1625. THE COMING CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. Routledge; London, 1904. Putnam; New York, 1904. Trans, from German by J. H. Freese. (Der Weltkrieg—deutsche Traeume, 1904) 

Imaginary war set in the near future. 

*  India and the Low Countries. The author attempts to combine the imaginary war with a mainstream romance of espionage. 

*  The first portion of the book is set in India, where Capt. Hermann Heideck of the Prussian General Staff, in the guise of a commissions merchant for indigo, is acting as a spy and observer. He becomes friendly with the British forces at Chanidigat, and also establishes personal and professional relations with the Russian Prince Tchajavadse, who is a similar spy for the Russian General Staff. 

*  Communications are very bad in India, and much has happened before the British in India know that war has begun. The Russians have occupied Afghanistan and are invading India, while in the European sector the French, Germans, and Russians are attacking Great Britain. 

*  Heideck, who has secretly accepted a commission in the Russian army, is forced by circumstances to fight on the British side in order to save the life of the woman he loves— Mrs. Irwin. (She is the wife of a British officer who is a cad and treats her badly.) At one time Heideck is in danger of being shot by the advancing Russians, but is saved by Prince Tchajavadse. 

*  In the Indian sector the Russian advance is swift and efficient, while the British defense is stupid, bumbling, and weak. When the British show their weakness, the native princes go over to the Russian side, and India is lost. 

*  Heideck is now reassigned to Europe, where he is occupied with counterespionage of a sort in the occupied Low Countries. He uncovers a spy nest, and with the help of Mrs. Irwin, who has been repatriated to England, acquires a set of the British war plans. The result is a smashing victory for the Continental allies. England surrenders. Heideck, however, was killed in the final battle, and Mrs. Irwin is drowned. The sad part is that Heideck's sense of honor was so great that though he accepted the plans from Mrs. Irwin, he could not help regarding her with loathing for her treason to her native land. 

*  After the war India is ceded to the Russians; Egypt and Belgium are awarded to France; and much of Africa is assigned to the Germans. Gibraltar is returned to Spain, and the Balkans are reorganized. 

*  The first part of the book, set in India, has some moments of interest as a spy story much like the work of E. Phillips Oppenheim, but novelistically the story falls apart after this.