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 5000 B.C.)

 * The North Atlantic Ocean opens slightly to the West, leaving Greenland attached to the top of Scotland.
 * Or...the prehistoric area known as Doggerland, a landmass across the North Sea linking Britain with mainland Europe was higher and never sank? Britain wouldn't be able to rely on their navy for protection.
 * Super eruption at Mount Toba in 74,000 BCE doesn't occur - quicker human expansion across the world?
 * Earth shifts so OTL panama is the North pole
 * Sedentary Mankind - Homo Sapien ancestral experiences leads to them having less desire for travel and to be more likely to remain where they where born or close to it. Rather then many nations arising scattered across the Earth Human civilization lingers in what we know in OTL as Ethiopia and experience a slower expansion beyond such land with large cities being a normality.
 * No Thera/Santorini eruption, Minoan culture spreads around the Med rather than the Greeks?
 * Homo sapiens does not evolve - different human race?
 * Merpeople evolve, possibly from Homo sapiens.
 * Homo sapiens has the same fear of water as chimpanzees, meaning no small boats, a later leaving of Africa, no colonisation of the America's, Australia, Madagasar etc - other species of human possibly have no fear of water?
 * Later discovery of Agriculture?
 * Earlier discovery of Agriculture?
 * 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, 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 effect the development of Aboriginal society? Could the magafauna 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.
 * Earth is formed a few kilometers away from OTL position, leading to longer ice age and possibly different evolutionary paths?
 * The ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere take a longer time to retreat, possibly cutting humans off from Europe or Asia?

Ancient History (4999 B.C. to 476 A.D.)

 * Ramses II dies at the Battle of Kadesh.
 * King Tutankhamun lives to 60 years old.
 * 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 B.C.E 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, what would happen the the modern British Isles?
 * 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.
 * 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 longlasting 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 226BC 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 ressurection 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?
 * What if Cao Cao had won the Battle of Red Cliffs? Would this have prevented 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 A.D.)

 * 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 effect history?
 * During the Tang, China vassalizes the states of India. Ever since, India has been under Chinese cultural hegemony, much like Japan, Korea, or Vietnam.
 * 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 1,300 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 on Italy and on 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?
 * 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.
 * 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 stil 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.

Renaissance (1454 to 1600 A.D.)

 * The war of the roses is averted.
 * The English win the hundred years war because Joan of Arc dies when she is a child.
 * Spanish are defeated by Aztecs and then Mayans colonize Spain.
 * 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)
 * Martin Luther is killed by the Inquisition. There is no Protestant Reformation.
 * In 1478, after a Pazzi Conspiracy, Lorenzo de' Medici and Pope Sixtus IV start a war that engulfes europe.
 * Catherine of Aragon has a son by Henry VIII of England
 * Catherine of Aragon doesn't have a son, but Anne Boleyn does.
 * Queen Elizabeth I of England accepted the Marriage proposal of Ivan IV (the terrible) of Russia
 * Ottomans win the Battle of Lepanto.

Seventeenth century (1601 to 1700 A.D.)

 * The Royalists win the English Civil war.
 * Oliver Cromwell elects someone other than his son the become 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 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 predominately 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 A.D.)

 * Washington joins the Royal Navy instead of the British army.
 * George Washington dies in his childhood.
 * Sweden wins the Great Northern War.
 * Louis XV of France 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?
 * Bonnie Prince Charlie becomes King Charles III of England and Scotland after defeating George II in the 1745 Jacobite rising.
 * France wins the Seven Years War.
 * Canada declares independence along with America.
 * For Want of Socks or For Want of A Boat: What if Washington's soldiers refused to cross the Delaware until they got shoes, socks, and proper clothing? Perhaps American victory would be delayed. A similar POD: What if the three boats used to cross the Delaware collapsed as they pushed them into the river?
 * Elizabeth's 1741 coup against Ivan VI fails.
 * Frederick the Great dies in battle during the Seven Year's War. (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.)
 * Prince Henry of Prussia becomes King of America.
 * The British Macartney Embassy to the Chinese Qing Dynasty receives a warmer reception by either the Qianlong Emperor or his court officials. 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.
 * The French Revolution didn't happen, so Napoleon never became emperor.
 * The Three Fifths Compromise didn't work, 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 by the Southern States establishes the New England Union under the Federal Constitution 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.

Nineteenth century (1801 to 1900 A.D.)

