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I think the Mongols could probably have forced most of the European Kingdoms to at least pay some tribute - if they had really been united and determined to do so. After all, they overran other areas like southern China that were far from good for steppe cavalry. They did this largely by...

If Germany could get through the Great Depression without either Nazis or Communists taking over, I think it had the wherewithal to become the dominant economic power in Europe and perhaps even a close second to the USA in the world. No Nazis also means Germany remains world leader in the...

Possibly, but I suspect that even without a religious split no one power is going to become totally dominant in western and Central Europe. Something similar to the Westphalian concept might still evolve simply due to the fact that the major powers of Europe are too equally matched for one to...

There was a lot of pressure to reform the church by the early 16th century, but it need not have resulted in a deep permanent split. I think that the popes would still have been forced to tackle at least some of the more egregious church abuses, but there had been earlier waves of reform in the...

I think that how "hard"[1] the alternate history is depends partly on the timeframe. If you are writing AH that takes place within a few years of the POD, then researching the history of what actually happened in OTL is vital if you want at least some plausibility. As you get further and...

A lot would depend on whether many Spanish actually go there, and whether they develop it as a plantation colony after the gold runs out, or just abandon it. If it is a very small colony focused on extracting gold and nothing else, it is likely to become a footnote to history. If it becomes a...

I think you would need to really break the USA up - as a whole it was already a significant and rising power by 1815. Then maybe a series of wars between the smaller states that would inhibit their economic development and make them less attractive for immigrants.

Couple of random ideas - Perhaps get the industrial revolution going a little earlier in Europe, in the late 17th or early 18th century rather than the later 18th century. I'm not sure if any country in Europe had enough surplus capital or the right kind of mindset among its moneyed classes...

This is a very broad question - apologies if it's too broad - but do people here think that it's plausible, or even at all possible, for societies to go through an industrial revolution without experiencing radical changes in politics, social structure, and intellectual outlook? For example...

I don't think a modern day CSA will be a superpower, but I also don't think it will necessarily turn into a total basket case. In 1860, it was behind the northern USA and much of western Europe in industrialization and economic development, but it was still probably equal to or ahead of many...

Some USA ironies In the US war of independence, New England was one of the most solidly pro-independence regions. The next time the US fought the British, New Englanders opposed it so much that some of them considered breaking away from the USA so they could have better ties with the British...

Was there a big decline in private Chinese trade starting right after Zheng He? I seem to remember reading that the later Ming passed laws against long-distance trade, were these effectively enforced? If they were, I would think that would have been what really hurt the Chinese in trade...

Was Zheng He really doing the same kind of thing as the Europeans later did? I thought that the ZH voyages were mainly for prestige, while the Europeans were looking to seize control of trade.

That's certainly true - it actually doesn't make much sense to lump all non-European history together as if medieval Iran and pre-Columbian Peru are closely related fields. Ideally, the board would have so many members that any subject about any culture or time period would catch some people's...

OK, I can see your point. The only way I can think of to really change it, though, would be to have a larger number of people on the forum with a strong interest in non-European/non-"western" timelines.

I'm certainly not claiming that western cultural features are universal. I have rarely seen that point of view in these forums, so I don't think it is much of an issue here. What I see is the claim that writing timelines focusing on Europe or European colonies is eurocentric. That's nonsense.

Having timelines that focus on Europe or the USA makes perfect sense if you're from Europe or the USA and know the history of those areas best. That's not being Eurocentric, it's just writing about what you know and are interested in. Perpetuating racist and colonial stereotypes is a...

As far as living standards go, I'll bet that even the somewhat threadbare, rationing UK of the late 40s was a lot better place to live for the average citizen than the Soviet Union was. As a dictatorship, the Soviet Union could ignore living standards and focus on keeping a large military in a...

I remember reading that in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78, many of the Ottoman infantrymen were armed with Winchester repeating rifles, which would mean that both sides of that war were heavily reliant on American small arms. At least in certain classes of weapons, the US was already...

In OTL even the individual states had pretty much given up on trying to have government-supported churches by the 1820s or 1830s. I suppose the practice of states supporting specific religions could revive if the 1st Amendment was not considered binding on states, but it doesn't seem very...