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The Short Victorious War is the third book of David Weber's series of novels and short stories chronicling the adventures of Honor Harrington. It was first published in 1994.
Timeframe: 1904 PD – May 1905 PD
Cover Summary[]
- The families who rule the People's Republic of Haven are in trouble. The treasury's empty, the Proles are restless, and civil war is imminent.
- But the ruling class knows what they need to keep in power: another short, victorious war to unite the people and fill the treasury once more. It's a card they've played often in the last half-century, always successfully, and all that stands in their way is the Star Kingdom of Manticore and its threadbare allies. Enemies who in the past have always backed down.
- Only this time the peeps face something different. This time they're up against Captain Honor Harrington and a Royal Manticoran Navy that's prepared to give them a war that's far from short... and anything but victorious
Plot[]
The People's Republic of Haven finds itself teetering at the edge of economic disaster. Unable to maintain its massive welfare state in the face of inflation and deficit and with opposition to the government getting bolder, the leaders of the People's Republic decide to resort to war against the Star Kingdom of Manticore. A short, victorious war, they believe, will both distract the proles from their current economic problems and allow them to use the riches of the Manticore system to prop up their wellfare state.
Meanwhile Honor returns to duty after injuries she sustained at Yeltsin's Star, to command the brand-new battlecruiser HMS Nike, the pride of the Royal Manticoran Navy, with some of her old crew aboard and her old friend Michelle Henke as Executive Officer. But on their way to her post, the engineers of the Nike discover a flaw in one of her fusion reactors, which hampers her first operational deployment to the critical Manticoran base at Hancock Station. Honor spends the time her ship is in dock by beginning her first real romantic relationship with Hancock Station senior officer, Captain (JG) Paul Tankersley.
The Havenites' plan is to launch probing missions on Manticoran Alliance members to push the Alliance into re-deploying its forces to create weak points and allow them to strike at Manticore directly. They are aided greatly in this through the use of project Argus, stealth sensor platforms purchased from the Solarian League and planted to watch the movements of Manticoran forces. When Admiral Mark Sarnow's superior deploys most of Hancock Station's ships to other star systems to guard against further Havenite provocation, the Argus net allows the Havenites to see this weakness in the Manticore position, and they decide to attack Hancock Station in force.
Honor joins Admiral Sarnow's fleet alongside her old enemy, Captain Pavel Young. With most of the Royal Manticoran Navy deployed elsewhere to prevent the Havenite provocations, Honor and Sarnow find themselves forced to defend Hancock Station from a vastly superior Havenite armada. With the help of Honor's unorthodox tactics, the task force is able to hold off the Havenites for long enough for reinforcements to arrive. In the final stages of the First Battle of Hancock, Captain Young's cowardice nearly costs Honor her life when he disobeys orders and flees the defensive formation protecting the wounded Nike.
After the battle, Young is removed from command and placed under arrest to be court-martialed on Manticore. Captain Tankersley is promoted to Captain of the List and is to be re-assigned to HMSS Hephaestus as its deputy constructor.
After the first disastrous battles of the war, three Havenite revolutionaries, Rob S. Pierre, Oscar Saint-Just, and Cordelia Ransom, lead an overthrow of the Legislaturalist government, killing Hereditary President Sidney Harris and nearly his entire government with an air strike during his birthday celebration using People's Navy shuttles. Blaming the killings on the Navy, Pierre and his collaborators use the fear of a possible military coup to form a Committee of Public Safety in the People's Quorum, their stated intent to rule the People's Republic "until a new government can be formed". Shortly thereafter, the Committee of Public Safety begins a purge of senior military officers and political figures to cement their rule.
Background[]
A short scene depicting a Havenite raid on a Manticoran convoy introduces the reader to Anton Zilwicki and his daughter Helen, two characters who will become very important to the Honorverse years later.
Starting in this novel, David Weber changes the spelling of the Havenite government from "Legislaturist" to "Legislaturalist".
References[]
Characters[]
