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Favorite "What If?" of History

Discussion in 'History Forum' started by Dr. Bob, Sep 9, 2005.

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  1. Dr. Bob

    Dr. Bob Administrator
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    "Counterfactual" games are fun. I often bring up such to stimulate thinking.

    IF the Persians had defeated and destroyed the Greeks?

    IF Hitler had developed the atomic bomb before we did?

    IF the British and captured/defeated Washington on Long Island?

    My favorite (since Civil War is my forte) is IF the "lost orders" that led to the stalemate at Antietam had not be "lost", nothing could have stopped Bobby Lee.

    What is YOUR favorite event that, if turned on its head, you find most intriguing?
     
    #1 Dr. Bob, Sep 9, 2005
  2. NaasPreacher (C4K)

    NaasPreacher (C4K) Well-Known Member

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    Civil War again.

    What if A.S. Johnstone had not died in the first day of Shiloh, had kept Pittsburgh Landing and kept Buell's troops from landing.

    The CSA would have controlled the Tennessee River and stopped the march to Vicksburg. The War in the West would have basically been over.

    What if the Protestant Wind had not blown and the Spanish Armada had been victoious?

    What if the weather had stayed clear at Dunkirk.

    What if Charles Martel had not defeated the Moors at Tours?

    (Sorry, I know that is more than one ;) :
     
    #2 NaasPreacher (C4K), Sep 9, 2005
  3. Magnetic Poles

    Magnetic Poles New Member

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    What if:
    * JFK had lived and been reelected in 1964?
    * The Canadian Maritimes had joined the fledgling United States?
    * Mexico had defeated the Texians and still owned the southwestern states?
    * Archduke Francis Ferdinand had not been assassinated?
    * The Great Library of Alexandria, Egypt had not been burned?
    * There was a War of 1812 where the U.S. invaded the British Isles and burned Buckingham Palace?
    * After the Spanish-American War, the U.S. kept Cuba and it was today a state in the US?
    * There was a Mayan Empire on the southern US border?
    * Arkansas first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton had defeated incumbent George H. W. Bush in the presidential election of 1992?
    * Napoleon had won the Battle of Waterloo?
    * An alien exploratory crew landed in Houston on July 20, 1969?
    * Neanderthals and not Homo Sapiens were the surviving human species?
     
    #3 Magnetic Poles, Sep 9, 2005
  4. RebelBaptist

    RebelBaptist New Member

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    You mean she didn't?
     
    #4 RebelBaptist, Sep 9, 2005
  5. Magnetic Poles

    Magnetic Poles New Member

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    You mean she didn't? </font>[/QUOTE][​IMG] Then SHE should be the one that got a young intern!
     
    #5 Magnetic Poles, Sep 9, 2005
  6. Dr. Bob

    Dr. Bob Administrator
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    Oh my, let's not go THERE! [​IMG]

    Couple more counterfactuals from WWII

    The US/Brits take Berlin and Eastern Europe?

    Follow Patton's suggestion, re-arm the Wehrmacht, and march on Moscow?

    D-Day fails?

    No atomic bomb means 1,000,000 more US casualties in invasion of home islands?

    Soviets invade Japan and divide the land?
     
    #6 Dr. Bob, Sep 9, 2005
  7. Squire Robertsson

    Squire Robertsson Administrator
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    My favorite is: What if the French lead Imperialistas had won the Battle of Puebla (el Cinco de Mayo). With a Nationalist defeat, Maximillian might have rallyed his new country to recapture their lost territories north of the Rio Bravo.
     
    #7 Squire Robertsson, Sep 9, 2005
  8. Magnetic Poles

    Magnetic Poles New Member

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    What if:

    * Quebec had successfully withdrawn from Canada?
    * Alaska still belonged to Russia?
    * Robert F. Kennedy had survived an assasination attempt at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, and went on to win the Presidency in 1968?
    * Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev launched nuclear missiles from Cuba on Houston, Miami, New Orleans, and Atlanta in 1962?
    * What if a tribe of Native Americans sailed east looking for a shortcut to California, and discovered Europe?
    * The modern state of Israel had not been formed?
    * The Nationalist Chinese had chased the Communists and Mao Tse Tung off the mainland and onto the island of Taiwan?
    * Ho Chi Minh had negotiated a peace treaty with the US and South Vietnam?
     
