Wikia


Name:	The Short Victorious War
Author:	David Weber
Publisher:	Baen Books
Publication Date:	1994
ISBN:	0743435737
Series:	Main Series
Previous:	The Honor of the Queen
Next:	Field of Dishonor

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 SummaryEdit

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 alway 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 Edit

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 Mantircore 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 Edit

A short scene depicting a Havenite raid on a Manticoran convoy introduces Anton Zilwicki and his daughter Helen, two characters who will become very important to the Honorverse years later, to the reader.

Starting in this novel, David Weber changes the spelling of the Havenite government from "Legislaturist" to "Legislaturalist".

ReferencesEdit

CharactersEdit

StarshipsEdit

Royal Manticoran Navy

People's Navy

PNS Alexander | PNS Kopesh | PNS Napoleon | PNS New Boston | PNS Saladin

StationsEdit

DuQuesne Base | HMSS Hephaestus | Klein Station

Star systemsEdit

NationsEdit

Battles Edit

First Battle of Hancock

OtherEdit

External links Edit

The Short Victorious War at the Baen Free Library
The Short Victorious War on Wikipedia

Main Honor Harrington series
HH1	On Basilisk Station	HH8	Echoes of Honor
HH2	The Honor of the Queen	HH9	Ashes of Victory
HH3	The Short Victorious War	HH10	War of Honor
HH4	Field of Dishonor	HH11	At All Costs
HH5	Flag in Exile	HH12	Mission of Honor
HH6	Honor Among Enemies	HH13	A Rising Thunder
HH7	In Enemy Hands	HH14	Shadow of Freedom
Spin off Series
Crown of Slaves		Saganami Island
CS1	Crown of Slaves	SI1	The Shadow of Saganami
CS2	Torch of Freedom	SI2	Storm from the Shadows
Star Kingdom
SK1	A Beautiful Friendship	SK3	Treecat Wars
SK2	Fire Season
Anthologies
HHA1	More Than Honor	HHA4	The Service of the Sword
HHA2	Worlds of Honor	HHA5	In Fire Forged
HHA3	Changer of Worlds	HHA6	Beginnings