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115-640: The three novels are Red Mars (1992), Green Mars (1993), and Blue Mars (1996). The Martians (1999) is a collection of short stories set in the same fictional universe . Red Mars won the BSFA Award in 1992 and Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1993. Green Mars won the Hugo Award for Best Novel and Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1994. Blue Mars also won the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1997. Icehenge (1984), Robinson's first novel about Mars,

230-484: A narrative or a work of art . This concept is most commonly associated with works of fantasy and science fiction , and can be found in various forms such as novels , comics , films , television shows , video games , and other creative works. In science fiction, a fictional universe may be a remote alien planet or galaxy with little apparent relationship to the real world (as in Star Wars ); in fantasy, it may be

345-499: A "world war" (Swedish: världskrig ), justifying this description by a line in an Old Norse epic poem, " Völuspá : folcvig fyrst I heimi" ("The first great war in the world"). German writer August Wilhelm Otto Niemann used the term "world war" in the title of his anti-British novel, Der Weltkrieg: Deutsche Träume ( The World War: German Dreams ) in 1904, published in English as The Coming Conquest of England . The term "first world war"

460-404: A French psychologist assigned to observe their behavior). The book details the trip out, construction of the first settlement on Mars (eventually called Underhill) by Russian engineer Nadia Cherneshevsky, as well as establishing colonies on Mars' hollowed out asteroid-moon Phobos , the ever-changing relationships between the colonists, debates among the colonists regarding both the terraforming of

575-473: A carefully crafted fake identity as Stephen Lindholm. The newly evolving Martian biosphere is described at great length and with more profound changes mostly aimed at warming up the surface of Mars to the brink of making it habitable, from continent-sized orbital mirrors , another space elevator built (using another anchored asteroid that is dubbed "New Clarke"), to melting the northern polar ice cap, and digging moholes deep enough to form volcanoes . A mainstay of

690-508: A casual misinterpretation between them. Ann undergoes a drastic change toward Blue Mars due to the emergence of something inside of her that she describes as anti-Ann and something else that she can't quite describe. A Japanese expert on biology , agriculture, and ecological systems, it was Ai who smuggled Desmond "Coyote" Hawkins onto the Ares (the two were friends and lovers as students in London). She

805-569: A coma during an attempt to demonstrate to her the beauty of the terraformed world, he arranges for her to be resuscitated and to be treated with the longevity treatment, both against her will. The longevity treatments themselves begin to show weaknesses once those receiving them reach the two-century mark in age. The treatments reduce most aging processes to a negligible rate, but are much less effective when it comes to brain function, and in particular memory. Maya in particular suffers extreme lapses in memory, although she remains high functioning most of

920-408: A concession (in exchange for their support in the congress, as much of their power was broken when they attempted and failed to violently expel remaining UN forces early on after the second revolution of Green Mars; yet they still retained enough power to stymie constitutional negotiations). Vlad, Marina, and Ursula, the original inventors of the longevity treatments, introduce a new economic system that

1035-464: A crew who are to be the first hundred Martian colonists. The ship was built from clustered space shuttle external fuel tanks which, instead of reentering Earth's atmosphere, had been boosted into orbit until enough had been amassed to build the ship. The mission is a joint American–Russian undertaking, and seventy of the First Hundred are drawn from these countries (except, for example, Michel Duval,

1150-467: A fusion of Eastern and Western lifestyles. In an interview at UCSD, Robinson said that he was looking at a satellite photo of Mars and thought that would be a great place to go backpacking. He said the Mars trilogy grew out of that urge. Fictional universe A fictional universe , also known as an imagined universe or a constructed universe , is the internally consistent fictional setting used in

1265-787: A greatly fictionalized or invented version of Earth's distant past or future (as in The Lord of the Rings ). In a 1970 article in CAPA-alpha , comics historian Don Markstein defined the fictional universe as meant to clarify the concept of fictional continuities. According to the criteria he imagined: Fictional universes are sometimes shared by multiple prose authors, with each author's works in that universe being granted approximately equal canonical status. For example, Larry Niven 's fictional universe Known Space has an approximately 135-year period in which Niven allows other authors to write stories about

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1380-426: A green politician. Jackie's daughter; she has feline traits (purring) inserted into her genome via the gerontological longevity treatment. In Blue Mars , she travels the solar system running political errands for Jackie, although the two do not get along particularly well. Her character is portrayed as hedonistic and explicitly nihilistic , making sexual satisfaction a priority and seemingly having little regard for

1495-402: A harsh personality that does not win her many friends among the First Hundred and gains particular enmity from Ann Clayborne. As the Mars situation develops, Boyle sides against most of the First Hundred in favor of the increasingly authoritarian United Nations Office of Mars Affairs (UNOMA) and its successor, the corporate /quasi-fascist United Nations Transitional Authority (UNTA). Her influence

1610-498: A large role in the maltreatment of the citizens of Mars. Genetic engineering (GE) is first mentioned in Red Mars ; it takes off when Sax creates an alga to withstand the harsh Martian temperature and convert its atmosphere into breathable air. Eventually this is done on a massive scale, with thousands of types of GE algae, lichen and bacteria being created to terraform the planet. In Green Mars , GE animals began to be created to withstand

1725-449: A new and larger habitat, and research facility in a nearby canyon. In the later books, she becomes a reluctant politician. Chernyshevski is in love with Bogdanov and is devastated when he is killed in an attack by anti-revolutionary forces associated with UNOMA, the transnationals and Phyllis Boyle during the first Martian revolution. In retaliation for Bogdanov's murder, she activates his hidden weapon system, built into Phobos , which causes

1840-602: A new era of longevity. He lives in Acheron on the Great Escarpment in the north of Mars before fleeing to the hidden colony after the First Revolution but later returns to his research, falling victim to "quick decline" late in the events of Blue Mars . For much of his Mars-centric life, Taneev lives in a ménage à trois with Ursula and Marina, the exact nature of which is never resolved. A Christian American geologist with

1955-469: A one-way expedition to an extrasolar planet near Aldebaran . Peter Clayborne is the son of Ann Clayborne and Simon Frazier, being one of the first children born on Mars. Peter holds a position of older brother to all of the following first generation. Many revolutionary and later political decisions of the Mars First movement are influenced by his opinions and judgment. He works part-time as an engineer and

2070-454: A result of globalization that they have sufficient economic power to take over or strongly manipulate national governments, initially only relatively small third-world governments, but later, larger developed governments too, effectively running whole countries. In Robinson's future history , the metanational corporations become similar to nation-states in some respects, while continually attempting to take over competitors in order to become

2185-480: A second revolution beginning in the 2120s, from converting moholes to missiles silos or hidden bases, sabotaging orbital mirrors, to propelling Deimos out of Mars' gravity well and out into deep space so it could never be used as a weapons platform as Phobos was. The book follows the characters across the Martian landscape, which is explained in detail. Russell's character infiltrates the transnat terraforming project, with

2300-415: A sense of stability under heavy transnat control. The clash over resources on Earth breaks out into a full-blown world war leaving hundreds of millions dead, but cease-fire arrangements are reached when the transnats flee to the safety of the developed nations, which use their huge militaries to restore order, forming police-states . But a new generation of humans born on Mars holds the promise of change. In

2415-444: A storm before he nearly froze to death before disappearing once again and is convinced she remains alive, although the question of whether she is actually alive is never resolved. Eventually, the anti-immigration factions of the Martian government provoke massive illegal immigration from Earth, risking another war; however, under the leadership of Ann and Sax, who have fallen in love again following their reconciliation, along with Maya,

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2530-487: A team of scientists to develop medicine that will restore memory. The remaining members of the First Hundred, of which there are only 12, congregate in Underhill, and take the medicine. It works so well that Russell remembers his own birth. He and Ann Clayborne finally recall that they had been in love prior to leaving Earth the very first time, but both had been too socially inept and nervous about their chances for selection for

2645-415: A title for his memoirs (published in 1920); he had noted his discussion on the matter with a Major Johnstone of Harvard University in his diary entry of September 10, 1918. The term "World War I" was coined by Time magazine on page 28 of its June 12, 1939, issue. In the same article, on page 32, the term "World War   II" was first used speculatively to describe the upcoming war. The first use for

2760-890: A widespread and prolonged fear of a potential third world war between nuclear-armed powers. It is often suggested that it would become a nuclear war , and be more devastating and violent than both the First and Second World Wars. Albert Einstein is often quoted as having said in 1947 that "I know not with what weapons World War   III will be fought, but World War   IV will be fought with sticks and stones." It has been anticipated and planned for by military and civil authorities, and it has also been explored in fiction . Scenarios have ranged from conventional warfare to limited or total nuclear warfare. Various former government officials, politicians, authors, and military leaders (including James Woolsey , Alexandre de Marenches , Eliot Cohen , and Subcomandante Marcos ) have attempted to apply

2875-411: Is a hybrid of capitalism, socialism, and environmental conservationism. During a trip to Earth occurring alongside the congress, Nirgal (one of the original children to be born on Mars to the First Hundred, and something of a Mars-wide celebrity), Maya, and Sax negotiate an agreement that allows Earth to send a number of migrants equal to 10% of Mars' population to Mars every year. Following the adoption of

2990-549: Is an ancestor of Arkady's.). Bogdanov argues that Mars need not and should not be subject to Earth traditions, limitations, or authority. He is to some extent joined in this position by John Boone, famous as the "First Man on Mars" from a preceding expedition and rival to Frank Chalmers, the technical leader of the American contingent. Their rivalry is further exacerbated by competing romantic interest in Maya Katarina Toitovna,

3105-526: Is killed during the first Martian revolution in 2061. An American physicist , he is a brilliant and creative scientist, and is greatly respected for his intellectual gifts. However, he is socially awkward and often finds it difficult to understand and relate to other people. Russell is a leader of the Green movement, the goal of which is to terraform Mars. During Green Mars , Sax suffers a stroke while being tortured by government security forces and fellow member of

3220-472: Is later shown to be a form of self-defense; Chalmers is at least partly driven by a hidden idealistic side. Early in the voyage to Mars, he becomes sexually involved with Maya Toitovna, the leader of the Russian contingent of the mission. During the second half of the voyage, Toitovna becomes involved with Boone. Already bitter that Boone became the first to walk on Mars instead of him as they were both candidates for

