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| The book that captured my imagination |
Although I can't remember the exact sequence of events, whether I read it first or not another equally inspirational book was the Classic Illustrated version of the same story. The Martian fighting machines in the hardback novel appeared kind of clunky to me, though nowadays they would probably qualify as "steampunk". The Classic Illustrated versions were very much more to my liking. Unlike the books illustration, which didn't seem that far removed from Victorian technology, the machines in the comic reflected a far more advanced science. They were sleek, shiny and imposing; a sharp contrast from the comparatively primitive British weapons. The cover of the pulp publication captures this contrast in one startling image. It shows a British gun crew facing off against three of these metallic monsters. The lead colossus is firing its heat ray at the gun emplacement. Its pretty easy to predict what happens next.
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| Super science against Victorian might |
While the story captured my young imagination, the comic illustrations, done by Lou Cameron (in 1955, I think) completely enthralled me, The image has stuck with me all these year. It is my favorite depiction of these machinations. As a young boy I redrew them many times, trying to duplicate the majesty and mystery of these terrible behemoths. Even today I still create versions of them, albeit in 3D modeling software rather than pencil and paper. While learning the graphics software Blender I have created several images, which unfortunately disappeared in a hard drive crash. My backup software subscription had lapsed so it was just one of hundreds of things I lost. Such is life in the computer age. No worries, I have since recreated them, perhaps better than the originals.
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| Blender rendition of the Martian fighting machines |
I did not however, start this article to discuss artwork. Rather I wanted to relate some things I found interesting about the author related to this particular novel. The bulk of the story occurs in Surrey, a county in southeastern Britain. At the time Britain was the worlds mightiest empire. Wells wrote the story as a kind of commentary on British attitudes of the time. The mindset of the populace was imperialistic. The British controlled a great portion of the earth's surface. Victorian technology, philosophy and science was considered incomparable to all else, even that upstart ex-colony America. Wells attacked that attitude of self adsorbed superiority by having his aliens invade England.
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| H.G.Wells house in Woking as it appears today. |
The idea came to him when his brother and he were out walking together. They began to wonder what would happen if Britain had to face a superior foe, perhaps some alien enemy whose science was incredibly advanced. Wells ran with it. He created a serial for Pearsons, a magazine of the time. As Wells put it in a letter to a former fellow student...
"I'm doing the dearest little serial for Pearson's new magazine, in which I completely wreck and sack Woking–killing my neighbours in painful and eccentric ways – then proceed via Kingston and Richmond to London,which I sack, selecting South Kensington for feats of peculiar atrocity."
Much of the action in War of Worlds occurs in places Wells was very familiar with. He lived in the town of Woking, near an area called Mayberry, His descriptions of the area are quite vivid. No wonder. He could see most of the settings by walking or riding through them. Many of the activities the protagonist describes are also Wells', such as learning to ride a bicycle.
“I learnt to ride my bicycle upon sandy tracks with none but God to help me; he chastened me considerably in the process, and after a fall one day I wrote down a description of the state of my legs which became the opening chapter of the Wheels of Chance … The bicycle in those days was still very primitive. The diamond frame had appeared but there was no free-wheel. You could only stop and jump off when the treadle was at its lowest point, and the brake was an uncertain plunger upon the front wheel. Consequently you were often carried on beyond your intentions. The bicycle was the swiftest thing upon the roads in those days, there were as yet no automobiles and the cyclist had a lordliness, a sense of masterful adventure, that has gone from him altogether now.”
The site of the original impact of a Martian cylinder is Horsell Common, an open area within walking distance of his home. The first locations to feel the fury of the aliens are all within spitting range of the Wells' residence, if not visible from his own yard. The Mosque, the Oriental College, the church and railway station and every other detail were within his gaze every time he walked out his door.
The Martians path to London most likely follows Wells frequent jaunts on his bicycle. At the time, trains were a major form of transportation. Wells takes delight in smashing the British railroad system, probably the most advanced at that time in history. While horse drawn vehicles were ubiquitous, bikes were in vogue at the time. On several occasions he describes damaged bicycles. This may not, however, be some satirical comment on the two wheeled transport. He seems to simply be acknowledging they were primitive, requiring a high level of maintenance.
Why Martians, one might ask. At the time of Wells writing there was a fascination with Mars. Percival Lowell was convinced he had found evidence of canals on the planet. An entire network in fact. He made detailed drawings of his observations and speculated on the inhabitants and their technology. Because they had created a global canal system to channel the melting polar ice to more arid regions of the planet, their technology must be superior in some, if not all, areas of endeavor. People in general came to think along the lines of Lowell's descriptions. This is not to say that other scientists believed or observed what Lowell described. His claims were widely disputed. While they eventually proved to be completely false in almost every way, nobody knew for sure at the time.
