History Literature / HowFewRemain

* ForWantOfANail: The novel--and [[Literature/Timeline191 the ten-novel series that follows it]]--is all happening because ''one'' tiny detail, the finding of Special Order 191. It's even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the prologue, where the messenger who dropped the order is effusively telling the two soldiers who noticed it how grateful he is, and how "this could have cost us the war!"
--> Then, as he rides off, one of them turns to the other and says "[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Lost the whole war? He don't think much of himself and the papers he carries, now does he?]]"

But in this universe, [[ForWantOfANail the orders were never intercepted]]... Instead, Lee defeated [=McClellan=], marched on into Philadelphia, and Britain and France officially recognized the Confederacy as a nation-state and mediated a peace settlement. As a result, Lincoln is disgraced rather than assassinated, both Stonewall Jackson and Jeb Stuart survive the war, [[Creator/MarkTwain Samuel Clemens]] stays in San Francisco instead of writing fiction, etc. In short, ButterflyOfDoom ensues.

* OddCouple: Lincoln and Douglass. In the middle of a heated argument, Douglass even declares that they're having a "[[JustForPun Lincoln-Douglass]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%E2%80%93Douglas_debates debate]]"

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass Frederick Douglass]], a former slave and fiery orator, observes the Union forces at war.

* BadassInCharge: Roosevelt and Custer.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Oh yeah.

** It's actually a central plot point, pointed out in-universe even by the Confederate leadership that they can't possibly defeat the United States in a one-on-one fight, if for no other reason than that they outnumber them (and while the Confederacy has made some industrialization efforts over the intervening decades, the USA will always outpace them). The entire victory of the Confederacy is due to foreign alliances with Britain and France, giving them massive amounts of foreign aid, and forcing them to fight a two-front war with Canada. The US leadership is just too stubborn to get over their fears of foreign alliances, until the humiliation of this war leads to them allying with Germany...

** The rather melodramatic RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman portrayal of UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant as an alcoholic wreck is largely based on DatedHistory founded on hostile rumours with virtually no solid evidence and now considered a myth by most serious historians. At most, Grant may have ''occasionally'' drank too much, which would've been easy for a man who CantHoldHisLiquor in a profession where drinking was common for coping with boredom and stress. This is even more interesting since ''three'' of Turtledove's protagonists--Teddy Roosevelt, Frederick Douglass, and Mark Twain--all idolized Grant in RealLife for his character even more than his generalship.

* TheAlcoholic: Ulysses S. Grant, embittered by the outcome of the war, gets a brief scene as an old, drunken vagabond.

* NotSoDifferent:
** After coming face to face, [[spoiler:both Jackson and Douglass]] are surprised at how human they find each other--things aren't quite as [[IncrediblyLamePun black and white]] as they thought.
** Custer's constant mockery of the Mormons' polygamy looks much more hypocritical when his affair with a local woman is nipped in the bud by the unexpected arrival of his wife.

*** ... which wasn't a real strategy, just a thought experiment (just look at that Other Wiki article - not a single primary source, albeit on account of the fact that ''none exists''). But the breadth and depth of the stuff Turtledove touches makes it inevitable he'll fall behind the cutting-edge of historical research ''somewhere'', especially as new research surfaces. Though there was that egregious depiction a WWII Chinese peasant as both liking the Chinese Communist Party and believing that it fights Japan (and that the Guomindang doesn't!) that sounds like it was lifted verbatim from a PRC school-textbook.

--> Then, as he rides off, one of them turns to the other and says "[[CrowningMomentOfFunny Lost the whole war? He don't think much of himself and the papers he carries, now does he?]]"

* CavalryOfficer: Custer, Roosevelt, and Suart all ''love'' being one.

* TheCavalry:
** Custer ''loves'' being the Cavalry.
** The Unauthorized Regiment does this too.

** Abe Lincoln basically walks around doing this all the time. Oh, and being a ChummyCommunist.

* AnyoneCanDie: As the end draws near, [[spoiler:Jeb Stuart and Tom Custer]] both die. [[spoiler:Tom]]'s at least is in battle, so it's sad but not surprising, but killing off one of the main characters, out of ''nowhere,'' is a real shock.

* AlternateHistory

* UsefulNotes/AntebellumAmerica: Unlike [[Film/CSATheConfederateStatesOfAmerica some attempts]] to show what the world would be like if the Confederates won, ''How Few Remain'' actually explores socio-economic and cultural issues that ''don't'' have to do with slavery.

** The rather melodramatic RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman portrayal of UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant as an alcoholic wreck is largely based on DatedHistory founded on hostile rumours with virtually no solid evidence and now considered a myth by most serious historians. At most, Grant may have ''occasionally'' drank too much, which would've been easy for a man who CantHoldHisLiquor in a profession where drinking was common for coping with boredom and stress.
** By the time of the novel, William S. Rosecrans has risen to General-in-Chief of U.S. forces basically because he [[DamnedByFaintPraise didn't get a chance to fail]] in the last war, yet Ulysses S. Grant's ''victories'' at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Iuka, and Corinth, which had already made him a national hero for capturing an entire Confederate army and forcing them out of southern Kentucky and western Tennessee including Nashville, all receive next-to-no mention as far as 'Remembrance' ideology is concerned even though Rosecrans was merely Grant's ''subordinate'' and remained so until more than a month after the series' divergence point. This is even more interesting since ''three'' of Turtledove's protagonists--Teddy Roosevelt, Frederick Douglass, and Mark Twain--all idolized Grant in RealLife for his character even more than his generalship.

** Abe Lincoln basically walks around doing this all the time. Oh, and being a DirtyCommunist.

* InThePastEveryoneWillBeFamous: Given, we're following eight historical figures to begin with, but they do seem to bump into an inordinate number of familiar faces (see HistoricalDomainCharacter, above).
** Not as much so in the rest of the Literature/Timeline191 series, where the famous people rub elbows with an extensive cast of Turtledove originals.
* InvadedStatesOfAmerica: San Francisco is shelled and raided by the British. A British invasion of Montana is defeated in what turns out to be the highlight of the war for the USA. Northern Maine is ceded to Canada as part of the peace settlement.
* LargeHam: TruthInTelevision, for Custer and Roosevelt.

* NonindicativeName: The Second Mexican War doesn't actually involve Mexico at all.
* NotSoDifferent: After coming face to face, [[spoiler:both Jackson and Douglass are surprised at how human they find each other--things aren't quite as [[IncrediblyLamePun black and white]] as they thought.]]

* OddCouple: Lincoln and Douglass.
** Douglass gets a bonus for, in the middle of a heated argument, saying that they're having a "[[JustForPun Lincoln-Douglass]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%E2%80%93Douglas_debates debate]]"

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Turtledove plays with this in the first section following "Thomas Jackson", knowing that most of the readers won't catch on until someone says "Hey, Stonewall!"

** Mark Twain's newspaper editorials, providing running commentary on the events leading up to the war, fill the role nicely.

* RubberBandHistory

* ShownTheirWork: Turtledove ''does''. All the time. So much so that it's easy to forget you're reading a work of fiction.

* StartMyOwn: When his local recruiting-station won't take volunteers, Roosevelt takes it on himself to pull together his own Unauthorized Regiment.

* WhatMightHaveBeen