Alternative History:Point of Divergence Ideas

For inspiration see the following pages:

Free Ideas

 * Hinge moments - Alternate histories caused by single isolated decisions or events.
 * Alternate trends - Alternate histories caused by many small changes to OTL resulting in a general large scale change.
 * Counterfactualities - Alternate histories caused by introduction of completely alien element to OTL.

Projects in development

 * List of Althists
 * POD

Pre-History (13.7 Billion to 5,000 BC)

 * Earth is formed a few kilometers away from OTL position, leading to longer ice age and possibly different evolutionary paths.
 * Earth shifts so OTL Panama is the North Pole.
 * Vibrant Sol: Earth, Mars and Venus all form so as to be inhabitable; each developing an ecology and oxygen atmosphere.
 * Ordovician-Silurian extinction events wipe out humanity's early ancestral species.
 * Insecta Giganteus: The Earth's oxygen percentage never decreases from 35% to 20%. Large insects thrive among the world and heavily impact human science, culture, and migration.
 * The North Atlantic Ocean opens slightly to the West, leaving Greenland attached to the top of Scotland.
 * Homo Sapiens do not evolve - different human race?
 * Due to early genetic developments, humanity is prominently or exclusively a Hermaphroditic species.
 * A Human Silence: Humans, while developing all other identifiers of Civilization, never develop Modern Speech but remain primitive in vocal communication and at times completely silent relying on sign, art, pictographs, and other visual or touch based communication. (research Muteness which is prominent in this timeline)
 * Sedentary Mankind: Homo Sapiens ancestral experiences leads to them having less desire for travel and to be more likely to remain where they were born or close to such location.
 * Super eruption at Mount Toba in 74,000 BC doesn't occur - quicker human expansion across the world?
 * Merpeople evolve, possibly from  Homo Sapiens an early yet distinguished proto-primate that developed around the coast of a bay or inlet.
 * Homo Sapiens has the same fear of water as chimpanzees, meaning no small boats, a later leaving of Africa, no colonization of the Americas, Australia, Madagascar, et cetera, whilst other species of human possibly have no such fear.
 * Wolves are never domesticated into dogs in Eastern Europe and/or southern East Asia. (Studies in OTL contradict each other upon date and origin of when domestication took place; 14th or 32nd millennium BCE.) Dogs are instead learned to be domesticated in the later Holocene Era or possibly even earlier Anthropocene Era.
 * Agriculture is discovered several millennia earlier than in OTL.
 * Agriculture is discovered several millennia later than in OTL.
 * Mammoths do not become extinct after the Ice Age. They roam England, Europe, Russia, and parts of North America. Some are used them the way elephants are used in India.
 * Mastodons do not become extinct after the Ice Age. Native Americans in Florida use them the same way elephants are used in Asia.
 * Horses do not become extinct in America after the Ice Age. Plains people become supreme horsemen like the Mongols, possibly leading up to a Native American Genghis Khan.
 * The Drake passage does not open 20 to 40 million years ago, leaving Antarctica attached to South America and with no ice sheet.
 * There is a landmass that stretches from Norway down to Scotland across to Iceland and down along the east coast to Delaware. How is this taken advantage of by future civilizations? Roman American colonies? what civilizations form in the new land?
 * Australian megafauna (rhino-sized wombats, sheep-sized echidnas and very large kangaroos) do not go extinct. How would this affect the development of Aboriginal society? Could the megafauna be domesticated?
 * Megafauna aren't hunted to extinction due to higher populations and still roam the earth, societies are forced to form around these behemoths incorporating them into religion, culture, folklore, agriculture and war.
 * The ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere take a longer time to retreat, possibly cutting humans off from Europe or Asia?
 * The prehistoric area known as Doggerland, a landmass across the North Sea linking Britain with mainland Europe, was higher and was never flooded to the point of sinking. Celts might battle Germanics, Romans might take over, and if the Nazis were ever a thing in the far future, Operation Sealion would not exist.

Ancient History (4999 BC to 476 AD)

 * The Indus River Valley civilization does not disappear, and instead becomes a proto-kingdom.
 * With no Thera/Santorini eruption, Minoan culture spreads around the Mediterranean rather than that of the Greeks.
 * 1800 BC - The Norte Chico civilization never falls.
 * King Tutankhamun lives to be 60 years old.
 * Ramses II dies at the Battle of Kadesh.
 * Alexander the Great has a son early enough who takes after his father.
 * One of Alexander's successors manages to defeat all the others and reunites the empire. (Maybe Antigonus at Ipsus?)
 * During the Corinthian War, Sparta faced a coalition of the leading Greek states: Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos. The alliance was initially backed by Persia, but if not the Spartans may have won comprehensively?
 * We know in OTL, around 300 BC the Indian Emperor Ashoka send missionaries and ambassadors throughout the world to spread the new faith of Buddhism, and some of them reached the Eastern Mediterranean. What if they were able to maintain communities of followers and grow a Buddhist presence in the west?
 * Boudica, queen of the Iceni, expels the Roman emperor Nero and Roman Empire from the island of Britannia. Other than having a majorly Celtic and possibly Nordic dialect in their accents, what would happen to the modern British Isles and their populous?
 * Pyrrhus manages to win the Pyrrhic Wars against Rome and Carthage.
 * Thebes led by Epaminondas and Pelopidas becomes a dominant power in Ancient Greece, as they don't die and establish long lasting Theban Hegemony/Empire.
 * Christianity never leaves Israel and dies out.
 * What if ancient Egyptians discovered the Americas?
 * What if the Secret Gospel of Mark (which says that Jesus and Lazarus became lovers after he was brought back from the dead) was incorporated into the Christian canon? How would this affect Christian attitudes toward homosexuality? Variant: Jesus is already married to Mary Magdalene, who marries Lazarus after the Crucifixion.
 * 2nd century AD - The traveller Pausanius never recites the tale of Hermesianax amongst his voyages, so the religious forbidding of eating pork never occurs, and the pig industry explodes. (However, the consumption of raw pork amongst given Arab families undercooked could lead to them banning it anyway; just at a later point in time.)
 * What if the Christian nudist movement known as the Adamites became mainstream? The Adamites were a recognized Gnostic heresy in the 200s-300s AD, and resurfaced at various points during the subsequent years, culminating in the neo-Adamites of the 1700s. How would this have altered the culture?
 * The Crisis of the Third Century - The Gallic Empire and the Palmyrene Empires remain separate from the Roman Empire.
 * Constantine's Burning Cross.
 * Attila the Hun wins the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains and founds a long-lasting Hunnic Empire.
 * Qin Shi Huangdi - First emperor of China dies as a child - No China, no unified nation in that area? Or he gets assassinated in 226 BC by Jing Ke as almost happened except this time Jing Ke aims correctly and doesn't miss Zheng He (what Qin Shi Huangdi was called before he became emperor of all China.) while throwing the poisoned knife that would have definitely killed him if it punctured the skin.
 * What if Saint Paul instead of travelling throughout Rome travelled East to Persia, India, and possibly even as far as China? How would this affect Christian thought? Christianity in Europe? Et cetera.
 * What if Jesus visited Pontius Pilate after his resurrection and Pilate became a Christian? Could he have helped stop persecution of Christians in Judea? Would St. Paul have become a Christian if hadn't been persecuting them? How would this affect Christianity in the Near East?
 * Cao Cao wins the Battle of Red Cliffs in 209 AD. This prevents the Three Kingdoms Period in China, resulting in a stronger Wei Dynasty taking power much earlier. How would this affect Chinese culture? Would it have any domino effects on Migration Period Europe?