Perhaps the most striking feature of the story is Wells' description of the impact of the Martian invasion on the population. His protagonist witnesses the collapse of British society in microcosm. The Martians travel a beeline to London, the heart of the empire. He reduces Great Britain to a hovel, inevitably dependent on her allies to rebuild her destroyed infrastructure and console her broken spirit. The idea that Britain's empire would collapse after the Martian overrun a few counties is ludicrous, of course. The same counties were pummeled by the Germans in World War I. Britain survived in glorious fashion, her empire intact, even expanded. The Second World War saw this same area targeted by the same foe, although the eventual result was not anywhere near as positive. Like the Germans after them, the Martians didn't seem to notice that the balance of Great Britain was beyond their reach. Leveling London was not enough to destroy British society.
Be that as it may, the Britain Wells describes comes unraveled under the Martian onslaught. The population completely loses their collective "stiff upper lip" and chaos ensues. The idea of every man for himself grips the nation (at least the southeastern part). Railways are overtaxed. Authority loses its grip. Wells describes the constables beating citizens in frustration. Locomotive drivers plow their iron steeds through crowds of frightened citizens. Neighbors claw each other in their effort to escape the murderous horde threatening everyone. While some keep their heads many take to thievery, even murder to survive.
Wells also describes millions of refuges fleeing the southern counties, a sight that would be all too common in the 20th century. He shows us endless confused lines of desperate people with their own survival uppermost in their minds. The main character relates, through his brothers eyes, how he escaped to the coast of Essex. They reach safety, but only after paying exorbitant passage to opportunistic seamen. Wells uses this opportunity to show us that even the great and powerful Royal Navy is all but helpless against the aliens power. While one valiant ship and crew manages to sacrifice themselves to destroy two of the great machines, the balance of the fleet remains out of range of the Martians terrible weaponry.
The story also includes description of the invaders use of poisonous gas, something that would become a very real threat within the next twenty years. Mustard and other gases were used as anti personnel weapons during the first world war. This type of warfare was eventually outlawed. Its affects were terrifying, but the fact that it was indiscriminate probably carried more weight in the decision. It was totally uncontrollable in any breeze, so much so that even Adolf Hitler refused to use it. Fortunately for the Martians, their gas, labelled "black smoke" by its intended victims was better behaved. It flowed close to the ground in ominous coils. The height of the fighting machines kept the aliens well out of harms way. The gas was also easily neutralized with jets of steam, after which it fell to a perfectly harmless.powder.
Wells also predicts in a small way, the use of aircraft as a weapon. Though it is only mentioned almost in passing, the Martians develop a flying machine. In the scene were the brother escapes seaward to France, he witnesses a mysterious shape cross the twilight sky, apparently dispersing the black smoke as it flies The machine returns later when the primary character views his slain enemy from Primrose Hill. It sits, useless, in the great bivouac the Martians carve out in London surrounded by Martian corpses and idle machines. Had the aliens survived their demise they would have conquered all of humanity. The ability to ply the skies of Earth would have made them unstoppable. Fortunately for Britain and the rest of the world, this never happens.
The way Wells defeats his Martians is often criticized. Rather than have the nations of the world find a way to overthrow the enemy, the author uses microorganisms. The idea is that the Martians have no immunity whatsoever to any sort of infection, even the ones earthlings find harmless. The aliens essentially destroy themselves by exposing their bodies to the surrounding environment. In a broad sense, the invasion was over even before it started. Wells supposed the advanced race of Mars had eliminated disease and its agents centuries before. They had doomed themselves long before the attack on our world. This form of ending, called "ex machina" is considered by many a sort of cheat. The author calls on some superior force, natural or supernatural, to overcome his character's difficulty. While not as heavy handed as Stephen Kings climax in "The Stand", where the hand of God himself saves the day, the microbes of War of the Worlds are just as effective.
Wells does leave his story open, however. The people of Earth now know they are not alone in the universe. Perhaps its only a matter of time before the same or other threats appear from the vastness of space. Like the end of the 1951 movie "The Thing" his readers are warned to "keep watching the skies".
“I learnt to ride my bicycle upon sandy tracks with none but God to help me; he chastened me considerably in the process, and after a fall one day I wrote down a description of the state of my legs which became the opening chapter of the Wheels of Chance … The bicycle in those days was still very primitive. The diamond frame had appeared but there was no free-wheel. You could only stop and jump off when the treadle was at its lowest point, and the brake was an uncertain plunger upon the front wheel. Consequently you were often carried on beyond your intentions. The bicycle was the swiftest thing upon the roads in those days, there were as yet no automobiles and the cyclist had a lordliness, a sense of masterful adventure, that has gone from him altogether now.”
