The Short Victorious War
Encyclopedia
The Short Victorious War is the third Honor Harrington
novel by David Weber
. Its title comes from a quotation by Vyacheslav von Plehve
in reference to the Russo-Japanese War
: "What this country needs is a short, victorious war to stem the tide of revolution." That quotation is one of the novel's two epigraph
s; the other is a quotation from Robert Wilson Lynd
: "The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions."
Meanwhile Honor returns to duty after injuries she sustained in The Honor of the Queen
to command the brand-new battlecruiser
HMS Nike, the pride of the Royal Manticoran Navy, with some of her old crew aboard and with her old Academy friend Michelle Henke
as executive officer. But on their way to her post, the engineers of the Nike discover a flaw in one of her fusion reactors, which hampers her first operational deployment to the critical Manticoran base at Hancock Station.
Honor spends the time her ship is in dock by beginning her first real romantic relationship with the senior officer of Hancock Station, Captain Junior Grade Paul Tankersley
.
The Havenites start the war Honor had been struggling to prevent in the previous books. Their plan is to launch probing missions on Manticoran Alliance members to push the Alliance into re-deploying its forces to create weak points and allow them to strike at Mantircore directly.
They are aided greatly in this through the use of project Argus, stealthy sensor platforms purchased from the Solarian League and planted in Alliance systems to watch the movements of Manticore forces. Havenite ships on ballistic courses with no active systems are able to collect the data dumps from the sensor platforms without being detected by Manticore forces. When Admiral Sarnow's superior deploys most of Hancock Station's ships to other star systems to guard against further Havenite provocation the Argus net allows the Havenites to see this weakness in the Manticore position, and they decide to attack Hancock Station in force.
Honor joins Admiral Mark Sarnow's fleet alongside her old enemy, Pavel Young
. With most of the Royal Manticoran Navy deployed elsewhere to prevent the Havenite provocations, Honor and Admiral Sarnow find themselves forced to defend Hancock Station from a vastly superior Havenite armada. With the help of Honor's unorthodox tactics, the task force is able to hold off the Havenites for long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
In the final stages of the battle Pavel Young's cowardice nearly costs Honor her life when he disobeys orders and flees the defensive formation protecting the wounded Nike. At the end of the novel Young is removed from command, placed under arrest and is to be court-martialed at Manticore. Capt. Tankersley is promoted to Captain of the List and is to be re-assigned to Nike as its chief engineer.
This battle marks the first use of practical Missile Pods. The tactical situation faced by Honor and Admiral Sarnow—having to defend themselves against a much larger force because their opponents have tricked the officer in overall command into taking most of his forces elsewhere—bears more than a little resemblance to the situation faced by Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid
in the largest naval battle of the 20th century, the Battle of Leyte Gulf
.
After the first disastrous battles of the war, three Havenite revolutionaries—Robert S. Pierre, Oscar Saint-Just
, and Cordelia Ransom
—lead the overthrow of their "Legislaturalist" government by killing hereditary President Harris and nearly his entire government during his birthday celebration with an air strike by shuttles of the Havenite Navy. They blame the killings on the Navy, and using the fear of a possible military coup form a ¨Committee of Public Safety¨ to rule the People's Republic "until a new government can be formed". They begin a purge of senior military officers and political figures to cement their rule.
This novel is much less Honor-centered than the previous two, and the war is depicted from many perspectives.
Honor Harrington
Honor Stephanie Alexander-Harrington is a fictional character, the heroine of a series of military science fiction books set in the "Honorverse", written by David Weber and published by Baen Books....
novel by David Weber
David Weber
David Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Weber and his wife Sharon live in Greenville, South Carolina with their three children and "a passel of dogs"....
. Its title comes from a quotation by Vyacheslav von Plehve
Vyacheslav von Plehve
Vyacheslav Konstantinovich von Plehve , also Pléhve, or Pleve was the director of Imperial Russia's police and later Minister of the Interior.- Biography :...
in reference to the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
: "What this country needs is a short, victorious war to stem the tide of revolution." That quotation is one of the novel's two epigraph
Epigraph (literature)
In literature, an epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document or component. The epigraph may serve as a preface, as a summary, as a counter-example, or to link the work to a wider literary canon, either to invite comparison or to enlist a conventional...
s; the other is a quotation from Robert Wilson Lynd
Robert Wilson Lynd
Robert Wilson Lynd was an Irish writer, an urbane literary essayist and strong Irish nationalist.-Life and career:He was born in Belfast and educated at Royal Belfast Academical Institution, studying at Queen's University...
: "The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions."