Middle Ages (477 to 1453 AD)

 * Justinian's Roman Empire isn't struck by the plague and he is able to keep it stable, After his death his wife Theodora manages to secure the empire before her death. The Roman Empire once again enters an era of prosperity, What happens next? How does this affect history?
 * Sassanid Emperor Kavadh I does not get deposed in 496 and remains a strong supporter of the Mazdaki sect, resulting in Mazdak's religion replacing Zoroastrianism as the main religion of the Sassanid Empire.
 * During the Tang, China vassalizes the states of India. Ever since, India has been under Chinese cultural hegemony, much like Japan, Korea or Vietnam.
 * ASB - Field Effect - Area 51 undertakes the development of a faster-than-light propulsion system. When it goes online for the test the field it produces sends the entire base 1300 years into the past and make contact with the Fremont people. They start trading black-powder weapons, and the included knowledge necessary for these weapons, for food and water. After a while the tribes learn how to find the materials to produce their own weapons, allowing them through experimentation to develop fully-automatic weapons one thousand years ago. When Europeans show up you should be able to guess what will happen.
 * What if the An Shi rebellion was successful in toppling the Tang Dynasty? Would a new dynasty be able to rise, or would China fall into chaos?
 * The Christians win the Crusades.
 * Big Little Ice Age?
 * No Black Death.
 * Islam takes the place of Christianity, and Christians turn to terrorism.
 * Balloons, airships, gliders, and/or aeroplanes are invented several centuries early (i.e., before the OTL Age of Exploration).
 * The Mongol Hordes invade and conquer Western Europe and most of Northern Africa.
 * King Stephen of England is succeeded by his son William
 * Owain Glyndŵr the first Prince of Wales kicks the English, (under Henry IV), out of Wales in an uprising in 1410 causing the Welsh nation to become independent to modern times? One possible outcome of that idea is that you get a 'European Community' a lot earlier ...
 * Matilda beats her cousin Stephen for the crown of England. Changes the right of women to the throne to be the same as men. Meaning after Richard I The Lionheart dies, the throne passes not to King John but to Queen Matilda II.
 * King John is not forced to sign Magna Carta by the Barons.
 * Italy is unified much before OTL, around the 1300's. What would have happened in Italy and in the world?
 * Kublai Khan's invasion of Japan attain success.
 * Mongolians are the first to discover America.
 * May 878. King Alfred of Wessex takes refuge from the Danes on the Isle of Athelney, Wessex - the precursor of England had been reduced to a few acres in size, what if the Danes had found Athelney and destroyed it and everyone there? No England. The Danelaw extended over all of what is now the UK.
 * Emperor Basil II of the Byzantine Empire marries one of his nieces off to a competent successor, giving the Byzantines a strong empire after his death in 1025 who manages to prevent the Muslims from seizing much of Anatolia.
 * What if Khosrau of Persia did not declare war on the Byzantines, leaving the Sassanid and Byzantine Empires stronger and more likely to cooperate against the Islamic invasions?
 * The Western and Eastern Roman Empire manage to keep the Germanic tribes out of their territories by unspecified methods, or manage to invade Germania. Maybe an earlier date for the Age of Enlightenment?
 * Columbus' fleet sinks on the return voyage. Europeans still have adamant belief in the flat earth, while native Americans know of Europe.
 * Islam never develops ... or a similar religion develops in a different place than OTL.
 * The Templar Order is not disbanded by Pope Clement V and remain active for centuries.

Renaissance (1454 to 1600 AD)

 * Joan of Arc dies when she is a child (born approximately the year 1412), and the English win the Hundred Years War.
 * The War of the Roses (which began in 1455) is averted.
 * The House of York wins the War of the Roses (in OTL the war lasted from 1455-87)
 * Oda Nobunaga survives the assassination attempt at Honnoji during the 16th century Japanese Warring States period, continuing his quest for the unification of Japan under the Oda clan. - れび (talk to Lavi!) 19:44, October 3, 2010 (UTC)
 * In 1478, after a Pazzi Conspiracy, Lorenzo de' Medici and Pope Sixtus IV start a war that engulfs Europe.
 * King John II of Portugal finances Columbus's voyage.
 * Catherine of Aragon has a son by Henry VIII of England.
 * Martin Luther has a fatal stumble while leaving a tavern.
 * Martin Luther becomes a brewer rather then a monk.
 * Martin Luther asks his questions to a senior monk who presents them in a more knowledgeable fashion to the abbot of the monastery who then writes a letter to the local bishop starting an internal rather then external reformation of the Catholic Church - keeping it united rather then split. Martin Luther's name is lost to history (simply being an unknown German monk if ever mentioned) with the Bishop's name being more well known for 'the Reformation'.
 * Martin Luther is killed by the Inquisition. There is no Protestant Reformation.
 * The Spanish are defeated by the Aztecs (Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire was from 1519-21).
 * The Spanish (Cortez) are defeated by the Aztecs but a ship returns to Spain inspiring a return of greater force igniting (thanks to stories of the natives human sacrifice and blood drinking) a crusade in North America of which other Catholic nations join.
 * Spanish are defeated by Aztecs and then Mayans colonize Spain.
 * The Luther Bible completely excludes Jude from its publication (1522) rather then having it in the back of the book.
 * Catherine of Aragon doesn't have a son, but Anne Boleyn has a son sired by Henry VIII of England (around 1525).
 * Catherine of Austria gives birth to the son of Sigismund II of Poland in October 1554.
 * Catherine of Austria gives birth to the son of Sigismund II of Poland prematurely in October 1554. The son survives but like his mother is of poor health. The son inherits the famed patience of the Jagiellonian dynasty but not its tenacity. As he matures he comes to resent his own meekness and his father's calm demeanor taking on a silent hateful nature akin to that displayed by his mother to his father. He understands the workings of state as well as his father, but being a reclusive man becomes known for the intrigue of his court earning such names as the serpent due to rumors of being a poisoner. His approach in regards to handling Ivan the Terrible becomes the most notable aspect of his reign.
 * 1551 - Barbara recovers from her illness after being recognized as Queen of Poland and eventually has a son by Sigismund II of Poland allowing the Jagiellonian dynasty to continue.
 * Queen Elizabeth I of England accepted the Marriage proposal of Ivan IV (the terrible) of Russia (1570).
 * Ottomans win the Battle of Lepanto (1571).
 * The 1573 Polish-Lithuanian royal election results in Archduke Ernst von Habsburg becoming king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.
 * Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who originally organized and financed the Roanoke Colony, doesn't drown in 1583.

Seventeenth century (1601 to 1700 AD)

 * 1605 - The Gunpowder Plot conducted by Guy Fawkes succeeds. A different colonial power establishes Jamestown instead, and French is now the dominant language in the Commonwealth of Champlania (in OTL, the United States).
 * 1609 - Information that Chief Powhatan had slaughtered the colonist of Roanoke (as they were living with a rival tribe) was published in England as relayed by John Smith and William Strachey. In OTL this didn't lead to action against the tribe, but what if the information had sparked some kind of 'revenge' by the English? [source please]
 * November 24, 1642 - Abel Tasman does not discover Tasmania. The Tasmanian Devil is not a famous character today because of such. It's a rough claim to say who would claim Australia at this point in history.
 * The Royalists win the English Civil war (1642-51).
 * The Parliamentarians win the English Civil War (1642-51) but fail to keep the islands united resulting in independent Irish, English, and Scottish states.
 * New Courland (Tobago) is not lost to the Spanish.
 * Oliver Cromwell elects someone other than his son to be Lord Protector of England, no return to monarchy? How about John Milton?
 * Bohdan Khmelnytsky (leader of the Ukrainian Cossacks) does not accept overlordship by the Russian Tsar, and, instead, decides to link himself and the Cossacks more closely to their old enemy, Poland-Lithuania, or to the Ottoman Empire.
 * The Swedish keep New Sweden from the Dutch (a bit of what OTL knows as New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania) in 1655.
 * The Dutch keep New Amsterdam (which would otherwise become OTL New York City) in 1664.
 * What if James II fled to America in 1688 instead of France? Maryland was a predominantly Catholic colony, perfect for a Catholic monarch
 * Władysław IV Vasa becomes Tsar of Russia.
 * The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth becomes a major superpower.
 * The Gunpowder Conspiracy is not discovered, leading to (for the time) a major atrocity.
 * Tsarina Sophia assassinates Peter the Great before he becomes Tsar. Massive consequences for Russia.

