After What Date Would the Martians Have Lost, in H. G. Wells's famous story?
I’m not going to get into the debate around the exact date H G Wells set his 'War of the Worlds'; let’s just call it the early 1900s.
Assuming the Martian's technology stayed the same, what’s the last date they could have reasonably been expected to win, as human military technology improved over the twentieth century? This discussion is based on the original book, not on any of the more recent adaptions.
The Martians have two primary weapons; the ‘Heat-Ray’ and gas shells; the latter is short-range. They are also described as having a steam generator to clear the gas. But that’s not really a weapon.
Another common misconception is that the Martians never conquered the whole world; in fact, they never controlled more than the Southern half of Britain.
It’s not defined in the book, but what was the probable effective range of the ‘Heat-Ray’? – We know it must be in a straight line – Even with the height elevation of a tripod, could it be more than 3 miles? Which is the average distance to the horizon, it’s a line-of-sight-weapon. It is another side point that the ‘Heat-Ray’ in the book could have been one of the first references to a laser in fiction. It’s described as being a collection of mirrors that focused the heat.
An artillery piece, certainly by WW1, had a much greater range. Approximately double the range of a Martian ‘Heat-Ray’. It is related that a battery of guns did destroy a Tripod, this then leads to the Martians deploying their gas weapon.
The first significant use of gas was in 1915; gas masks were common in the later part of WW1, they would have neutralised the Martian gas bombs. How effective WW1 tanks would have been is hard to gauge. I doubt they would have been very useful; they were probably too slow. Although against the ‘metal tentacles’ they may have been effective.
What about aircraft? It is doubtful that the small number of planes would have made much difference against the Martians. The planes were slow-moving and very vulnerable to the ‘Heat-ray’. They may have been able to work as spotters for artillery, if they could get enough altitude to be out of range. Another possibility would have been a dirigible, taking a bag of highly flammable hydrogen into battle against an enemy equipped with a ‘Heat-ray’; what could possibly go wrong?
However, a Royal Navy warship, ‘Thunder Child, ’ inflicts significant damage on a group of tripods. The range of WW1 warship's main guns could have targeted the Martians at some 25 miles distant. How accurate they could be at that range is hard to estimate. Could they have hit anything as small as a tripod? But clearly, their range would have restricted the Martians to inland areas.
So, by WW1, the Martians would have lost, assuming all the details of Wells's book are the same.
It is interesting that Wells wrote/set his book in the 15-year window when it could have happened and not years later. In many of Well’s stories his predictions of the future were almost prophetic.
In the next article, I will consider a broader question: Is an alien invasion even possible? Let’s ask the experts, by which, of course, I mean sci-fi writers.
Assuming the Martian's technology stayed the same, what’s the last date they could have reasonably been expected to win, as human military technology improved over the twentieth century? This discussion is based on the original book, not on any of the more recent adaptions.
The Martians have two primary weapons; the ‘Heat-Ray’ and gas shells; the latter is short-range. They are also described as having a steam generator to clear the gas. But that’s not really a weapon.
Another common misconception is that the Martians never conquered the whole world; in fact, they never controlled more than the Southern half of Britain.
It’s not defined in the book, but what was the probable effective range of the ‘Heat-Ray’? – We know it must be in a straight line – Even with the height elevation of a tripod, could it be more than 3 miles? Which is the average distance to the horizon, it’s a line-of-sight-weapon. It is another side point that the ‘Heat-Ray’ in the book could have been one of the first references to a laser in fiction. It’s described as being a collection of mirrors that focused the heat.
An artillery piece, certainly by WW1, had a much greater range. Approximately double the range of a Martian ‘Heat-Ray’. It is related that a battery of guns did destroy a Tripod, this then leads to the Martians deploying their gas weapon.
The first significant use of gas was in 1915; gas masks were common in the later part of WW1, they would have neutralised the Martian gas bombs. How effective WW1 tanks would have been is hard to gauge. I doubt they would have been very useful; they were probably too slow. Although against the ‘metal tentacles’ they may have been effective.
What about aircraft? It is doubtful that the small number of planes would have made much difference against the Martians. The planes were slow-moving and very vulnerable to the ‘Heat-ray’. They may have been able to work as spotters for artillery, if they could get enough altitude to be out of range. Another possibility would have been a dirigible, taking a bag of highly flammable hydrogen into battle against an enemy equipped with a ‘Heat-ray’; what could possibly go wrong?
However, a Royal Navy warship, ‘Thunder Child, ’ inflicts significant damage on a group of tripods. The range of WW1 warship's main guns could have targeted the Martians at some 25 miles distant. How accurate they could be at that range is hard to estimate. Could they have hit anything as small as a tripod? But clearly, their range would have restricted the Martians to inland areas.
So, by WW1, the Martians would have lost, assuming all the details of Wells's book are the same.
It is interesting that Wells wrote/set his book in the 15-year window when it could have happened and not years later. In many of Well’s stories his predictions of the future were almost prophetic.
In the next article, I will consider a broader question: Is an alien invasion even possible? Let’s ask the experts, by which, of course, I mean sci-fi writers.
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