    #8 Magnetic Poles, Sep 9, 2005
  9. rsr

    rsr <b> 7,000 posts club</b>
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    MP said:

    " * The Great Library of Alexandria, Egypt had not been burned?"

    That, to me, is one of the most fascinating 'what ifs' of all time.

    What if:

    The Venetians hadn't sacked Constantinople?

    Stephen Douglass hadn't foisted the Kansas-Nebraska Act upon the country?

    Lincoln had been defeated in 1864?

    The assassination of McKinley had failed?

    Oklahoma had been admitted as two separate states? (OK, it's parochial, but there it is.)

    Huey Long hadn't been assassinated and was elected president?
     
    #9 rsr, Sep 9, 2005
  10. Melanie

    Melanie Active Member
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    The crusades had been victorious and kept the Holy Land

    Australia under the French (Oh MY)

    The Tasmanian Aborigines had not been exterminated

    The Napoleonic Period never happened....

    The Norsemen had maintained a settlement of the New World...

    The compass and sailing had been more advanced sooner
     
    #10 Melanie, Sep 10, 2005
  11. Magnetic Poles

    Magnetic Poles New Member

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    What if:

    * The Dutch had not sold New Amsterdam to the Brits?
    * George Washington's troops had all died of exposure at Valley Forge, PA?
    * Simon Bolivar had never been born?
    * African's had settled the New World, and engaged in the trading of European slaves to work their plantations in what is now North America?
    * Mikhail Gorbachev had been a hard-line Marxist who did not embrace Glastnost or Perestroika?
     
    #11 Magnetic Poles, Sep 10, 2005
  12. Dr. Bob

    Dr. Bob Administrator
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    What if:

    </font>
    • Romulus and Remus had been eaten by the wolf?</font>
    • Pilate had released Jesus instead of Barabbas?</font>
    • Virginia and the South had separated at the Constitutional Convention instead of yielding to extreme federalism?</font>
    • New Orleans had been built 80 miles up river on high ground where it belonged?</font>
    • Chinese sailors that reached North America had colonized the West Coast?</font>
    • Aliens actually DID help build the pyramids?</font>
    • Canada had been successfully invaded and joined with the other colonies to form one nation?</font>
     
    #12 Dr. Bob, Sep 10, 2005
  13. NaasPreacher (C4K)

    NaasPreacher (C4K) Well-Known Member

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    What if the Vikings had settled North America instead of just exploring?
    What if the St Brendan tale is true and the Irish monks had settled North America in the 7th century?
    What if the French had won at Dien Bien Phu?
     
    #13 NaasPreacher (C4K), Sep 10, 2005
  14. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

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    What if Jane Fonda hadn't betrayed her country in such a public and demoralizing manner in Hanoi? What if War Criminal John Kerry had never fabricated the Winter Soldier Investigation? What if America had not been so demoralized by the pro-commi, anti-war crowd and went on to win the Vietnam Conflict?

    On another issue, what if Reagan had not so publicly confronted the Evil Empire and had instead, taken on the failed isolationist policies of Kissinger?

    On another issue, what if Clinton had demanded reciprocity from Arafat before giving him any aid or any deals? What if he had connected land and support to democratic and human rights reforms at the Oslo Accords?

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #14 Joseph_Botwinick, Sep 10, 2005
  15. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

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    What if we would have pulled out the troops before January of this year?

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #15 Joseph_Botwinick, Sep 10, 2005
  16. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

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    What if Bush Sr. had listened to his general Schwartkoff and taken Bagdad, and not left under political pressure, leaving many Iraqis and Kurds to be slaughtered by Saddam's regime?

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #16 Joseph_Botwinick, Sep 10, 2005
  17. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

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    What if today's media had been around during the American Revolution and WW2?

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #17 Joseph_Botwinick, Sep 10, 2005
  18. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

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    What if the internet had never been invented?

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #18 Joseph_Botwinick, Sep 10, 2005
  19. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

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    What if Lindberg had challenged FDR for president and won in 1940? I stole this one from the premise of the book "The Plot Against America" by Phillip Roth.

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #19 Joseph_Botwinick, Sep 10, 2005
  20. NaasPreacher (C4K)

    NaasPreacher (C4K) Well-Known Member

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    What if the blockade of Berlin had worked.

    (what if Joseph B didn't quintuple post? ;) )
     
    #20 NaasPreacher (C4K), Sep 10, 2005
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