The Prince (Pournelle)
Encyclopedia
The Prince is a science fiction
compilation by Jerry Pournelle
and S.M. Stirling. It is part of the CoDominium
future history
series. The Prince is a compilation of four previously published novels: Falkenberg's Legion, Prince of Mercenaries, Go Tell The Spartans, and Prince of Sparta. Only pages 173-176 of the printed edition are new.
The title and subject matter of the book are inspired by The Prince
by Machiavelli.
The book was published by Baen Books
in hardcover (ISBN 0-7434-3556-7) in September 2002.
's from his former Marine command.
Falkenberg is a military genius with a flair for the bold and unconventional, using heavy doses of deception. He has components of Donal Graeme
in him, as well as the young Napoleon, though he rejects political power. He has an enemy in Senator Adrian Bronson of Earth, who blames him for the death of his grandson while under Falkenberg's command, and who also opposes Admiral Lermontov, Falkenberg's ally in the Navy.
Through the stories, one theme is dominant. The CoDominium is shipping large numbers of voluntary and involuntary colonists to the colony planets. The involuntary colonists cause the most trouble, being used to a welfare state
existence in government ghettoes known as Welfare Islands where drugs and entertainment, paid for by the remaining productive members of society, keep them pacified. Relocated to the colony worlds, they gather in city centers and shanty town
s. Idealistic reformers take up their cause against the original colonists, who are mostly farmers and large landowners, purportedly in the name of liberty and equality. However, the inevitable outcome would be a short-lived welfare state followed by economic collapse and starvation.
Falkenberg and his people are thus on what some would call the wrong side. They act to suppress bandits, rebels and insurgents who prey on landowners, and who may be in cahoots with reforming politicians bent on industrializing the economy. Partly this illustrates the soldier's dilemma, having to obey orders without regard to the rights and wrongs of the cause. It also illustrates Jerry Pournelle's convictions, which echo those of Robert A. Heinlein
, that democracy is not the only proper form of government, nor is it always the best given the realities of economics and ecology. In each case in the stories, the nominal democrats are likely to lead their societies to destruction. Often, their opponents are not much better morally, but less likely to destroy their world.
The weapons and tactics employed are easily recognizable to a 20th century reader. Indeed a major point in the narrative is the likelihood that, given the need to import all advanced technology, the mule would be a better vehicle than the truck on a colony world, and a tank or two might be the deciding factor in a campaign. The weapons are rifles, mortars and light artillery. A few helicopters are available, but in some situations they are vulnerable to missiles fired by ground troops.
Founded by religious zealots, Arrarat's society is besieged by well-organized (and well-supplied) bandit gangs composed mainly of involuntary colonists. The story is a first-person narrative by newly-commissioned Lieutenant Harlan (Hal) Slater of the CoDominium Line Marines. Falkenberg commandeers him and any other available soldiers to form a provisional battalion to be sent to Arrarat in response to an urgent request for help from the governor. On arrival they find that they are not at all welcome. The governor had asked for a much larger (and more experienced) unit to deal with numerous lawless bands in control of much of the countryside. The military men have other concerns, however. They fear the havoc restless soldiers will create in the capital. To avoid this Falkenberg elects to take the marines up-river to the bandit-occupied Fort Beersheba, an old fort built by the Line Marine regiment that had initially pacified the planet. Slater is tasked with taking and holding Fort Beersheba in a daring night assault using one company of airlifted troops, while Falkenberg marches the remainder of the newly organized 501st Line Marine Battalion
up the river valley toward him. Holding the fort is not easy - though disorganized and untrained, the rebels have plenty of weapons with which to pummel Slater's A Company. Although A Company takes heavy casualties, Slater holds his position as the anvil to Falkenberg's hammer and the bandits attempting to flee from the CoDominium forces are destroyed.
After establishing the fort as a base, Slater and the other officers watch the restless and combat-eager marines suffer more and more from a military kind of cabin fever
which they call the Bug. To combat this growing problem, Falkenberg forces the reluctant planetary governor to move against the bandits tyrannizing the farmers of the Jordan Valley who simply want to farm and be let alone by both the central government and the bandits gangs. Meanwhile Falkenberg directs a cleaning out of the farther reaches of the colony. However, the governor's campaign goes poorly and his forces are besieged in the town of Allansport, forcing him to call Falkenberg for help. Slater takes A Company to bait the enemy south of Allansport, and ends up holding off a major enemy counter-attack and occupying the strategic hill called the Rockpile, taking extreme casualties. However, because of Slater's actions the enemy is defeated, with Slater severely wounded and medevacked to the capital.
