Fall of Giants

Last updated

Fall of Giants
Fall of Giants.jpg
First edition cover
Author Ken Follett
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
SeriesCentury Trilogy
Genre Historical Novel
Publisher Pan Macmillan
Publication date
2010-09-28
Media typePrint (paperback and hardcover) Ebook Audiobook.
PagesHardcover, 1008 pp
ISBN 0-525-95165-2
Followed by Winter of the World  

Fall of Giants is a 2010 historical novel by Welsh author Ken Follett. It is the first part of the Century Trilogy which follows five interrelated families throughout the course of the 20th century. The first book covers notable events such as World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage. [1] The sequel Winter of the World covers World War II and was published on September 18, 2012. The third book, Edge of Eternity , covers the Cold War and was published in 2014.

Contents

Plot summary

The novel begins with the thirteen-year-old Billy Williams, nicknamed 'Billy-with-Jesus', going to work his first day in the coal mine underneath the fictional Welsh town of Aberowen in 1911.

Three years later, the main story begins. Edward "Fitz" Fitzherbert, Earl Fitzherbert, who maintains a country estate in Aberowen and licenses the land on which the coal mine is built, hosts a party for many powerful people around the world. His guests include:

Major characters introduced after the party include Grigori and Lev Peshkov, two Russian orphans who work in a locomotive factory and have personal reasons to hold a grudge against Princess Bea and the rest of the Russian royal family. Grigori and Lev's father was executed by Bea's aristocratic family for alleged improper grazing of cattle on Bea's family's land.

The overall theme of the novel revolves around common people trying, and many times succeeding, in throwing off the yokes so often placed on them by a society (largely focused on Britain and Russia) dominated by the landed aristocracy.

There are several key themes linking facets in world history at this point. They include the causes of the First World War, the collapse of the Russian Empire, and Germany's role in the continuance of a bloody war that led to its economic collapse and the postwar rise of Hitler.

Regarding Russian history, Follett portrays Lenin's role in the rise of the Bolsheviks as a ploy of the German intelligence service as an attempt to divide and conquer Russian resistance on the Eastern Front. He does not clearly explain the rise of Stalin as Lenin died. This may be better explained in the second volume (he does this at about page 500 of volume 2, which seems to understate the role of Stalin in Europe and US history).

Throughout the novel, several chapters are devoted to the rise of women's rights in Britain and role of the Labour Party in promoting issues affecting worker safety following a mining accident in Wales.

Through these chapters, Follett displays the considerable differences in social status of the miners and the owners of the mines in quality of life, health and education. With tragic accuracy, he reviews the misery and suffering of soldiers in the trenches of the Western Front, including, poison gas, futile charges against artillery and machine gun posts etc. as the war continues, thousands are slain and the so-called leaders continue to promote it as a victorious exercise. He focuses on how industrial interests on both sides benefited from the war, continuing it as factory production went up and the dead were brought back to England.

The book explores the background of Germany at the time, the costs of their endless efforts to "win" leading to a loss that later was cause for a forlorn corporal, Adolf Hitler, to seek his own revenge for the economic devastation of Germany under the Treaty of Versailles.

The characters and their extended families find their fortunes changing for the better and for the worse due to both their interactions with each other and the effects of the First World War.

In the course of the book, virtually all female characters get pregnant with or without being married and give birth to one or two children. These will be teenagers in the 1930s and young adults during the Second World War, and will be the main characters of the series' second book.

Critical reception

The book received generally positive reviews, lauding the extensive historical research that has been intertwined into the narrative. [2] [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leon Trotsky</span> Russian Marxist revolutionary (1879–1940)

Lev Davidovich Bronstein, better known as Leon Trotsky, was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, journalist, political theorist and founder of the Red Army. He was a central figure in the October Revolution, Russian Civil War, and the establishment of the Soviet Union. Alongside Vladimir Lenin, Trotsky was widely considered the most prominent Soviet figure and his de facto, second-in-command during the early years of the Russian Soviet Republic. Ideologically a Marxist and a Leninist, Trotsky's thought and writings inspired a school of Marxism known as Trotskyism.

Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most socialist governments throughout the 20th century. Developed in Russia by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, Soviet satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various countries in the Non-Aligned Movement and Third World during the Cold War, as well as the Communist International after Bolshevisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikolai Bukharin</span> Soviet revolutionary and politician (1888–1938)

Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and Marxist theorist. A prolific author on economic theory, Bukharin was a prominent Bolshevik and was active in the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1917 until his purge in the 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politburo</span> Executive committee of a communist party

A politburo or political bureau is the highest political organ of the central committee in communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian Revolution</span> Political events starting in 1917

The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social change in the Russian Empire, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government following two successive revolutions and a bloody civil war. The Russian Revolution can also be seen as the precursor for the other European revolutions that occurred during or in the aftermath of World War I, such as the German Revolution of 1918–1919.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Follett</span> British bestseller novelist

Kenneth Martin Follett, is a Welsh author of thrillers and historical novels who has sold more than 160 million copies of his works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stakhanovite movement</span> Soviet work ethos equating labor with heroism

The Stakhanovite movement was a mass cultural movement of workers which originated in the Soviet Union, and encouraged socialist emulation and rationalization of workplace processes. The Stakhanovites (стаха́новцы) modeled themselves after Alexei Stakhanov, a coal miner, and took pride in their ability to produce more than was required by working harder and more efficiently, thus contributing to the common good and strengthening the socialist state. The movement began in the coal industry but later spread to many other industries in the Soviet Union. Initially popular, it eventually encountered resistance as the increased productivity led to increased demands on workers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist International</span> Political organization (1919–1943)

The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was an international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism, and which was led and controlled by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress in 1920 to "struggle by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and the creation of an international soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the state". The Comintern was preceded by the dissolution of the Second International in 1916.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko</span> Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary and diplomat

Vladimir Alexandrovich Antonov-Ovseenko, real surname Ovseenko, party aliases 'Bayonet' (Штык) and 'Nikita' (Никита), literary pseudonym A. Galsky, was a prominent Bolshevik leader, Soviet statesman, military commander, and diplomat.

The 7th (extraordinary) Congress of the RSDLP(b) (Russian Social Democratic Labor Party), also known as the Extraordinary 7th Congress of the RCP(b) (Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)), was held between 6–8 March 1918. During this congress the Bolsheviks changed the name of the party to include the word "Communist".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Stalin's rise to power</span> Events leading to his dictatorship of the Soviet Union

Joseph Stalin started his career as a radical student, becoming an influential member and eventually the leader of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. He served as the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1953.

<i>Winter of the World</i> 2012 novel by Ken Follett

Winter of the World is a historical novel written by the Welsh-born author Ken Follett, published in 2012. It is the second book in the Century Trilogy. Revolving about a family saga that covers the interrelated experiences of American, Russian, German and British families during the 20th century, the novel follows the second generation of those families, born to the main characters of the first novel, Fall of Giants, and is followed by a further generation of those families in the third and final book in the series, Edge of Eternity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grigory Zinoviev</span> Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician (1883–1936)

Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. An Old Bolshevik, Zinoviev was a prominent figure in the leadership of the early Soviet Union and served as chairman of the Communist International (Comintern) from 1919 to 1926.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lev Kamenev</span> Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician (1883–1936)

Lev Borisovich Kamenev was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexei Rykov</span> Premier of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1930

Alexei Ivanovich Rykov was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician and statesman, most prominent as premier of Russia and the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1929 and 1924 to 1930 respectively. He was one of the accused in Joseph Stalin's show trials during the Great Purge.

The Case of the Anti-Soviet "Bloc of Rightists and Trotskyites", also known as the Trial of the Twenty-One, was the last of the three public Moscow trials charging prominent Bolsheviks with espionage and treason. The Trial of the Twenty-One took place in Moscow in March 1938, towards the end of the Soviet Great Purge.

The Moscow trials were a series of show trials held by the Soviet Union between 1936 and 1938 at the instigation of Joseph Stalin. They were nominally directed against "Trotskyists" and members of "Right Opposition" of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

  1. The "Case of the Trotskyite–Zinovievite Terrorist Center" ;
  2. The "Case of the Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Center" ; and
  3. The "Case of the Anti-Soviet 'Bloc of Rightists and Trotskyites'".

The 12th-century ruler Empress Matilda has been depicted in various cultural media.

<i>Edge of Eternity</i> (novel) 2014 book by Ken Follett

Edge of Eternity is a historical and family saga novel by Welsh-born author Ken Follett, published in 2014. It is the third book in the Century Trilogy, after Fall of Giants and Winter of the World.

<i>Foundations of Leninism</i> 1924 publication written by Joseph Stalin

Foundations of Leninism was a 1924 collection made by Joseph Stalin that consisted of nine lectures he delivered at Sverdlov University that year. It was published by the Soviet newspaper, Pravda.

References

  1. "Fall of Giants". Ken Follett. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
  2. William Sheehan (19 September 2010). ""Fall of Giants," the first installment of Ken Follett's The Century Trilogy". The Washington Post . Retrieved 31 December 2010.
  3. Roger Boylan (30 September 2010). "Last Monarch Standing". The New York Times . Retrieved 31 December 2010.