GURPS WWII: Weird War II cover
The era leading to WWII was what is known as the golden age of science fiction with Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers being two of the more familiar characters.
Science and Strategy[]
While technology had always been used in warfare military leaders were now treating science and technology as strategic resources. Partly inspired by science fiction stories new weapons, vehicles, and methods of surveillance and communication were developed. Some of these innovations would exist in a TL(6+1) setting and one can even postulate a Steamkrieg (Steampunk) TL(5+1) WWII.
Genetic Fantasies[]
While much is made of the Nazi eugenic programs the reality is because they were looking to create a race with overall superiority rather then rather than superiority in a single trait or freedom from a single bad trait that their programs were doomed from the start.
The Soviet Union fell pray to a different type of thinking: Lysenkoism or the inherence of acquired characteristics. This like the Nazis' ideas was a road to nowhere.
Blue Sky Projects[]
The term Blue Sky Project was used for scientific research whose where "real-world" applications were not immediately apparent. The Manhattan Project and Vengeance programs are two of the more famous Blue Sky Projects of WWII.
Masters of the Future[]
WWII saw the improvements of technology at an almost dizzying pace. Computers went from analog to digital, a concept that lead to hyperlinks and the modern World Wide Web (Memex), and Atomic research produced both the bomb and atomic power[1]
UNIT 731[]
Unit 731 was the Imperial Japanese Army's biological and chemical warfare research and development division. Its head Shiro Ishii has many of the traits of a cinematic “mad scientist”. He is served by large numbers of obedient flunkies – Japanese army recruits who would have been harshly punished had they thought of defying his orders. He saw his human subjects as experimental animals ala Doctor Moreau.
Psychotronic Research[]
The investigations of psionic abilities goes back to the 19th century but each of the players in WWII had their own views on the matter. J.B. Rhine's research put enough doubt regarding ESP in the US that the US Army was more interested in his knowledge regarding the military use of hypnosis than any use of ESP.
Nazi Germany used Carl Jung's ideas (such as the collective unconscious) to support their own views.
The Soviet Union’s psychic research was effectively dissolved in the late 1930s by Stalin.
Der Raumkrieg[]
Section on rocketry with snapshots regarding the contributions and work of Von Braun and Robert Goddard.
Note[]
Statistics for various vehicles real and fantastic are also provided.
References[]
- ↑ H.G. Wells' 1914 World Set Free predicted not only the discovery of atomic fission but the atomic bomb as well. Robert Heinlein’s 1941 science-fiction story “Solution Unsatisfactory” proposes the concept of "dirty" atomic bombs (designed to cover the area with radioactive material)