Historical Characters Who Died Sooner Than In OTL

This entry lists all of the historical figures Harry Turtledove has used in one or more works, and whose lifespan was shorter in the fictional work than in OTL. Most of these characters were killed off years before they died in OTL (for instance, Winston Churchill died in 1965 in OTL, but in The War That Came Early he is killed in a car accident in 1940), but some did die mere months earlier than their OTL death.

This page should be for those people Turtledove specifically names as being dead in the text, or at least provide sufficient circumstantial clues as to their deaths. For example, several timelines (most notably The Hot War and Worldwar) feature the destruction of several important cities by atomic bombs. While any number of lives were probably cut short, this list should only focus on those people Turtledove specifies as being among the dead.

People marked with an * died early in more than one work.

Atlantis[]

Person	Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Michel de Grammont	c 1686	Presumed drowned	1666	Killed during battle
William Howe	July, 1814	Natural causes	1776	Gunshot in battle
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick	April, 1471	Killed in battle	1470	Arrow to through the eye in battle

"Christmas Truce"[]

Person		Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Adolf Hitler*		April, 1945	Suicide, likely by gunshot	25 December 1914	Gunshot

Days of Infamy[]

Person	Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Mitsuo Fuchida	May, 1976	Complications due to diabetes	June, 1943	Aerial combat
Minoru Genda	August, 1989	Heart attack	June, 1943	Suicide
William Halsey	August, 1959	Heart attack	December, 1941	Drowning
Sanji Iwabuchi	February, 1945	Suicide by grenade	June, 1943	Gunshot wound in combat
Kazuo Sakamaki	November, 1999	Natural causes	February, 1942	Execution by firing squad
Saburo Shindo	February, 2000	Natural causes	June, 1943	Plane crash after aerial combat
Tomoyuki Yamashita	February, 1946	Execution by hanging	June, 1943	Killed in action

"The Daimon"[]

Person	Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Critias	403 BCE	Killed in battle	415 BCE	Stabbed to death
Plato	347 or 348 BCE	Natural causes	415 BCE	Stabbed to death
Socrates	399 BCE	Execution by poisoning	415 BCE	Stabbed to death

A Different Flesh[]

Person		Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
John Smith		June, 1631	Natural causes	July, 1607	Killed by a sim

Gunpowder Empire[]

Person		Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Arminius		AD 21	Assassination	c.a. AD 9	Killed in battle

The Guns of the South[]

Person	Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
John Atkins	June, 1908	Natural causes	March 4, 1868	Shot to death
George Ballentine	Apparently alive in 1927	Unknown	April, 1864	Shot to death
Albert Gallatin Brown	June, 1880	Accidental drowning	March 4, 1868	Assassination by gunshot
George Crook	March, 1890	Heart attack	May 9, 1864	Gunshot in battle
Jubal Early	March, 1894	Injuries sustained in a fall	March 4, 1868	Shot to death
Rutherford B. Hayes	January, 1893	Heart attack	May 9, 1864	Gunshot in battle
Mary Anna Custis Lee	November, 1873	Natural causes	March 4, 1868	Shot to death
John Presley Strange	May, 1875	Consumption	March, 1868	Explosive in battle

"Hail! Hail!"[]

Person		Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Peter Ellis Bean		October, 1846	Natural causes	December 28, 1826	Gunshot during a duel

The Hot War[]

