Worldwar: Upsetting the Balance
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| Author | Harry Turtledove |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Worldwar |
| Genre | Alternate history/Science fiction |
| Publisher | Del Rey Books |
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Publication date
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January 1, 1996 |
| Pages | 481 (hardcover edition) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 32818955 |
| 813/.54 20 | |
| LC Class | PS3570.U76 W67 1996 |
| Preceded by | Worldwar: Tilting the Balance |
| Followed by | Worldwar: Striking the Balance |
Worldwar: Upsetting the Balance is an alternate history and science fiction novel by Harry Turtledove. It is the third novel of the Worldwar tetralogy, as well as the third installment in the extended Worldwar series that includes the Colonization trilogy and the novel Homeward Bound.
Now armed with nuclear weapons, the United States and Nazi Germany strike back at the invading aliens known as The Race.
The United States and Germany develop atomic weapons of their own and, alongside the Soviets, engage in a nuclear exchange with the Race. The Soviets may have detonated the first atomic bomb, but it was only because their original sample of Plutonium (captured from the Race) was larger than the samples given to the USA and Germany; the Soviets actually lag far behind either of these two countries in their efforts to make their own plutonium, and they used all they had in the atomic bomb they used south of Moscow to stop the Race's main thrust against the city.
Regardless, the Race is in a full state of panic that humans have been able to detonate an atomic weapon, and many commanders are shocked at the number of the Race's soldiers that died in the blast. Straha, third in command of the Conquest Fleet, demands a vote of no confidence in Fleetlord Atvar by the captains of each ship in the Fleet. Such a vote would require a 75% majority to depose Atvar, but the vote falls short at 69%. Atvar remains in control, but he recognizes that most of the shiplords no longer actively support him. Furious at Straha, he orders the shiplord's arrest, but Straha, one step ahead of him, defects to the United States, enraging Atvar and allowing the Americans access to a spaceship of the Race.
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