However, the political situation is much more complicated. The religious farmers who had been oppressed by a gang of ex-convicts begin avenging themselves on anyone who collaborated with the bandits; while the colonial governor, who was trying to use the bandits to generate revenue to set up industries on Arrarat to provide employment for the time-expired convicts, becomes an enemy. How much of an enemy he will be is debatable, as he is in the Bronson camp and Bronson has no use for losers.
The story ends with the newly promoted Major Falkenberg recruiting the now Captain Slater (the youngest in the history of the fleet) into joining him in a transfer to Falkenberg's new command, the 42nd Line Marine Regiment, and Slater's Arrarat-born girlfriend Kathryn agreeing to join him.
Falkenberg has been recruited by Admiral Lermontov of the CoDominium fleet to create a military force that can support a government on one of the colony planets, providing the Fleet with a base when the CoDominium collapses, taking Earth with it. He is courtmartialed and discharged from the CoDominium Marines on a technicality in order to operate as a mercenary, though thanks to his conflict with Senator Bronson of Earth, he was likely to be arrested anyway.
On Hadley he encounters the same situation as on other colonies, with the added element that the CD is pulling out. The authorities left behind are trying to create power bases by raising armies, some from landowners, some from industrialists, some from the convicts and involuntary colonists. Falkenberg, nominally working for the government in power, begins training his Mercenary Legion, using a battalion of officers and noncoms from his Marine regiment, the 42nd Line Marine Regiment, who have arrived as 'colonists,' as the cadre. Eventually this force, plus a regiment of local troops trained separately, allows him to dictate the outcome on Hadley.
One of the local officials who had been involved with training that regiment attempts a coup, but is killed by Legion troops anticipating the attempt. The reason for the coup is an imminent takeover by "democratic" populist forces organizing the underclasses. Since all resources are already being used to feed the underclass, any takeover would lead to collapse. Having foiled the coup, Falkenberg carries out a military assault on the populists in a stadium, killing thousands and eliminating their leaders. Though in theory the odds are a thousand or so Legion soldiers against ten times as many civilians, some with firearms, in practice the battle IS entirely one-sided, and depicted as such by Pournelle - as in all cases where trained, well-organized and determined soldiers face untrained civilians. The scene of the soldiers descending from the topmost level of the stadium, firing in volleys, is very like the classic Odessa Steps sequence in the movie The Battleship Potemkin
(except that the sympathies are completely reversed). The ruthlessness of the assault is reminiscent of Napoleon's tactics used when dealing with uprisings in Paris. The colourful description "There was too much blood, blood cascading down the steps, blood pouring down stairwells" might be partially derived from medieval chronicles describing the conquest of Jerusalem by the Crusaders
. The scene as described also sounds remarkably like Belisarius
' slaughter of the Nika rioters
in the Hippodrome in 6th century Constantinople.
The colony is left in the charge of the government's one remaining Vice President, a technical operator who understands the need to remove the population to the countryside and stabilize the agricultural economy. Falkenberg, angered by the necessity of his actions and fully aware that he had perpetrated an atrocity - though convinced it was necessary and unavoidable - takes the Legion and departs. Later, Pournelle, tongue in cheek, provides the official version of "the government of Hadley thanking Falkenberg for suppression of civil disturbances".
Captain Peter Owensford of Falkenberg's Legion recounts how, as a Lieutenant in a Volunteer Brigade sponsored by the Earth Humanity League, he was part of an intervention on the side of Republican forces against the local rulers, a Spanish aristocracy known as Carlists. Thanks again to dumping of colonists from Earth, the Santiago colony on Thurstone has progressed to de facto slavery by debt bondage
in order to maintain social order. Parallels with the Spanish Civil War
are many and, according to the author, intentional.
The campaign is brutal, especially with a detached officer corps of political appointees unable to make proper military decisions. A "political officer" in the zampolit Soviet style, parroting liberty and atheism instead of communism, overrules Owensford's tactical decisions and impedes his training of the men. In the end, after losing many troops, Owensford catches the officer and some cronies preparing to use an atomic bomb to destroy his command and provoke the CoDominium Navy to act against the Carlists. He confiscates the bomb and attempts to retreat; but is caught in a Carlist advance. Eventually he surrenders to mercenary forces (who as detached professionals are less likely to execute him out of hand), and becomes a mercenary himself. His commanding officer in the mission, Captain Anselm "Ace" Barton, has already done so.