3335-592: Is left to the United Nations Organization of Mars Affairs (UNOMA), which greenlights terraforming, and a series of actions get underway, including the drilling of " moholes " to release subsurface heat; thickening of the atmosphere according to a complicated bio-chemical formula that comes to be known as the "Russell cocktail" after Sax Russell; and the detonation of nuclear explosions deep in the sub-surface permafrost to release water. Additional steps are taken to connect Mars more closely with Earth, including

3450-650: Is left unresolved. Ai (愛) is the Japanese word for love. A French psychologist pivotally involved in the early psychological screening of the First Hundred candidates in Antarctica, which he describes as being a collection of double-bind requirements. Duval is assigned to accompany the Mars mission and is treated as an observer rather than as a member of the team during the early events of Red Mars . His aloof personality enforces this ostracism and also subverts his relationships with others, but in time it becomes clear that Duval

3565-411: Is not set in this universe but deals with similar themes and plot elements. The trilogy shares some similarities with Robinson's more recent novel 2312 (2012); for instance, the terraforming of Mars and the extreme longevity of the characters in both novels. Red Mars starts in 2026 with the first colonial voyage to Mars aboard the Ares , the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built and home to

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3680-415: Is one of the "First Hundred" colonists sent to permanently colonize Mars. His accomplishments and natural charm yield him an informal leadership role. In the first chapter of Red Mars , John Boone is assassinated in a plot instigated by Frank Chalmers. The narrative then steps back to the First Hundred's voyage to Mars aboard the spaceship Ares . His ideas continue as a point of reference for the remainder of

3795-519: Is raised communally by Hiroko and her followers in Zygote. He is a good-natured wanderer who eventually becomes a political leader advocating ties with Earth. He is one of the founders of the Free Mars movement and is famous for his running technique that allows him to run all day for days on end. As Nadia's assistants, he and Art are instrumental in getting the Martian constitutional declaration written. Later he

3910-434: Is regarded by many other members of the First Hundred, particularly Boyle, as a troublemaker. He leads the team which establishes an outpost on the moon Phobos , and leads an uprising against the transnational corporation towards the end of first novel. Like Boone (with whom he was good friends), his political ideas (later known as Bogdanovism) weigh heavily on characters later in the series. In love with Nadia Chernyshevski, he

4025-415: Is revealed that late in life, Boone is addicted to omegendorph, a fictional drug that is based on endorphins in the human brain . In addition, it reveals that at least some of his seeming simplicity might simply be an act designed to further his political goals. Overall, Boone is presented as larger-than-life. Head of the American contingent, he is Machiavellian in his use of power. However, his cynicism

4140-490: Is sent on a diplomatic mission to Earth but nearly dies from an infection. His name is ancient Babylonian for Mars (the planet and the war-god ). The granddaughter of Hiroko and John Boone (raised with Nirgal), she emerges as a leader of the Free Mars movement, but is seen to change her platform based on whatever keeps her in power (e.g. changing from banning Earth immigration to allowing almost unlimited immigrants). After her daughter Zo's death, she retires in grief and joins

4255-428: Is shown to be complex, the two of them taking early opposite views but the situation slowly changing as Russell comes to appreciate what has been unleashed and what has indeed been lost as science gives way to commercial exploitation that he cannot control. During the events of Blue Mars , Russell intervenes to save Clayborne's life; later, the two are revealed to have once shared an attraction that went astray because of

4370-471: Is strongest during the later events of Red Mars , where by the 2061 revolution she has been placed in charge of the asteroid Clarke that serves as the counterweight of the First Space Elevator . The events of the revolution send Clarke (and Boyle) spinning off into the outer Solar System at the end of Red Mars ; Green Mars finds her back in the equation, but her influence is greatly reduced against

4485-546: Is struggling with his own psychological issues perhaps more than anyone else from the expedition. During the first disappearance of the farm team, he is invited by Hiroko to flee with the farm team and establish Zygote, the first hidden colony. Duval desperately wants to return to Provence as he remembers it, and after visiting as a part of the Martian diplomatic mission to Earth, he becomes even more homesick. Duval falls in love with Maya Toitovna and guides her through particularly challenging psychological episodes throughout most of

4600-464: Is the charismatic leader of the farm team, one of the important work groups and cliques among the First Hundred. She thus becomes the focus of many of the trilogy's central themes. Most importantly, she teaches the importance of maintaining a respectful relation with one's planet. On Mars, this is called the Areophany. In the secret colony Zygote, which Hiroko established, the first generation of children of

4715-435: Is the name for an Alpine plant that grows between stones. An American geologist , Clayborne is one of the first areologists and maintains a stalwart desire to see Mars preserved in the state it holds when humans arrive. Clayborne early on debates Saxifrage Russell over the proper role of humanity on Mars and though initially apolitical, this stance marks her as the original "Red," while Russell's hands-on terraforming reflects

