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I debated whether to put this here or in the ASB forum, but I decided to post it here because while some of these are extremely unlikely, I don't think that they are quite ASB. What are some at least remotely possible ways that these scenarios could have occurred? - The world's first...

What if there had never been any treaty to eliminate or restrict space-based weapons during the cold war? How much more would the US, Soviet Union, and possibly other powers have invested in space programs and related technologies if orbital space and beyond was considered an extension of...

I've been pretty inactive for a couple of weeks - things have been pretty busy at times and I've been a bit lazy at other times, but I started work on a new timeline - HISTORY OF THE GREAT AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH 1620 – English separatist Calvinists establish a settlement at Plymouth...

What are some of the best, or at least most memorable, AH short stories that people have read?

Well, since I actually finished the regular lecture early today, I wanted to just say a few things on a more personal level. I've thrown out lots of names and dates and events that probably don't mean anything to you, seeing as how most of them happened before you were even born. If you can...

Basically, my question is this - are historical developments governed mainly by chance, or are certain developments almost inevitable barring major natural catastrophes or outside intervention? In other words, if one was to go back 50,000 years and imagine a timeline where human beings...

It's been suggested that one of the factors that encouraged early industrialization in the US was, ironically, serious disruption to trade in the early 19th century. This came first from the Embargo Act, forbidding virtually all overseas trade from the US in a failed attempt to pressure both...

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to try and create a scenario where conservation and protection of the enviromment is mainly associated with the right end of the political spectrum in the US. I don't have any detailed scenario in mind, just some general ideas. One might...

In the 1820s of OTL, Britain warned Spain away from trying to recover its American colonies. The warning was also implicitly directed at the conservative powers, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, which were anti-revolution and supported Spain. The United States also issued a similar warning, which...

Well, lots of people have done modified Draka timelines to try and make it a little more realistic. I started one for a different version of the Eurasian War a while back, but now I figure I should start at the beginning. I have tried get a timeline that goes along similar lines to Stirling's...

I found an old thread from late 2004 asking about possible developments if Constantine had never converted to Christianity in the 4th century. I started a timeline, which I have modified and expanded a little. Here are the first few decades: C. 282 AD - an 8 year old boy named Flavius...

With a POD no earlier than 1765, how could you get a situation where the entire continent of North America, from the Arctic Ocean to Panama, is united under one government - without a single war ever being fought between nations (EXCEPT for wars between settlers and native Americans). It...

With a POD no earlier than 1900, how could we get a world in 2005 where the death penalty is considered an appropriate punishment for homicide in virtually every country in the world, both western and non-western? There can be some opposition to the death penalty, but this will be a...

It strikes me as a little odd that neither the Greeks nor the Macedonians nor the Romans apparently ever developed crossbows.* I believe that the Chinese were using them extensively by the 4th or 3rd centuries BCE. The basic principle behind the crossbow was well-known in the classical...

OK, I know that other people have tried changing the S. M. Stirling Draka timeline so that it doesnt give the Draka so many advantages. Heres my own take on the theme - not much changes from the official timeline until the Draka attack Nazi Germany in 1942 - EURASIAN WAR 1939 France and...

Inspired by the thread speculating on a 9/11/01 style attack in 1993, I wondered if such an attack could easily lead to a scenario where the Democrats push through a Patriot-type act and used a sort of rhetorical blackmail to criticize all Republicans as being insufficiently patriotic. This...

POD - Basically, the Soviets totally defeat Poland in 1920, and then move west into eastern Germany and get support from communist uprisings there. Further west, French and British forces that are still in the Rhineland join in a reluctant alliance with the small German army and anti-communist...

The Seven Years War was technically a victory for Frederick the Great and Prussia, but it was a very close thing. Any one of many possible events - Tsarina Elizabeth living longer and keeping Russia in the war, better coordination between the French, Austrians, and Russians, or Frederick...

What if the United States did almost exactly the same thing after World War II as it did after World War II - a move towards isolationism with a few exceptions for nearby countries? What could create this situation, assuming that the general course of events in WWII goes pretty much the...

With a POD no earlier than 1700 AD, how could Poland survive through the 18th century without being partitioned, and become one of the major economic and military powers of Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries