Repulse: Europe at War 2062-2064
Read Repulse: Europe at War 2062-2064 Online
Authors: Chris James
Also by Chris James
Science fiction novels:
Class Action
The Second Internet Café, Part 1: The Dimension Researcher
The Second Internet Café, Part 2: The Cascade Annihilator
Short story collections:
Stories of Genesis, Vol. 1
Stories of Genesis, Vol. 2
Stories of Genesis, Vol. 3
available in print from Lulu and Amazon, and as e-books on Kindle, Smashwords, and from all other reputable e-book retailers
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Copyright © Chris James, 2016. All rights reserved.
Chris James asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work, until the purported author, Am Aust, is in a position to reclaim his or her copyright, which is not anticipated until 2095 at the earliest.
Kindle edition. ASIN: B01IL7G6JM
Although my name appears on the cover of this work, the following text is not mine.
The manuscript which came into my possession carries the signature of the improbably named Am Aust, and purports to describe the history of a war yet to be fought. The climactic engagement of this war, Operation Repulse, took place (will take place?) from August 2063 to February 2064, and as the author is at pains to point out, was the most significant clash of arms to occur on European soil in some four hundred years.
There is a further complication: Am Aust claims to be writing this history more than three decades after the conflict. He or she makes numerous references to and uses quotes from other titles published since this war ended, and the text concludes with comprehensive ‘Notes on Sources’ of these histories, memoirs, and interviews the author conducted with veterans and witnesses.
The individual who gave me the manuscript and requested me to publish it insisted on maintaining their anonymity. I pointed out to them that I am merely one unknown self-publishing author among many millions, and that if I published the manuscript, it would be certain to attract no more than a handful of readers. In doubt of this person’s grasp of the current publishing landscape, I thus suggested that they attempt to secure a traditional publishing house to be assured of a wider readership. To make my point, I declined their request to publish the manuscript.
The individual became agitated and insisted that they did not have the luxury of time to explain the issue fully. Furthermore, the number of readers was of absolutely no concern. All that mattered was that this manuscript was published to the general public in the year 2016. On seeing the individual’s obvious distress, which appeared to increase with each passing second, I felt a twinge of sympathy which matched the pitch of my curiosity concerning this history of a future war. I therefore relented and gave them my word that I would publish the manuscript in exactly the condition I received it.
However, when I read the text I felt strongly inclined to edit it in places to remove certain ambiguities. Many of the battlefield technological advances (and regressions) developed and employed by the combatants are difficult to believe, and the apparent geopolitical situation which existed by the mid-twenty-first century stretches credulity to the breaking point. Alternatively, if true it is disheartening in the extreme to think that this could be the desperate future which awaits Europe.
Nevertheless, I have decided to keep my word to the strange individual to publish this text in its entirety as it came into my hands, so that the reader may make up his or her own mind concerning the veracity of the events it describes.
Chris James
Warsaw, Poland, September 2016
Repulse
Europe at War
2062-2064
Am Aust
University of Europe
Contents
Prelude: The View from the West
I. SLEEPWALKING TO CATASTROPHE
Prelude: The View from the East
I. RISING EMPIRES, WANING EMPIRES
I. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE NAVIES
XI. THE CALIPH DECLARES VICTORY
IV. THE LONG WINTER OF 2062/63
Operation Repulse: Preparation
III. INITIAL OBJECTIVES ACHIEVED
When such a wealth of literature already exists describing the 2062-2064 war between NATO and the New Persian Caliphate, it is reasonable to ask if another, single-volume history has a place. I believe this is the case for two key reasons: firstly, after more than thirty years since the war’s end, there is a need to reassess the reasons and motives which underpinned the initial and devastating assault on Europe. New data and documents have recently come to light which cast a subtler complexion on these events and the characters that shaped them. Secondly, those who lived through the war now have a deeper perspective on the most demanding, shocking and violent period in their lives.
Thus, this is a book primarily about people; people who found themselves snatched out of calm, ordered existences and thrust into a conflict of unimaginable horror. Human experience in the war saw a range of upheaval and dislocation comparable with anything previous generations of Europeans had endured in the preceding four hundred years, with one vital difference: when the war began in February 2062, Europe had enjoyed over a century of peace.
I have interviewed a number of witnesses for this book, and, with many, their reactions which recollections of their experiences provoked surprised me. Middle-aged mothers recalled times in their early twenties, suddenly thrown into the midst of a conflict they never anticipated. Elderly men described heroic deeds, some with a bitterness in their voices which added weight to their recounting of the events in which they participated.
In addition to interviewing survivors and affording them an opportunity to speak before time takes its toll, I also draw on numerous unpublished memoirs, diaries, and fragments of conversations which have survived the intervening years. From young Turkish engineering student Berat Kartal, whose handwritten, paper journal detailing his odyssey across Europe in the midst of chaos was discovered a mere year ago after remaining hidden for three decades, to London nannies and Kansas police officers, I have endeavoured to allow as many people from modest backgrounds as possible to speak, as I believe they deserve an equal voice with the generals, prime ministers and presidents. Millions of these citizens would join their countries’ armed forces and learn the true cost of freedom in a protracted and vicious struggle for their homelands. For a considerable number, their experience would end fatally, not knowing whether the fight was won or lost.
I also acknowledge the range of literature which already exists, by quoting extensively from well-known titles published during the last thirty-two years. In particular, I make use of G. K. Morrow’s
The Great European Disaster
, as this multi-volume book details faultlessly the extent of the suffering the people of Europe endured, and remains the ultimate account of the pain and disruption Caliphate forces inflicted on innocent civilian populations. In addition, I also draw on General, then Field Marshall, Sir Terry Tidbury’s seminal post-war memoir
In the Eye of the Storm
, as it gives an exact insight into the mind of the man tasked by his political masters with recovering Europe.
At the same time, I have striven to avoid repeating in great depth those events which have been exhaustively chronicled by others. For example, although the disaster which crushed Israel at the beginning of the war has its rightful place here, many volumes already exist which depict it in harrowing detail. Similarly, I merely summarise General Hastings’ daring and heroic raid inside Caliphate territory, as Dixon’s account of the mission,
Sightseeing in Tazirbu
, remains the definitive record of the one adventure which did so much to aid Operation Repulse. As the deterioration in the relationship between US President Coll and English PM Napier has also been analysed thoroughly elsewhere, I avoid repetition and confine myself to previously unknown facets of its degradation which have recently come to light. In particular, these include the previously unpublished diaries of one of Napier’s aides, Crispin Webb.
Where it has seemed expedient to do so, I also draw on some of the many other histories of the war. However, with this book I intend to re-examine and shed new light on important events in the conflict. In particular, last year the English government released a number of previously secret documents and other files under its thirty-year rule. These often add to or contradict broadly accepted opinions. By combining existing and new resources, my hope is that this book brings into sharper focus the most punishing misfortune to befall the European peoples for some four hundred years.
