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How few remains (Series of books)


The How few remains universe is an alternate history series of novel by by Harry Turtledove. It is currently composed of the a prologue novel, How few remains, and 3 sub-series: The Great War (3 novels), American Empire (3 novels) & Settling Accounts (4 novels). The timeline of the stories suppose a victorious Confederate States of America and then follows the lives of various characters as the USA and CSA repeatedly go to war against one another over the decades. As of 2006, there is still 1 book left to be published in the "Settling Accounts" series which may or may not be the end of the timeline.

Note that "How few remains" is not the official name for this timeline and that, indeed, there is none. Maybe when an omnibus edition is released the publisher might come up with one. Some fans of the series have aparently taken to refering to this alternate history as "Timeline 161" after the official numbering given to General Lee's orders before the battle of Sharpsburg. The orders *here* were found by the Northen army whereas *there* they were not, this being the timeline's point of departure.



 Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America have the same origins as the real historical one up until the battle of Sharpsburg. They won the battle and managed to gain recognisance from France and Great-Britain thus ensuring their survival.

Between the War of Secession and the end of the Great War, the CSA are presented has conservative in values yet slowly marching toward granting equal rights to its black inhabitants. For a short period of time near in 1917, the CSA even give more rights to them (after a fashion) then the USA when the army begins to accept black soldiers.

However, following the CSA's defeat and a "Red Negro" (communist african-americans) uprising, the black population find itself being scapegoated for the CSA's ills. Following the rise of the Freedom Party (this timeline's counterpart to the Nazi), a large segment of the CSA's black population is sent to deathcamps and killed.

  Flags    

· National Flag:

Description:

(GW:AF p.22): Some of them waved [...] Star and bars like the sixteen-star banner above the post office [...]

Note: "Stars and bars" was the nickname of the first national flag adopted by the Confederate States of America. Because on the battelfield it could sometime be confused with the flag of the USA, the CSA *here* later adopted a national flag with a diferent design. *There* it would seem they kept the same and simply used the Confederate Battle flag when needed.

Comments: The reconstruction to the right assumed that they would have kept the same general design (i.e. stars in a circle) even after adding new states.

Source: Reconstruction by the webmaster based on the text.
 

· Battle Flag:

Description:

(GW:WIH p.388): [...] the Confederate battle flag [...] displayed St. Andrew's cross in blue on red.

Note: "St. Andrew's cross", also called a "martyr's cross" or a saltire, is a cross with diagonal arms.

Comments: There actualy were a few different battle flags (with varying designs) used by the confederates. I have assumed (and most novels' covers would seem to bear this out) that the most famous one was retained.

Note that the text does not give the number of stars on the flag so the flags at the right are meant to represent the number of states at various stages:

  1. 1881 (shown on the cover of the novel "How few remains")
  2. "Traditional" version. Unlike the "Stars & Bars", the battle flag might not change based on the number of states. This would be similar to the number of stripes on the US flag which originaly were meant to change at the same time as the number of stars but was eventualy scaled back to thirteen and fixed there.
  3. After the referendum in the 1930s that gave some of the states back to the CSA.
  4. 1914 (represent the maximum number of states admited into the CSA.)

Source:
Image #1 based on the cover of the first paperback edition of "How Few Remains".
Image #3 based on a freedom party flag on the cover of "American Empire: Victorious Opposition".

 

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3

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Freedom Party

The Freedom Party was a confederate polical party founded shortly after the end of the Great War. It seem to attract little attention until Jake Featherston joined it and later became its leader. Featherson, a veteran of the Great War infused the party with his hatred of the CSA's "blue blood" establishement and its black population as well as a desire for revenge against the USA.

It goes without saying that the Freedom Party is this timeline's equivalent to the Nazi in our own. Most aspect of the FP's history, organisation and symbolise tend to echo the later.
 