Person	Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Dean Acheson*	October, 1971	Stroke	May, 1952	Killed in an atomic bombing
Yuri Andropov	February, 1984	Heart attack	August, 1952	Assassination
Vincent Auriol	January, 1966	Renal Failure	June, 1951	Assassinated
Alben Barkley	April, 1956	Heart attack	May, 1952	Killed in an atomic bombing
Dorothy Buffum Chandler	July, 1997	Natural causes	March 2, 1951	Killed in an atomic bombing
Norman Chandler	October, 1973	Throat cancer	March 2, 1951	Killed in an atomic bombing
Rose Conway	March, 1980	Natural causes	May, 1952	Killed in an atomic building
W. Averell Harriman	July, 1986	Pneumonia	May, 1952	Killed in a building collapse
J. Edgar Hoover	May, 1972	Cardiovascular disease	May, 1952	Killed in an atomic bombing
Hubert Humphrey	January, 1978	Bladder cancer	May, 1952	Killed in an atomic bombing
Estes Kefauver	August, 1963	Heart attack	May, 1952	Killed in an atomic bombing
J. Bracken Lee	October, 1996	Natural causes	March 2, 1951	Killed in an atomic bombing
Yuri Levitan	August, 1983	Heart attack	March, 1951	Killed in an atomic bombing
George Marshall*	October, 1959	Stroke	May, 1952	Killed in an atomic bombing
Joseph McCarthy	May, 1957	Hepatitis	May, 1952	Killed in an atomic bombing
Joseph Stalin*	March, 1953	Stroke	June, 1952	Killed in a hydrogen bombing
Robert Taft*	July, 1953	Cancer	May, 1952	Killed in an atomic bombing
Daniel I.J. Thornton	January, 1976	Heart attack	March 2, 1951	Killed in an atomic bombing
Bess Truman	October, 1982	Congestive heart failure	May, 1952	Killed in an atomic bombing
Margaret Truman	January, 2008	Respiratory infection	May, 1952	Killed in an atomic bombing

In High Places[]

Person		Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Geoffrey Chaucer		October, 1400	Unknown	Before 1372	Plague

In the Presence of Mine Enemies[]

Person		Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Winston Churchill*		January, 1965	Stroke	1940s	Unknown
Joseph Stalin*		March, 1953	Stroke	1940s	Unknown

Joe Steele[]

Person	Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Dean Acheson*	October, 1971	Stroke	March, 1953	Plane crash
Pierce Butler	November, 1939	Natural causes	Fall, 1934	Execution by firing squad
Charles Coughlin	October, 1979	Congestive heart failure	Early 1935	Execution by firing squad
Albert Einstein	April, 1955	Aneurysm	1946	Surreptitiously murdered (novel)
Enrico Fermi	November, 1954	Stomach cancer	1946	Execution by firing squad
Hirohito, Emperor Showa	January, 1989	Cancer	Spring, 1946	Shot to death (novel)
Husband Kimmel*	May, 1968	Natural causes	December 1941	Execution by firing squad
Huey Long	September, 1935	Assassination by gunshot	Fall, 1934	Assassination by gunshot
Douglas MacArthur*	April, 1964	Billary cirrhosis	January, 1942	Execution by firing squad
George Marshall*	October, 1959	Stroke	March, 1953	Murdered by poison
James McReynolds	August, 1946	Pneumonia	Fall, 1934	Execution by firing squad
Vyacheslav Molotov	November, 1986	Alzheimer's disease	March, 1953	Hit by a car (novel)
John von Neumann	February, 1957	Cancer	1946	Execution (short story)
J. Robert Oppenheimer	February, 1967	Throat cancer	1946	Execution by firing squad
Eleanor Roosevelt	November, 1962	Tuberculosis	July, 1932	Burnt to death
Franklin D. Roosevelt*	April, 1945	Stroke	July, 1932	Burnt to death
Walter Short	March, 1949	Heart failure	December, 1941	Execution by firing squad
George Sutherland	July 1942	Heart attack	Fall, 1934	Execution by firing squad
Leo Szilard	May, 1964	Heart attack	1946	Execution by firing squad
Hideki Tojo	December, 1948	Execution by hanging	March, 1946	Killed in action
Willis Van Devanter	February, 1941	Heart attack	Fall, 1934	Execution by firing squad

The above applies to the novel. In the short story, John Nance Garner dies in 1953 (d. in OTL 1967, is still alive at end of novel), Hirohito, Emperor Showa dies in December 1945, and Sam Rayburn (d. in OTL 1961, not figuring in novel) dies in 1937.

