History Literature / TheWarThatCameEarly

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** Ivan Kuchkov doesn't think too highly of Jews (he uses the ethnophaulism "жид/zhid", which is the Russian equivalent of the American English slur "kike"), Ukrainians (he uses the Russian anti-Ukrainian ethnophaulism "хохол/khokhol") or people from the Caucasus region (he uses the Russian ethnic/racial slur "blackass", which is also used to insult other ethnicities or "races" with a darker skin than the average Russian such as people of African descent), either.

** Ivan Kuchkov doesn't think too highly of Jews (he uses the ethnophaulism "жид/zhid", which is the Russian equivalent of the American English slur "kike"), Ukrainians (he uses the Russian anti-Ukrainian ethnophaulism "хохол/khokhol") or people from the Caucasus region (he uses the Russian ethnic/racial slur "blackass"), either.

** Ivan Kuchkov doesn't think too highly of Jews (he uses the ethnophaulism "жид/zhid", which is the Russian equivalent of the American English slur "kike"), Ukrainians (he uses the Russian anti-Ukrainian ethnophaulism "хохол/khokhol") or people from the Caucasus region (he uses the Russian ethnic slur " blackass"), either.

** Ivan Kuchkov doesn't think too highly of Jews (he uses the ethnophaulism "жид/zhid", which is the Russian equivalent of the American English slur "kike") and Ukrainians (he uses the Russian anti-Ukrainian ethnophaulism "хохол/khokhol"), either.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Stuka pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel and U-Boat Captain Julius Lemp are both viewpoint characters for Germany. Many other historical characters, like Hitler, Stalin, Chamberlain, Churchill (who is killed by an assassin), Roosevelt, Montgomery (who dies in a plane crash in 1942), Sanjurjo, and Franco (who is shot by sniper Vaclav Jezek) appear in supporting roles as non-viewpoint characters.

** Ivan Kuchkov doesn't think too highly of Jews in general and his Jewish subordinates in particular, either.

** Ivan Kuchkov doesn't think too highly of his Jewish subordinates, either.

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Vaclav Jezek makes some unflattering remarks about Jews before getting to know Benjamin Halevy, Alistair Walsh refers to the French as frogs, and Pete [=McGill=] and the other Marines are quite racist in their descriptions of the Japanese and Chinese.

'''Tropes featured in this series include:'''

* NotSoDifferent: Hitler's Reich and Stalin's Soviet Union. Additionally, the Nationalists and Republicans in Spain. Face it, just like in RealLife, a lot of people are screwed no matter who wins.
** [[spoiler: In the end, Chaim feels the need to get out of Spain lest he wind up in a camp. This despite his heroism, including being wounded, in service to the Republic. Additionally, due to an innocent mistake, Ivan Kuchkov, his CO, and his comrades are all sent to a gulag.]]

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In-universe. A campaigner for FDR compares the 1940 election, where Democrat FDR runs against Republican Willke and third-party candidate Landon, with the 1912 election, in which Democrat Wilson ran against, and defeated, Republican Taft and Bull-Moose (Teddy) Roosevelt. In so doing, he says that, once again, a Democrat is running against a Republican and a Bull-something. Peggy, who is attending the rally, reflects that the speaker is implying what cannot be said directly in a public forum, that Landon is bull''shit''.

* YouALLShareMyStory: One of Turtledove's favorite tropes. In addition to the standard rule of character inheriting the Point of View of a previous character who was killed nearby, ''several'' characters kill each other off, both during ''Coup d'Etat'' and ''Last Orders.''
* YourCheatingHeart: Peggy Druce has a drunken one night stand with American consul Constantine Jenkins while trapped in Berlin. Back home, her husband Herb has an affair with a woman named Georgia. It ends in divorce after they both find out.

* {{Antivillain}}: Most German viewpoint characters, including Ludwig Rothe, Theo Hossbach, Willi Dernen, and Julius Lemp are relatively good guys who happen to be on the wrong side of the war. Not so Japanese viewpoint character Hideki Fujita whose participation in the killing of prisoners (and later participation in Japanese bioweapons programs) moves him out of the "anti" and squarely into "villain" territory. However, in ''Last Orders'' he's given a brief Pet the Dog; enduring an American carpet-bombing raid of Japanese occupied Midway, he remarks he hopes the island's gooney birds, the Japanese garrison's sole source of entertainment at the end of the Empire's tenuously long supply line, are okay. He reasons the birds haven't done anything to deserve being killed '''unlike he and his fellow soldiers.'''

* BritsWithBattleships: Represented by WWI veteran Alistair Walsh. The British Army under Sir Archibald Wavell eventually launches a coup d'etat against the collaborationist government and sets up a provisional government.

* [[spoiler: BittersweetEnding: Hitler is assassinated and the Nazis are overthrown, to be replaced by a more reasonable government that makes peace and restores the Jews' citizenship. The Holocaust is averted. Much of Eastern Europe is kept out of Stalin's hands. However, the Jews face an uncertain future in Germany, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia remains under German rule, Germany is expected to develop nuclear weapons, Stalin still got the Baltics and parts of Poland, and Spain is under a radical, possibly Stalinist, regime. Not to mention that the war with Japan is still left unfinished.]]

* [[spoiler: EnemyCivilWar: The unrest against the Nazis culminates in this when Hitler is assassinated, ultimately bringing the war in Europe to an end.]]

* [[spoiler: KilledMidSentence: Hitler during his Munster speech.]]

* {{Badass}}: Vaclav Jezek, Czech antitank specialist turned sniper, who racks up a truly impressive number of kills, including two German snipers specifically sent to hunt him down, and Nationalist General Francisco Franco.

* KatanasOfTheRisingSun: In action throughout East Asia, and represented by Sergeant Hideki Fujita and his men.

* NazisWithGnarlyWeapons: Represented by Hans-Ulrich Rudel, Ludwig Rothe, Theo Hossbach, and Willi Dernen during the first four books.

* DivorceInReno: Some time after Peggy and Herb confess their respective affairs to each other, Herb goes on what Peggy thinks is another of his business trips. Shortly afterward, she gets divorce papers in the mail and exclaims that she's been "Reno-vated".

* MightyGlacier: The KV-1 and Tiger 1 heavy tanks.