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Japan in the 1860s is not exactly the strongest of states. Whilst the Tokugawa and various domains were in the process of modernizing their armed forces, they had a long ways to go before they'd match any of the European powers. Furthermore, there was rising discontent, with certain domains -...

That's going into ASB territory. Directed energy weapons are only recently starting to look practical for air defense, and that's with 21st century materials science and engineering. German researchers in the 1940s had no hope of coming up with anything that could even be used as a basis for an...

They aren’t as obscure as some of the other groups mentioned here, but the Ainu of Hokkaido come to mind. The Ainu language is possibly an isolate, and the Ainu themselves are likely the small remnant of what was once the dominant ethno-linguistic group of the Japanese islands during the Jomon...

Probably as an authoritarian but useful Cold War ally, similar to Franco’s Spain. However, as with Franco l suspect that the fascist government would not last long following Mussolini’s eventual death. If Italy becomes a liberal democracy then his reputation would probably be that of a thug who...

Without a significant PoD, by 1945 there’s no putting the Indian independence genie back in the bottle. If Churchill wins the election and tries to keep India by force, the resulting protests, strikes, and potentially riots and violence would quickly turn the British public against him. If an...

At the end of the day, Chinese communists, like Vietnamese ones, were also nationalists. They would not support China becoming a subservient territory of Moscow. The USSR would end up facing a large war if they tried to take over China, something that wouldn’t be easy - just ask the Japanese.

I'm not fully sure whether there would be an Imjin War at all. It's commonly stated that Hideyoshi was following Nobunaga's dream by attempting to conquer China (by way of Korea), but whether Nobunaga himself would have launched such a foolhardy campaign or whether Hideyoshi was just making...

This was during Hailstone, correct? Is there any source you recommend that offers more details on this engagement? I don’t doubt you; I was just trying to find more info on it and couldn’t find much beyond sparse wiki-style writeups.

You'd probably have to go back to at least the late 19th century and change the fundamental nature of Imperial Japan. You'd somehow have to give all the Meiji genro mindsets similar to that of Saionji Kinmochi, who was the most liberal of the lot, in order to end up with a constitution that is...

You probably also have to make the PLA more independent-minded. The Soviet Army was a bit less totally controlled by the party than the PLA was in China, and whilst some elements tried to preserve the Soviet system (hence the August coup attempt), most did not. The PLA on the other hand is quite...

Yup. You'd need major PoDs here going back to the 19th century to make this remotely feasible.

Germany would never do that, as the whole point of getting a colonial empire was to show that they were an equal to Britain and France. Giving up colonies is a sign of weakness. Even if they did, they'd have to leave behind German military bases, and said bases would probably come under Entente...

Anime as we know it was born out of the circumstances of post-war Japan, so anime if the 30s-style Imperial system had survived would be pretty much unrecognizable from what we know today. Animation was used by the Imperial government in the 30s and 40s as a form of propaganda, with cartoons...

The problem is that you have to have a POD which somehow prevents Germany's colonies from just being run over. German West Africa, Southwest Africa, and New Guinea were all overrun by British, French, and Commonwealth forces pretty easily, with dealing with terrain often being more difficult...

The French could keep on fighting, because the Germans clearly couldn't. Vittorio Veneto kicked in the door on the rotten structure that was Austria-Hungary. The Ottomans signed their own armistice with the Entente as well. This means that the Central Powers are down to just Germany. Germany's...

Chinese invented gunpowder and it almost certainly would have spread with or without the Mongols.

The only real way to have ancient Egyptian religion survive even in a mixed form would be to butterfly away Christianity. Anyways, it's worth remembering that the idea of reviving or reinterpreting ancient cultural practices for the sake of crafting a new, unique national identity is something...

Even if their had been a desire for such a war, Britain found itself rather occupied with a certain Corsican's exploits in the early 1800s. There was the War of 1812 of course but the goal of that was not the reconquest of the colonies.

I doubt it. Chicago grew so much because it could connect the Great Lakes to the rail network and to the Mississippi via the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Galena is near the Mississippi but nowhere near the Great Lakes.

I agree, that's why I said Assyria wasn't the best location and why I don't think the situation I proposed is that plausible. It'd require some sort of further back POD, probably one that weakened the Eastern Romans so that some hypothetical charismatic Assyrian warlord could establish a larger...