Haskel Abernathy | Emily Alexander | Hamish Alexander | William Alexander | Avshari | Iris Babcock | Isabella Banton | Theresa Beasley | Mudhafer Ben-Fazal | Ronald Bergren | Henri Bordeaux | Mark Brentworth | Vincent Capra | Rafael Cardones | Joseph Cartwright | Cavendish | Evelyn Chandler | Thomas Caparelli | Genevieve Chin | Constanza | Ernestine Corell | Lucien Cortez | Raoul Courvosier | Sebastian D'Orville | Lucy Danvers | Marguerite Daumier | George de la Sangliere | Francis DeSoto | Dournet | Elaine Dumarest | Eisenbrei | Walter Frankel | Patricia Givens | Gregory | Eric Grossman | Guzman | Al Hale | Jack Hardesty | Harding | Alfred Harrington | Allison Chou Harrington | Honor Harrington | Sidney Harris | Hartley | Klaus Hauptman | Sonja Hemphill | Edward Henke | Michelle Henke | Ed Holcombe | Arthur Houseman | Reginald Houseman | Mark Hurston | Edward Janacek | Jasper | Duncan Jessup | Everett Kanamashi | Klein | Christa Konstanzakis | Sarah Longtree | MacDougal | James MacGuiness | Wesley Matthews | Francine Maurier | McAllister | Alistair McKeon | George Monet | Fritz Montoya | Nimitz | Seamus O'Donnell | Zebediah O'Malley | Charlotte Oselli | Constance Palmer-Levy | Cal Panokulous | Yancey Parks | Amos Parnell | Parsons | Edward Pierre | Robert Pierre | Jack Prentis | Ivan Ravicz | Cordelia Ransom | Reardon | Rogers | Yuri Rollins | Edward Saganami | Mark Sarnow | Simpkins | Singh | Allen Summervale | Paul Tankersley | Trent | Alice Truman | Tyrel | Uborevich | Stephen Van Slyke | Weaver | James Webster | Samuel Webster | Elizabeth III | Arlene Wolversham | Dimitri Young | Pavel Young | Yuranovich | Anton Zilwicki | Helen Zilwicki Senior | Helen Zilwicki Junior
Starships[]
Grayson Space Navy
GNS Jason Alvarez | GNS Raoul Courvosier | GNS Yanakov |
Royal Manticoran Navy
LAC 113 | HMS Achilles | HMS Agamemnon | HMS Athena | HMS Bellerophon | HMS Cassandra | HMS Defiant | HMS Fearless (CA-286) | HMS Gryphon | HMS Havoc | HMS Hotspur | HMS Intolerant | HMS Irresistable | HMS Invincible | HMS Manticore | HMS Nike (BC-09) | HMS Nike (BC-01) | HMS Nike (BC-413) | HMS Onslaught | HMS Queen Elizabeth I | HMS Star Knight | HMS Troubadour | HMS Turbulent | HMS Warlock | RMMS Carnarvon | RMMS Queensland
People's Navy
PNS Alexander | PNS Kopesh | PNS Napoleon | PNS New Boston | PNS Saladin | PNS Selim
Others
Stations[]
DuQuesne Base | Hancock Station | HMSS Hephaestus | Klein Station | Seaford Nine Base
Star systems[]
Alizon | Aphid | Asgard | Barnett | Basilisk | Candor | Casca | Chelsea | Clairmont | Clearaway | Doreas | Durandel | Endicott | Enki | Erewhon | Gemini | Gregor | Grendelsbane | Hancock | Hannah's Star | Haven | Manticore | Matapan | Mendoza | Minette | Minora | Nanda | New Berlin | Phoenix | Poicters | Quentin | Quest | Ralko | Reevesport | Santander | Seaford Nine | Sigma Draconis | Silesia | Solway | Suchien | Talbot | Talisman | Trevor's Star | Yalta | Yeltsin's Star | Yorik | Zanzibar | Zuckerman
Nations[]
- Caliphate of Zanzibar
- Protectorate of Grayson
- Republic of Candor
- People's Republic of Haven
- Silesian Confederacy
- Solarian League
- Star Kingdom of Manticore
Battles[]
- Battle of Blackbird
- Battle of Carson
- Battle of Poicters
- Battle of Talbot
- First Battle of Basilisk
- First Battle of Hancock
- First Battle of Yeltsin's Star
Other[]
Admiralty | aircar | almond | astrography | Barony of Morncreek | Basic Living Stipend | Basilisk Terminus | Battle Squadron 8 | Battlecruiser Division 53 | Battlecruiser Squadron 5 | Battlecruiser Squadron 14 | Battlecruiser Squadron 15 | Beer | Beta Belt | Bureau of Medicine | Bureau of Mental Hygiene | Bureau of Planning | Bureau of Psychology | Bureau of Ships | Celery | Centrist Party | Chancellor of the Exchequer | Chief of Naval Operations (Haven) | Citizens' Rights Union | Cocoa | Coffee | Commanding Officers Board | Conspicuous Gallantry Medal | Copperwalls | Coup de Vitesse | crown oak | Delacourt | Destroyer | Distinguished Service Order | Dolist | Duvalier City | Earldom of North Hollow | Earldom of White Haven | Earth | Fedora | Fifth Space Lord | First Lord of the Admiralty | First Space Lord | Frisbee | Grayson Space Navy | Gryphon | hang gliding | Hauptman Cartel | Heavy cruiser | Heavy Cruiser Squadron 17 | Hereditary President | Holodrama | Home Fleet | Hopewell Field | Inertial compensator | Light cruiser | Manticoran Alliance | Manticore Colony, LTD | Manticore Cross | Manticore Wormhole Junction | Masada | Mental Hygiene Police | Ministry of Public Health | Monarch's Thanks Medal | NavInt | New Bavaria | New Geneva | Nouveau Paris | Octagon | ONI | Order of King Roger | Orient | Otter | People's Navy | People's Quorum | picket wood | President's Day | Presidential Security Force | Prime Minister | Promenade of the People | Queen's Cup | Reliant class | Rochelle Tower | Royal Manticoran Marine Corps | Royal Manticoran Naval Academy | Royal Manticoran Navy | Secretary of the Economy | Secretary of Education | Secretary of Public Information | Secretary of War | Soccer | Sphinx | Sphinx albatross | Star of Grayson | stim tab | Talisman System | Tannerman Ocean | Treecat | Western Hemisphere | White Command Beret | Wine | Zanzibar | Zanzibar Liberation Front | Zanzibar Liberation Front Navy | Zanzibar System Navy
External links[]
- The Short Victorious War at the Baen Free Library
- The Short Victorious War on Wikipedia
| Honorverse Non-Fiction | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Book Companions | Ad Astra Companions | ||
| HOS | House of Steel Companion | SOTF | Ships of the Fleet Calendars |
| HOSH | House of Shadows Companion | SITS | Saganami Island Tactical Simulator |
| HOL | House of Lies Companion | ||
| Jayne's Intelligence Review | Jayne's Fighting Ships of the Galaxy | ||
| JIR1 | The Royal Manticoran Navy | SB1 | Ship Book 1: The Havenite Sector |
| JIR2 | The Havenite Republican Navy | SB2 | Ship Book 2: The Silesian Confederacy |
| JIR3 | The Silesian Confederate Navy | SB3 | Ship Book 3: The Short Victorious War |