The Domination

The Domination is a dystopian alternate history trilogy written by SM Stirling[?]. The world of The Domination diverges from our world at the time of the American Revolutionary War, when the Netherlands declares war on the UK, resulting in the loss of its Cape Colony to the British. After defeat, the Loyalists who historically went to Canada are instead moved to the new Crown Colony of Drakia in South Africa. The Crown Colony of Drakia (later, the Dominion of Draka) is an aggressive militaristic slave-owning society reinforced over the course of the 19th century by Icelanders, French royalists, defeated American Confederates and other reactionary refugees.

Over 90% of the Dominion's population are slaves (officially referred to as 'serfs' to get around the British Empire's ban on slavery). In fact the entire Drakan society, from sex to the economy, is based on slavery. The Dominion draws substantially from the ideology of Friedrich Nietzsche and can be viewed as an "Anti-America" - in the sense that the Draka started off as a similar society to the Americans, but evolved along opposite lines. While the United States had slavery, even slave-holders had to pay lip-service to the American values of liberty and equality, and the contradiction was eventually resolved by the American Civil War. The Draka, on the other hand are 'honest thieves' who unlike historical Western imperialists (who hypocritically justified their conquests as to be consistent with their values of freedom and equality), totally reject notions of equality and fervently believe they have a right to enslave inferior peoples. Because the Draka are so heavily outnumbered, meaning that a general slave rebellion could well mean their extermination, the Draka are utterly ruthless. Impalement is the favoured Draka method of executing rebellious slaves.

By 1900 the Draka have conquered and enslaved all of Africa, while the United States has conquered the entire North American continent and incorporated Hawaii and the Philippines as states.

In World War I the Dominion of the Draka loyally joins the Allied side, and conquers the Ottoman Empire, before declaring independence from Britain, renaming itself the Domination of the Draka. It then takes advantage of the Russian Civil War to take over much of Central Asia, and partitions China with the Japanese Empire.

At this stage, under the influence of Draka philosophers such as Elvira Naldorssen, the traditional Draka white-supremacism is replaced by Draka-supremacism, with the Draka viewing all of non-Drakan humanity as their cattle. Elvira explains the ideology of the Domination, the utter amorality of which will lead enemies of the Draka to refer to them as 'Snakes':

"...so the Draka are not different from other peoples because they violate the Golden Rule or Bentham's derivative idolatry 'the greatest good for the greatest number'. Everyone does. We do not violate them, we reject them.

Others have conquered and ruled; we alone conquer for conquest's sake and Dominate for no other purpose than Domination itself; the name we half- consciously chose for our state is no accident. We, and we alone have spoken aloud the Great Secret; that the root function of all human society is the production and reproduction of power - and that power is the ability to compel others to do your will against theirs. It is end, not means. The purpose of Power is Power.

The Draka will conquer the world for two reasons; because we must and because we can. And yet of the two forces the second is the greater; we do this because we choose to do it. By the sovereign Will and force of arms the Draka will rule the Earth, and in so doing remake themselves. We shall conquer and beat the Nations of the Earth into the dust and reforge them in our self wrought Image; the Final Society without weakness or mercy, hard and pure. Our descendents will walk the hillside of that future, innocent beneath the stars, with no more between them and their naked will than a wolf has. THEN there will be Gods in the Earth."

The first book of the series "Marching Through Georgia" is a war story set during the Eurasian War, the Domination timeline's equivalent of World War II. Due to the additional danger of invasion on its southern border by the Domination, the Soviet Union was unable to resist the Nazi invasion. Now the Draka Domination has attacked the Third Reich in the Caucasus region.

After losing the entire Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, with the States of Hawaii and the Philippines under Japanese occupation, and fighting a desperate battle to expel a Japanese invasion of the mainland, the United States is totally unable to open a second front in Europe, while alliance with the Nazis against the Draka is unthinkable due to the Holocaust against the Jews. As a result, once the United States eventually defeats Japan, the Draka have conquered all of mainland Europe and most of Asia. One of the most powerful and horrific aspects of "Marching Through Georgia" is many readers will find themselves rooting for the Nazis, who try in vain to defend Europe against an even more evil enemy.

The second book "Under the Yoke" takes place in a Europe enslaved by the Draka. By now the United States has set up the "Alliance for Democracy", an economic and military union of the 11 remaining free countries - the United States, the countries of South America, the UK, Japan, India, and South-east Asian and Australasian Federations.

The Alliance secret service, the OSS is attempting to keep a resistance movement alive in Europe, but this is impossible in the face of Draka ruthlessness. In 1952, when a slave rebellion takes over the city of Barcelona, the Draka destroy the city with a thermonuclear bomb.

The third book "The Stone Dogs" tells the story of the Protracted Struggle - the ultra-nasty Cold War between the Domination of the Draka and the Alliance for Democracy. There is a far more intense space race in this world, with colonies and military bases established on the Moon, on Mars and in the asteroid belt.

In the 1970's, just as in our world, there is a major setback for the Free World. An OSS covert operation, designed to discredit a Hindu nationalist party and keep India in the Alliance, backfires as the Draka assassinate the Indian president and plant a suicide note implicating the OSS in the scandal. As a result India secedes from the Alliance - and is conqueed and enslaved by the Draka within weeks (except Burma, which counter-seceded and rejoined the Alliance). After the 'Indian Incident' the sovereignty of individual Alliance members is formally abolished.

The Domination's supply of slaves which permit it to perform human vivisection gives it an advantage in the biological sciences, while the Alliance has the edge in physics and computer technology. Both sides develop their respective super-weapons to gain advantage for the inevitable thermonuclear war...

[Timeline of the world of the Domination (http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/eagle18/nightmares)]

[A criticism of the Draka series (http://www.alternatehistory.com/gateway/analyses/Drakaproblems)]