Ever since the Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device was patented in the year 1947, the world of videogames has been present in our history. Maybe not so much as what has happened with other forms of entertainment, such as cinema or sports, but they have been there for many years. With them, the fans have lived Link's adventures, we have seen Cloud trying to stop the meteorite that threatened to destroy the planet, we tried to help Gordon Freeman to stop the Combine, but we have alsos taken our time trying to introduce tetrominos in holes to form lines, helping our favourite plumber to find his princess or, simply, trying to hit a ball in such a way that the other player will not be able to reach it.
Alternative history offers many a possibility for the world of videogames, given the versatility of ideas it can propose. Normally, videogames based on the premise of a history that could have happened in some other way tends to be of the RTS (Real Time Strategy) type, in which the player controls a group of military (and some civilian) units in order to attempt to eliminate the enemy or keep control over a certain position, or of the Great Strategy type, where you control one nation and its armies and you must declare war or make deals with outer countries in order to gain supremacy, whether it is at a regional or a global level.
Another genre that is quite good for this thematics is that of the FPS (First Person Shooter), as developing the story's background is quite easy, as long as the main character's actions fit within the established parameters. For example, in the videogame saga Medal of Honor, most of whose games take place in World War II (although some of the latest have taken place in the Cold War or even in the nearby future), always have a soldier (or severals soldiers, each of which is controlled in a different battle) as the main character, and his mission tends to be to infiltrate the enemy lines, either to destroy an advanced position, free several prisoners or find plans pertaining to future attacks.
One of these videogames (one FPS) is the one that gives title to this post: Iron Storm, by 4X Studios.
The Point of Divergence in the game's background can be found in the Russian Revolution. In real life, this event, that started on November 1917 (the part about it being called Red October is because, at the time, the Russians were still using the Julian calendar, instead of the Gregorian calendar, which was later adopted by the Communist government), took place in answer to the government that had come out of the White Revolution of the previous February, who had been unable to fulfill the promise of getting out of the wildly unpopular Great War (First World War). The Red Revolution was successful in that it took control over the main power points, although between 1917 and 1921 Russia became involved in a brutal civil war, in which the allies of White Russia (France, United Kingdom, United States) tried to support Kerensky's government, but the aid sent was not enough to stop the Communists' advance, and the Communists would finally take full control of the country and establish the Soviet Union.
In Iron Storm, the First World War does not end in 1918, but the Central Powers manage to resist the Entente attacks until the 1920s, when Baron Nikolai Akexsandrovich von Ugenberg (based on a real person, Roman von Ungern-Sternberg), who manages to take over Mongolia and, from there, invade Russia and defeat the Bolsheviks, to later invade Germany and declare war both against the Entente and the Central Powers with the sole aim of establishing a Russo-Mongolian Empire from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This invasion is partially successful, as it manages to absorb most of the German Empire's remains, but lines finally stabilize across Germany in 1929. In the end, all the European territories that have yet to be taken by the Russo-Mongols (including the parts of Germany and Austria that have not been invaded) unify in one large nation, forming the United States of Western Europe in 1933. However, the chaotic economic situation forces the USWE to depend, economically and militarly, on the British Empire and the United States of America: actually, the Alliance army has been introduced in to the American stock trade, so private investors can now speculate with the lives of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers that are fighting the Russo-Mongolian Empire.
The game takes place in 1964, in the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Great War. Lieutenant James Anderson, born in 1924 from unknown parents (he is a war orphan) and one of the Allied Army's greatest legends, is sent to the front so that he can infiltrate the enemy lines and destroy a secret weapon research facility, because there are suspicions that the Russo-Mongolians could be working on a powerful weapon that would put an end to the conflict in their favour. For this mission, Anderson has to fight tirelessly, crossing several battlefields and killing the Empire's best soldiers in order to reach the laboratory. The lieutenant is captured, but he manages to escape and kill several scientists, discovering in the process that the weapon is the atomic bomb. After partially sabotaging the research and taking an armored train to Berlin, where he expects to be able to steal all the data pertaining to the atomic bomb.
However, when he arrives to the Imperial Palace, Anderson is forced to defend himself from several American Black-Ops soldiers, who have arrived there to kill everyone in the building. It is then that Anderson learns a terrifying truth: an organization of businessmen and military leaders known as the Consortium has been financing the Empire in order to prolong the conflict and profit from Europe's constant need for American material and war support. Anderson was sent in order to stop the nuclear weapon research because it would tip the balance in favour of the Russo-Mongolians and put an end to the war, which is something that the Consortium does want. Ugenberg, angered for this betrayal, tells Mitchell, the American Black-Ops commander (and also the commander that sent Anderson into the mission), that he now intends to make peace with the USWE, to leave behind the legacy of a peacemaker instead of that of a conqueror, but Mitchell kills him. Anderson then tries to stop Mitchell, knowing that this might be the only chance to stop the war, but he is unsuccessful and dies. The game ends with a televised Russian news report that states that Ugenberg was killed by Allied troops, and that the war would continue in his name, followed by a sentence that, even nowadays, makes much sense for everyone:
There is no greater naivety than the belief in the patriotism of capital. A capitalist may be a patriot, capital is not.Well, there, that is another part of culture that I have spoken about. I think I am only missing comics, manga and tabletop games. Once again, if there is some specific matter you want me to write about (whether it is something from culture, a technical term or an historical event), do not doubt in asking about it.
See you next Tuesday!
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