On the hot jungle planet of Tanith, Falkenberg is working with Governor Blaine, another Lermontov ally. Tanith is the source of a drug used in the Welfare Islands, borloi, and the revenue from that traffic is being used to support the Fleet as the Senate on Earth cuts its support year by year. Most of the workers on the plantations are convicts. Falkenberg is helping to deal with a rebellion in the plantations. He is also helping Blaine to support Lermontov.
Here Prince Lysander of Sparta, a planet founded with certain political ideals by the Constitutional Society, comes to learn about Falkenberg. He finds himself in the middle of a plot to hijack borloi away from the Navy on behalf of Senator Bronson. Enlisting with Falkenberg as a junior officer, he learns the realities of military life. The opposition is another force of mercenaries commanded by Ace Barton. They foil the plot, but now Bronson is determined to undermine Sparta. Barton and Falkenberg broker a truce, with Barton rescuing Falkenberg when one of the locals reneges on the agreement and takes Falkenberg hostage.
Barton's part in the rebellion means he has to leave the planet, and with few options, he re-enlists with Falkenberg, who sends him to Sparta. Lysander commits himself to the plans of Lermontov and Falkenberg to use Sparta as a base for the Navy after the CoDominium collapse.
Falkenberg departs Tanith for a contract on the planet New Washington. This is one of a pair of planets, orbiting a common center which itself orbits a red dwarf
star. It is one of the farthest colonies from Earth, being over a hundred parsec
s away.
The two planets are tidally locked, so they always present the same face to each other. As day progresses to night on New Washington, the side of the sister planet Franklin facing it goes from night to day. One revolution takes 40 hours. The pair revolve around their star in 52 days.
New Washington was founded by Franklin dissidents. Now that certain ores have been found on New Washington, Franklin has invaded with CoDominium connivance and mercenary help. Falkenberg is hired to throw out the invaders. As usual, the political class on New Washington is not entirely behind his military objectives. He is able to execute stealthy takeovers of crucial installations to give him an operational base, from which he takes over large amounts of territory on behalf of the rebel government. The campaign eventually comes to a head when Falkenberg's forces come up against a band of Scotch
mercenaries from the planet Covenant and holds them at a pass in the mountains, inflicting devastating casualties with his artillery.
The leaders of the local militia leaders are outraged when Falkenberg allows an extravagantly long cease-fire with the Coventanters and demand that Falkenberg now try to force the pass himself, however the rebel officials Falkenberg has left behind begin illegal reprisals against civilians and Falkenberg leaves his force guarding the pass and returns to the capital. At this point a CoDominium ship appears, ostensibly to stop the conflict which is breaching the Laws of War.
In fact the commander of the ship is a Lermontov ally. The danger was that Franklin would be able to build its own Navy and threaten Lermontov's plans if the invasion succeeded. The scheme was to pacify the planet at minimum cost by creating enough trouble for the CoDominium to order mercenaries on both sides to leave, at which point no credible military force would be present. This turns out to be the real reason Falkenberg did not try to force the mountain pass. However, Falkenberg has decided to stay. He secures a land grant for his Legion, turning them into settlers. In the end Falkenberg becomes Protector of New Washington.
The remaining narrative takes place on Sparta, leading up to the acclamation of Lysander as Imperator by the Navy and Marines when the CoDominium collapses. However, before this can happen, the conflict between Spartan society and the convict underclass must be resolved.
Sparta is a constitutional dual monarchy
, one King taking external affairs, the other King being involved in the economy. Citizenship with the right to vote is an earned privilege, as in Heinlein's Starship Troopers
. Citizens are also expected to join the militia
, on the model of Swiss citizen-soldiers. Other than enforcing basic laws, education and military service, the government does not intervene in the lives of the people. Prosperity or starvation is the responsibility of the individual.
The underclass can attempt to become Citizens, and many do. For the rest, the usual populists try to organize them into a Movement. Paradoxically, Sparta's openness and political transparency makes it more vulnerable to such a Movement than a dictatorship such as Carlist Santiago. One such movement has a guerilla army of self-styled Helots.