Eighteenth century (1701 to 1800 AD)

 * Sweden wins the Great Northern War (1700-21).
 * Louis XV of France (born on February 15, 1710) dies in childhood. Some succession finagling later ... massive Franco-Iberian Empire? Much longer War of the Spanish Succession that results in said empire getting destroyed?
 * George Washington (born on February 22, 1732) dies in his childhood.
 * Elizabeth's 1741 coup against Ivan VI fails.
 * Bonnie Prince Charlie becomes King Charles III of England and Scotland after defeating George II in the 1745 Jacobite rising.
 * Washington joins the Royal Navy instead of the British provincial militia (in OTL George Washington enrolled in 1752 so this POD would be that year or prior).
 * The Corsican Republic (which lasted in OTL from 1755-69) isn't integrated into the Kingdom of France (the Conquest of Corsica, which began shortly after Genoa sold its claim on that state to the Kingdom of France, took place between 1768-69 of OTL. The British had the opportunity to intervene in what is known as the Corsican Crisis but in OTL the 3rd Duke of Gafton, head of the British Government failed to do so and was criticized for such as public opinion was in favor of Corsica).
 * Frederick the Great dies in battle during the Seven Years War (1756-63). (Prussia was actually doing horrible until Elizabeth of Russia died, the next Tsar signed the Treaty of St. Petersburg, and then France tried fighting Prussia and Britain at the same time until failing at both.)
 * France wins the Seven Years War (in OTL the conflict lasted from 1756-63).
 * The Transylvania Colony (1775) is recognized by the Continental Congress.
 * Canada declares independence along with America (the colonies that in OTL formed the US had sent their own declarations prior to the July 4, 1776 declaration by the Continental Congress. The first having been South Carolina which declared itself the Republic of South Carolina with John Rutledge as President on March 26, 1776. At the time of the American War for Independence 'Canada' was simply the Province of Quebec and the British had allowed the local French to retain much of their customs under British rule).
 * For Want of Socks or For Want of A Boat: What if Washington's soldiers had refused to cross the Delaware until they got shoes, socks, and proper clothing (1776)? Perhaps American victory would be delayed. A similar POD: What if the three boats used to cross the Delaware had collapsed as they pushed them into the river?
 * The (Free) State of Franklin (Frankland) (which existed in OTL from 1784-1788) is admitted into the Union.
 * Prince Henry of Prussia becomes king of America (1786, see Prussian scheme).
 * The Three Fifths Compromise (1787) didn't pass at the United States Constitutional Convention, leading to the Southern states to never join the Union, or to an early civil war.
 * The New England states, with the failure to ratify the Federal Constitution (Philadelphia Convention 1787) by the Southern States due in part to its lack of a Bill of Rights establishes the New England Union under the Federal Constitution (with a few name changes) while the Southern States continue to operate under the Articles of Confederation (with the capital moved to Richmond) leading to an early, bitter, yet peaceful split with the Northern states having a stronger union; though one lacking a Federal Bill of Rights under the argument that such isn't needed when the states have created such on their own.
 * The French Revolution didn't happen (OTL the Revolution began on May 5, 1789), so Napoleon never became emperor.
 * The British Macartney Embassy/Mission to the Chinese Qing Dynasty receives a warmer reception by either the Qianlong Emperor or his court officials (1793). The beginnings of a British-Chinese relationship before the Opium wars would have dramatic consequences for East Asia. The Qing, might successfully advance their country with cooperation instead of complete domination from the west.
 * Boer Republics manage to keep their independence from the British Empire; the earliest of these Republics was the Republic of Swellendam which existed briefly in 1795.
 * March 4, 1797 - Despite health conditions, George Washington insists on a third term in presidency. This becomes an official American standard for either ten or 12 years maximum, leading to some presidents being elected three times, and other presidents of the United States in our timeline to not become presidents at all.

Nineteenth century (1801 to 1900 AD)

