Uncle Alf
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{{Infobox short story |
| name = Uncle Alf
| title_orig =
| translator =
| author = Harry Turtledove
| illustrator =
| country = United States
| language = English
| series =
| genre = Alternate history
| published_in = Alternate Generals II and Atlantis and Other Places
| publication_type = Print and online
| publisher = Baen Books
| media_type =
| pub_date = 2002
| english_pub_date =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
"Uncle Alf" (2002) is an alternate history short story by Harry Turtledove. It was first published in Turtledove's edited anthology Alternate Generals II in 2002 and was later reprinted in his short story collection Atlantis and Other Places in 2010.{{Cite web|url=http://www.uchronia.net/label/turtunclea.html|title=Uchronia: Uncle Alf|website=www.uchronia.net}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.uchronia.net/label/turtatlanx.html|title=Uchronia: Atlantis and Other Places|website=www.uchronia.net}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.stevenhsilver.com/stories.html|title=Steven H. Silver.com: Harry Turtledove short stories|website=www.stevenhsilver.com}}
Plot
The point of divergence occurs in 1913 when Alfred von Schlieffen, who in real life died in 1913, survives to personally oversee the successful implementation of his famous plan for two-front war against France and Russia. Germany wins World War I in 1914 after only a few months, and fully occupies both France and Belgium while the United Kingdom and Russia back out of the war completely. Two years later in 1916, an earlier communist revolution erupts in Russia, Kaiser Wilhelm II (fearing the consequences within his country's own borders if the Russian Empire collapsed) helps his cousin and former enemy Tsar Nicholas II to crush it quickly.
The main action of the story itself is set in May 1929, as sergeant Adolf Hitler of the Feldgendarmerie is sent to Lille in pursuit of communist agitator Jacques Doriot. The story is a series of letters from "Uncle Alf" to his niece/lover, Geli Raubal. In these letters, he expresses his frustration with the complacency of the local German officials; his disgust with the "degraded" French; his utter devotion to the German Empire, and; his unrestrained (and incestrial) passion for his beloved Geli.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.baen.com/chapters/W200207/0743435281___3.htm "Uncle Alf"]
{{Harry Turtledove}}
Category:Short stories by Harry Turtledove
Category:Alternate history short stories
Category:American short stories
Category:Cultural depictions of Adolf Hitler
Category:World War I alternate histories
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