I was rereading Guns of the South again, and I wondered to myself exactly why HT had the book begin in 1864. This is one question in and of itself, but he refers several times in the book to Gettysburg and other events that happened prior to the beginning of the novel. So maybe that's the reason. Which leads me to the other question- was 1865 too late? Was the South's situation in January or February of '65 so desperate that even the arrival of men from the future bearing AK-47s wouldn't have been enough to turn the tide?
Guns of the South questions
- Thread starter metalstar316
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Well, in 1865 the Army of Northern Virginia was essentially trapped defending Richmond and Petersburg and even men from the future are going to have a hard time suppling the army when the railroads are gone and with the Federals right on top of the rebels.
The Army of Tennessee is on the run by this point and is a sad reflection of it's former glory. The Rivington men might have an easier time suppling them though.
I always just figured they chose early 1864 because the war had essentially shut down for the winter.
The Army of Tennessee is on the run by this point and is a sad reflection of it's former glory. The Rivington men might have an easier time suppling them though.
I always just figured they chose early 1864 because the war had essentially shut down for the winter.
Well, a large part of it is that the Rivington men want to keep their operation a secret. If they did it in 1865, Sherman is about to march into North Carolina, the Army of Tennessee is an irrelevancy, and the Army of Northern Virginia is under siege at Petersburg. The only way they could make a difference would be to plant their operation in Richmond and supply the Army of Northern Virginia...and there is no way they could do that and keep the source of the weapons a secret.
I suspect HT wanted a Confederacy that was desparate, but not totally finished. Earlier in the war, the CSA leadership resisted using things like mines ("torpedos") as being contrary to the laws of war. By 1864 Davis was willing to try anything.
By the way, the Rivington men didn't seem to worry about whomever they had stolen the time travel device would come looking for them. Given the major shift in history of the introduction of a futuristic weapon, they wouldn't have too hard to find.
By the way, the Rivington men didn't seem to worry about whomever they had stolen the time travel device would come looking for them. Given the major shift in history of the introduction of a futuristic weapon, they wouldn't have too hard to find.
When I read it I never thought of it as a time travel device per see. I thought of it more as a time line device. The Rivington men simply searched for a time line were the ACW was still happening (This assumes that if parallel universes exist that they do not run on the same time "frequency") and simply slid into that time line. It would seem like time travel but by their tranisitioning to the Guns TL if it were really time travel they would of destroyed their own TL in the process
Time Travel stories have traditionally gotten around that paradox by relying on the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics and positing that time travellers DO actually go back in time, but their actions, while in the past, create a NEW UNIVERSE in which the new timeline operates, while not affecting the timeline in the universe from which they had come. Thus the universe and the timeline which created them, and their time machine, still exists, but they, themselves, now live in a different universe, and a different timeline.
That is because they could not arrive at the same time. The Rivington men clearly say they wanted to arrive in 1862, but they could not get their hands on the time travel device until two years after. So they arrived when they did not want to.
They wanted a strong Confederate States to back. The point of the novel in many ways is to show that the modern ideas of the CSA are not founded in truth, but speculation. The Rivington men expected the Southerners to be as racist, and full of white pride as they were. Yet the book shows the disgust and confusion many southerners have when they witness just how much the Rivington men hate blacks.
I prefer that theory. If you think about it time travel is pretty damn dangerous even if you aren't a Butterfly Effect believer. If I time travel to the past somehow caused me to come into non existence how could I travel into the past? Who knows and to be honest it's a little to weird to understand.
OTOH if I travel to an alternate Earth that is in our past I can do whatever I can get away with. Kill millions, change govts around, kill "my" grandfather, none of it would matter to me(assuming I was the type of person who would do such things).
Thande
Donor
I believe the primary reason is that a lot of the stuff we associate with the CSA, such as the Stainless Banner, hadn't actually showed up until the war was pretty much a lost cause for the southerners. Well that, and he wanted to have it where the Rivington Men were clearly solely responsible for the CSA's independence - whereas a much more minor intervention earlier in the war could have resulted in a CS victory, but more down to what the Confederates were doing than their helpers, if you see what I mean.
(The in-universe reason is that the Rivington Men's time machine could only go back in time exactly 150 years and they were unable to steal it before 2014).
(The in-universe reason is that the Rivington Men's time machine could only go back in time exactly 150 years and they were unable to steal it before 2014).
Another point is that by having the story in 1864 HT could show the rather classless make up of the CSA army. His website points to his research and how in 1862 it was common for officers to have servants, personal firearms, and be from the landed class. While by 1864 an officer was the person who either lived long enough to get the job, or was shown to be skilled in that area.