History Literature / TheShapeOfThingsToCome

The novel was [[FilmOfTheBook adapted to film]] as ''Film/ThingsToCome'' in 1936, and the title ([[InNameOnly and little else]]) was appropriated for another sci-fi film [[Film/ShapeOfThingsToCome in 1979]]. The novel also provided the title for an episode of ''Series/{{Lost}}'' and the closing sequence of ''Series/{{Caprica}}'', amongst other {{Shout Out}}s in popular culture.

The novel was [[FilmOfTheBook adapted to film]] as ''Film/ThingsToCome'' in 1936, and the title ([[InNameOnly and little else]]) was appropriated for another sci-fi film in 1979. The novel also provided the title for an episode of ''Series/{{Lost}}'' and the closing sequence of ''Series/{{Caprica}}'', amongst other {{Shout Out}}s in popular culture.

The original novel prognosticates UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (though in the book the war lasts for a decade or more), which ends inconclusively but decimates all of civilization -- not helped by [[ThePlague a horrific plague]] which nearly effaces the human populace (in the book the 'history writer' claims the world population was cut in half).

Wells then envisions a benevolent OneWorldOrder which comes in and, using its monopoly on the world's surviving transportation infrastructure, begins to rebuild society into a scientific {{utopia}}. After a century, the OneWorldOrder is peacefully overthrown, after which the utopia is apparently achieved.

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: Subverted when the book (more or less accurately) prognosticates the start of World War II. Then double-subverted when the book's WWII goes on for over a decade and completely obliterates all of human society.

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: The book claims to be adapted from the notes of one Dr. Philip Raven.

* ThePlague: humanity may have done a pretty good job of screwing itself over, but it was the epidemics in the aftermath that nearly finished the job.

* ApocalypseAnarchy: downplayed, but present in some areas
* AtomicHate: popularized, and may have [[TropeNamer coined]], the term "Atomic Bomb", and predicted many of the forms the technology took, such as submarine-borne ballistic missiles.

* LensmanArmsRace: one of Well's favorite tropes to begin with, this time taken to its grim LogicalExtreme

* MutuallyAssuredDestruction: an influential early portrayal of the trope, and what could happen if the standoff were to break

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: where book quickly moves on to from NextSundayAD

* WeaponOfMassDestruction: the story is in part the result of Wells reading up on the latest developments in atomic theory, and having a horrifying realization about what it made possible.
* WorldWarThree: As envisioned by someone who had not yet seen World War II.

* JustBeforeTheEnd: Where the story begins

* LensmanArmsRace: one of Well's favorite tropes to begin with, this time taken to its grim LogicalExtreme
* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: The book claims to be adapted from the notes of one Dr. Philip Raven.

The original novel prognosticates WorldWarII (though in the book the war lasts for a decade or more), which ends inconclusively but decimates all of civilization -- not helped by [[ThePlague a horrific plague]] which nearly effaces the human populace (in the book the 'history writer' claims the world population was cut in half).

* BalkanizeMe: As an aftermath of the novel's version of WorldWarTwo, the effectiveness of many countries' governments to enforce their power faded in varying degrees, rendering many regions de facto autonomous.

* MonumentalDamage: After WorldWarTwo all over the place of course. The inconclusive ten-year war ends with a fizzle, and the extensive gas and biological-chemical warfare predicted by Wells during the 1940s creates favorable conditions for mass epidemics throughout the 1950s, along with [[CrapsackWorld the loss of reliable electricity, food and clothing]].

* AfterTheEnd: One of the earliest examples of the modern form of the trope

* ExtyYearsFromNow: starts a little under 10 years after the time it was written.

* MutuallyAssuredDestruction: an impressive early portrayal of the trope, and what could happen if the standoff were to break

* AfterTheEnd

** DividedStatesOfAmerica: For example Utah, where Mormonism was then declared the state religion.

* ExtyYearsFromNow

* ThePlague

* HistoryMarchesOn: Subverted when the book (more or less accurately) prognosticates the start of WorldWarII. Then double-subverted when the book's WWII goes on for over a decade and completely obliterates all of human society.
** TheGreatPoliticsMessUp

The original novel prognosticates WorldWarII (though in the book the war lasts for a decade or more), which ends inconclusively but decimates all of civilization -- not helped by [[ThePlague a horrific plague]] which nearly effaces the human populace.

* MonumentalDamage: After WorldWarTwo all over the place of course.

* MonumentalDamage: After WordWarII, all over the place of course.