"The Last Article" (1988), is an

alternate history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed his ...

. The story describes a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

invasion of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

and the reaction of the Nazi occupation authorities to the

nonviolent resistance Nonviolent resistance, or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, construct ...

and

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ...

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

and his followers. This story was later reprinted in Turtledove's short-story collection ''

Kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a symmetrical pattern when viewed fro ...

'' in 1990, the variety showcase ''The Best Military Science Fiction of the Twentieth Century'' in 2001, and in Turtledove's short-story collection '' The Best of Harry Turtledove'' in 2021.

Plot summary

Germany's success in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

has led to their invasion of the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

in 1947, resulting in the

British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...

being decisively defeated. Rather than struggling for independence from the

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

and his friend

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

find themselves in the position of resisting Nazi occupation using the techniques that were successfully employed against the British. Although Nehru has a general concept of the inherently immoral nature of Nazi ideology, Gandhi thinks they still can be persuaded, not heeding the warning from an

Austrian Jew The history of the Jews in Austria starts after the exodus of Jews from Judea under Roman occupation. There have been Jews in Austria since the 3rd century CE. Over the course of many centuries, the political status of the community rose and f ...

named

Simon Wiesenthal Simon Wiesenthal (31 December 190820 September 2005) was an Austrian Holocaust survivor, Nazi hunter, and writer. He studied architecture, and was living in Lwów at the outbreak of World War II. He survived the Janowska concentration camp (la ...

, who was able to flee

occupied Poland ' (Norwegian language, Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV 2 (Norway), TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. ...

to India. The Nazis, however, led by

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

Walther Model, are completely unmoved by Gandhi's strategy. They view themselves as a

master race The master race ( ) is a pseudoscientific concept in Nazi ideology, in which the putative Aryan race is deemed the pinnacle of human racial hierarchy. Members were referred to as ''master humans'' ( ). The Nazi theorist Alfred Rosenberg b ...

and have no moral qualms about killing those who resist non-violently (or even those who do not resist at all, if they are of a certain race). In the end the movement collapses as it proves unable to deal with the savagery of Nazism.

Themes

Gandhi assumes a

moral equivalence Moral equivalence is a term used in political debate, usually to deny that a moral comparison can be made of two sides in a conflict, or in the actions or tactics of two sides. The term had some currency in polemic debates about the Cold War. "Mo ...

between the Nazi and British imperialists, naively dismissing reports otherwise; the story makes clear that this is a lethal mistake stemming from Gandhi's reluctance to entertain the idea that his moral and ethical assumptions are not shared in common among all human groups. Loyalty is explored as a powerful but amoral force. Gandhi is loyal to his concepts of passive resistance, however poorly they fit the situation or inevitably they lead to violence; the Indians are loyal to Gandhi, and some die for it; Model is loyal to his rank and

volk The German noun ''Volk'' () translates to :wikt:people, people, both uncountable in the sense of ''people'' as in a crowd, and countable (plural ''Völker'') in the sense of ''People, a people'' as in an ethnic group or nation (compare the E ...

; the British are loyal to their ideas of decency and mercy and defend them to the last, through the medium of war. The story illustrates the weakness inherent in Gandhi'sand later

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

movement, the success of which depends on a reasoned appeal to the enemy's conscience—that is, on the ability to arouse shame and remorse in the oppressor, who eventually relents. This was a plausible strategy against British imperialism or American

institutional racism Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of institutional discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race or ethnic group and can include policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organizati ...

, as the notion of oppression clashes unpleasantly with the values espoused by these nations. Historically, ideals of freedom, justice, and equality for all citizens are at the root of the British and American political system and, perhaps more important, the religion and national self-image of the people. The story explores the strategic difference between opposing a tolerant competitor, such as the British, and opposing a remorselessly violent foe, suggesting that violent resistance to malign forces like Nazism, such as the

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to the gas chambers of the ...

, is more likely to succeed than a pacifistic approach. Violence does not guarantee success, however; the Warsaw uprising is indicated as a failure. Field Marshal Model compares the Nazi empire with the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

facing the

early Christians Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and bey ...

, pointing out that Rome's collapse came as a result of its tolerance of a force that sought to undermine it. The story does not characterize Model as a bloodthirsty savage; rather, he is a merely a professional doing his job. Turtledove provides an appearance by Jurgen Stroop, the SS officer responsible for the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...

massacre, to contrast Stroop's mindless savagery and Model's workmanlike, impassive decimation of the Indian resistance.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Article, The 1988 short stories. American short stories Alternate history short stories World War II alternate histories Short stories set in India Fiction set in 1947 Short stories set in the 1940s Short stories about Nazi Germany Cultural depictions of Mahatma Gandhi Cultural depictions of Jawaharlal Nehru Short stories by Harry Turtledove

Plot summary

Themes

See also

References