The War of the Worlds
H.G. Wells (1898)
“The British Empire discovers what it feels like to be colonized — by a civilization from Mars.”
Short Summary
An unnamed narrator in late-Victorian Surrey witnesses the arrival of Martian cylinders that disgorge towering tripod machines armed with heat-rays and poisonous black smoke. As the military is overwhelmed and London evacuated, the narrator survives by hiding, witnessing humanity reduced to prey. The Martians are ultimately defeated not by human resistance but by terrestrial bacteria, to which they have no immunity — a resolution that underscores both nature's indifference and humanity's fragile place in the cosmic order.
Detailed Summary
The novel opens with the narrator reflecting on how humanity, secure in its assumed dominance, failed to notice that intelligences on Mars were studying Earth with envious eyes. A series of gas eruptions observed on Mars precedes the landing of the first cylinder on Horsell Common, near Woking, Surr...