Southern Victory (Book Series)

## Background

Southern Victory, also called Timeline-191, is the fan name given to the alternate timeline in which a series of books by Harry Tutledove takes place. Although the entire series is referred to simply as "The Great War" on Harry Turtledove's official website, no other sources appear to use that name.

This timeline posit the aftermath of General Lee of the Confederate Army defeating General McClellan of the Union Army at the battle of Antietam awhich lead to the Confederate States of America eventually winning international recognition for their independence from the United States.

The books concentrate on events from 3 periods: 1881-1882 (how few remain), 1914-1917 (the great war), 1919-1941 (american empire) & 1941-1945 (settling accounts). The story is told via a number of viewpoints characters, some appearing multiple times in multiple books while other appear only briefly.

Note that although Harry Turtledove has written a much larger number of Alternate History books dealing with the Confederate States and the Second World War, only books in the following list are considered part of the series:

* How Few Remain (1997)
* The Great War: American Front (1998)
* The Great War: Walk in Hell (1999)
* The Great War: Breakthroughs (2000)
* American Empire: Blood and Iron (2001)
* American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold (2002)
* American Empire: The Victorious Opposition (2003)
* Settling Account: Return Engagement (2004)
* Settling Account: Drive to the East (2005)
* Settling Account: The Grapple (2006)
* Settling Account: In at the Death (2007)

## **Uniforms**

In the following section, please note that that the initialism "OTL" is used to refer to Our Timeline as opposed to the Alternate Timeline as described within the books.

### **Canada**

Was invaded at the beginning of the Great War and remained occupied afterward without being integrated.

#### **Army**

* Just before the US invasion of Canada, canadian lieutenant Lapin is said to wear a "single pip on his shoulder board" which is consistent with british-style insignias worn in the canadian army at the time. Although the pip is more then likely meant to be the order of the bath one as it was was historically, it should be noted that during the Great War in the books, canadian planes are said to bear maple leaf roundels (introduced OTL in the 1960s) and the provincial flag of Quebec was already the fleurdelysé before it became a republic (while OTL it only became so in 1948). This could indicate that a number of local symbols and elements of visual identity were adopted earlier then OTL so that in the absence of any specific mention, few elements of the canadian uniform can be taken for granted.

### **Confederate States of America**

Is allied with France and the United Kingdom and appears to have been inspired, uniform-wise, by the later based on cover art and comments made in the books themselves

#### **Army**

* During the period from 1914 to the end of the confederacy, the colour of the uniform worn by soldiers is described as "butternut" which is said to be identical to what the british call "khaki".

* officers during the great war are said to wear visored caps with branch piping (red=artillery, pale blue=infantry, yellow=cavalry). As the term covers many different design and no mention is made of the specific type, this could mean they are similar to OTL british/USA, French, a sloping ones similar to civil war era caps or something else. No mention is made as to whether they wear cap badges.

* officers wear their insignias (which appear to be identical to OTL CSA ones) on their collars on branch-coloured tabs. No mention is made as to whether the various generals have distinctive ranks (in OTL, the CSA only single insignias for all generals)

* cavalrymen, at least in 1914, wore plumed hats with a yellow cord. officers have yellow trim on their uniforms and wear high, tight boots.

#### **Navy**

* one passage have them wear white. This probably means that they wear the same general type of uniform most navies of the world. No mention are made of their winter uniform so that it is unknown if they continued wearing dark grey like in OTL or dark blue like the majority of navies.

* Officers' ranks are indicated by stars on their shoulder straps and stripes around the cuffs. The rank insignias described do not fit either with the british or CSA system OTL but rather the stripes follow the US progression and the shoulder straps insignias appear to have been inspired by the cap badges worn by confederate navy officers OTL.

#### **Kentucky State Police**

* wear a plumed (peacock) hat with a cord that is of a different colour, though unspecified, then those worn by army cavalrymen.

#### **Municipal Police**

* uniforms is mentioned to be like those of british policemen of the era (including the pith helmet) but in grey.

#### **Freedom Party**

Founded by Jake Featherston in the interwar period as a revanchist party blaming all the CSA troubles on its black population. The Freedom Party is a thinly disguised stand-in for our timeline's german Nazi party

**Freedom Party Guards:**

Freedom Party Guards are introduced during the American Empire sub-series are the equivalent of the Nazi's SS
* In the interwar period, the uniform first used by Freedom Party Guards is repeatedly described as "like the army but different" which could mean either a slightly different cut, different accessory and badges or a different colour although it is only in a later novel that the guards begin to be described as wearing a grey uniform. As there doesn't appear to be a strictly political uniform, unlike within the nazi party, political staff and politicians (such as Jake Featherston) often appear wearing freedom party guard uniforms instead.

* Unlike they OTL counterpart, they wore the same insignias as the army although with english calques of SS rank names.

* in the later novels, units of "Armed Guards" are created and wear camouflage uniforms. Based on their name and function, the camouflage uniform in question is probably meant to be the same as worn by Waffen-SS troops near the end of World War 2 OTL.

**Stalwarts**

The stalwarts are introduced at the same time as the Freedom Party itself and although in many ways the equivalent of the SA, the term appear to be apply, at least at the beginning, to any party member which is not a guard.
* Stalwarts appear to have simply worn white shirts and butternut slacks which is similar to what was worn by members of the Nazi party during the Weimar republic after political uniforms were banned.

* no rank insignias whatsoever are mentioned to be worn by them.

* The only party symbol that seems to be worn by Stalwarts is a party badge as an exchange between a stalwart organizer and a local member mention that the design worn by members who joined after the Freedom Party took over was different then for those worn by older members. No description is given of said badge save that the ones worn by later members has a black border.

### **Mexico**

Is an ally of the confederate states during the Second Great War as the current government had been helped by them during their civil war a few years earlier.

#### **Army**

* Uniforms are described as similar to CSA's ones but more yellowish.

### **Quebec**

Following the invasion of Canada by the United States, the province of Quebec was detached and given independence (though more or less as a US puppet state) under the name Republic of Quebec.

#### **Army**

* uniforms are described as identical to US ones but in blue-gray cloth. no insignias are mentioned.

### **United States of America**

Grew closer to Germany and was greatly influenced by it .

#### **Army**

* uniform are green-grey which, given the context, is more then likely meant to be the same as german feldgrau.

* are said to wear a forage cap but as the term covers various style, such as US "oversea" cap or german "porkpie" cap, the exact design is unknown.

* have branch pipping on their headgear which appear to same as the CSA.

* The various US army insignias mentioned would seem to indicate that they use the same system as OTL

* at least during the Great War period, they wore puttees and breeches.

#### **Marines**

* uniform appears to be the same as the army in term of cut but the colour is forest green.