After the episode on Tanith, Senator Bronson begins building up the open and covert oppositions on Sparta. His motives are actually not far removed from Lermontov's - he too wishes to set up a power base among the colonies to preserve his version of civilization when the CoDominium collapses. However, his appetite for personal and dynastic power prevents him from finding common ground with Lermontov, Blaine and Falkenberg. He rejects their attempts at a truce. Instead he sends in supplies and advisors to organize the Helot forces, and employs techno-ninja saboteurs from the Meiji colony to infiltrate the data systems on Sparta. To counter this, a cadre of Falkenberg's Legion does not accompany him to New Washington, instead going to Sparta to create the nucleus of an army. Leading this portion of the Legion is Peter Owensford, along with Ace Barton, the mercenary Falkenberg defeated on Tanith, and Benjamin Whitlock, a sociologist and political historian who, with his Southern U.S.A. roots, may be a stand-in
for the author, Jerry Pournelle
, who is from Louisiana.
The rebels are led by a woman, Skida "Skilly" Thibodeau, who strongly resembles the actress, singer and model Grace Jones
. Although highly intelligent and an amateur student of military history, she devises complex campaign plans which the Legion is able to detect and foil, despite the Helots' advanced weaponry and sabotage campaigns supporting her. Much of the narrative is taken up with these bloody campaigns, in which Skilly's rebels employ artillery, missiles, rape, murder, poison gas and civilian massacre in order to undermine Spartan society. They have help from former CoDominium officers in the pay of Bronson.
The penultimate act of the Bronson campaign is an attempt to use the Marine garrison on Sparta, with support from suborned Navy ships and a general uprising by Helot elements in the capital, to destroy the government. The armed Citizens stand and fight, so much that the Marines switch sides. The Navy restores proper command, almost engaging in a fratricidal space battle. Lysander's aging father is killed when the palace is assaulted.
In the final chapters, one of Skilly's officers, a nephew of Bronson's, defects and tells Lysander's generals that there is an atom bomb somewhere in the city. Skilly then contacts the commanders, offering the location of the bomb in return for a safe-conduct off the planet. They grant her this, but some of Falkenberg's men simply set out to do privately what the government cannot do publicly. The problem of the underclass is dealt with in a fashion that again echoes Heinlein's notions, this the one of being sent to Coventry
- those who do not accept Sparta's social contract will be given basic tools and sent to uninhabited islands to work out their own fate without interference.
Finally, with the CoDominium in collapse and all Earth authority vanished, the Generals and Admirals acclaim Lysander, now King of Sparta, as Imperator
.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
compilation by Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Eugene Pournelle is an American science fiction writer, essayist and journalist who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte and has since 1998 been maintaining his own website/blog....
and S.M. Stirling. It is part of the CoDominium
CoDominium
-The CoDominium series:*A Spaceship for the King *He Fell into a Dark Hole *The Mote in God's Eye...
future history
Future history
A future history is a postulated history of the future and is used by authors in the subgenre of speculative fiction to construct a common background for fiction...
series. The Prince is a compilation of four previously published novels: Falkenberg's Legion, Prince of Mercenaries, Go Tell The Spartans, and Prince of Sparta. Only pages 173-176 of the printed edition are new.
The title and subject matter of the book are inspired by The Prince
The Prince
The Prince is a political treatise by the Italian diplomat, historian and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. From correspondence a version appears to have been distributed in 1513, using a Latin title, De Principatibus . But the printed version was not published until 1532, five years after...
by Machiavelli.
The book was published by Baen Books
Baen Books
Baen Books is an American publishing company established in 1983 by long time science fiction publisher and editor Jim Baen. It is a science fiction and fantasy publishing house that emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, military science fiction, and fantasy...
in hardcover (ISBN 0-7434-3556-7) in September 2002.
Plot
The action begins in the 2060s and ends in the 2090s. Over that period John Christian Falkenberg progresses from a junior officer in the CoDominium Navy, through a Captain and later Colonel of Marines, to a mercenary leader at the head of Falkenberg's Legion, whose core is composed of officers and NCONon-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
's from his former Marine command.
Falkenberg is a military genius with a flair for the bold and unconventional, using heavy doses of deception. He has components of Donal Graeme
Donal Graeme
Donal Graeme is a fictional character in the Childe Cycle of science fiction novels by Gordon R. Dickson.Although he only appears as a major character in one of the novels, Dorsai!, he is transformed into the character Hal Mayne who is important in the later parts of the series."The boy is odd...
in him, as well as the young Napoleon, though he rejects political power. He has an enemy in Senator Adrian Bronson of Earth, who blames him for the death of his grandson while under Falkenberg's command, and who also opposes Admiral Lermontov, Falkenberg's ally in the Navy.
