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Its well known that on June 30th, 1908, the city of Paris, at the time capitol of France, was effectively destroyed by the explosion of what is believed to have been a meteor. However, that meteor could easily have hit elsewhere, by interaction with the gravity of other objects in space. Even...

In OTL, Dr. Rudolph Diesel invented the engine that is named for him around 1893. But, suppose he didn't invent it, because someone else already had. How much earlier could such a device (which wouldn't have been called 'Diesel', of course) have been invented? How would this have changed the...

Inspired by the Apollo Program Continues thread - though at this late date, its more likely to be a replacement for Apollo, rather than Apollo itself. The PoD is probably some years earlier. On October 2, 1977, a Soyuz with a large forward module attached is launched toward the Moon (this...

Without recourse to ASBs, create a timeline with a fairly powerful Israeli Empire, contemporary with Rome, and lasting about as long, if not longer.

During the Commonwealth Era (in 1657, to be specific), there was an attempt to regularise Cromwell's rule, by making him King. He refused, but it took him about six weeks to arrive at that decision. Suppose, though, that he had accepted the crown, and the unmodified version of the Humble...

In another thread, I saw something that inspired this one: So, lets say this Pope, whom we'll call Matthew I, replaces Paschal II. The scientific method, or something reasonably close to it, is thus considered very Christian, and the Catholic Church strongly encourages scientific...

In WWI, Douglas MacArthur was assigned the temporary position of Colonel in the National Army, and was then promoted to Brigadier General. In 1920, he reverted to his peacetime rank of Major, and then was promoted to BG in the Regular Army. Suppose he stayed a Colonel in WWI, revered to Major...

On June 14th, 1645, Parliament's New Model Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, met and, in OTL, defeated and effectively destroyed the main army of Charles I. Leading troops in battle is very dangerous, though. A guy could get killed, and many have. So, lets say that Cromwell...

Although the USA was only Communist for about twenty to thirty years (depending on which historian you ask), the echos of that time are still with us, today. But, suppose that the Communist Party hadn't gained control of the House of Representatives in 1934? Would we still have been so quick...

Suppose that the Red Army hadn't lost their revolution in 1919, but had instead gone on to rule the territory we know as the Russian Empire, at least until the Second Great War, if not longer. How long could such a large Communist government have lasted, and what effect would it have had on the...

What would it have taken for Queen Jane (aka Lady Jane Grey) to have remained Queen for a few decades, instead of several days? What effect would Queen Jane I have had on history?

What is the longest that the Great War could plausibly have lasted, and what would be the consequences? Say, for example, that the USA never got involved, and tanks were not invented during the war. How long could it have gone on? What other changes could have lengthened it? What would...

Some time in the 1930s, someone in the Japanese government makes an analysis similar to the one quoted below, and is listed to: As a result, Japan's foreign policy towards the US in the late thirties and after can be summud up as 'Let Sleeping Giants Lie'. Don't give the Americans a reason...

To elaborate on the title, the challenge is to, without recourse to ASBs, create a plausible ATL in which a human walks on Earth's Moon by December, 1891 CE, and returns safely to the Earth. The Point of Divergence can be any time after the Fall of Rome, but the later, the better. Continueing...

Suppose that Neville Chamberlain didn't die in that car accident (or assassination, if you believe the conspiacy theorists) on February 28, 1938, and instead was PM through the Munich Crisis, and perhaps later. Would he have handled it any better than Sir John Simon, or would he have done worse?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen_Points Suppose that Wilson was able to get all of his Fourteen Points for Peace, rather than compromising on so many, in order to get the last one in? How far back would the PoD have to be, for the other Allies to agree, without butterflying away any of...

Suppose that Winston Churchill had been Prime Minister of the UK in World War II. What effect would he have had on the war, and on the world we live in today?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_the_Vandals_and_Alans Firstly, looking at the 'The turbulent end' section of the above-linked article, I'd have to say that Hoamer winning against the Moors, or the Arian faction being weaker, would certainly have lengthened the kingdom's lifetime...