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4830-858: Is the only conflict in which nuclear weapons have been used; both Hiroshima and Nagasaki , in the Japanese Empire , were devastated by atomic bombs dropped by the United States. The main Axis powers were Nazi Germany , the Empire of Japan , and the Kingdom of Italy ; while the United Kingdom , the United States , the Soviet Union and China were the " Big Four " Allied powers. Nazi Germany , led by Adolf Hitler ,

4945-1043: The Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 "the World War of the 7th century" because it evolved into a war between the fourfold alliance of the Chinese Empire , the Western Turkic Khaganate , the Khazars , and the Byzantine Empire against a triple union of the Sasanian Empire , the Avars , and the Eastern Turkic Khaganate , with proxy conflicts in Afro-Eurasia (like the Aksumite–Persian wars ) and across

5060-565: The Man-Kzin Wars . Other fictional universes, like the Ring of Fire series , actively court canonical stimulus from fans, but gate and control the changes through a formalized process and the final say of the editor and universe creator . World war A world war is an international conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers . Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during

5175-873: The Nine Years' War (1689–1697), the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802), and the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). British historian John Robert Seeley dubbed all of those wars between France and Great Britain (later the UK) between 1689 and 1815 (including the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783) as

5290-925: The Old World . Others consider that the Ottoman–Portuguese confrontations and Ottoman–Habsburg wars can be considered as world conflicts, prototypes of the " Great Game " in Eurasia and the Scramble for Africa , but between two main power-projecting and religious blocs, the Ottomans , as holders of the Muslim Caliphate , and the Habsburgs , as Holy Roman Emperor . However, the Americas and Oceania were not involved in those conflicts, in which case, other historians consider

5405-690: The Second Hundred Years' War , echoing an earlier period of conflict between France and England known as the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453). Some writers have referred to the American Revolutionary War alone as a world war. Others (like William R. Thompson or Chase-Dunn and Sokolovsky) also wants to include the Italian Wars and Dutch wars [ Dutch-Spanish and Anglo-Dutch Wars ] as part of Global Wars, while clasificating WW1 and WW2 as

5520-622: The Thirty Years' War and Eighty Years' War (specially Iberian–Dutch War ) as the first global conflict, pitting the Spanish and Portuguese Empires against the French , Dutch , and British Empires and their allies (mostly Protestants , like Danish and Swedish oversea expeditions) across the five continents. Another possible example is the Second Congo War (1998–2003) even though it

5635-469: The Yemeni civil war (2014–present), and their worldwide spillovers are sometimes described as proxy wars waged by the United States and Russia, which led some commentators to characterize the situation as a "proto-world war", with many countries embroiled in overlapping conflicts. The Seven Years' War (1754/56–1763) was fought across all of North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. Most of

5750-450: The psychological effects of ultra-longevity, including memory loss, personality change, mental instability, and existential boredom. The initial colonists from the Ares who established a permanent colony. Many of them later become leaders or exemplary figures in the transformation of Mars or its new society. The "First Hundred" actually consisted of 101, with Coyote being smuggled aboard the Ares by Hiroko. An American astronaut , who

5865-789: The "world war" terminology; for example, in French , "world war" is translated as guerre mondiale ; in German , Weltkrieg (which, prior to the war, had been used in the more abstract meaning of a global conflict); in Italian , guerra mondiale ; in Spanish and Portuguese , guerra mundial ; in Danish and Norwegian , verdenskrig ; in Russian , мировая война ( mirovaya voyna ); and in Finnish , maailmansota . The First World War occurred from 1914 to 1918. In terms of human technological history ,

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5980-509: The Blue Planet, Martian scientists and engineers are soon put to the task of creating asteroid cities; where small planetoids of the Belt are hollowed out, given a spin to produce gravity , and a mini-sun is created to produce light and heat. With a vast increase in sciences, technologies, and spacecraft manufacturing, this begins the "Accelerando"; where humankind spreads its civilization throughout

6095-475: The First Hundred's mission was one of exploration rather than colonization. Buried in the stories are several hints about the eventual fate of the Martian terraforming program. Trans-national Corporations, nicknamed "transnats", are extremely powerful multinational corporations that first emerge in the mid-21st century. Robinson tracks the evolution of the transnats into what he terms "metanats" (metanational). These multinational corporations have grown so large as

6210-426: The First Hundred, Phyllis Boyle (although it is later revealed that she actually opposed Sax's torture). He subsequently suffers from expressive aphasia and has to relearn how to speak and becomes less predictable in his actions. Originally apolitical, this event and a growing attachment to Mars itself leads Russell to become the physical architect of the second revolution. After memory issues become apparent in many of

6325-490: The First Hundred, the ectogenes, are all the product of artificial insemination outside of any human body. Hiroko uses the ova of the female members of the First Hundred as the female genetic material and uses the sperm of the male members of the First Hundred to fertilize the ova. Although Hiroko is seldom at the center of the narrative, her influence is pervasive. She disappears for the final time in Green Mars . Her ultimate fate

6440-525: The Global German Wars , and the Coalition Wars with Wars of Louis XIV as the 2nd and 1st Global French Wars . However, other historians prefer to see all of those conflicts as "Hegemonic Wars" or "General Wars", been inter-regional wars on the grand scale, but not worldly. Other historians suggest even earlier conflicts to be world wars. For example, Russian ethnologist L. N. Gumilyov called

