The War of the Worlds was written in response to several historical events. The most important was the unification and militarization of Germany, which led to a series of novels predicting war in Europe, beginning with George Chesney's The Battle of Dorking (1871). Most of these were written in a semi-documentary fashion; and Wells borrowed their technique to tie his interplanetary war tale to specific places in England familiar to his readers. This attempt at hyper-realism helped to inspire Orson Welles when the latter created his famed 1938 radio broadcast based on the novel.

The night after a shooting star is seen streaking across the sky a cvlinder is discovered on Horsell Common. Fascinated ana exhilarated the local people approach the mysterious object armed with nothing more than a white flag. But when gruesome alien creatures emerge armed with all-destroying heaT-rays, their rashness Turns rapidly to fear. As the rays blaze towards them it soon becomes clear they have no choice but to flee - or die.

Soon the Martians begin a sinister invasion of the world. Destroying all in their path with black gas and burning rays, they brutally make their aavance, feasting on the warm blood of still-living human prey. The forces of he Earth however, may prove harder to beat than they at first appear ...

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS

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