<P> The omniscient author--whose point of view is that of a future historian documenting the war and its aftermath--reveals information not available to Bert . The German assault on the US had bypassed Germany's European rivals, whose air fleets were considered too puny to constitute a threat, with the intention of totally dominating them once the Americans had been subdued . However, the alarmed United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy pooled their aerial resources into a single strong force, passed through Swiss airspace after destroying that country's own flying machines, and devastated Hamburg and Berlin . The Germans mobilised a counter-attack which destroyed London and Paris, but then, as in America, the feuding Europeans were faced with an enormous attack from Asia . </P> <P> The Asiatic fleet had attacked a combined Anglo - Indian aerial force, captured the Burmese airfields, Australia, and the Pacific islands . They then struck westwards, capturing the Middle East and South Africa and starting to build airships at Cairo, Damascus and Johannesburg . Moving further northwards, they soon reached Armenia and then defeating the German forces in the Battle of the Carpathians before attacking Western Europe . </P> <P> A global financial collapse is caused by hostile nations freezing assets, and the end of the credit system . This is referred to as "the Panic," which is followed by "The Purple Death ." The War in the Air, the Panic, and the Purple Death bring about "(w) ithin the space of five years" a total collapse of "the whole fabric of civilisation ." But Bert Smallways, fixated on his amorous attachment, returns home after many adventures to kill a rival and win the hand of his beloved Edna; they marry and have eleven children . We are assured in the final chapter that "our present world state, orderly, scientific, and secured," is eventually established, but the novel reverts to the ensuing fortunes of the Smallways family as England relapses into a sort of an agricultural barbaric age . </P> <P> The story was written in 1907 and depicts a war happening in the late 1910s--then a future history, which can be considered as a retroactive alternate history . The basic assumption behind the plot is that immediately after the Wright Brothers's first successful flight in 1903, all of the world's major powers became aware of the decisive strategic importance of air power, and embarked on a secret arms race to develop this power (there is a reference to the Wright Brothers themselves disappearing from public view, having been recruited for a secret military project of the US Government--as were other aviation pioneers in their own respective countries). The general public is virtually unaware of this arms race, until it finally bursts out in a vastly destructive war which destroys civilisation . </P>

H g wells the war in the air