 * Napoleon dies after being wounded at Toulon.
 * March 24, 1801 - Paul I of Russia is not successfully assassinated.
 * September 14, 1812 - Napoleon makes Russia a puppet state.
 * Andres Novales successfully convinced his brother to let him in at Fort Santiago. A Philippine Empire in 1823? Earlier and more countries accepting Meiji style-reforms? What about Mexico, Spain and Colonialism?
 * The Second Sun: Or ... During the Philippine-American War, (in OTL) Sun Yat-Sen sent a ship loaded with thousands of rifles and artillery to the Filipinos. In OTL it sank in a storm ... but what if it hadn't?
 * Napoleon does not betray Spain or invade Russia.
 * Napoleon carries out his planned invasion of Britain instead of Russia. This ends up with Britain in a similar situation to Spain, where the British colonies fall into chaos and Britain is severely damaged. France, Russia, and the US become superpowers?
 * Vittorio Emmanuele II and Giussepe Gribaldi die without descendants on Sardinia-Piedemont. Italy is never unified.
 * Denmark is assisted by GB after Prussia declares war, perhaps involving Russia and France.
 * A compromise is made over the design of the tricolour and the French monarchy is restored.
 * What if Spain had managed to stop the revolutions of Cuba and Philippines, preventing the Spanish American War from happening?
 * What if the Spanish Republic managed to strengthen itself and solidify its position?
 * What if Princess Elizabeth of Clarence hadn't died young (March 4, 1821) and Victoria never became queen?
 * Texas Revolts in 1825 when Mexico abolished Slavery.
 * 1828 (approximately) The 'Hollow Earth' expedition backed by President Quincy Adams of the United States is carried out. On May of 1828 of OTL Congress passed a resolution approving the expedition (which would consist of one naval vessel) but incoming president Andrew Jackson killed the idea. Ten years later the expedition would take place as the 'US Exploring Expedition' (with six ships) and make many discoveries. It's rooted in the origin of the Smithsonian so - what if (some of) those discoveries occurred earlier?
 * The Adam's supported 'Hollow Earth' expedition proceeds with one ship, and having gear for cave exploration trek upon Antarctica where they experience considerable lose and mutiny which sees the vessel return having failed to discover a passage into the Hollow Earth.
 * The Adams supported 'Hollow Earth' expedition proceeds with one ship and becomes the first to reach the South Pole.
 * The Adams supported 'Hollow Earth' expedition reaches Antarctica where they find extensive ice caves which the leaders figure must lead to the Hollow Earth, the expedition is lost in these caves only to be discovered years later. History Channel eventually airs a film, special, or a few films regarding the fate of the expedition.
 * Cornelius Vanderbilt dies in the Hightstown rail accident of 1833. Thus, he does not go on to become a major railroad tycoon in the mid-late 19th century, and thus, there is no Vanderbilt fortune. Does another rise as the railroad tycoon of the mid 19th century?
 * The Republic of Indian Stream is admitted into the Union as a State around 1835 or 1836 to have its own governor, senators, representatives, etc (In OTL after New Hampshire occupied the region the people voted to become part of New Hampshire rather than a free state, or British under the authority of Canada)
 * The Indian Stream Incident where in New Hampshire's militia annexed the territory and a representative of the Republic wrote Canada asking for British protection leads to another British-American War in the mid 1830s.
 * The Battle of the Alamo (1836) was won by the Texans.
 * Henry Clay becomes President in 1840.
 * The Sonderbund War (a civil war in Switzerland in November of 1847) ends in victory for the rebellion. Switzerland becomes a conservative Catholic state that doesn't stay neutral in future European wars.
 * The California Constitutional Convention of 1849 sways in favor of the proposal of entering the Union as a combined state with Deseret. In OTL the conviction debated the proposal but determined that Salt Lake City was too far away for effective governance, and that the Mormons (being unrepresented in the conviction) where petitioning for their own government. Senator William Gwin was among those to feel that both issues could easily be resolved at a latter date. Zachary Taylor, President of the US was in favor of having the territories enter the Union as a single state (having sent John Wilson to advocate the proposal). Weather or not the Provisional Government of Deseret would accept the offer is unclear though where they to do so California would exceed Texas in size and geographical diversity.
 * President-elect Franklin Pierce does not survive the train wreck in Andover (January 6, 1853) and William Rufus King becomes President, only to die soon after, making David Rice Atchison the President.
 * What if the Southern States had abolished slavery right before the outbreak of the Civil War (1861 or earlier)?
 * Vittorio Emmanuele II and Giussepe Gribaldi die without descendants on Sardinia-Piedemont. Italy is not united as the Kingdom of Italy but as the Republic of Italy with Giueppe Mazzini (rather than Giussepe Gribaldi) as a fundamental founder. (in OTL the Italian Peninsula was unified as the Kingdom of Italy in 1861)
 * The Franco-Mexican War/Second French Intervention in Mexico concludes with a French/Mexican Imperial victory (in OTL the conflict lasted from 1861 until 1867 with the French and Mexican Empires having the most international support; the Republicans only having the US as a supporter and it was in the middle of a Civil War. Victory for the Republic was guaranteed by capture of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico).
 * The regions that becomes West Virginia in OTL remains part of Virginia (in OTL it was admitted into the Union as a slave state in 1863 though with a constitution providing for a gradual abolition of slavery)
 * August 1864 - From 50 yards away a rifle shot rang out as President Abraham Lincoln, unguarded and alone was riding to the Soldier's House where his family was staying at the time. In OTL his horse in reaction to this shot ran at break-neck speed causing Abe to lose his hat. When a group of union soldiers came to retrieve the hat they found a bullet hole in it. Abraham Lincoln dismissed fears that such was an attempt on his life and insisted that the incident had been an accident perhaps that of a hunter. As an ALT regardless of intent or lack there of and still with an unknown perpetrator the shot hits Lincoln killing the president months before he was killed in OTL.
 * In the American Civil War, the course of the war in Georgia bogs down the Union Army so that it cannot burn Atlanta before the 1864 election. Without the boost in support that came from Atlanta's destruction Lincoln may lose to his opponent George McClellan. George McClellan wished to conclude a peace with the South, and create a path for the Confederacy to be a sovereign state.
 * John Wilkes Booth misses Lincoln (April 4, 1865).
 * The Union in Peril: John Wilkes Booth kills both President Abraham Lincoln and Vice President Andrew Johnson, and injures Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (April 4, 1865). Stanton becomes the new President of the United States. Considering the killings an act of war, he blames the Confederate states. Second Civil War begins[?].
 * April 1865 - John Pemberton doesn't sustain a saber wound during the Battle of Columbus. As a result of not being thus wounded he doesn't become addicted to Morphine - and post war as a pharmacist doesn't invent Coca-Cola in an attempt to cure his addiction. Not being addicted also means he doesn't fall into alcoholism which he resorted to when Coca-Cola failed as a cure - alcoholism that likely led to his stomach cancer and death in 1888 at 57 years of age.
 * The defeated Confederacy turns to Socialism (post 1865).
 * An unexpected consequence of a confederate victory scenario: Canada, no longer scared of American domination of its western territories, decides to become independent instead of remaining a dominion of Britain. This small change has larger consequences when WWI starts ... if it starts in this timeline.
 * The General Sherman incident in Korea (1866) sparks a war with the US, Britain, and France against Korea, forcing the latter to modernize.
 * The Siege of Santiago de Queretaro fails, thus Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico is not executed on June 19, 1867.
 * Canada is annexed by the US in 1867.
 * The Capture of Rome fails. (September 20, 1870).
 * April 1, 1873 - The Coinage Act of 1873, which established a Gold Standard in the US and demonetized Silver, doesn't pass into law.
 * What if King Amadeo I of Spain managed to hold onto the throne. (In OTL his reign ended on February 11, 1873)?
 * Kaiser Frederick III of the German Empire has a longer reign. (In OTL he reigned for a few months in 1888 before dying of cancer)
 * ASB - 1893: Doomsday - Where aliens/meteors hit earth in 1893 destroying much of civilization.
 * Marie and Pierre Curie, with the help of Henri Becquerel, built the first nuclear weapon in a basement of the University of Paris (perhaps a hand grenade akin to those in the 1914 novel 'The World Set Free' around 1896 or latter). As a result of it, France wins the first World War and become a superpower.
 * Mathew Quay runs against William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 US Presidential Election.
 * William Jennings Bryan wins the 1896 US Presidential Election.
 * The Greeks never hold the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.
 * William Jennings Bryan wins the 1900 US Presidential Election.
 * 1900 - Sir Frederick Hodgson never searches for the Golden Stool of the Ashanti Empire. This leads to the prevention of the obscure War of the Golden Stool, and as a result African lives are spared, and Ashante culture continues without halter.

World at War (1901 to 1945 AD)

