Marching Through Georgia

by S. M. Stirling

  First integrated circuits, State of Ontario, 1949. Laser invented, V. of Buenos Aires, 1953. DNA identified, Tashkent Institute, 1951. Extensive Draka research into mid-altering chemicals, molecular biology, etc. First transplant of fertilized human ova, Alexandria institute, 1956. Recombinant DNA techniques developed, late 1950s.

  Draka fusion bomb, 1949. Missile projects follow. Nuclear submarine, 1948.

  Supersonic flight, 1947 (Draka). Earth-to-orbit turbojet-scramjet-rocket, Alliance Aerospace force, 1958 (unmanned). First Draka flight to orbit, 1960. First manned flight to orbit, 1959—Alliance, 1961—Draka. Auiance permanent space station, 1962. Draka, 1962. Alliance nuclear-pulse deepspace propulsion test, 1963.

  1947: S.LA. Marshall elected president of U.S. O.S.S. begins clandestine operations in support of European Resistance. Switzerland surrenders to Draka after mass famine. Finland crushed, but becomes "hardship posting" due to extensive resistance. Mass deportations of Finns to east Asia.

  France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ukraine declared open for Draka settlement.

  1950: Strategos Eric von Shrakenberg retires from active list, appointed Senator, junior member of Long-Range Strategic Planning project. Publishes The Price of Victory, novel of war experiences. Security Directorate fails to have it banned, due to Senatorial immunity, and it becomes a best seller, esp. among young war veterans. Sweden, North China, Korea declared open for settlement. Price of unskilled European serf drops to 53 aurics.

  1951: Draka Harmost of Loire Province (northern France) killed with most of her staff by mass poisoning at official banquet at Versailles marking third anniversary of Provincial status. O.S.S. "infiltrators" blamed; clashes between Draka and Alliance aircraft over English channel. Ten thousand Parisians impaled along Champs Elysees in reprisal.

  1952: Uprising in Barcelona overruns Security Directorate H.Q. Draka personnel evacuated by helicopter and city destroyed by nuclear bomb. Films, survivors shown over occupied Europe.

  Notes

  On The World of

  the Domination

  Military

  War and repression are the raison d'etre of the Domination's state machinery; the Draka exist in a state of either war or serious preparation for same. The War Directorate itself owns a considerable share of the economy, and certainly not less than 20 percent of the total GNP is dedicated to military-related purposes.

  There are essentially two Draka armies: the Citizen Force and the Janissaries. The Citizen Force is ultimately descended from the Loyalist volunteer regiments of the American Revolutionary period, and the militia units that conquered and held southern Africa in the late eighteenth century. Other influences included Classical history (notable in the military terminology), various European armies (particularly the Prussian) and native developments. The following description applies to the period of the Eurasian War, 1941-1946.

  Training: Citizen children are enrolled in boarding schools eight months of the year from the age of 5. Military training begins almost at once, both physical and psychological. The aims are toughness, hardiness (ruthlessness and indifference to pain are emphasized), independence, leadership and cooperative teamwork.

  Robotic obedience is not encouraged; the Draka have always been outnumbered, and cannot afford to bludgeon their enemies to death. After 12, training becomes more specific: marksmanship, fieldcraft, technical subjects, small-unit tactics, wilderness survival, live-firing exercises, etc.

  Military service begins at 18 and lasts for four years in peacetime. Since the conscript is already in fine physical condition, and more than familiar with the basics, "basic" training is actually more like an advanced specialist's course. Leadership candidates are identified during the first year, and qualification testing screens applicants for NCO rank. All officers are promoted "from the ranks," and then receive advanced training in a number of specialized schools. After the basic four years (longer for officers and NCOs) most Draka undergo two months' reserve service a year; after age 40 most are transferred into second-line formations. At full mobilization, 192 percent of the total Citizen population is under arms.

  Most units (the Air Corps and Navy aside) are territorially based, with recruits drawn from a single area. Great efforts are made to keep down personnel turbulence, and the average Draka soldier spends his/her military life with roughly the same group of faces. The basic field formation is the Legion (roughly, a division); Armies and Army Corps are plugged together from these basic building blocks as need and opportunity dictate.

