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This is one of those "dumb questions of history" that I've long been curious about. Rather than attempt a risky and expensive amphibious invasion of France, why did the Western Allies not simply ship their forces overland to the eastern front and join the westward push already in progress? I...

In April of 2005, shortly before the release of Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars Celebration III descends on Indianapolis. On the morning of April 23, over 10,000 fans crowd into an auditorium at the Indiana Convention Center to attend a half-hour Q&A session featuring Rick McCallum, Temuera...

Columbus Day, 1971. Around midnight, a group of white sympathizers of the American Indian Movement scale Mount Rushmore and attach dynamite to the heads. Just before dawn, an explosion erases the presidents from the mountain. All that remains are Washington's lapels and a little bitty piece of...

Suppose that maximal Union incompetence leads to a brief and bumbling Secession War, after which the USA signs a treaty recognizing an independent, unscathed CSA including Kentucky, Maryland, western Virginia, and Delaware. The politics of this state are dominated, initially, by the wealthy...

Suppose in 2012 Obama narrowly loses Florida and Virginia, and so wins the election with 290 EVs drawn purely from northern and western states. He becomes the first president since Coolidge in 1924 to win election without a single EV from the former Confederacy.

In 1977, Evel Knievel had a falling out with his onetime promoter, Shelly Saltman. Saltman had written an unflattering biography of Knievel which alleged that he abused his family and used illegal drugs. Knievel and his friends confronted Saltman outside the commissary at 20th Century Fox...

With as late a POD as possible, replace WWII with two entirely separate conflicts that do not overlap in time, one of which resembles* the Atlantic theater of WWII and the other the Pacific theater. Put the two wars in either order, but both must occur between 1930 and 1950. * Broadly. It...

With a POD after 1954, have the anti-war song Le Déserteur become the national anthem of France, supplanting La Marseillaise. Note: It doesn't have to remain the national anthem for a long time.

With the latest possible POD, have a non-Abrahamic religion become dominant* in Europe. * As dominant as Christianity in OTL.

Suppose whaling technology becomes more effective at an earlier date, so that all the largest cetaceans (mysticeti + sperm whales) are hunted to extinction by the late 1800s. At the dawn of the 20th century, the orca is the largest surviving cetacean. What is the effect on the oceans and on...

Sean Flynn, son of Errol, appeared in ten B-movies between 1957 and 1967. He achieved greater success as a photojournalist, and gained a reputation as a daredevil who would go to dangerous war zones. Always in need of cash, he continued to appear occasionally in films, especially Spaghetti...

With a POD after the arrest of the Watergate burglars, Nixon serves a full second term and leaves office in January of 1977. Some sort of scandal may break out, but it doesn't force Nixon out of office. (Constraint: You can't kill anybody.)

IIRC, most of the intellectual precursors of fascism were Frenchmen. So let's imagine a timeline in which France precedes all other European nations in succumbing to a fascist-type ideology, i.e. an ideology that is nationalistic, totalitarian, anti-democratic, militaristic, and corporatist...

With a POD after 1900, have religious disestablishment become universal in European monarchies* by the year 2000. Former state churches may continue to exist in some form, but with no more official status than OTL's Church of Sweden. * Countries with state churches in OTL: Denmark, England...

Prana Film was founded in 1921 to produce supernatural horror films. In OTL Prana's only production was Nosferatu. The studio was bankrupted by a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Bram Stoker's widow. Suppose the bankruptcy is averted, and Prana Film goes on. In 1923 F. W. Murnau begins...

With a POD after Cat Stevens' 1977 conversion, create a trend of western entertainers converting to Islam. Have this trend last for at least five years, and result in at least five converts as prominent as Stevens.

Inspired by the thread on a psychology-based ideology, I wonder what it would look like if a comprehensive and utopian political movement grew out of the medical profession. I can imagine this happening for several reasons: Medical students have a shared culture and values; they are literate...

With a POD after 1914, cause the United States to intervene militarily in Ireland before 1930. Bonus if this results in a period of US occupation.

With a POD after 1920, create an American film industry in which movie stars are frequently assassinated for professional reasons, and the concept of "astrocide" becomes entangled with the golden age of Hollywood.

Suppose he lives to 1955. What is the difference for American politics?