures as well as militaries and was won and lost not only by armed forces but by the systems which created them. I have no hesitation in recommending this book to anyone interested in the period.