  In 1942, there are three types of Legion: Armored, Mechanized, and Special—Airborne, Mountain, and Amphibious. The Armored/Mechanized constitute about 95 percent of total strength. Organization is (roughly) as follows:

  Table of Organization and Order of Battle Citizen Force Armored Legion, 1942

  Draka Unit Commander's Total Title personnel

  Our Equivalent (approx.)

  Stick Monitor 4

  Lochos Decurion 8 Squad Sergeant

  Tetrarchy Tetrarch 33 Platoon, 2nd Lieutenant

  Century Centurion 110 Company, Captain

  Cohort Cohortarch 500 Battatlion, Major

  Merarchy Merarch 1,500 Regiment, Colonel

  Chiliarchy Chiliarch 4,500 Brigade, Brigadier

  Legion Strategos 13,000 Devision, General

  At higher levels (e.g., Army Corps), formal rank designation would be "Arch-Strategos"—roughly, Senior General—with a functional qualifier to designate role. Note that each grade would contain junior/senior levels, and also that the Draka concept of rank is rather flexible—ad hoc units under relatively junior commanders can be patched together at need.

  At full strength a Legion of the Regular Line will contain roughly 9,200 Citizen personnel and about 3,000 serf auxiliaries. These are unarmed support troops and fill most of the lower-level noncombatant functions. Thus, over 75 percent of the Citizen troops in a Legion will actually be carrying rifles, driving tanks or stuffing shells into guns; the percentage of auxiliaries increases with distance from the front. (In the Air Corps, most of the ground crews, etc., are auxiliary personnel.) The percentage of officers is low (about 4.5 percent) and "lead from the front" is an axiom. It is more dangerous to be a company commander than a private. Given the lavish state of their armament and high motivation, a Citizen Force Legion is a devastating opponent; its weakness is its lack of reserves. The Citizen Force is designed as a specialized instrument, an army-crusher, built for short-duration, high-intensity combat.

  An armored legion has most of its infantry/armor teams integrated down to cohort level: two tank centuries, two infantry, one support and miscellaneous (medical, signals, etc.). (The model used here is the Archonal Guard Legion, 1st Armored, as of March 1st, 1942.) It would be organized roughly as follows:

  Two three-tank lochoi plus a command tank to a tetrarchy. Three of these make a tank century. Two of these per cohort: total 40 tanks, 200 effectives. The tanks are Hond III, crew of 5.

  Three infantry lochoi of one APC each plus H.Q. lochos: one infantry tetrarchy. Three of these to an infantry century. Two centuries per cohort: total, 28 APC's, 280 effectives. The APC's are Hoplite-class, modified Hond III hull, 8 infantry and 2 crew.

  One fire-support tetrarchy, 7 Flail SP mortars on Hoplite chassis, 40 effectives. A 160 mm automortar, crew of 5.

  The legion would essentially consist of six of these cohorts, plus several "pure" armor and infantry cohorts, giving a total of approximately 300 main battle tanks, 2,000 infantry (including APC drivers and gunners), the reconnaissance cohorts (amored cars and Cheetah light tanks), and a merarchy of SP guns—155 gun-howitzers and 200mm rocket launchers on modified Hoplite chassis, for a total of about 100 heavy-bombardment weapons. There would also be combat engineer, signals, medical and other units in proportion. Units larger than the cohort are "plugged together" as needed, but would usually consist of three merarchy-sized combat teams with supporting arms attached. Standard Draka practice (insofar as this exists) is "two up
, one back."

  A mechanized legion would be similarly organized, but with an armor/infantry ratio of 1/4 instead of 1/1. Independent chiliarchoi of varying composition also exist, to increase the flexibility of an Army or Army Corps commander. The reserve formations available to such a commander would include heavier artillery (200mm howitzers and 175mm guns, all self-propelled), engineers, and the support "slices" as appropriate.

  The special-purpose units (Airborne, etc.) differ mainly in that they are foot-transported once dropped or landed. Their auxiliaries and mechanical transport are prodded by the Logistics Corps as needed, and more of their maintenance and support units are Citizen personnel (which also increases their emergency reserve of infantry replacements).

  Training cohorts are maintained for each legion, but in emergencies, individual "fillers" may end up in units outside their cantonal recruiting areas.