 * ASB - In the 20th century, a pandemic disease goes on to kill many people ... But only whites with blond hair and/or light eye colors. A large part of the population of Europe, US, USSR/Russia and Australia die, and widespread immigration rates try to "conquer" those nice, now-underpopulated lands. A possible name is BlonDie or Blond Death (for the old "Black Death").
 * Red America. After the Russian government arrested the Bolsheviks (who split from the Mensheviks party in 1903) and outlawed their Party, Lenin flees to the United States months before the world War I breaks out in Europe. He establishes the American Communist Party, a minor political force until the Great Depression, when it becomes the most powerful party in the USA, pointing Vladimir Ilych Ulyanov, 'Lenin', as his presidential candidate.
 * Russia wins Russo-Japanese War (in OTL from 1904-05).
 * The 1906 Moroccan crisis escalates into a full-scale colonial war.
 * 1907 - Hitler's mother Klara Hitler has the lump in her breast examined sooner and her mastectomy is successful before metastasis thus sparing her painful Iodoform treatments and the toxic effects of Iodoform exposure. In short, she lives.
 * Adolf Hitler gets accepted into art school at the Academy of Fine Art Vienna, on his second attempt in 1908.
 * An Jung-geun fails to assassinate Ito Hirobumi in October 1909.
 * An Jung-geun fails to assassinate Ito Hirobumi in October 1909 causing the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910 to be delayed.
 * An Jung-geun fails to assassinate Ito Hirobumi in October 1909 allowing for a stronger Korean-Japanese collaboration in the 2nd World War.
 * An Jung-geun fails to assassinate Ito Hirobumi in October 1909, but as he had already resigned as Resident-Governor in June not much in Korea is altered- rather he and his adopted Korean daughter move to mainland Japan where his survival allows the 'Constitutional Association of Political Friendship' to continue to be active longer (In OTL the party was dissolved in 1909).
 * Adolf Hitler becomes a successful artist and successfully intermarries into the House of Habsburg. He then leads a restoration of the House to the Austrian throne after an interregnum of four years ...
 * Bulgaria wins both the Balkan wars (1912-1913).
 * Gavrilo Princip misses Franz Ferdinand and is killed by guards (June 28, 1914). His intentions are found out and Austria-Hungary is on the brink of war. However, Franz manages to cool the situation down by forgiving his would-be assassin, thus avoiding the Great War.
 * Due to Greater economic ties Britain joins Germany in WW1 prompting Belgium to also join afraid of an invasion from both Germany and Great Britain, The war ends with a Central Powers victory, How does the world end up afterwards? What is the next world war like?
 * The Tsar (cousin of the Kaiser) joins forces with the Central Powers as he sees Britain's democracy as a threat to his autocratic rule.
 * What if the United States aided Germany during the First World War?
 * The Christmas Truce in 1914 lasts much longer, and as unlikely as events can come, commanders on both sides betray orders to establish movements against their governments for unnecessary acts of war.
 * The Germans never sink the Lusitania (1915).
 * The Germans never sink the Lusitania (1915) and the US stays out of WW1 and maintains isolationism throughout the 20th century.
 * Günther Burstyn, an Austrian engineer, develops a tank based off of a Holt Tractor that has a swiveling gun and is more advanced than British and French tanks. OTL the Germans and Austrians rejected his idea, what if they hadn't?
 * Charles Evans Hughes wins the 1916 US Presidential Election.
 * Lenin dies unexpectedly in exile before the Russian revolution (1917).
 * The Central powers win WW1.
 * The League of Nations is formed (1920) in the powerful fashion that Jan Smuts desired of it, having a permanent council of the great powers, etc.
 * The League of Nations forms (1920) with the Racial Equality Clause in its covenant.
 * Four Degrees of Separation: Albert Einstein, FDR, Hitler, and Stalin are all killed in the early 1920s. No nukes, longer Depression in America (leading to an extremist coming to power, Commie or Fascist, whichever), a slow rise of Moderate Fascism in Germany (getting power much later and not in the large degree it had), and a menacing Soviet Union that's getting very powerful without the loss from the Great Purge.
 * The United States joined the League of Nations (though said league would have to differ from that of OTL for this to be).
 * Italy is given a large amount of Austrian territory and previously German Cameroon for its role in WW1. As a result of this there is no march on Rome by Mussolini and the Fascist Blackshirts, communist elements in the government grow and by 1932 the Italian union turns to a fully communist state (The people's union of Italian states), and kills its royal family. They become close allies with the USSR. German military intervention in the Spanish civil war is stopped by Italian military bombing Nationalist munition dumps and destroying German planes with AA guns supplied to the Republicans. Spain becomes communist with the republicans governing it. Spanish morocco revolts after the Spanish royal family is executed and a similar revolt happens in Italian Libya. French forces put down the revolt in Morocco and integrate it into the Algerian colony. Spain and Italy attack the city of Marseilles and Germany joins France in the war and declares war on the USSR ...
 * In 1921, promising German theoretical physicist Albert Einstein dies during his first visit to the USA. He never makes contact with Ernest Rutherford or Leó Szilárd and the Manhattan Project never born. A world without useful atomic energy or Nuclear Bomb, a world without the Person of the Century. Nein!
 * March, 1925 - Madge Oberholtzer was never a victim of D.C. Stephenson, and the Ku Klux Klan doesn't decline after Stephenson's 1932 trial against Supreme Court doesn't happen.
 * 1928 - The accidental discovery of penicillin isn't made. Antibiotics aren't created until much later, leading to whole world with a whole list of varying millions dying earlier until said later discovery.
 * Herbert Hoover vetoes the Smoot-Hawley tariff act (June 1930), and this leads to a different WWII.
 * December 13, 1931 - Winston Churchill is accidentally killed in a hit-and-run accident by Edward Cantasano in the streets of New York.
 * Germany becomes communist instead of fascist after World War 1 (In OTL Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933).
 * February 15, 1933 - Giuseppe Zangara kills Franklin D. Roosevelt. John Nance Garner becomes president.
 * Western Australia gains independence from Australia (1933)
 * With the agreement of the British, Hitler deports all the Jews in the Third Reich to British Palestine in the late 1930s - No holocaust.
 * Mid-1930s: Victoria Louise and Ernest Augustus agree to arrange a marriage between their daughter Princess Frederica and the Prince of Wales (Hitler proposed this believing such would help avoid war with England and in OTL the couple refused believing the age difference to be too high).
 * Elvis's twin brother Jesse doesn't die at birth (January 8, 1935). The Kings of Rock and Roll?
 * Elvis's twin brother Jesse doesn't die at birth (January 8, 1935). The two become traveling evangelists with Jesse as Pastor and Elvis leading the Gospel Choir/Songs of Worship.
 * The Soviet Union stays neutral in WWII and the Axis wins.
 * The Spanish Civil War (1936-39) is avoided.
 * The Spanish Republic manages to defeat the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War and turns communist.
 * The Spanish Republic manages to defeat the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War and remains a democracy.
 * June 7, 1937 - Thanks to efforts made by Dr. H. H. Kung Germany allies with the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
 * The Hindenburg Disaster (May 6, 1937) is averted.
 * The Hindenburg Disaster (May 6, 1937) is ruled an act of sabotage concluding the investigation. The culprit is declared to be Eric Spehl, motivated by his girlfriend's pro-communist anti-nazi sympathies. How does the public react to this?
 * The Hindenburg Disaster (May 6, 1937) leads to the death of Joseph Späh. Meanwhile, the event is ruled an act of sabotage and he's declared to be the culprit who had intended for the fire to start after the dirigible had landed - long after he made it to his wife and children. Due to a delayed landing this wasn't so and he himself was caught in the fire. How does his family and the public react to this?
 * Attack on Pearl Harbor does not happen and the United States stays out of World War II.
 * Hitler declares war on Japan immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941).
 * The Battle of Stalingrad (1942-43) is won by the Germans.
 * The Battle of Stalingrad (1942-43) is won by the Germans who proceed with a major offensive in India following Operation Bajadere.
 * Operation Sheikh Mahmut (1943) succeeds and the Germans establish bases in Iran.
 * Hitler doesn't kill himself (April 30, 1945), but hides in Switzerland? That's a classic.
 * Hitler doesn't kill himself (April 30, 1945) but attempts to hide in Switzerland only to be intercepted and successfully captured by Allied forces on his way from Berlin to the Alps. He can thus stand trial if not murdered in captivity or killing himself in captivity.
 * The Nazis win World War II.
 * King Edward VIII decides to put his country before his love for Wallis Simpson, he does not abdicate. A different ending for WWII?
 * What if the Hiroshima nuclear bomb (August 6, 1945) didn't ever happen and Japan fights to the death?
 * August 9, 1945 - Visible conditions permitting at 9:44 AM (10:44 Tinian Time) Kokura rather than Nagasaki is bombed.
 * Late August, 1945 - The Soviet Union invades Imperial Japan.
 * November 1, 1945 - Operation Downfall.
 * What if Germany had renewed the League of the Three Emperors, possibly resulting an unstable German, Russian, and Austro-Hungarian Alliance in WW1.
 * What if Hitler put more military effort on the Eastern Front during the final days of the Third Reich?
 * Hitler finishes off Western Europe (France, UK etc) before attacking the Soviets.
 * The Easter Rising fails completely, treating it as an act of 'sabotage' the British Government in effect establishes military Government in Ireland.
 * The General Strike is declared 'illegal' by the British Government.

