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Table of Contents
Protect and Survive
A TL focusing mainly on the British Isles, but with several glimpses into other parts of the world as well. The PoD is an massive international crisis erupting in 1983, reaching its bitter climax in February 1984, when tensions between NATO and the Warsaw Pact finally escalate. Stuff happens…
The TL was inspired by the eponymous British survival program devised during the Cold War and by several famous British docudramas dealing with the bleak prospect of a world after an all-out nuclear war (e.g. The War Game, Threads, When the Wind Blows).
Protect and Survive is one of the best TLs to come out in 2010. Focusing on realism and the depths of darkness, AH.com member Macragge1 has created a truly unique and interesting world. The timeline was started on 21st of August 2010 and was finished on the 17th of January 2013.
Chapters
Arranged in chronological order. Interesting bit of trivia: The names of the first 16 main chapters (the ones written in Roman numerals) reference the chapter names from the handbooks and PSA videos of the Protect and Survive program that lent the TL its name.
I: Nuclear Explosions Explained
III: What To Do When The Warnings Sound
Intermission: CHANTICLEER 01.03.1984 Telex Report
Intermission: CHANTICLEER 05.03.1984 Telex Report
VIII: The Importance of Your Radio
XI: Life Under Fall-Out Conditions
XII: Make Your Fallout Room and Refuge Now
XIV: Materials To Use For Your Fallout Room And Refuge
Intermission: American Defence Orders Retrospective
XIX: Jumping Someone Else's Train
Intermission: Impressions in German
Intermission: Food for Thought
Intermission: 48.156007, 10.524902
XXIV: To Cut A Long Story Short
Intermission: Thankfully, Not Living in Yorkshire, It Doesn't Apply (guest-written by The Vulture)
Spinoffs
Protect and Survive has received a remarkable amount of spinoff stories by other AH.com authors, something quite rare for AH.com timelines.
You can find them all in this list.
If you're interested, you can also visit When the Wind Blew : The P&S Open Thread and discuss the original timeline and its steadily growing “expanded universe” of spinoffs.
In AH.com Fiction
The TL has its own fictional movie trailer written by Macragge1 himself. Beware of spoilers.
Soundtrack
An impromptu list of music that fits various parts of the timeline, suggested by AH.commers during the course of the TL's run.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Two Tribes (music for the trailer, see above)
Electric Bloom - Foals (the international crisis escalates)
Kraftwerk - Radioactivity (attacks commence, firestorms and uncontrolled spread of fallout)
Johann Johannsson - Sun's Gone Dim (Britain lies in ruins, police and firemen are trying their best to put out fires among the immense ruins)
Indigo Girls - Point Hope (The Exchange ends, radiation sickness of victims and their treatment)
Tom Petty - The Last DJ (emergency radio broadcasting resuming after The Exchange, with John Peel in one of the bunkers)
TBA gradually.
Bibliography
References
Campbell,D, War Plan UK: The Truth About Civil Defence In Britain, Burnett Books, London (1982)
Hennessey,P, The Secret State: Preparing for the Worst 1945-2010, Penguin, London (2010)
Brookes, A, Vulcan Units of the Cold War, Osprey Publishing, London (2009)
Windass, S et.al, Avoiding Nuclear War: Common Security as a Strategy for the Defence of the West, Brassey's Defence Publishers, Washington (1985)
Clarke, B, The Illustrated Guide To Armageddon: Britain's Cold War, Amberley, Gloucester (2009)
Gibson, C, Vulcan's Hammer: V-Force Projects and Weapons Since 1945, Hikoki Publications, Manchester (2011)
Jackson, R, Submarines of the World: 300 of the World's Best Submarines, Grange Books, Rochester (2000)
Lucas, J, The Last Days of the Reich, Phoenix, London (2000)
Wood, D, Jane's World Aircraft Recognition Handbook 1984, Jane's Publishing, London (1983)
McCutcheon, C, The Home Office Civil Defence Manual of Basic Training, His Majesty's Stationery Office, London (1950)
Sandbrook, D, State of Emergency: The Way We Were, Britain 1970-1974, Penguin, London (2011)
Turner, A, Rejoice! Rejoice!, Aurum Press Ltd, London (2010)
Fox, S, Struggle for Survival - Governing Britain After the Bomb, Online, (2005)
Hershey, J, Hiroshima, Penguin Modern Classics, London (2002)
Anon, Protect and Survive - How To Make Your Home And Your Family As Safe As Possible Under Nuclear Attack, Home Office, London (1980)
Recommended Reading
NB - What follows is a far-from exhaustive list of fictional works that I can consciously attest to having influenced the timeline stylistically; I would recommend each of them to anyone who has enjoyed this timeline, as it is more than likely that they will enjoy these.
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Down To A Sunless Sea - David Graham
On The Beach - Neville Shute
The Death of Grass - John Christopher
The Last Ship - William Brinkley
GB84 - David Peace
Watchmen - Alan Moore
V For Vendetta - Alan Moore
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
The Waste Land - T.S Eliot.
NB - Obviously this bibliography is as much a work-in-progress as the timeline itself.