6555-428: The Mars treaty is renegotiated in a move led by Frank Chalmers; the outcome is impressive but proves short-lived as the transnats find ways around it through loop-holes. Things get worse as the nations of Earth start to clash over limited resources, expanding debt, and population growth as well as restrictions on access to a new longevity treatment developed by Martian scientists—one that holds the promise of lifespans into

6670-446: The Mars voyage to reveal this to each other. Their famous argument over terraforming had been a mere continuation of a running conversation they had been having since they still lived on Earth. Through the memory treatment it is also revealed that Phyllis had been lobbying to free Sax from his torturers when she was murdered by Maya. Maya herself declines the treatment. Sax also distinctly recalls Hiroko assisting him in finding his rover in

6785-402: The Martian population unites to reconstitute the government to accept more immigration from Earth, defusing the imminent conflict and ushering in a new golden age of harmony and security on Mars. The Martians is a collection of short stories that takes place over the timespan of the original trilogy of novels, as well as some stories that take place in an alternate version of the novels where

6900-419: The Russian contingent. The novels hint that she used both wit and seduction to rise through the ranks of the Russian space agency to become the leader of the first colonization mission. After the first revolution, she flees with other members of the First Hundred to the hidden colony in the pole. She becomes a school teacher of the children of the hidden colonists but later becomes a powerful political force. After

7015-741: The Solar System, and eventually beyond. As Venus, the Jovian moons , the Saturnian moons , and eventually Triton are colonized and terraformed in some way, Jackie Boone (the granddaughter of John Boone, the first man to walk on Mars from the first book) takes an interstellar vessel (made out of an asteroid) to another star system twenty light-years away, where they will start to terraform the planets and moons found there. The remaining First Hundred are generally regarded as living legends. Reports of Hiroko's survival are numerous, and purported sightings occur all over

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7130-615: The actual war came in its issue of September 11, 1939. One week earlier, on September 4, the day after France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany, the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad used the term on its front page, saying "The Second World War broke out yesterday at 11 a.m." Speculative fiction authors had been noting the concept of a Second World War in 1919 and 1920, when Milo Hastings wrote his dystopian novel, City of Endless Night . Other languages have also adopted

7245-433: The antithesis of these views. Clayborne is shown to prefer solitude during much of the series, and even her relationship with fellow First Hundred settler Simon (with whom she has a child) is subject to introspective silence in most cases. Simon's death and the estrangement she finds from their son Peter when the latter emerges as a leading moderate "green" drive her to further isolation. Clayborne's relationship with Russell

7360-585: The backdrop of a much-expanded UNTA presence. Boyle engages in a brief sexual relationship with Saxifrage Russell (who despises her) while the latter is living under an assumed identity and is singularly capable of discerning who he really is, turning him over the UNTA. She is later present at a session in Kasei Vallis where Russell is being tortured, and is killed by Maya Toitovna. Later, as his memory recovers, Russell reveals that Boyle had been opposed to his torture and

7475-458: The colonized solar system, but none are substantiated. Nadia and Art Randolph lead a constitutional congress in which a global system of government is established that leaves most cities and settlements generally autonomous, but subject to a central representative legislature and two systems of courts, one legal and the other environmental. The environmental court is packed with members of the Red faction as

7590-665: The combatants would strike at each other's colonies, thus spreading the wars far more widely than those of pre-Columbian times. War crimes were perpetrated in World War I. Chemical weapons were used in the war despite the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 having outlawed the use of such weapons in warfare. The Ottoman Empire was responsible for the Armenian genocide , during the First World War, as well as other war crimes. The Second World War occurred from 1939 to 1945 and

7705-610: The conflict, many ethnic Germans were later expelled from Eastern Europe . Japan was responsible for attacking neutral nations without a declaration of war , such as the attack on Pearl Harbor . It is also known for its brutal treatment and killing of Allied prisoners of war and the inhabitants of Asia . It also used Asians as forced laborers and was responsible for the Nanjing Massacre in which 250,000 civilians were brutally murdered by Japanese troops. Noncombatants suffered at least as badly as or worse than combatants , and

7820-422: The deaths of Chalmers and Boone, she falls in love with Michel Duval. She suffers heavily from bipolar disorder and from memory-related psychological disorders with growing age, which often lead her to isolate herself from others and sometimes turn violent. Throughout the novels, Maya takes an active political role, helping to keep the surviving First Hundred together during the failed revolution of 2061 and guiding

7935-441: The distinction between combatants and noncombatants was often blurred by the belligerents of total war in both conflicts. The outcome of the war had a profound effect on the course of world history . The old European empires collapsed or they were dismantled as a direct result of the crushing costs of the war and in some cases, their fall was caused by the defeat of imperial powers. The United States became firmly established as

8050-575: The dominant global superpower , along with its close competitor and ideological foe, the Soviet Union . The two superpowers exerted political influence over most of the world's nation-states for decades after the end of the Second World War. The modern international security, economic, and diplomatic system was created in the aftermath of the war. Institutions such as the United Nations were established to collectivize international affairs, with

8165-449: The dominant one at the expense of the goals of Ann's anti-terraforming stance, as Sax and Ann have come to be regarded as the original champions of their respective positions. Sax becomes increasingly preoccupied with seeking forgiveness and approval from Ann, while Ann, depressed and bitter from her many political and personal losses, is suicidal and refuses to accept any more longevity treatments. However, when Sax witnesses Ann collapse into

8280-409: The end of the last novel, humans are taking sub-light colony ships to other stars, taking advantage of the longevity treatments to survive the trip to their destinations. A great portion of Blue Mars is concerned with the effects of extreme longevity on its protagonists, most of whom have lived over two hundred years as a result of repeated longevity treatments. In particular, Robinson speculates on

8395-410: The end, most of the First Hundred are dead, and virtually all who remain have fled to a hidden refuge established years earlier by Ai and her followers. (One exception is Phyllis Boyle, who has allied herself with the transnats; she is on Clarke when the space elevator cable is cut and sent flying out of orbit to a fate unknown by the conclusion of the book.) The revolution dies and life on Mars returns to

8510-550: The entire moon (a UNOMA/transnational military base) to decelerate in orbit and destructively aerobrake in Mars' atmosphere, utterly destroying it. In Blue Mars , she falls in love with Art Randolph, with whom she eventually starts a family. After Martian independence, she grudgingly becomes the first president of Mars. A mechanical engineer with anarchist leanings, possibly based on the Russian Machist , Alexander Bogdanov (the character's ancestor) and Arkady Strugatsky , he

8625-411: The explicit goal of preventing another outbreak of general war. The wars had also greatly changed the course of daily life. Technologies developed during wartime had a profound effect on peacetime life as well, such as by advances in jet aircraft , penicillin , nuclear energy , and electronic computers . Since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War, there has been

8740-413: The extreme vulnerability of life on a planet without a habitable atmosphere. A series of exchanges sees the cutting of the space elevator, bombardment of several Martian cities (including the city where Bogdanov is himself organizing the rebellion; he is killed), the destruction of Phobos and its military complex, and the unleashing of a great flood of torrential groundwater freed by nuclear detonations. By

8855-482: The feelings of others. On the other hand, she apparently has a conscience, risking her life to rescue a man on Mercury and later dying in an attempt to save a distressed flier. The daughter of Nadia and Art. A representative of the Praxis corporation sent to contact the Martian underground movement on a quasi- diplomatic mission in an attempt to create a system of ecological capitalism based on democratic corporations. Like

8970-496: The first generation born on Mars are nisei , and the second-generation Martians are sansei. Third-generation Martians are called yonsei. Kasei is the son of Hiroko and John Boone and the father of Jackie Boone. Kasei is the leader of the Kakaze, a radical Red faction. His name is Japanese for the planet Mars. He dies during the second revolution, after an unsuccessful attack on the second space elevator. The son of Hiroko and Coyote, he

9085-568: The first half of the 20th century, World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945), although some historians have also characterised other global conflicts as world wars, such as the Nine Years' War , the War of the Spanish Succession , the Seven Years' War , the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , the Cold War , and the War on Terror . The Oxford English Dictionary cited

9200-565: The first known usage in the English language to a Scottish newspaper, The People's Journal , in 1848: "A war among the great powers is now necessarily a world-war." The term "world war" is used by Karl Marx and his associate, Friedrich Engels , in a series of articles published around 1850 called The Class Struggles in France . Rasmus B. Anderson in 1889 described an episode in Teutonic mythology as

9315-513: The great powers of the era participated, notably including the British Empire and French Empire , but polities from many continents played important roles. Some historians call it "World War Zero" as a result. Historians like Richard F. Hamilton and Holger H. Herwig created a list of eight world wars, including the two generally agreed-upon world wars, the Seven Years' War, and five others:

9430-464: The hundreds of years. In 2061, with Boone dead and exploding immigration threatening the fabric of Martian society, Bogdanov launches a revolution against what many now view as occupying transnat troops operating only loosely under an UNOMA rubber-stamp approval. Initially successful, the revolution proves infeasible on the basis of both a greater-than-expected willingness of the Earth troops to use violence and

9545-463: The ice sheet and displacing the fragments into the ocean. The resultant flooding causes global chaos on Earth, creating the perfect moment for the Martian underground to seize control of Martian society from Earth. Following a series of largely bloodless coups, an extremist faction of Reds bombs a dam near Burroughs, the major city where the remaining United Nations forces have concentrated, in order to force

9660-452: The insertion of an areosynchronous asteroid " Clarke " to which a space elevator cable is tethered. Against the backdrop of this development is another debate, one whose principal instigator is Arkady Bogdanov of the Russian contingent (possibly named in homage to the Russian polymath and science fiction writer Alexander Bogdanov - it is later revealed in Blue Mars that Alexander Bogdanov

9775-679: The labels of the "Third World War" and the "Fourth World War" to various past and present global wars since the end of the Second World War, such as the Cold War and the war on terror respectively. During the early 21st century, the war in Afghanistan (2001–2021), the Arab Spring (2010–2012), the Syrian civil war (2011–present), the Iraq War (2003–2011), the Russo-Ukrainian War (2014–present),