Through the stories, one theme is dominant. The CoDominium is shipping large numbers of voluntary and involuntary colonists to the colony planets. The involuntary colonists cause the most trouble, being used to a welfare state
Welfare state
A welfare state is a "concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those...
existence in government ghettoes known as Welfare Islands where drugs and entertainment, paid for by the remaining productive members of society, keep them pacified. Relocated to the colony worlds, they gather in city centers and shanty town
Shanty town
A shanty town is a slum settlement of impoverished people who live in improvised dwellings made from scrap materials: often plywood, corrugated metal and sheets of plastic...
s. Idealistic reformers take up their cause against the original colonists, who are mostly farmers and large landowners, purportedly in the name of liberty and equality. However, the inevitable outcome would be a short-lived welfare state followed by economic collapse and starvation.
Falkenberg and his people are thus on what some would call the wrong side. They act to suppress bandits, rebels and insurgents who prey on landowners, and who may be in cahoots with reforming politicians bent on industrializing the economy. Partly this illustrates the soldier's dilemma, having to obey orders without regard to the rights and wrongs of the cause. It also illustrates Jerry Pournelle's convictions, which echo those of Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
, that democracy is not the only proper form of government, nor is it always the best given the realities of economics and ecology. In each case in the stories, the nominal democrats are likely to lead their societies to destruction. Often, their opponents are not much better morally, but less likely to destroy their world.
The weapons and tactics employed are easily recognizable to a 20th century reader. Indeed a major point in the narrative is the likelihood that, given the need to import all advanced technology, the mule would be a better vehicle than the truck on a colony world, and a tank or two might be the deciding factor in a campaign. The weapons are rifles, mortars and light artillery. A few helicopters are available, but in some situations they are vulnerable to missiles fired by ground troops.
Arrarat
Originally published as the novel West of Honor, later incorporated into Falkenberg's LegionFounded by religious zealots, Arrarat's society is besieged by well-organized (and well-supplied) bandit gangs composed mainly of involuntary colonists. The story is a first-person narrative by newly-commissioned Lieutenant Harlan (Hal) Slater of the CoDominium Line Marines. Falkenberg commandeers him and any other available soldiers to form a provisional battalion to be sent to Arrarat in response to an urgent request for help from the governor. On arrival they find that they are not at all welcome. The governor had asked for a much larger (and more experienced) unit to deal with numerous lawless bands in control of much of the countryside. The military men have other concerns, however. They fear the havoc restless soldiers will create in the capital. To avoid this Falkenberg elects to take the marines up-river to the bandit-occupied Fort Beersheba, an old fort built by the Line Marine regiment that had initially pacified the planet. Slater is tasked with taking and holding Fort Beersheba in a daring night assault using one company of airlifted troops, while Falkenberg marches the remainder of the newly organized 501st Line Marine Battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
up the river valley toward him. Holding the fort is not easy - though disorganized and untrained, the rebels have plenty of weapons with which to pummel Slater's A Company. Although A Company takes heavy casualties, Slater holds his position as the anvil to Falkenberg's hammer and the bandits attempting to flee from the CoDominium forces are destroyed.
After establishing the fort as a base, Slater and the other officers watch the restless and combat-eager marines suffer more and more from a military kind of cabin fever
Cabin fever
Cabin fever is an idiomatic term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group is isolated and/or shut in a small space, with nothing to do, for an extended period...
which they call the Bug. To combat this growing problem, Falkenberg forces the reluctant planetary governor to move against the bandits tyrannizing the farmers of the Jordan Valley who simply want to farm and be let alone by both the central government and the bandits gangs. Meanwhile Falkenberg directs a cleaning out of the farther reaches of the colony. However, the governor's campaign goes poorly and his forces are besieged in the town of Allansport, forcing him to call Falkenberg for help. Slater takes A Company to bait the enemy south of Allansport, and ends up holding off a major enemy counter-attack and occupying the strategic hill called the Rockpile, taking extreme casualties. However, because of Slater's actions the enemy is defeated, with Slater severely wounded and medevacked to the capital.
However, the political situation is much more complicated. The religious farmers who had been oppressed by a gang of ex-convicts begin avenging themselves on anyone who collaborated with the bandits; while the colonial governor, who was trying to use the bandits to generate revenue to set up industries on Arrarat to provide employment for the time-expired convicts, becomes an enemy. How much of an enemy he will be is debatable, as he is in the Bronson camp and Bronson has no use for losers.