"The Last Article"[]

Person	Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Mohandas Gandhi	January, 1948	Assassinated by gunshot	1947	Execution by firearm
Jawaharlal Nehru	May, 1964	Stroke and heart attack	1947	Execution by firearm
Georgy Zhukov*	June, 1974	Stroke	1946	Execution by firearm

"The Last Word"[]

Person		Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Osama bin Laden		May, 2011	Shot to death	1998	Gunshot in combat

The Man With the Iron Heart[]

Person	Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Konrad Adenauer	April, 1967	Natural causes	January, 1946	Assassination by explosive device
Erich Bagge	June, 1996	Natural causes	November, 1947	Shot to death
Francis Biddle	October, 1968	Heart attack	November, 1945	Killed in a bombing
Norman Birkett	February, 1962	Heart failure	November, 1945 (?)	Killed in a bombing (?)
Kurt Diebner	July, 1964	Natural causes	November, 1947	Shot to death
Walter Gerlach	August, 1979	Natural causes	November, 1947	Shot to death
Otto Hahn	July, 1968	Injured in a fall	November, 1947	Shot to death
Paul Harteck	January, 1985	Natural causes	November, 1947	Shot to death
Werner Heisenberg*	February, 1976	Cancer	Spring, 1946	Shot to death
Ivan Koniev*	May, 1973	Cancer	May, 1945	Assassinated by an explosive
Horst Korsching	March, 1998	Natural causes	November, 1947	Shot to death
Geoffrey Lawrence	August, 1971	Natural causes	November, 1945(?)	Killed in a bombing (?)
Max von Laue	April, 1960	Injuries resulting from being struck by an automobile	November, 1947	Shot to death
Iona Nikitchenko	April, 1967	Natural causes	November, 1945	Killed in a bombing
George Patton	December, 1945	Injuries due to an automobile accident	September, 1945	Assassinated by an explosive device
Henri Donnedieu de Vabres	February, 1952	Natural causes	November, 1945	Killed in a bombing
Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker	April, 2007	Natural causes	November, 1947	Shot to death
Georgy Zhukov*	June, 1974	Stroke	December 31, 1945	Assassination by poisoning

The fates of Birkett and Lawrence are the subject of an apparent inconsistency.

"Must and Shall"[]

Person	Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Jefferson Davis	December, 1889	Bronchitis and malaria	1865 (presumed)	Execution by hanging (presumed)
Joseph Johnston	March, 1891	Pneumonia	1865 (presumed)	Execution by hanging (presumed)
Robert E. Lee	October, 1870	Stroke complicated by pneumonia	1865 (presumed)	Execution by hanging (presumed)
Abraham Lincoln	April 15, 1865	Assassination by gunshot	July 12, 1864	Stray bullet on the field of battle

"Occupation Duty"[]

Person		Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
David, King of Israel		c. 970 BC	Circulatory complications	c. 1020 BC	Presumably killed in combat

"The Phantom Tolbukhin"[]

Person		Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Ivan Koniev*		May, 1973	Cancer	1937 or 1938	Execution, presumably by gunshot
Georgy Zhukov*		June, 1974	Stroke	1937 or 1938	Execution, presumably by gunshot

"Ready for the Fatherland"[]

Person		Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Adolf Hitler*		April, 1945	Suicide, likely by gunshot	19 February 1943	Assassination by gunshot

Ruled Britannia[]

Person		Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Robert Parsons		April, 1610	Natural causes	October, 1598	Execution by decapitation
Philip Stubbes		c. 1610	Unknown	1 November 1597	Burned at the stake

"Shock and Awe"[]

Person		Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
St. Peter		AD 64 or 67 (disputed)	Crucifixion	AD 30	Crucifixion

Southern Victory[]