Cold War (1946 to 1991 AD)

 * New housing construction in the United States does not consist mostly of single-family detached homes in isolated suburbs, but, instead, sticks to a somewhat denser form of housing development and mixed-use communities, like those common in the 19th and early 20th century. Also, automobiles are not as common.
 * Patton doesn't die in 1945. How would the Korean War turn out?
 * No UN is formed (1945) after World War 2 because people are skeptical of such an organization's usefulness from their experience with its predecessor, the League of Nations. This leads to little decolonization, mass corruption, and continued bickering among European powers. Maybe European Union doesn't form either?
 * Late 1940's. US refuses to grant 'aid' to the UK. (OTL The US eventually relented).
 * Dr. Percy LeBaron Spencer doesn't have a candy bar in his pocket that one fateful day at work in 1946, and thus the development of the Microwave oven is delayed.
 * Israel loses the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
 * The US does not withdraw Railway Post Office designation from passenger trains over the period from 1948 to 1980. Nor does it withdraw the resulting subsidies, and thus Amtrak is not established.
 * ASB (Disease) - Masculitis (1950): In OTL, a comedy film called 'The Last Man on Earth' was published in 1924. In it was a scenario where a plague managed to kill every fertile man over the age of 14 around the world save one hillbilly in the United States. This scenario doesn't aim to repeat such a thing but rather has such an illness reach pandemic levels either in the year 1950 or later after having arose in the year 1950. Details about the disease would have to be considered to make it both a threat to the medical world in the 1950s while also targeting males of the sexual maturity in a fatal manner. This scenario would explore how the world reacts to such and illness; how it's combated and how far it spreads while also seeing the political and social impact of its death toll. This idea was inspired by that film having a female president of the United States (she was formerly Secretary of Health) after everyone else in the line of succession up to her died of the plague.
 * In late November of 1956, the yacht Grandma sinks south of Cuba taking 82 Cuban revolutionaries (Known as the 26th of July Movement), including the Castro Brothers and Che Guevara to the bottom of the ocean. No Cuban revolution?
 * September 1958 - The Fifth Republic of French West Africa despite all cultural differences becomes one nation; the West African Republic (although its initials would literally spell 'WAR', so they might switch to a more appropriate name later like Occidental Sahara).
 * Rise of Twins: Josef Mengele it turns out is not only responsible for the number of Twins born in Candido Godoi but passes on his secret to a successor who travels to other Brazilian towns conducting the same work. This man also has a successor but his mentor had lost the 'racial' motive that had fueled Mengele and this third conducts his work without racial bias. This increases the odds of Twins being born in the world causing some people born without a twin to be born with twins in the timeline.
 * In OTL on December 1, 1959, the Antarctic Treaty System was signed by a multitude of countries who agreed on how to split it, and that waging war there would be illegal until the treaty expired in all the way in 2040. But what if it had never been signed?
 * The Sino-Soviet split never occurs. Stalin decides to agree with Mao that communism is stronger together.
 * January 24, 1961 - The 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash occurs, but all four switches fail to stop the nuclear bomb that accidentally dropped on the town from detonating. This would result in countless accusations of presidential administrations or even strike more Red Fear given that the Soviets would see this incident as an opportunity to strike while America's down.
 * The 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion was successful.
 * The Cuban Missile Crisis causes a nuclear war.
 * Portugal wins the Angolan Independence War (1961-74) and keeps its empire.
 * Hillary Clinton claims that in 1962 (when she was 13) she sent a letter to NASA about her interest in becoming an astronaut. She says her response was a flat rejection because she is female. NASA doesn't keep record (as a matter of policy) regarding private correspondence and in the 60's thousands of such letters of interest in being an astronaut were sent to NASA. Some letters survive (having been kept by employees) such as a letter by a girl of the same age as Hillary at the time who was provided a list of recommended classes. In short, it's believed that the person who received her letter thoughtlessly responded in the manner Hillary describes. In this POD Hillary's letter is received by a different employee who actually responds properly, thus setting Hillary on the path to becoming an astronaut. [further reading]
 * The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is not passed.
 * Mid 1960's - The London Extension of the Great Central, is electrified at 1500v DC rather than the West Coast Main line. 1500v dc becomes the de facto rail voltage in the UK. It's not unusual to see dual voltage locos switching from pantograph to third rail at speed.
 * The 30 September Movement in Indonesia succeeds while Sukarno stays in power. This would cause Indonesia to support communism, but would be questionable to tell if it itself would become communist. This would also prevent the East Timor genocide, and Timor could join ASEAN due to the fact that in OTL because of the genocide, it was left financially impoverished. However, Timor could be communist in this scenario.
 * The Naxalite uprisings in India are supported by China and/or Pakistan in the mid-1960's, causing India to eventually break out into a civil war.
 * Israel loses the 1967 Six-Day War.
 * Nasser and the Ba'athists win the Arab Cold War and Saudi Arabia collapses.
 * On April 4, 1968 (at 6:01 PM Central Time), Martin Luther King Jr. is shot at by James Earl Ray, however not fatally wounded. Ray is then captured on his 41st birthday in 1969, just as in OTL.
 * The Stonewall Massacre: June 1969 - a confrontation between NYPD Morals Squad officers and homosexual patrons of the Stonewall Inn turns violent. NYPD Tactical Response Force officers open fire on the unruly crowd. By the time the dust has cleared, 36 people are dead, including six NYPD officers and a journalist, hundreds more are injured, and two blocks of Greenwich Village are in ruins. Does the police's violent response hasten the burgeoning gay rights movement, or drive it back into the closet?
 * August 1969 - The Royal Ulster Constabulary activate the B Specials during the Battle of the Bogside and the Catholic minorities fears of a massacre are realized.
 * August 17, 1969 - Woodstock Festival organizer John Roberts fails to dissuade Governor Nelson Rockefeller from sending 10,000 national guardsmen to the event as Sullivan County had declared a State of Emergency. Members of Stewart Air Force Base where already assisting with the event by airlifting performers and patients from the event. Some alternate history theorists, however, speculate that had these Guardsmen been sent the event could have become a civil protest rather than a celebration of youth culture.
 * August 15, 1971 - The United States of America doesn't abandon the Gold Standard (research Nixon Shock)