  A notable feature of the Citizen Force is the attitude toward "discipline." In most armies, there is an analogy between social and military rank—the officer as gentry, the enlisted personnel as peasants; not least in the American Army (in both timelines). The Draka have no such tradition. Every private is an aristocrat, and military rank is regarded as equivalent to a medical degree—a technical qualification worthy of respect, but no trace of social awe. "Creative disobedience" is an honored tradition, and approved provided it works. Certain aspects of discipline—march and fire discipline, for example—are excellent, and the long training in teamwork provided by the Draka educational system makes for intelligent cooperation in the field. (Peer pressure tends to restrain barrack-room lawyers and congenital screw-ups, said pressure manifesting itself as anything from mockery to a grenade rolled under the bunk.) Formal military ritual is sparse everywhere and nonexistent in the field. Looting and rape, so long as they do not interfere with the mission, are officially recognized prerogatives of troops on foreign soil. Draka armies are notoriously atrocity-prone and utterly intolerant of attempts to restrain them in these matters.

  The weakneses of the Citizen Force are made up by the Janissary Corps. This is the serf army, commanded by Citizen Force officers and senior NCOs. Most Janissary legions are "motorized rifles"—strong in rifle infantry, antitank weapons, and towed artillery, but with considerably less heavy armor. Training ana discipline in the Janissary forces are much more conventional and routinized than the Citizen Force, aimed at producing unthinking obedience. About two thirds of the Domination's infantry are Janissaries. Recruitment is by levy on private serf owners and the Combines. Given the privileges of even the lowliest Janissary private, volunteers are never lacking. The Janissaries are also extensively used for internal-security work in time of peace. AU services are united under the Supreme General Staff. In practice, this means the Army dominates, since the Draka are a continental power. Draka tactics and strategy both emphasize the indirect approach—overwhelming an opponent with movement and firepower rather than head-on battering: "Winning battles by attrition is to the Art of War as a paint-by-numbers kit is to the Mono Lisa." By the 1940's the armed forces of the Domination were not only of high quality, but also very large indeed. At maximum strength (early 1943) the Domination mobilized 4,200,000 Citizen Force troops, 6,500,000 Janissaries and 3,000,000 auxiliaries (not soldiers by Draka reckoning, but fulfilling functions that would absorb uniformed personnel in other countries), for a grand total of just under 14,000,000. And the Domination's war economy was capable of equipping them with the best weapons of the day, in any quantity needed.

  Currency and prices

  The Dominations currency is gold-backed. The basic unit is the Auric (A), 1110 of an ounce of fine gold, divided into 10 denarü (d) and 100 pennies. In 1942, an auric is rated at $3.72 U.S. (Geneva exchange rate).

  Comparative prices

  Entry-level Citizen wage: A2,500 per annum.

  Purchase price, Archona/Central Police Zone:

  Standard unskilled serf: A200

  Machine tender serf (assembly-line): A350

  Skilled domestic servant: A250 (up to 1,000 for fancy items)

  Three-bedroom house in Archona: A30,000, depending on neighborhood.

  Dinner for two with house wine: A1.5 (two-star restaurant)

  Kellerman mini four-seat: A800 (will last 30 years if maintained)

  Airship ticket from Archona to Tasjhkent: A90.35

  Walking shoes: A6

  Litre of fresh milk: 3p.

  Kilo of sirloin: 25p.

  Developed plantation in Police Zone: A1,250,000 (includes labor force, manor)

  10,000 hectare grant in New Territories: Free, if settled and developed by claimant

  Prime interest rate: 3.5% (Landholders League Bank)

  Maintaining a serf in a large city, at accepted standards, would cost about A25 per year, not counting housing.

  Science and Technology

  The pure sciences are roughly equivalent to our history in the 1940s: Nuclear fission is near, the Bohr model of atomic structure is current, the first applications of quantum mechanics are moving out of the laboratory. Biology is slightly more advanced; high-energy chemistry slightly less so.

