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In 1616 Venice had concluded an alliance with France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands against the Habsburgs. So the Spanish ambassador in Venice, the Marquis de Bedmar, started a conspiracy to prepare a naval invasion of the city. The French saved Venice by uncovering the conspiracy though, and...

Consider this: At this time, the Earl Philip Stanhope was ruling in Ireland. "Short as it was, January 1745 to November 1746, [his] appointment as Viceroy of Ireland was effective; he repressed the jobbery traditional to the office, and established schools and manufactures. He conciliated and...

At first, I want to apologize to start a second discussion which is almost identical to another one, save for the country in question. There are, I think, some timelines on this forum which consider what could have happened if Napoleon Bonaparte had fought for Britain. However, I have not found...

There are, I think, some timelines on this forum which consider what could have happened if Napoleon Bonaparte had fought for Britain. However, I have not found any where he fights for Spain. Under which circumstances could he have chosen Spanish services? What could he have achieved as the...

Voltaire wrote famously: "Monsieur l'abbé, I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write." Now he died before the French Revolution started, let alone the terror regime of Robespierre. But what if he had witnessed it? How would his most...

Before the wars of Austrian Succession started, Frederick had offered Maria Theresa an alliance, demanding Silesia (at least, Lower Silesia) as a price. As we know, she declined. But what if she had accepted? Since Prussia had the best army of Europe at this time, the advantage would have been...

Frederick the Great, absolutist king of Prussia, died in 1786, at the age of seventy-four, just three years before the French Revolution started. But let's say he had survived, for at least five more years. What would he have said about this development? Could he have warned the other monarchs?

Leaving aside the question how the developments brought by the FR might come in a different disguise, how would things turn out? After the Seven-Year War, new alliances had formed. Britain (with Hanover), Prussia and Russia stood against the French-Austrian alliance (confirmed with the marriage...

When Julius Caesar was assassinated, it was the last opportunity for Cassius, Brutus and the other conspirators. Caesar wanted to leave Rome to make war against Parthia; preparations and plans were on their way. One could expect that Caesar would do better than Crassus. Other than the latter...

When the Soviet Union detonated their first nuclear bomb in 1949, it became obvious that the Cold War with its proxy wars, espionage and armament race would take some time, and the "roll-back" policy of the US was dead. But what if the Soviet program hadn't been successful, maybe because their...

During the RJW, the Baltic fleet of Russia had an incident in the German Sea, near the dogger bank. Mistaking harmless British fishermen for the Japanese navy, they shot them and created an international incident (and foreshadowed their unglorious defeat later). What if the incident had grown...

Bismarck is known as a Conservative junker, but this doesn't mean he was what one may call a conformist. In fact, during his youth he was nicknamed "mad Bismarck". In our world, the king Wilhelm I. supported Bismarck. But this could have been different, with another king of the throne, or...

Frederick the Great had earned the hate of the Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV, after ridiculing her. This is why she used her influence on the king, which helped the Diplomatic Revolution succeeding. Also, she was influential during the Seven-year war: France used too many resources against...

From summer 1918 to summer 1919, the Bolsheviks were on the brink of collapse in Russia. In the east, the Whites under Krasnov had conquered Kazan with the treasure of the Bolsheviks; in the south, Denikin had taken Orel and was marching towards Tula. The Bolsheviks already considered giving up...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavr_Kornilov Kerensky had appointed Kornilov as supreme CiC of the armed forces of Russia after the February Revolution, but when Kornilov wanted to put Petrograd (where Lenin and his Bolsheviks were creating chaos) under martial law, Kerensky dismissed him. What...

During 230-221 BC, the state of Qin conquered the other six of the "Warring States" and created the first unified Chinese empire. One of these states, Qi, decided to stay out of the wars and take advantage of all other states being weakened in the fights. However, Qin's success took them by...

What if the reign of Edward VII of Great Britain was prevented? There should be enough possibilities: His appendix problems before his coronation, his lifestyle, other factors. The most important changes, of course, would be that the Triple Alliance may not come into existence. Despite his...

Swedish king Charles XII had read the biography of Alexander the Great and was greatly influenced by it. This was an important reason for his invasion of Russia and the catastrophic defeat at Poltava in 1709. But what if he hadn't done this? Could he have won the war against Russia if he had...

German politics after Bismarck's dismission have been correctly described as haphazardly, and leading to World War One; and better let's not talk about what came afterwards. Unfortunately, Bismarck hadn't groomed a suitable successor, which wasn't the wisest thing to do, given his age. But...