 * May 2, 1972. After further investigation, more than just one supposed picture of Jesus of Nazareth being crucified is taken by Father Pellegrino Ernetti through his proposed invention, the chronovisor, and released to the public (if ever proven a real invention in OTL to begin with). Less proof is given against it being a hoax, and more people become conspiracy theorists, with notions such as thinking that the Vatican City holds it somewhere within the basements of the Palace of the Government in a privatized cell with Swiss Guards surrounding it, but doesn't tell the public this or anything else about the mysterious time viewer.
 * The 1973 coup d'etat in Chile fails and President Salvador Allende makes Chile a communist country.
 * Operation Homecoming in the Vietnam War never happens as the US refuses to surrender or make accords to stop in the first place. This would have a chance of leaving Vietnam in split parts like Korea.
 * Nixon is impeached rather than resigns (1974).
 * Nixon resolutely refuses to resign (1974).
 * Mid 1970's - By a quirk of logic, the Great Central is mothballed rather than closed.
 * Chris Curry and Clive Sinclair do not fall out in 1978.
 * The Conservative Party of the UK loses in the 1979 general election and Thatcher does not become PM. Different 1980s timeline?
 * What if the shuttle program was ditched for a program to go to Mars in the late-70s and early-80s and leads to the colonization race of Mars?
 * Early 1980's - In computing circles there is a myth that a key timing component in the BBC Micro had to be fixed moments before the BBC evaluators arrived. Assuming the circuit failed during the demonstration what is the outcome for UK computer history?
 * The Quebec referendum of 1980 polls in favor of Quebecois sovereignty.
 * Pope John Paul II is killed in a 1981 assassination. This triggers a popular uprising in Poland and the earlier break-up of the Soviet sphere of influence, or possibly a nuclear confrontation between the US and the USSR.
 * 1981 - The Provisional IRA gets hold of a ten kilotonne nuclear bomb. Where would they plant it and what would have happened? (maybe the time of the Hunger Strikes would have been an interesting time to put this. And I really don't think the IRA were interested in massive civilians casualties, or the gigantic opprobrium a nuke would have attracted - so maybe some remote purely military target. Or possibly putting it in the hands of some virulent splinter group)
 * Around 1981-82. The Provisional IRA hijack a freight train, the shipment is nuclear waste material heading to Windscale ...
 * The United Kingdom does not decide to declare war on Argentina (1982), after they annex the Falklands. Due to feelings of abandonment, do the citizens of the Falklands become friendly to there occupiers?
 * 1982 - A lucky shot by the Argentine Navy cripples a highly significant vessel (HMS Invincible or even the RMS QE2 maybe?) in the Falklands task force. (Even with this, a British victory is possible although somewhat delayed). (this actually happened - Imp)
 * September 26, 1983 - Stanislav Petrov, Lieutenant Colonel of Soviet Air Defense Forces is temporarily off-duty during a false alarm not recognized as such upon detection, and Doomsday occurs as the Soviet Union launches nuclear missiles at the United States; all while never knowing a single weather interference caused a malfunction.
 * 1984 Miners' Strike - A clash at a pit descends into a pitched battle, and things get very ugly, resulting in the first use of the replacement of the Riot Act.
 * April 4, 1984 - At Greenham Common a Peace Camp is evicted, OTL thing went peacefully. What if things got nasty, and police end up killing a protester?
 * October 12, 1984 - A bomb planted by Irish Republican terrorists explodes in a hotel in Brighton. OTL Thatcher survives, but if not?
 * January 28, 1986 - The Space Shuttle Challenger does not burst into flames. Every single part of the shuttle is looked over beforehand for efficiency, and they notice the flaw of the company Thiokol's SRBs long before launch. The seven passengers on board make it into space, and Christa McAuliffe becomes the first teacher ever to enter it.
 * April 1986 - Workers in the Chernobyl power plant after the disaster did not successfully locate a water pipe before the radiation did. Neighboring towns of Pripyat in the Ukrainian SSR unfortunately succumbed to much worse fates as it turns out to be communicable, spreading from person to person even after some evacuate into other SSRs and PRs entirely. The fate of the USSR is jeopardized early.
 * 1988 Summer Olympics - South Korea agrees to split the games between Seoul and Pyongyang as proposed by North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung.
 * November 17, 1989 - Police riots in Czechoslovakia don't suppress a student demonstration to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Nazi invasion, which doesn't ultimately ignite the Velvet Revolution or split up Czechoslovakia.
 * The UK returns the British mandate of Palestine to the Palestinians, no Israel, a more peaceful Middle East?
 * The US Interstate highway program is never started, because Congress fails to produce a workable program.
 * Cyprus gets united with Greece.
 * The Far Eastern Republic, Abkhazia, Poland and Tuva are made into Soviet Socialist Republics and The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic wasn't merged with the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
 * Belarus, Ukraine, South Africa and Kazakhstan have nuclear weapons.
 * Apartheid leads South Africa into a bloody civil war.
 * Taking advantage of the oil crisis, the USSR invades the United States and Japan in 1973.
 * It is the mid 1970's. As Harold Wilson prepares to make a speech at a conference, a radicalized member of the provisional IRA takes aim with a sniper's precision. (Title: Murphy's Magic Bullet).
 * The Once and Present King: After Lyndon B. Johnson dies of a heart stroke John F. Kennedy chooses the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as his vice presidential candidate. When Kennedy dies in Dallas, King becomes the first Afro-American President of the USA. What happens next?
 * President Ronald Reagan was shot and killed by John Hinckley, Jr. There's no Perestroika. The Cold War continues to the present day.
 * Wasteland: All four reactors of the Chernobyl nuclear plant explode during a systems test, (in OTL only the fourth reactor was exposed in the accident). The resulting fire sent a plume of radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over a huge geographical area. Most of the western Soviet Union and Europe had to be evacuated. In the following years, the European countries are burdened with the continuing and substantial decontamination and health care costs of the Chernobyl accident.
 * Or ... the accident at Chernobyl hadn't occurred, leading to more (and safer, due to more research money) nuclear power.
 * In the event of a moon disaster: The Apollo XI mission crashes into the moon before landing. Nixon cancels the Apollo program and the USSR wins the space race.
 * The USSR puts a man on the moon before the USA. An extended space race? Perhaps even moon bases?
 * What if the US military had unified into one force headed by the Army right after WWII?
 * It is revealed by a British Newspaper that 'White' South Africa has an active biological weapons programme.
 * Martin McGuinness is 'deposed' by elements inside the IRA's Army Council ...
 * Saturn Five, production is paused instead of outright canceled, limited work is done on upgrades alongside Shuttle development. Result is a Shuttle system that a mix of OTL Saturn Five and Shuttle Tech.
 * Apartheid system in South Africa succeeds, Nelson Mandela is killed, National Party suppressed anti-apartheid movements.
 * Thailand becomes a communist country.
 * Cambodia stays a communist country.
 * India and Pakistan remain united after independence.
 * The US decides not to fund the Mujahadeen and Islamic Extremist groups remain obscure.
 * Grigory Romanov becomes General Secretary of the Soviet Union.

