Parallels To Real World History
The Honor Harrington universe shares other parallels with our real history including religious strife, bigotry of many kinds, ignorance and malfeasance and the political situation—both domestic in both of Honor's governments, but also internationally. During much of Harrington's career, her native Star Kingdom of Manticore is at war with the neighboring People's Republic of Haven (PRH), a conflict that has some similarities to the Napoleonic Wars between the British Empire and its various alliances during the long struggle to oppose the revolutionaries of France.
Given a faster than light technology and weapons scaled similar to those of the Age of Sail, some of the battles described in the Honor Harrington series resemble real-life sea battles in our historical record. For instance, the long stern chase described in On Basilisk Station has some parallels with the actions of HMS Kent at the Battle of the Falklands during World War I. Similarly, the deathride by Sarnow's battlecruisers in The Short Victorious War bears a resemblance to similar manoeuvres by Admiral von Hipper during the Battle of Jutland. The final actions in The Honor of the Queen contain elements from the battles of the Barents Sea and North Cape during World War II, as well as the Battle of the River Plate. Further, Weber's choice of interstellar technology forces trade to pursue established trade routes, and creates strategic shipping nexus that are similar to key strategic ports of the days of the Colonial Era when the sailing ship of the line was king of the sea, and Captains, Admirals and Fleets had to operate out of touch with the home government for months, even years at a time.
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