"Uncle Alf" (2002) is an alternate history short story by Harry Turtledove. It was first published in Turtledove's edited anthology ''

Alternate Generals II Bibliography of science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction and nonfiction writer Harry Turtledove: Writing as Eric Iverson ''Elabon'' * ''Wereblood'' (1979) * ''Werenight'' (1979, revised in 1994 to include ''Wereblood'') * ''Prince of the North ...

'' in 2002 and was later reprinted in his short story collection ''

Atlantis and Other Places Atlantis and Other Places is a collection of short stories by Harry Turtledove. Published by Roc Books in December 2010, the collection includes two stories from Turtledove's Atlantis series ''Audubon in Atlantis'' and ''The Scarlet Band'' along ...

'' in 2010.

Plot

The point of divergence occurs in 1913 when

Alfred von Schlieffen Graf Alfred von Schlieffen, generally called Count Schlieffen (; 28 February 1833 – 4 January 1913) was a German field marshal and strategist who served as chief of the Imperial German General Staff from 1891 to 1906. His name lived on in the ...

, who in real life died in 1913, survives to personally oversee the successful implementation of his famous plan for two-front war against France and Russia. Germany wins World War I in 1914 after only a few months, and fully occupies both France and Belgium while the United Kingdom and Russia back out of the war completely. Two years later in 1916, an earlier communist revolution erupts in Russia,

Kaiser ''Kaiser'' is the German word for "emperor" (female Kaiserin). In general, the German title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (''König''). In English, the (untranslated) word ''Kaiser'' is mainly ap ...

Wilhelm II (fearing the consequences within his country's own borders if the Russian Empire collapsed) helps his cousin and former enemy

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...

Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

to crush it quickly. The main action of the story itself is set in May of 1929, as sergeant Adolf Hitler of the

Feldgendarmerie The ''Feldgendarmerie'' (, "field gendarmerie") were a type of military police units of the armies of the Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number o ...

is sent to Lille in pursuit of communist agitator Jacques Doriot. The story is a series of letters from "Uncle Alf" to his niece/lover, Geli Raubal. In these letters, he expresses his frustration with the complacency of the local German officials; his disgust with the "degraded" French; his utter devotion to the German Empire, and; his unrestrained (and incestrial) passion for his beloved Geli.

References

External links

"Uncle Alf"
2002 short stories Short stories by Harry Turtledove Alternate history short stories American short stories Cultural depictions of Adolf Hitler World War I alternate histories {{2000s-story-stub