''1945'' is an

alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...

written by

Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U ...

and

William R. Forstchen William R. Forstchen (born October 11, 1950) is an American historian and author. A Professor of History and Faculty Fellow at Montreat College, in Montreat, North Carolina, he received his doctorate from Purdue University. He has published num ...

in 1995 that described the period immediately after World War II in which the United States had fought only against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, which allowed Nazi Germany to force a truce with the Soviet Union, and the two victors confront each other in a

cold war The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, which swiftly turns hot.

Plot

At the start of the novel, the United States, having defeated the Empire of Japan, is in no mood to enter a new war, and Americans accept the
fait accompli
' of German domination over most of Europe. A

seems in the offing, and even the British, with a German-dominated Europe at its doorstep, squander much of their resources on a

colonial war Colonial war (in some contexts referred to as small war) is a blanket term relating to the various conflicts that arose as the result of overseas territories being settled by foreign powers creating a colony. The term especially refers to wars ...

in the former French Indochina. US President Andrew Harrison (a fictional character) has a summit with Adolf Hitler at Reykjavík, Iceland. The meeting goes badly, both leaders sharply confront each other, and Hitler secretly decides to accelerate preparations for a surprise attack on both the United States and the United Kingdom. As part of the preparations, a beautiful German spy seduces and suborns the White House Chief of Staff and makes him a key German spy. The book's protagonist, Lieutenant Commander James Martel, at the incipient Head of Naval Intelligence at the American embassy in Berlin, is one of the few who suspects the gathering storm by watching the new weapons displayed at the parade commemorating Germany's victory over the Soviet Union and encountering the well-known commando Otto Skorzeny, who is his main opponent throughout the book. Skorzeny makes meticulous secret preparations for raids to destroy the American

atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

programs in Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory. (During the book's war with Japan, the Manhattan Project was put on the back burner, making the 1945 United States far from already possessing a nuclear bomb.) The bulk of the book is devoted to Martel, back in the United States, getting a glimmering of the threatened attack and unsuccessfully trying to sound a warning. The German raid takes place, and though the Germans are eventually beaten back, the raid causes great damage by killing key scientists and setting the American nuclear program behind Germany's. The Germans also seize the uranium mines in the Congo region while they launch all-out war against the United Kingdom. The book ends with a cliffhanger.

Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...

invades Scotland, the British face a desperate fight, and British Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

imploring the Americans to "come quickly, this is much worse than

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *January ...

Reception

A review in the Chicago Tribune said " The story isn't the biggest problem; it's the pages of putrid prose that make the book so tough to stomach." A Washington Post review in 1996 commented that "For every 100 copies that his hopeful publisher sent forth into the world, 81 came back, unsold." It also noted good reviews in the National Review, the

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

and Asimov's Science Fiction.

References

{{Newt Gingrich Fiction set in 1945 1995 American novels Alternate Nazi Germany novels American alternate history novels Collaborative novels Novels by Newt Gingrich Novels by William R. Forstchen Baen Books books

Plot

Reception

See also

References