The New Centurion: A Tale of Automatic War

Eastwick, James. The New Centurion: A Tale of Automatic War. London and New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1895.[1] Anthologized British Future Fiction 1700-1914, ed. I. F. Stone. vol. 6 (of 8 vols.). London: Pickering & Chatto, 2001.

Anthologized by Stone in the volume "The Next Great War." In his review of British Future Fiction (SRFA Review #254-55 [Sept.-Dec. 2001]), Alan Sandison, notes that

In The New Centurion James Eastwick is cavalier about his story-line but redeems himself because of his well organized and extremely knowledgeable account of likely developments in weaponry projected for the Royal Navy. His book is sub-titled “A Tale of Automatic War,” and unlike a number of the Generals-turned-author, he is not only aware of the value of heavy machine-guns but clearly anticipates a time when armaments of this kind will be computer (or at least electronically) controlled. Eastwick doesn’t subscribe to the widespread belief — frequently reiterated in these texts — that every advance in military technology was a step toward world peace. (Sandison p. 47).

Cf. The Battle of Dorking[2] and its future-war kin from the era.

RDE, finishing, 2Sep19