The story ends with the newly promoted Major Falkenberg recruiting the now Captain Slater (the youngest in the history of the fleet) into joining him in a transfer to Falkenberg's new command, the 42nd Line Marine Regiment, and Slater's Arrarat-born girlfriend Kathryn agreeing to join him.
Hadley
Originally part of the novel The Mercenary, later incorporated into Falkenberg's LegionFalkenberg has been recruited by Admiral Lermontov of the CoDominium fleet to create a military force that can support a government on one of the colony planets, providing the Fleet with a base when the CoDominium collapses, taking Earth with it. He is courtmartialed and discharged from the CoDominium Marines on a technicality in order to operate as a mercenary, though thanks to his conflict with Senator Bronson of Earth, he was likely to be arrested anyway.
On Hadley he encounters the same situation as on other colonies, with the added element that the CD is pulling out. The authorities left behind are trying to create power bases by raising armies, some from landowners, some from industrialists, some from the convicts and involuntary colonists. Falkenberg, nominally working for the government in power, begins training his Mercenary Legion, using a battalion of officers and noncoms from his Marine regiment, the 42nd Line Marine Regiment, who have arrived as 'colonists,' as the cadre. Eventually this force, plus a regiment of local troops trained separately, allows him to dictate the outcome on Hadley.
One of the local officials who had been involved with training that regiment attempts a coup, but is killed by Legion troops anticipating the attempt. The reason for the coup is an imminent takeover by "democratic" populist forces organizing the underclasses. Since all resources are already being used to feed the underclass, any takeover would lead to collapse. Having foiled the coup, Falkenberg carries out a military assault on the populists in a stadium, killing thousands and eliminating their leaders. Though in theory the odds are a thousand or so Legion soldiers against ten times as many civilians, some with firearms, in practice the battle IS entirely one-sided, and depicted as such by Pournelle - as in all cases where trained, well-organized and determined soldiers face untrained civilians. The scene of the soldiers descending from the topmost level of the stadium, firing in volleys, is very like the classic Odessa Steps sequence in the movie The Battleship Potemkin
The Battleship Potemkin
The Battleship Potemkin , sometimes rendered as The Battleship Potyomkin, is a 1925 silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein and produced by Mosfilm...
(except that the sympathies are completely reversed). The ruthlessness of the assault is reminiscent of Napoleon's tactics used when dealing with uprisings in Paris. The colourful description "There was too much blood, blood cascading down the steps, blood pouring down stairwells" might be partially derived from medieval chronicles describing the conquest of Jerusalem by the Crusaders
Crusaders
The Crusaders are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch that competes in the Super Rugby competition. They are the most successful team in Super Rugby history with seven titles...
. The scene as described also sounds remarkably like Belisarius
Belisarius
Flavius Belisarius was a general of the Byzantine Empire. He was instrumental to Emperor Justinian's ambitious project of reconquering much of the Mediterranean territory of the former Western Roman Empire, which had been lost less than a century previously....
' slaughter of the Nika rioters
Nika riots
The Nika riots , or Nika revolt, took place over the course of a week in Constantinople in AD 532. It was the most violent riot that Constantinople had ever seen to that point, with nearly half the city being burned or destroyed and tens of thousands of people killed.-Background:The ancient Roman...
in the Hippodrome in 6th century Constantinople.
The colony is left in the charge of the government's one remaining Vice President, a technical operator who understands the need to remove the population to the countryside and stabilize the agricultural economy. Falkenberg, angered by the necessity of his actions and fully aware that he had perpetrated an atrocity - though convinced it was necessary and unavoidable - takes the Legion and departs. Later, Pournelle, tongue in cheek, provides the official version of "the government of Hadley thanking Falkenberg for suppression of civil disturbances".
Thurstone/Santiago
Originally a short story "His Truth Goes Marching On", later incorporated into Prince of MercenariesCaptain Peter Owensford of Falkenberg's Legion recounts how, as a Lieutenant in a Volunteer Brigade sponsored by the Earth Humanity League, he was part of an intervention on the side of Republican forces against the local rulers, a Spanish aristocracy known as Carlists. Thanks again to dumping of colonists from Earth, the Santiago colony on Thurstone has progressed to de facto slavery by debt bondage
Debt bondage
Debt bondage is when a person pledges him or herself against a loan. In debt bondage, the services required to repay the debt may be undefined, and the services' duration may be undefined...
in order to maintain social order. Parallels with the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
are many and, according to the author, intentional.