Modern Times (1992 AD to Today)

 * It's the late 1990's, a seemingly minor anomaly in readings from a Shuttle Mission leads to the discovery of a previously unknown capsule of Soviet origin. Inside are two bodies ...
 * In 1995, around 45,000 extra voters participate in the turnout of the independence referendum for Quebec. All 50,000 vote Yes, turning out in a win for Quebec by only a few hundred. Supporters on one side believe it was a scandal by another force, so to rid itself, Saskatchewan also declares independence in a shocking twist that was planned in secret between the heads of Saskatchewan and Quebec (which originally wasn't declassified as recently in OTL). This inspires other independence movements across Western and Eastern Canada resulting in crises in NAFTA, NATO, the Commonwealth and other organizations.
 * Labour loses the 1997 general election and Major continues as PM until 1998 when he resigns and Portillo becomes PM until 2003 and then Clarke becomes PM. No rise of New Labour and earlier UK economic crises?
 * Ecological United States: What if Ralph Nader nearly "spilt"/"spoiled" vote (instead very mildly) from Bush (instead Gore), but in this case it eventually caused the downfall of the Republican Party (and several more years for the Democratic Party by making them as irrelevant third party that most Americans move on)? Could it then cause rise or official replacement by the Green Party of the United States with some to opt more for other third parties like the Libertarian, Reform and Constitution parties soon after? If it did, it would cause permanent political transformation within the United States into becoming a de facto multi-party nation very much within a matter of years. There may also arise serious consequences out of it as well.
 * May 1, 1999 - A protest in the City of London descends into a riot. OTL police did not resort to rubber bullets. What if they were used?
 * Also May 1, 1999 - What if SpongeBob SquarePants was never aired?
 * A Feminist's Dream: (*Note: Possibly a contradictory POD, but it could've happened.) On December 24, 1949, a group a researchers estimated the size of an average woman in the year 2000 would grow to around 6'3", have a US size 11 shoe, and would have, quote, "shoulders like a wrestler and muscles like a truck driver." They also predicted they might have participated in the same sports and stuff as men, and said that they might possibly become president. But being taller than the average man was predicted to be at that year in the same study, and with better build, performance ratings and other features, what could this also lead to if that study's hypothesis had actually proven accurate? Might there even be revolutions in countries like Saudi Arabia that in OTL forbid them from certain rights due to less holding them back?
 * What if Counter-Strike wasn't created (2000)? What if there wouldn't be any gore games such as Manhunt, Quake, or Prey?
 * 9/11 (September 11, 2001) does not happen because of CIA warnings being heeded by Bush, which leads to a different war on terror.
 * May 6, 2002. Controversial Dutch political leader Pim Fortuyn is assassinated just nine days before elections. What would have happened if the assassination had failed, or never happened at all?
 * Space Shuttle Columbia doesn't break up on re-entry (February 1, 2003).
 * Saddam and Qusay Hussein are killed in the Dora Farms raid March 19th 2003. Early end to the war?
 * Grand Theft Auto is never released (2005). No Watch_Dogs, Saints Row or others?
 * The spy who leaked the information on the 2006 Ontario terrorism plot never does so, and the attack goes underway. (Parliament shooting; Beheading of Prime Minister.)
 * The Amtrak Reform Committee succeeds at de-funding Amtrak in 2007. How would the passenger railroad system of the US be affected? What would change?
 * October 29, 2007 - The Dai Hong Dan incident off the coast of Mogadishu, Somalia never happens.
 * November 2007 - The Dai Hong Dan incident off the coast of Mogadishu, Somalia is given more widespread reports on the incident, giving more hope to people on US-North Korea relations. In OTL, North Korean news agencies even went as far as thanking America for helping them in the involvement (against the nation's rules, of course). In this timeline, that doesn't really change, but is instead given a response internationally.
 * On March 2nd, 2008 - President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela sent ten Armed Forces Battalions to the border of Colombia. What if this had sparked a Colombian invasion of Venezuela, (with US backing)?
 * Many states secede after the Deepwater Horizon incident (April 20 to September 19, 2010).
 * November 2010 - Republican Nikki Haley loses the Gubernatorial Election of South Carolina to Democrat Vincent Sheheen. The 2010 Gubernatorial Election of South Carolina was the closest democrats got to winning the election in South South Carolina since 1998 in OTL. This would have profound impact on the careers of both politicians and seeing how much Nikki Haley has impacted the 2010s possibly in other matters concerning the United States of America.
 * December 31, 2010 - The Russian Black Widow suicide bomber manages to successfully detonate an SMS text message-rigged bomb in Red Square, killing hundreds. (In OTL, her phone company sent her a text saying "Happy New Year!" which blew her apart prematurely.)
 * Revolution in Russia in 2011. Navalny elect to president of Russia. Russia joins EU.
 * What if Syriza had won the 2012 Greek election?
 * Carrington Event 2: Electric Boogaloo. July 14, 2012 - A coronal mass ejection hits Earth after being predicted to possibly hit Earth just a mere nine days earlier than in our timeline. (OTL, it narrowly missed.) NASA and other space agencies scramble to alert as many people as possible within a few hours before it occurs. Electricity goes off in a large-scale area in Earth for a long while. Most people can't even flush their toilets due to the electric pumps installed in them in their household. People resort to shitting in weird places and who only knows what without their smartphones and television. They resort to newspapers or information they get from close neighbors or from people nearby where they are. Mass looting in multiple cities is possible, and some countries may not be able to reach each other through phone lines, leading to a perfect opportunity for countries to be invaded, and any civil wars in the Middle East or Africa could be unsolvable diplomatically due to most countries not being able to travel by plane to those countries to make peace with them. This could also mean tourists could be trapped in other countries. All this lasts for only a few days, but it feels like ages for the generation at the time.
 * August 2014 - Robin Williams does not decide to hang himself. Mrs. Doubtfire 2 is created, and it is questionable whether Disney would make a remake of Aladdin or not, resulting in the possibility that the Will Smith genie meme is never created, meaning lonely people on the Internet don't get likes or upvotes for criticizing it - but more importantly, Robin Williams lives.
 * What if the Scottish results in their 2014 referendum came out in favor of independence [on September 14]? (Probably nothing considering Catalonia voted in favor of independence in 2017 in OTL but wasn't recognized. But just in case the European Union did recognize it, what would happen?)
 * February 2016 - The Bangladesh Bank is successfully robbed of $951 million by North Korean hackers, all because they didn't use the word "Jupiter" in their code somewhere which caused the Federal Reserve in New York to notice something was off. Bangladesh falls into anarchy.
 * October 30, 2016 - Mike Pence dies when his plane overran the runway, and his pilot crashes. The election is on the path to delve into further chaos.
 * November 2016 - Hillary R. Clinton is elected as the 45th President of the United States of America against her opponent Donald Trump. Obamacare continues, and the wall can only try to be built with Donald Trump's own income as a multi-millionaire still able to run his own company and fund for it until possible government repeal of the act. However, this would also give help to reinstalling diplomatic ties to Iran, and possibly worsen America's chances with North Korea.
 * In our timeline, when Catalonia declared independence in October 2017, the EU took Spain's side when Catalonia requested help. What if the EU took Catalonia's side? Would there be Spexit? (international law forbids secession without the consent of the government being seceded from, Catalonia would have to have a legal case where in it can demonstrate that it's unlawfully part of Spain for the EU to take its side)
 * The FCC didn't vote to repeal Net Neutrality (December 14, 2017) but instead voted two for and three against the repeal?
 * Gordon Brown is pressured into letting banks 'fail' due to EU rules on state aid?
 * Richard Harris lives through the third and fourth Harry Potter movies.
 * What if the Syriza Government in Greece gets deposed due to increased unrest?
 * The false missile alarm in Hawaii in January 2018 turned out to be real, causing mass hysteria, and possibly in the worst case scenario, a third world war.
 * United States federal government doesn't shutdown in January 2018.
 * 2018 - Private individuals concerned that asteroid Apophis will indeed hit Earth in 2029 start a foundation to back Mars One, Space-X and other private colonization efforts determining that 11 years isn't enough to see their own program work.
 * January 2019 - New Caledonia declares independence.
 * Early 2019 - YouTuber brain4breakfast fails to pass away from mysterious fate, giving rise to many new people inspired by and later invested in the topic of history, possibly even new subscribers that may have added or edited other PODs on this very site.
 * March 2019 - Belgium breaks up into Flanders and Wallonia. The fate of Benelux, the Belgian-Dutch border, and the EU is at stake.
 * Also March 2019 - Prosur is never made official, and all countries in South America stay in UNASUR instead despite Venezuela's economic and electoral failure in proposed leadership.
 * April 15, 2019 - The Notre Dame never catches fire.

Stub Pages
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 * FIFA Confederations Cup
 * North American Football League
 * North American Soccer Football League
 * UKFA Cup