9890-507: The leader of the Russian contingent. (In the opening of the book, Chalmers instigates a sequence of events that leads to Boone being assassinated; much of what follows is a retrospective examination of what led to that point.) Earth meanwhile increasingly falls under the control of transnational corporations (transnats) that come to dominate its governments, particularly smaller nations adopted as "flags of convenience" for extending their influence into Martian affairs. As UNOMA's power erodes,

10005-459: The meantime, the remaining First Hundred —including Russell, Clayborne, Toitovna, and Cherneshevsky— settle into life in Hiroko Ai's refuge called Zygote, hidden under the Martian south pole . Green Mars takes its title from the stage of terraforming that has allowed plants to grow. It picks up the story 50 years after the events of Red Mars in the dawn of the 22nd century, following the lives of

10120-435: The mission and that he was allowed to join the colonization trip despite his manipulations, Chalmers further despises Boone because of Toitovna's affection. His dislike culminates in his involvement in a plot to assassinate Boone, which ultimately succeeds and allows him to take over handling major affairs on Mars. This ultimately becomes his undoing, as his ruthless governance and aggressive diplomatic work backfire on him during

10235-561: The multinational control over Mars's affairs grows, various groups start to form with different aims and methods. Watching these groups evolve from Earth, the CEO of the Praxis Corporation sends a representative, Arthur Randolph, to organize the resistance movements. This culminates into the Dorsa Brevia agreement, in which nearly all the underground factions take part. Preparations are made for

10350-434: The new constitution, Nadia is elected the first president of Mars and serves competently, although she does not enjoy politics. She and Art work together closely, and eventually fall in love and have a child. Sax Russell devotes himself to various scientific projects, all the while continuing to recover from the effects of his stroke. Since the second revolution, he feels enormous guilt that his pro-terraforming position became

10465-448: The novel is a detailed analysis of philosophical, political, personal, economic, and geological experiences of the characters. The story weaves back and forth from character to character, providing a picture of Mars as seen by them. Sax, alias Stephen, eventually becomes romantically involved with Phyllis, who had survived the events of 2061 from the end of the first novel, but she discovers his true identity and has him arrested. Members of

10580-495: The other metanationals, it takes on intensive economic and political ties with governments, but Praxis aims for partnerships rather than exploitive relationships. Bedouin nomads who originally emigrated from Egypt and respected figures in the Arab Martian community. Zeyk is a close friend of Chalmers. His eidetic memory becomes a minor plot point. The founder of Praxis, one of the huge multinational corporations. He embraces

10695-410: The planet and its future relationship to Earth. The two extreme views on terraforming are personified by Saxifrage "Sax" Russell, who believes their very presence on the planet means some level of terraforming has already begun and that it is humanity's obligation to spread life as it is the most scarce thing in the known universe, and Ann Clayborne, who stakes out the position that humankind does not have

10810-405: The quick decline, while attending the wake of another First Hundred member. Russell speculates that Michel's quick decline was brought on by the shock of seeing Maya fail to remember Frank Chalmers (who was killed while escaping security forces in the first revolution) upon looking at a treasured photo of him on her refrigerator. As a result of this and Russell's own problems with memory, he organizes

10925-558: The remaining First Hundred and their children and grandchildren. Melting ice causes the top of the dome of Hiroko Ai's base under the south pole to collapse, forcing the survivors to escape into a (less literal) underground organization known as the Demimonde. Among the expanded group are the First Hundred's children, the Nisei , a number of whom live in Hiroko's second secret base, Gamete. As unrest in

11040-444: The remaining first hundred including Sax he begins work on an ambitious project to gather the remaining first hundred and have them try an experimental treatment he helped to develop. It is after this that Sax realizes his persistent attempts to please Ann are actually because he is also secretly in love with Ann Clayborne, who cannot stand him at first, but after decades on Mars, eventually reconciles. Saxifrage means "stonebreaker" and

11155-459: The revolution of 2061. In the final chapters of Red Mars , Chalmers flees with Toitovna and other members of the First Hundred to join the hidden colonists at the polar ice cap but dies along the way when he is caught outside their vehicle during an aquifer flood in Valles Marineris . An emotional woman who is at the center of a love triangle between Boone and Chalmers, she begins as head of

11270-513: The right to change entire planets at their will. Russell's view is initially purely scientific but in time comes to blend with the views of Hiroko Ai, the chief of the Agricultural Team who assembles a new belief system (the "Areophany") devoted to the appreciation and furthering of life (" viriditas "); these views are collectively known as the "Green" position, while Clayborne's naturalist stance comes to be known as "Red." The actual decision

11385-537: The scale of World War   I was enabled by the technological advances of the Second Industrial Revolution and the resulting globalization that allowed global power projection and mass production of military hardware. It had been recognized that the complex system of opposing military alliances (the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires against the British , Italian , Russian , and French Empires)

11500-472: The second revolution. As Earth is heavily flooded by the sudden melting of the Antarctic ice cap, the once mighty metanats are brought to their knees; as the Praxis Corporation paves a new way of "democratic businesses". Mars becomes the "Head" of the system, giving universal healthcare, free education, and an abundance of food. However, this sparks illegal immigration from Earth, so to ease the population strain on