The campaign is brutal, especially with a detached officer corps of political appointees unable to make proper military decisions. A "political officer" in the zampolit Soviet style, parroting liberty and atheism instead of communism, overrules Owensford's tactical decisions and impedes his training of the men. In the end, after losing many troops, Owensford catches the officer and some cronies preparing to use an atomic bomb to destroy his command and provoke the CoDominium Navy to act against the Carlists. He confiscates the bomb and attempts to retreat; but is caught in a Carlist advance. Eventually he surrenders to mercenary forces (who as detached professionals are less likely to execute him out of hand), and becomes a mercenary himself. His commanding officer in the mission, Captain Anselm "Ace" Barton, has already done so.
Tanith
Originally the novel Prince of Mercenaries. Parts of the novel incorporate the short story "Silent Leges".On the hot jungle planet of Tanith, Falkenberg is working with Governor Blaine, another Lermontov ally. Tanith is the source of a drug used in the Welfare Islands, borloi, and the revenue from that traffic is being used to support the Fleet as the Senate on Earth cuts its support year by year. Most of the workers on the plantations are convicts. Falkenberg is helping to deal with a rebellion in the plantations. He is also helping Blaine to support Lermontov.
Here Prince Lysander of Sparta, a planet founded with certain political ideals by the Constitutional Society, comes to learn about Falkenberg. He finds himself in the middle of a plot to hijack borloi away from the Navy on behalf of Senator Bronson. Enlisting with Falkenberg as a junior officer, he learns the realities of military life. The opposition is another force of mercenaries commanded by Ace Barton. They foil the plot, but now Bronson is determined to undermine Sparta. Barton and Falkenberg broker a truce, with Barton rescuing Falkenberg when one of the locals reneges on the agreement and takes Falkenberg hostage.
Barton's part in the rebellion means he has to leave the planet, and with few options, he re-enlists with Falkenberg, who sends him to Sparta. Lysander commits himself to the plans of Lermontov and Falkenberg to use Sparta as a base for the Navy after the CoDominium collapse.
New Washington
Originally a short novel, "Sword and Scepter". Part of the novel The Mercenary, later incorporated into Falkenberg's LegionFalkenberg departs Tanith for a contract on the planet New Washington. This is one of a pair of planets, orbiting a common center which itself orbits a red dwarf
Red dwarf
According to the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, a red dwarf star is a small and relatively cool star, of the main sequence, either late K or M spectral type....
star. It is one of the farthest colonies from Earth, being over a hundred parsec
Parsec
The parsec is a unit of length used in astronomy. It is about 3.26 light-years, or just under 31 trillion kilometres ....
s away.
The two planets are tidally locked, so they always present the same face to each other. As day progresses to night on New Washington, the side of the sister planet Franklin facing it goes from night to day. One revolution takes 40 hours. The pair revolve around their star in 52 days.
New Washington was founded by Franklin dissidents. Now that certain ores have been found on New Washington, Franklin has invaded with CoDominium connivance and mercenary help. Falkenberg is hired to throw out the invaders. As usual, the political class on New Washington is not entirely behind his military objectives. He is able to execute stealthy takeovers of crucial installations to give him an operational base, from which he takes over large amounts of territory on behalf of the rebel government. The campaign eventually comes to a head when Falkenberg's forces come up against a band of Scotch
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
mercenaries from the planet Covenant and holds them at a pass in the mountains, inflicting devastating casualties with his artillery.
The leaders of the local militia leaders are outraged when Falkenberg allows an extravagantly long cease-fire with the Coventanters and demand that Falkenberg now try to force the pass himself, however the rebel officials Falkenberg has left behind begin illegal reprisals against civilians and Falkenberg leaves his force guarding the pass and returns to the capital. At this point a CoDominium ship appears, ostensibly to stop the conflict which is breaching the Laws of War.
In fact the commander of the ship is a Lermontov ally. The danger was that Franklin would be able to build its own Navy and threaten Lermontov's plans if the invasion succeeded. The scheme was to pacify the planet at minimum cost by creating enough trouble for the CoDominium to order mercenaries on both sides to leave, at which point no credible military force would be present. This turns out to be the real reason Falkenberg did not try to force the mountain pass. However, Falkenberg has decided to stay. He secures a land grant for his Legion, turning them into settlers. In the end Falkenberg becomes Protector of New Washington.
Prince of Sparta
Originally the novels Go Tell The Spartans and Prince of Sparta, co-written with S.M. StirlingThe remaining narrative takes place on Sparta, leading up to the acclamation of Lysander as Imperator by the Navy and Marines when the CoDominium collapses. However, before this can happen, the conflict between Spartan society and the convict underclass must be resolved.