  Technology is somewhat more advanced than our 1942, and has developed along rather different lines. For example, vulcanized rubber and the pneumatic tire were developed in the 1820s, for autosteamers; natural asphalt from Angola and Trinidad was used for roads at about the same time. Steam engines of all types, particularly piston engines and small portable turbines, are more advanced than in our history. In this timeline, Africa is a "developed" region; accordingly, tropical medicine and agriculture are more advanced, since they received concentrated attention. Problems such as buharzia, sleeping sickness, and river-blindness were overcome in the 19th century. By the 1940's the hydroelectric power of the Congo and the geothermal energy of the Great Rift were being harnessed, and the Sahara was in retreat before reclamation and afforestation projects. The Domination is particularly strong in civil engineering, transport, weapons, and large-scale "process" industry, which are accordingly ahead of our timeline.

  All this implies certain economic differences as well. The United States reaches far into what we know as Latin America, and the parts of Asia which fell under the Domination in 1914-1919 have been forcibly modernized. Accordingly, there is less "Third World"; there are fewer and larger states, fewer tariffs, more trade, more surplus available for reinvestment (or war). World income per capita is higher up until the 1940's; urbanization greater; birth-and death-rates rather lower. The world population is roughly equivalent in both timelines up until the 1940's, but the world of the Domination drops behind rather quickly after that. The low cost and early availability of air transport make remote regions more accessible. Tibet becomes a vacation center in the 1920's, for example, and Chinese fruit is air-freighted by dirigible to Europe in the same period.

  Some Points of Difference

  A. Steam transport got under way about a generation earlier than in our history, and steam cars have been common since the 1820's, gradually improving. By the time the internal combustion engine came along, so much effort had gone into developing automotive steam engines that they remained dominant in all but aeronautical and armored fighting-vehicle applications. Petroleum or coal oil has been the dominant fuel for autosteamers since the first Egyptian oil fields were discovered (by teams drilling for water) in the 1810's. Modern (1940) autosteamers have pressure-injected flash boilers with high superheat, operating safely at 1,200 psi; the standard operating unit is a triple-expansion uniflow with extensive electric auxiliaries. Heavy, articulated trucks are common, particularly in the Domination. The autosteamers of the 40's represent a "mature" technology—fairly uniform everywhere, rugged, easy to maintain and very long-lasting. Performance and price are both lower than the equivalent internal-combustion machines of our history, but reliability is greater. Since they are relatively simple to manufacture, most nations with any pretensions to modernity have an autosteamer industry.

&nbs
p; B. Air transport became a practical reality in the 1870's; the Dominations need for fast long-distance transport provided the incentive. The first dirigibles were steam-turbine powered, with laminated wood frames and cloth hull coverings. By 1914, "metalclad" airships were the rule (a thin metal hull providing gas sealage, with an internal frame). Size had increased to 1,000 feet length, 250 feet maximum diameter, 8,000 mile range and 100 tons useful lift, burning a mixture of kerosene and hydrogen as fuel. Heavier-than-air planes were developed primarily to destroy dirigible bombers, and did so very effectively. Transport dirigibles continued in use, and by the 1940's could carry up to 200 tons for 12,000 miles at 90 mph. Long distance air freight dates from the 1890's (the decade of the first Atlantic crossing). The more primitive areas of the continental interiors were largely opened up by dirigibles: Yunnan, Tibet, the New Guinea highlands…

  C. Urban mass transit got an earlier start, since the autosteamer could be employed on city streets. Monorails evolved from elevated urban railways—first pneumatic, then electric, then powered by linear induction motors. Autosteamers and trucks served as feeders to railways from the beginning, ousting animal transport very gradually over a period of generations—-first in the advanced countries, and spreading from there.

  D. "Modern" (Bauhaus) architecture never really got under way in the Domination's timeline; Frank Lloyd Wright practiced, but the German school was never born. Steel-frame and ferroconcrete construction are common, but the unadorned "glass shoebox" is reserved for industrial uses. Public and domestic architecture in the Domination is predominantly "Drakastyle"—an Art-Nouveauish version of earlier Classico-Mughal schools: lines are fairly simple, but with elaborately decorated surf aces (mosaic, murals, stained glass). Euro-American styles are variously historic, Art Nouveau-Art Deco, and "Mechanist." Skyscrapers are common in the larger American cities, but not much imitated elsewhere. Central air-conditioning was developed in the Domination in the 1850's, immediately after the invention of practical refrigeration, and spread rapidly to the tropical areas of the U.S.; small, single-dwelling units were available in America by the time of the Great War.