 * Napoleon dies after being wounded at Toulon.
 * Andres Novales successfully convinced his brother to let him in at Fort Santago. 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 Phillipine-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 didn't?
 * Napoleon does not betray Spain or invade Russia.
 * Vittorio Emmanuele II and Giussepe Gribaldi die without desendance on Sardinia-Piedemont. Italy is never unified.
 * Denmark is assisted by GB after Prussia declares war, prehaps involving Russia and France.
 * The General Sherman incident in Korea sparks a war with the US, Britain, and France against Korea, forcing the latter to modernize.
 * What if Princess Elizabeth of Clarence didn't die young and Victoria never became queen?
 * A compromise is made over the design of the tricolour and the French monarchy is restored.
 * Boer Republics in South Africa manage to keep their independence from the British Empire.
 * Marie and Pierre Curie, with the help of Henri Becquerel, built the first nuclear weapon in a basement of the University of Paris. As a result of it, France win the World War I and become a superpower.
 * President-elect Franklin Pierce does not survive the train wreck in Andover and William Rufus King becomes President, only to die soon after, making David Rice Atchison the President.
 * What if Spain managed to stop the revolutions of Cuba and Philippines, preventing the Spanish American War from happening?
 * What if King Amadeo I of Spain managed to hold onto the throne?
 * What if the Spanish Republic managed to strengthen itself and solidify its position?
 * 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.
 * The Battle of the Alamo (1836) was won by the Texans.
 * Henry Clay becomes President in 1840.
 * What if the Southern States abolished slavery right before the outbreak of the Civil War (1861 or earlier)?
 * 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 McCleallan 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 President Abraham Lincoln and Vice President Andrew Johnson, and injures Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. 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.
 * The defeated Confederacy turns to Socialism (post 1865).
 * Canada is annexed by the US in 1867.
 * The Capture of Rome fails (September 20, 1870).
 * 1893: Doomsday - Where aliens / meteors hit earth in 1893 destroying much of civilization.
 * 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.

World at War (1901 to 1945 A.D.)

 * The 1906 Moroccan crisis escalates into a full-scale colonial war.
 * Adolf Hitler gets accepted into art school at the Academy of Fine Art Vienna, on his second attempt in 1908.
 * 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 4 years...
 * Bulgaria wins both the Balkan wars (1912-1913).
 * Gavrilo Princip misses Franz Ferdinand and is killed by guards, his intentions are found out and Austria Hungary is on the brink of war however Franz manages to cool the situation 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.
 * The Germans never sink the Lusitania 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?
 * The Central powers win WW1.
 * The League of Nations is formed in the powerful fashion that Jan Smuts desired of it, having a permanent council of the great powers, etc.
 * 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 Lybia. 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...
 * The League of Nations forms with the Racial Equality Clause in it's covenant.
 * 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
 * Herbert Hoover vetoes the Smoot-Hawley tariff act (1930), and this leads to a different WWII.
 * In 20th century, a pandemic disease goes on to kill many people... But only whites with blond hair and/or light eye colours. A large part of the population of Europe, USA, USSR/Russia and Australia die, and widespread immigration rates try to "conquer" those nice, now-unpopulated lands. A possible name is BlonDie or Blond Death (for the old "Black Death").
 * With the agreement of the British, Hitler deports all the Jews in the Third Reich to British Palestine in the late 1930s - No holocaust.
 * Four Degrees of Separation. Albert Einstein, FDR, Hitler, and Stalin are all killed in the early 20s. 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.
 * Elvis's twin brother Jesse doesn't die at birth (January 8, 1935). The Kings of Rock and Roll?
 * 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.
 * Hitler declares war on Japan immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941).
 * Hitler doesn't kill himself (April 30, 1945), but hides in Switzerland? That's a classic.
 * The Nazis win World War II.
 * The Soviet Union stays neutral in WWII and the Axis wins.
 * 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 didn't ever happen and Japan fights to the death?
 * Red America. After the Russian government arrested the Bolsheviks 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 Illych Ulyanov, 'Lenin', as his presidential candidate.
 * What if the United States aided Germany during the First World War?
 * 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.
 * Lenin dies unexpectedly in exile before the Russian revolution.
 * Germany becomes communist instead of fascist after World War 1.

Cold War (1946 to 1991 A.D.)