Plot summary
The People's Republic of Haven finds itself teetering at the edge of economic disaster. Unable to maintain its massive welfare state in the face of inflation and deficit and with opposition to the government getting bolder, the leaders of the People's Republic decide to resort to war against Manticore. A short, victorious war, they believe, will both distract the proles from their current economic problems and allow them to use the riches of the Manticore system to prop up their welfare state.Meanwhile Honor returns to duty after injuries she sustained in The Honor of the Queen
The Honor of the Queen
The Honor of the Queen is David Weber's second Honor Harrington novel. In the story, Honor goes on a mission to bring the religiously conservative, sexist world Grayson onto the Manticorans' side in preparation for the inevitable war with Haven....
to command the brand-new battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
HMS Nike, the pride of the Royal Manticoran Navy, with some of her old crew aboard and with her old Academy friend Michelle Henke
Michelle Henke
Vice Admiral Lady Gloria Michelle "Mike" Samantha Evelyn Henke, Countess Gold Peak, Vice Admiral of the Red is a fictional character in the Honorverse, a series of military science fiction novels written by David Weber...
as executive officer. But on their way to her post, the engineers of the Nike discover a flaw in one of her fusion reactors, which hampers her first operational deployment to the critical Manticoran base at Hancock Station.
Honor spends the time her ship is in dock by beginning her first real romantic relationship with the senior officer of Hancock Station, Captain Junior Grade Paul Tankersley
Paul Tankersley
Paul Tankersley is a fictional character in the Honorverse, a series of military science fiction novels written by David Weber.He was a cousin of Michelle Henke, though not on the side related to the royal family. His family was quite wealthy...
.
The Havenites start the war Honor had been struggling to prevent in the previous books. Their plan is to launch probing missions on Manticoran Alliance members to push the Alliance into re-deploying its forces to create weak points and allow them to strike at Mantircore directly.
They are aided greatly in this through the use of project Argus, stealthy sensor platforms purchased from the Solarian League and planted in Alliance systems to watch the movements of Manticore forces. Havenite ships on ballistic courses with no active systems are able to collect the data dumps from the sensor platforms without being detected by Manticore forces. When Admiral Sarnow's superior deploys most of Hancock Station's ships to other star systems to guard against further Havenite provocation the Argus net allows the Havenites to see this weakness in the Manticore position, and they decide to attack Hancock Station in force.
Honor joins Admiral Mark Sarnow's fleet alongside her old enemy, Pavel Young
Pavel Young
Lord Pavel Young, Eleventh Earl of North Hollow, is a fictional character in the Honorverse, a series of military science fiction novels written by David Weber. He fulfills the role of villain on almost every appearance he makes...
. With most of the Royal Manticoran Navy deployed elsewhere to prevent the Havenite provocations, Honor and Admiral Sarnow find themselves forced to defend Hancock Station from a vastly superior Havenite armada. With the help of Honor's unorthodox tactics, the task force is able to hold off the Havenites for long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
In the final stages of the battle Pavel Young's cowardice nearly costs Honor her life when he disobeys orders and flees the defensive formation protecting the wounded Nike. At the end of the novel Young is removed from command, placed under arrest and is to be court-martialed at Manticore. Capt. Tankersley is promoted to Captain of the List and is to be re-assigned to Nike as its chief engineer.
This battle marks the first use of practical Missile Pods. The tactical situation faced by Honor and Admiral Sarnow—having to defend themselves against a much larger force because their opponents have tricked the officer in overall command into taking most of his forces elsewhere—bears more than a little resemblance to the situation faced by Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid
Thomas C. Kinkaid
Thomas Cassin Kinkaid was an admiral in the United States Navy during World War II. He built a reputation as a "fighting admiral" in the aircraft carrier battles of 1942 and commanded the Allied forces in the Aleutian Islands Campaign...
in the largest naval battle of the 20th century, the Battle of Leyte Gulf
Battle of Leyte Gulf
The Battle of Leyte Gulf, also called the "Battles for Leyte Gulf", and formerly known as the "Second Battle of the Philippine Sea", is generally considered to be the largest naval battle of World War II and, by some criteria, possibly the largest naval battle in history.It was fought in waters...
.
After the first disastrous battles of the war, three Havenite revolutionaries—Robert S. Pierre, Oscar Saint-Just
Oscar Saint-Just
Oscar Saint-Just is a fictional character in the Honorverse, a series of military science fiction novels written by David Weber. His name is most likely a reference to Louis de Saint-Just, an important figure in the French Revolution, who sat in the Comité de Salut Public with Robespierre.As First...
, and Cordelia Ransom
Cordelia Ransom
Cordelia Ransom is a fictional character in the Honorverse, a series of military science fiction novels written by David Weber. Many people consider her to be analogous to Jean-Paul Marat, an important figure in the French Revolution....
—lead the overthrow of their "Legislaturalist" government by killing hereditary President Harris and nearly his entire government during his birthday celebration with an air strike by shuttles of the Havenite Navy. They blame the killings on the Navy, and using the fear of a possible military coup form a ¨Committee of Public Safety¨ to rule the People's Republic "until a new government can be formed". They begin a purge of senior military officers and political figures to cement their rule.
This novel is much less Honor-centered than the previous two, and the war is depicted from many perspectives.
External links
- An excerpt of The Short Victorious War is available for download or reading online at the Baen Free LibraryBaen Free LibraryThe Baen Free Library is a digital library of the science fiction and fantasy publishing house Baen Books where 112 full books can be downloaded free in a number of formats, without copy protection...
here. The whole novel can be found here.