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How do you get Richard of Gloucester to avoid usurping the throne from his infant nephew, and instead be content with merely being Lord Protector for a period? And how do things play out in such a scenario?

I don't know a potential PoD here, so please insert one as you see fit. Anyway... Let's say that in the summer of 1939, Germany "backs down", and tries to improve relations with her neighbours, having made substantial gains over the past few years. Now, it seems to be a running...

This TLIAD format is one used by the Politi-Brits quite a lot, but it hasn't yet been transferred to the Before 1900 forum: nor has it been yet used for something other than British politics. This, then, will be a heavily condensed version of my always-planned TL "A Very Different Sixth...

I've read a little about this in the recent biography of Margaret Thatcher, and I've been reminded of it by the current thread on Apartheid that's going on. As that thread seems to be declining into a tit-for-tat argument, I thought I'd open a new one about the matter. So, a few queries for...

We don't discuss this period enough, I feel. So: The marriage of Augustus' daughter Julia to his stepson Tiberius in 12BC quickly soured, which may in large part have been down to the death of their only daughter, who was either stillborn or died in infancy: I forget which. Anyway, what if...

This is probably going to be an exam question I'll answer tomorrow for my Cicero course, so I'll ask here to see what views the board has. Was the Roman Republic doomed to fail from the outset, or was its collapse more a matter of a few bad decisions and arrogant personalities in the first...

To a Kerry Presidency that loses the popular vote? Just looking for broad contours here. I can imagine there'll be moaning about a stolen election and such, but will these pre-Tea Party types be any more willing to govern with a Democrat, in practise. Also, will there be any interest in...

Because why not. With a POD after 2000, make "Mad Nad" Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, presumably at the head of a Conservative led-Government.

I've asked this question before, I think, or at least something similar to it, but not for a couple of years. What a forum elder I am. ;) Anyway. With a PoD of your choosing from 1900 onwards that causes the Ottoman Empire to survive with territories including at least what it held IOTL in...

CITY OF GOD Chapter I: The Career of Constantius III In the year 410AD, fifteenth of the reign of the Western Emperor Honorius, affairs for the Roman West had sunk to a low ebb. Several years of confused manoeuvring and imperial weakness had seen the Empire’s foremost general, the Magister...

Based on the thread further down, here's a rough skeleton plan to get the WRE through its very tricky fifth century... POD: Constantius III lives for another decade. 422: After much threatening and haggling over imperial titles, with the government of the young Theodosius II refusing to...

A scenario which has been done before, but I think could be fun to explore. Let's say that Alexander never falls ill in the summer of 323BC, and his projected Arabian campaign goes ahead as planned, beginning in the autumn of that year, shortly after the birth of his son by Rhoxane. The...

Hey guys I thought I'd start a thread that could be useful to writers of Ancient and Medieval TLs, about the sizes of armies in practise on the battlefield. How many surviving trustworthy sources are there for the period roughly from 1000BC-1500AD that discuss the size of a force available to a...

Thought I'd se how far this thread could go... Basically, with a POD set in stone at exactly six months before an election in which one party suffered a heavy defeat, what's the best case scenario for that party, and why do you think so? For example: what do you think is the best case...

We've had threads like this before, but I don't think there's been one for some time, so I thought I'd open a thread to gain people's opinions. When, if at all, do you think that "late Rome" shifted decisively to a civilisation that is better to be referred to as "Byzantine" rather than...

Maybe this should go in Chat, but as it's (albeit fairly recent) British political history I thought I'd ask here. Do members think that, had Labour held onto power in 2010 in coalition with the Lib Dems (and perhaps others) the findings of the Browne report into tuition fees would've been...

Behāfarīd was an enigmatic holy man active in Iran in the last years of Umayyad rule. He preached a creed that, from our surviving sources, seems to have aimed at reinvigorating Zoroastrianism by bringing in quite a few Islamic elements into the faith. His message was initially quite successful...

I would probably answer this myself if anyone else asked the question, but hey, I'm interested in the responses of other Byzantinists on here. Let's say that the ERE enjoys the rule of a competent military Emperor in the 1030s- perhaps Michael IV never gets ill and is just a slightly better...

Based on my reading through of Mantel's Wolf Hall- what would happen if Henry VIII dies in January 1536, in the jousting tournament that IOTL almost killed him? We have three candidates for the throne: the illegitimate Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, the Lady Mary (herself recently rendered...

Byzantinists: I had an exam question vaguely on this yesterday and thought I'd source out opinions. When, in your view, does the "Turkification" of Anatolia become impossible to reverse, in your view? That is, even if Anatolia is retaken by the Empire it'll remain predominantly Turkish, just...