  Flags    


1


2

· Party Flag:

Description:

(AE:BAI p.218): The men in the second rank bore white banners with FREEDOM printed on them with angry red letters, and others that might have been Confederate battle flags save that they featured a red St. Andrew's cross on blue, not blue on red.
(AE:BAI p.329): Some carried Freedom Party flags, others the confederate battle flag with reversed colors that the Party also used.
(AE:BAI p.349): [...] some Confederate banners, some C.S. battle flags with colors reversed, some white banners blazoned with the red word FREEDOM.
(AE:TVO p.2): [...] the Freedom Party flag, a Confederate battle flag with colors reversed: a star-belted red St. Andrew's cross on a blue field.

Note: Like the confederate battle flag on which it is based, the number of stars is never mentioned and when the flag appear on the cover, it is with a various amount of them.

Comments: Based on the quote above, it seem that originaly the official flag of the party was # 1, # 2 being mostly "decoration". At one point near or after the Party gain power, # 2 seems to have replace the first.

According to Devereaux Cannon (a vexilologist specialising in the CSA), a flag with this design did exist *here* and was used by Confederate regiments fighting west of the Mississippi River.

This design was also adopted by a some white supremacists refering to themselves as the "white civil right movement".

Source: Reconstruction by the webmaster based on the text.


Republic of Quebec

The Republic of Quebec was created during the Great War after the US army conquered the canadian province of the same name. In many ways, the republic is considered by other (and even some of its inhabitant) to be little more then a US puppet state.

  Flag    


1


2

· National Flag:

Description:

(AE:BAI p.67-68): Instead, the [Quebec] Republic's flag (which had also been the provincial flag) floated above it: a field of blue quartered by a white cross, and in each quadrant a white fleur-de-lys.

Note: Fleur-de-lys is the name for an heraldic object resembling a stylised lilly.

Comments: The mention of the flag of the republic being the same as the provincial one (when part of Canada) means a much earlier adoption then here (in 1948). This would follow other indication of specificaly Canadian symbols (like the maple leaf roundel mentioned during the Great War) used decades before they were adopted *here*.

Because the description is a tad vague, the flag refered to might either be the current one (#1) or one of the many variation of the Carrillon flag (#2) used in the early 20th century.

Source: Reconstruction by the webmaster based on the text.


United States of America

The USA of this timeline seem to have followed an identical path then in our own up until the War of Secession during which the southern states separated. The USA were then beaten twice by the CSA (during the 1st and 2nd Mexican War) after which they developt a rather "revanchiste" attitude and a more militarised society. This is demonstrated, for example, by a 2 years mandatory military service and the erection of a "Statue of Remembrance" in New York (it seem to take the place of the Statue of Liberty).

Unlike its counterpart *here*, the USA *there* does not have any states that are oversea (Hawaii was english) or non-contiguous (alaska is still russian).

  Flag    

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4

5

· National Flag:

Description:

(GW:AF p.116-117): To Cincinnaus, the U.S. flag looked crowded and busy, with too many stars and too many stripes. *The Bleeding Zebra*, Southerners called it, and he could see why.
(GW:WIH p.53): He saluted the thirty-four-star [US] flag [...]
(AE:BAI p.53): Some women in the crowd looked fierce as they waved their flags - Thirty-five stars, now that Kentucky was back in the USA, and the new state of Houston would make it thirty-six on the Fourth of July.

Note: *Here* the US national flag always contain the same number of stars as it does of states. The new number becomes official on the fourth of july after the entry of a state. This mean that if more then one join during a given year, a flag would gain many stars at once.

Comments: Assuming the US follow the same pattern as *here*, it would have had the following design at these given dates.

  1. 1881 (26 states)
  2. 1914 (33 states according to the map included in the novels of the "Great War" series)
  3. 1914 (34 states according to the text)
  4. 1917 (35 states according to the text)
  5. 1918 (36 states according to the text)

Note that the design on the cover is not the one used historicaly *here* when the US had the same number of states.

Considering the history of the US in this timeline, one interesting question is wether there is some sort of official procedure that is followed when losing states. Maybe they simply remove the corresponding number of stars on the next 4th of july.

Source:
Image #1 Based on the cover of the first paperback edition of "How Few Remains".
Image #3,4,5 Reconstruction based on the text.



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