 * 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?
 * 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.
 * In late Nov 1956 the yacht Grandma sinks in 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?
 * The 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion was successful.
 * 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.
 * Israel loses the 1967 six-day war.
 * Nasser and the Ba'athists win the Arab Cold War and Saudi Arabia collapses.
 * 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 6 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.
 * The 1973 coup d'etat in Chile fails and President Salvador Allende makes Chile a communist country.
 * 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?
 * 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?
 * Pope John Paul II is killed in 1981 assassination. Triggers a popular uprising in Poland and the earlier break up of the Soviet sphere of influence, or possibly a nuclear confrontation between the USA and USSR.
 * 1981. The Provisional IRA gets hold of a 10 kilatonne 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 opprobium a nuke would have attracted - so maybe some remote purely military target. Or possibly putting it in the hands of some virulent splinter group)
 * 1984. Miner's 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.
 * 4th April 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?
 * 12th October 1984. A bomb planted by Irish Republican terrorists explodes in a hotel in Brighton. OTL Thatcher survives, but if not?
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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 invade the United States and Japan in 1973.
 * The Once and Present King. After Lyndon B. Johnson dies of a heart stroke John F. Kennedy chooses rev. Martin Luther King as his vice presidential candidate. When Kennedy dies in Dallas, King becomes the first Afro-American President of the USA. What happens next?
 * 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 snipers precision. (Title: Murphy's Magic Bullet).
 * Early 1980's. 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)
 * 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 didn't occur, leading to more (and safer, due to more research money) nuclear power.
 * 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?
 * 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?
 * Nixon resolutely refuses to resign.
 * The Quebec referendum of 1980 polls in favor of Quebec sovereignty.
 * The United Kingdom does not decide to declare war on Argentina, after they annex the Falklands. Due to feelings of abandonment, do the citizens of the Falklands become friendly to there occupiers?
 * Around 1981-82 The Provisional IRA hijack a freight train, the shipment is nuclear waste material heading to Windscale...
 * It is revealed by a British Newspaper that 'White' South Africa has an active biological weapons programme.
 * Martin McGuniess is 'deposed' by elements inside the IRA's Army Council...
 * Saturn Five, production is paused instead of out right canceled, limited work is done on upgrades alongside Shuttle development. Result is a Shuttle system that a mix of OTL Saturn Five and Shutte Tech.
 * Apartheid system in South Africa succeeds, Nelson Mandela is killed, National Party suppressed anti-apartheid movements.
 * If Stanislav Petrov, Lieutenant Colonel of Soviet Air Defense Forces that detected the false alarm, wasn't there at all in 26 September 1983.
 * No UN is formed 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?
 * The Naxalite uprisings are supported by China and Pakistan and India breaks out into civil war.
 * The Sino-Soviet Split never happens.
 * Thailand becomes a communist country.
 * Portugal wins the Angolan Independence War and keeps its empire.
 * India and Pakistan remain united after independence.
 * The US decides not to fund the Mujahadeen and Islamic Extremist groups remain obscure.

Modern Times (1992 A.D. 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 2 bodies...
 * 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 crisis(es)?
 * 1st May 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?
 * 9/11 (September 11, 2001) does not happen because of CIA warnings being heeded by Bush, which leads to a different war on terror.
 * 6 May 2002. Controversal Dutch political leader Pim Fortuyn is assassinated just nine days before elections. What would have happened if the assassination failed, or never happened at all?
 * Space shuttle Columbia doesn't break up on re-entry (February 1, 2003).
 * Saddam and Qusay Hussain 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 terroism 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 USA be affected? What would change?
 * On March 2nd, 2008, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela sent 10 Armed Forces Batallions to the border of Columbia. What if this had sparked a Columbian invasion of Venezuela, (with US backing)?
 * Many states secede after the Deepwater Horizon incident (April 20 to September 19, 2010).
 * Revolution in Russia in 2011. Navalny elect to president of Russia. Russia joins EU.
 * What if SYRIZA won the 2012 Greek election?
 * What if the Scottish vote for independence in 2014 referendum?
 * What if Donald Trump is not elected the President (November 2016)?
 * The FCC didn't vote to repeal Net Neutrality (December 14, 2017) but instead voted 2 for and 3 against the repeal?
 * Ecological United States. What if Ralph Nader nearly "spilt"/"spolied" vote (instead very mildly) from Bush (instead Gore), But however this case, It cause eventually downfall of Republican Party (and several more years for Democratic Party) and cause rise or officially replace by Green Party of the United States with some for Libetarian Party and other third parties like Reform and Constitution parties. And also political transformation within United States into de facto multi-party nation very much slowly. But there also some come consequences out with it eventually as well.
 * What if Counter-Strike wasn't created? What if there wouldn't be any gore games such as Manhunt, Quake, Prey?
 * 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?

Stub Pages
Stubs are incomplete pages, you can help by expanding them.
 * FIFA Confederations Cup
 * North American Football League
 * North American Soccer Football League
 * UKFA Cup