11615-419: The security forces to evacuate. The entire city is flooded and the population of the city has to walk a staggeringly long distance in the open Martian atmosphere (which just barely has the temperature, atmospheric pressure, and gas mixture to support human life) to Libya Station, in order to resettle in other locations. With this, control of Mars is finally wrested away from Earth with minimal loss of life, leaving

11730-470: The series, dying late in Blue Mars of heart arrhythmia when Maya displays signs of very heavy temporary memory loss. Nearly sixty when he arrives on Mars, a Russian biological scientist who is the oldest of the First Hundred. Taneev heads medical treatment and most research projects on Mars, becoming famous as the creator of the gerontological treatment used to regenerate human cellular systems and ushering in

11845-514: The sole controller of the interplanetary market . As the Mars trilogy draws to a close in the mid-23rd century, the metanational corporations are forced by a global catastrophe to concede more democratic powers to their workforces. Although there are many transnational and metanational corporations mentioned, two play an active role in the development of the plotline: Praxis, a largely benevolent and relatively democratic firm, and Subarashī, which plays

11960-503: The successful revolutions that occur decades later, despite her psychological problems. A Russian engineer who started out building nuclear reactors in Siberia , during the voyage and initial exploration of Mars, she does her best to avoid the squabbles of the other members of the First Hundred. Instead, she busies herself by building the first permanent habitation of Mars, Underhill, using programmed automated robots. She also helps to construct

12075-565: The thin Martian atmosphere, and to produce a working planetary-biosphere. By Blue Mars , GE is commonly being done on humans, willingly, to help them better adapt to the new worlds; to breathe thinner air (e.g. Russell), or to see better in the dimmer light of the outer planets. The books also speculate on the colonization of other planets and moons in the Solar System , and include descriptions of settlements or terraforming efforts on Callisto , Mercury , Titania , Miranda and Venus . Toward

12190-424: The time. Further, as people age, they begin to show susceptibility to strange, fatal conditions which have no apparent explanation and are resistant to any treatment. Most common is the event that comes to be known as the "quick decline", where a person of extremely advanced age and in apparently good health suffers a sudden fatal heart arrhythmia and dies abruptly. The exact mechanism is never explained. Michel dies of

12305-416: The trilogy. Boone's character portrayal is complex; in one light, Boone is a stereotypically simple, heroic figure, an everyman hero: his first words on his first trip to Mars are "Well, here we are." He is almost uniformly cheerful and good-natured, and approaches everything he undertakes with hale bonhomie. But later in Red Mars , Robinson switches to Boone's point of view , and it is in this section that it

12420-411: The underground and an unofficial coordinator of a developing gift economy . Since the trilogy covers over 200 years of human history, later immigrants and the children and grandchildren of the First Hundred eventually become important characters in their own right. The Martians use the same terminology for different generations as Japanese Americans . People who immigrated from Earth are called issei,

12535-438: The underground launch a daring rescue from the prison facility where Sax suffers torture and interrogation that causes him to have a stroke; Maya kills Phyllis in the process of the rescue. The book ends on a major event which is a sudden catastrophic rise in Earth's global sea levels not caused primarily by any greenhouse effect but by the eruption of a chain of volcanoes underneath the ice of West Antarctica , disintegrating

12650-438: The weary survivors hopeful about the prospects of their newfound political autonomy. Blue Mars takes its title from the stage of terraforming that has allowed atmospheric pressure and temperature to increase so that liquid water can exist on the planet's surface, forming rivers and seas. It follows closely in time from the end of Green Mars and has a much wider scope than the previous two books, covering an entire century after

12765-406: Was demanding that he be released at the time that Maya's team freed him. A Trinidadian stowaway, he is a friend and supporter of Hiroko, and a fervent anarchist communist . Present in Red Mars only as a stowaway who eventually blends effortlessly into the Martian background, he is not even identified as anything more than Coyote until the beginning of Green Mars . He becomes a leading figure in

12880-546: Was first used in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopher Ernst Haeckel , who claimed that "there is no doubt that the course and character of the feared 'European War' ... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word", citing a wire service report in the Indianapolis Star on 20 September 1914. In English, the term "First World War" had been used by Lieutenant Colonel Charles à Court Repington , as

12995-444: Was likely, if war broke out, to lead to a worldwide conflict. That caused a very minute conflict between two countries to have the potential to set off a domino effect of alliances, triggering a world war. The fact that the powers involved had large overseas empires virtually guaranteed that such a war would be worldwide, as the colonies' resources would be a crucial strategic factor. The same strategic considerations also ensured that

13110-526: Was responsible for genocides , most notably the Holocaust , which murdered demographics considered Untermensch by the Nazis. These included about six million Jews and about five million others, such as Slavs , Roma , homosexuals , and the physically and mentally disabled. The United States , the Soviet Union , and Canada deported and interned minority groups within their own borders and, largely because of

13225-403: Was the first human to walk on Mars in the year 2020. He returns a public hero and uses his considerable influence to lobby for a second mission, this time one of colonization . Boone received a large amount of radiation on his first trip to Mars, more than the recommended dosage according to medical regulations. However, his celebrity status allows him to skirt this. On the second voyage, Boone

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