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| H.G.Wells and his 2nd wife, Amy Catherine |
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| Map of Surrey, Principle setting of the novel |
Why Martians, one might ask. At the time of Wells writing there was a fascination with Mars. Percival Lowell was convinced he had found evidence of canals on the planet. An entire network in fact. He made detailed drawings of his observations and speculated on the inhabitants and their technology. Because they had created a global canal system to channel the melting polar ice to more arid regions of the planet, their technology must be superior in some, if not all, areas of endeavor. People in general came to think along the lines of Lowell's descriptions. This is not to say that other scientists believed or observed what Lowell described. His claims were widely disputed. While they eventually proved to be completely false in almost every way, nobody knew for sure at the time.
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| Lowell's Mars |
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| Germany's attempt to subjugate Britain, 1940 |
Be that as it may, the Britain Wells describes comes unraveled under the Martian onslaught. The population completely loses their collective "stiff upper lip" and chaos ensues. The idea of every man for himself grips the nation (at least the southeastern part). Railways are overtaxed. Authority loses its grip. Wells describes the constables beating citizens in frustration. Locomotive drivers plow their iron steeds through crowds of frightened citizens. Neighbors claw each other in their effort to escape the murderous horde threatening everyone. While some keep their heads many take to thievery, even murder to survive.
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| Polish Refugees, 1944 |
Wells also describes millions of refuges fleeing the southern counties, a sight that would be all too common in the 20th century. He shows us endless confused lines of desperate people with their own survival uppermost in their minds. The main character relates, through his brothers eyes, how he escaped to the coast of Essex. They reach safety, but only after paying exorbitant passage to opportunistic seamen. Wells uses this opportunity to show us that even the great and powerful Royal Navy is all but helpless against the aliens power. While one valiant ship and crew manages to sacrifice themselves to destroy two of the great machines, the balance of the fleet remains out of range of the Martians terrible weaponry.
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| The last stand of HMS Thunderchild |
The story also includes description of the invaders use of poisonous gas, something that would become a very real threat within the next twenty years. Mustard and other gases were used as anti personnel weapons during the first world war. This type of warfare was eventually outlawed. Its affects were terrifying, but the fact that it was indiscriminate probably carried more weight in the decision. It was totally uncontrollable in any breeze, so much so that even Adolf Hitler refused to use it. Fortunately for the Martians, their gas, labelled "black smoke" by its intended victims was better behaved. It flowed close to the ground in ominous coils. The height of the fighting machines kept the aliens well out of harms way. The gas was also easily neutralized with jets of steam, after which it fell to a perfectly harmless.powder.
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| Aftermath of gas attack, WWI |
Wells also predicts in a small way, the use of aircraft as a weapon. Though it is only mentioned almost in passing, the Martians develop a flying machine. In the scene were the brother escapes seaward to France, he witnesses a mysterious shape cross the twilight sky, apparently dispersing the black smoke as it flies The machine returns later when the primary character views his slain enemy from Primrose Hill. It sits, useless, in the great bivouac the Martians carve out in London surrounded by Martian corpses and idle machines. Had the aliens survived their demise they would have conquered all of humanity. The ability to ply the skies of Earth would have made them unstoppable. Fortunately for Britain and the rest of the world, this never happens.
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| Martian flying machine, War of the Worlds: Goliath |
The way Wells defeats his Martians is often criticized. Rather than have the nations of the world find a way to overthrow the enemy, the author uses microorganisms. The idea is that the Martians have no immunity whatsoever to any sort of infection, even the ones earthlings find harmless. The aliens essentially destroy themselves by exposing their bodies to the surrounding environment. In a broad sense, the invasion was over even before it started. Wells supposed the advanced race of Mars had eliminated disease and its agents centuries before. They had doomed themselves long before the attack on our world. This form of ending, called "ex machina" is considered by many a sort of cheat. The author calls on some superior force, natural or supernatural, to overcome his character's difficulty. While not as heavy handed as Stephen Kings climax in "The Stand", where the hand of God himself saves the day, the microbes of War of the Worlds are just as effective.
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| Randall Flaggs defeat at the hand of God |
Wells does leave his story open, however. The people of Earth now know they are not alone in the universe. Perhaps its only a matter of time before the same or other threats appear from the vastness of space. Like the end of the 1951 movie "The Thing" his readers are warned to "keep watching the skies".
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| A warning to all mankind |