Sparta is a constitutional dual monarchy
Dual monarchy
Dual monarchy occurs when two separate kingdoms are ruled by the same monarch, follow the same foreign policy, exist in a customs union with each other and have a combined military but are otherwise self-governing...
, one King taking external affairs, the other King being involved in the economy. Citizenship with the right to vote is an earned privilege, as in Heinlein's Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers is a military science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, first published as a serial in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and published hardcover in December, 1959.The first-person narrative is about a young soldier from the Philippines named Juan "Johnnie" Rico and his...
. Citizens are also expected to join the militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
, on the model of Swiss citizen-soldiers. Other than enforcing basic laws, education and military service, the government does not intervene in the lives of the people. Prosperity or starvation is the responsibility of the individual.
The underclass can attempt to become Citizens, and many do. For the rest, the usual populists try to organize them into a Movement. Paradoxically, Sparta's openness and political transparency makes it more vulnerable to such a Movement than a dictatorship such as Carlist Santiago. One such movement has a guerilla army of self-styled Helots.
After the episode on Tanith, Senator Bronson begins building up the open and covert oppositions on Sparta. His motives are actually not far removed from Lermontov's - he too wishes to set up a power base among the colonies to preserve his version of civilization when the CoDominium collapses. However, his appetite for personal and dynastic power prevents him from finding common ground with Lermontov, Blaine and Falkenberg. He rejects their attempts at a truce. Instead he sends in supplies and advisors to organize the Helot forces, and employs techno-ninja saboteurs from the Meiji colony to infiltrate the data systems on Sparta. To counter this, a cadre of Falkenberg's Legion does not accompany him to New Washington, instead going to Sparta to create the nucleus of an army. Leading this portion of the Legion is Peter Owensford, along with Ace Barton, the mercenary Falkenberg defeated on Tanith, and Benjamin Whitlock, a sociologist and political historian who, with his Southern U.S.A. roots, may be a stand-in
Self-insertion
Self-insertion is a literary device in which an author character who is the real author of a work of fiction appears as a character within that fiction, either overtly or in disguise....
for the author, Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Eugene Pournelle is an American science fiction writer, essayist and journalist who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte and has since 1998 been maintaining his own website/blog....
, who is from Louisiana.
The rebels are led by a woman, Skida "Skilly" Thibodeau, who strongly resembles the actress, singer and model Grace Jones
Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
. Although highly intelligent and an amateur student of military history, she devises complex campaign plans which the Legion is able to detect and foil, despite the Helots' advanced weaponry and sabotage campaigns supporting her. Much of the narrative is taken up with these bloody campaigns, in which Skilly's rebels employ artillery, missiles, rape, murder, poison gas and civilian massacre in order to undermine Spartan society. They have help from former CoDominium officers in the pay of Bronson.
The penultimate act of the Bronson campaign is an attempt to use the Marine garrison on Sparta, with support from suborned Navy ships and a general uprising by Helot elements in the capital, to destroy the government. The armed Citizens stand and fight, so much that the Marines switch sides. The Navy restores proper command, almost engaging in a fratricidal space battle. Lysander's aging father is killed when the palace is assaulted.
In the final chapters, one of Skilly's officers, a nephew of Bronson's, defects and tells Lysander's generals that there is an atom bomb somewhere in the city. Skilly then contacts the commanders, offering the location of the bomb in return for a safe-conduct off the planet. They grant her this, but some of Falkenberg's men simply set out to do privately what the government cannot do publicly. The problem of the underclass is dealt with in a fashion that again echoes Heinlein's notions, this the one of being sent to Coventry
Coventry (short story)
"Coventry" is a science fiction short story by Robert A. Heinlein and part of his Future History series. It was collected into the book Revolt in 2100.-Plot summary:The protagonist, David MacKinnon, is a romantic idealist up for trial for assault...
- those who do not accept Sparta's social contract will be given basic tools and sent to uninhabited islands to work out their own fate without interference.
Finally, with the CoDominium in collapse and all Earth authority vanished, the Generals and Admirals acclaim Lysander, now King of Sparta, as Imperator
Imperator
The Latin word Imperator was originally a title roughly equivalent to commander under the Roman Republic. Later it became a part of the titulature of the Roman Emperors as part of their cognomen. The English word emperor derives from imperator via Old French Empreur...
.