Eve of the Globe's War

It is 1938 and, in the face of demands for a German leader, and at the proposal of an Italian one, countries assemble in Munich to decide on what will become of the border regions of Bohemia. This may sound like an incident from our history, but in ‘Eve of the Globe’s War’ it occurs in a world that has never experienced an industrial revolution.

The Prussian King still smarts over his defeat in the Four Years War, in particular looking jealously at the lands of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. There is talk of a reviving the alliance of the 1910s between the Prussians, Austria and the Ottoman Empire. Under Alphonse I, the Kingdom of France is apprehensive that Prussian plans will bring their troops through the Austrian Netherlands to its borders once more. Some advocate appeasing the Prussians; others resisting their demands. What of the British; what path do King Charles IV and his noble advisors favour?

Young civil servant, James Manners is sent with a motley band of gentlemen: the elderly journalist Winston Churchill; the scholar, Anthony Eden and a half-pay major, Bernard Montgomery to barter with the Pole-Lithuanians for control of a Prussian enciphering machine. This unlikely spy faces challenges every step of the way, not least from Britons like Oswald Mosley and Neville Chamberlain, bent of pandering to Prussian demands, let alone Prussian agents themselves. However, he is not without friends and as he struggles to complete his mission James finds challenges and aid from unlikely quarters.

This is a fast-paced spy novel set in a ‘what if?’ context which surprisingly easily could have come true. Alexander Rooksmoor is the author of a number of popular counterfactual books. His publications draw on over twenty years’ experience in researching and teaching history and discussing ‘what if?’. He has even longer experience in writing fiction. This background has enabled him to produce a novel that is liable to intrigue and entertain you and to provoke you to think.

NOTE: This ebook contains dynamic links between the stories and historical notes to provide background on them.