Person	Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
George Q. Cannon	April, 1901	Natural causes	September, 1881	Execution by hanging
Jimmy Carter	Still living		December, 1942	Shot to death
James Bethel Gresham	November, 1917	Shot in battle	July, 1914	Shot in battle
Ernest Hemingway	July, 1961	Self-inflicted gunshot	March, 1939	Self-inflicted gunshot
Mary Lincoln	July, 1882	Stroke	1877	Typhoid
Tad Lincoln	July, 1871	Unknown disease	c. 1863	Disease
John Pershing	July, 1948	Artery disease and heart failure	June, 1929	Assassination by gunshot
Orson Pratt	October, 1881	Complications from diabetes	September, 1881	Execution by hanging
Al Smith	October, 1944	Heart attack	Early 1942	Bombing raid
Robert Taft*	July, 1953	Cancer	September, 1943	Terrorist bombing
Daniel Wells	March, 1891	Natural causes	September, 1881	Execution by hanging
Edwin Yanozha	1954	Presumably natural causes	December, 1881	Homicide by gunshot

One of Huey Long's Brothers dies in 1937. Logically this is either George Long (d. OTL 1958) or Earl Long (d. OTL 1960), but it is never specified which of the two.

The Wages of Sin[]

Person	Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Carlo Gesualdo	September, 1613	Disputed	c. 1598	The Wasting
Henry VIII of England	January, 1547	Complications relating to obesity	c. 1530	The Wasting
William Shakespeare	April, 1616	Fever	c. 1587	The Wasting

The War That Came Early[]

Person	Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Winston Churchill*	January, 1965	Stroke	July, 1940	Struck by a car
Francisco Franco	November, 1975	Heart failure	December, 1941	Shot in battle
Konrad Henlein	May, 1945	Suicide by slitting of the wrists	September 29, 1938	Assassination by gunshot
Heinrich Himmler	May, 1945	Suicide by cyanide	April, 1944	Unknown, apparently during combat or arrest
Adolf Hitler*	April, 1945	Suicide, likely by gunshot	April, 1944	Assassination by bomb
Ivan Koniev*	May, 1973	Cancer	Summer, 1944	Assassination by either bomb or gunshot
Husband Kimmel*	May, 1968	Natural Causes	Summer 1941	Drowning in battle
Douglas MacArthur*	April, 1964	Billary cirrhosis	Spring, 1941	Bombing raid
José Millán Astray	January, 1954	Heart attack	March, 1944	Execution by firing squad
Bernard Montgomery	March, 1976	Natural causes	Spring, 1943	Plane shot down

In addition, the fates of Werner von Fritsch, Franz Halder, and Hermann Göring in the series are ambiguous; see these characters' respective pages for more information.

A World of Difference[]

Person		Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Mikhail Gorbachev		August, 2022	Natural causes	December, 1985	Officially cerebral hemorrhage (widely believed to be homicide)

Worldwar[]

Person	Date of OTL Death	Cause of OTL Death	Date of Fictional Death	Cause of Fictional Death
Kurt Chill	July, 1976	Natural causes	Spring, 1944	Crushed
Sepp Dietrich	April, 1966	Heart failure	1965	Killed in the Race-German War of 1965
Werner Heisenberg*	February, 1976	Cancer of the kidneys and bladder	Spring, 1943	Meltdown of an atomic pile
Yoshio Nishina	January, 1951	Liver cancer	Summer, 1943	Killed in an explosive-metal bombing
Pope Pius XII	October, 1958	Myocardial infarction	January, 1944	Killed in an explosive-metal bombing
Franklin D. Roosevelt*	April, 1945	Stroke	Spring, 1944	Stroke
Otto Skorzeny	July, 1975	Cancer	Summer, 1944	Shot to death
Nikolai Vasiliev	October, 1971	Presumably natural causes	Spring, 1944	Crushed
Henry Wallace	November, 1965	Lou Gehrig's disease	January, 1944	Killed in an explosive-metal bombing
Earl Warren	Cardiac arrest	July, 1974	Summer, 1965	Suicide by gunshot