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  1. WI: The Macedonian empire remained united after Alex the great died?

    I think this is a case where the “how” of Alexander’s empire remaining united really dwarfs the rest of the scenario. We can imagine a lot of different scenarios for how Alexander’s empire remains intact after his death (and indeed on how Alexander dying at a different date would impact that)...

  2. WI: The lost Imperial Seal of China found... by a foreigner

    All hail the recipient of the Mandate of Heaven and Empress of China… *checks notes*… Georgia Meloni?

  3. Fate of Caesar, Parthia, and Egypt with no civil war?

    Personally, I doubt Caesar would immediately look to Parthia, but it’s certainly possible. It probably matters how exactly the civil war is avoided. Is one of the various compromise proposals accepted? If so then I definitely don’t think Caesar will be heading east to campaign against Parthia...

  4. Modification of the Treaty of Alcáçovas instead of the creation of the Treaty of Tordesillas

    Exactly. Tordesillas set the line where it did because Spain and Portugal’s interests in the newly explored territories had already begun to clearly diverge. Spain was interested in Columbus’ discoveries in the Americas and the potential east-west route to India. Portugal had reached the top of...

  5. Military tactics ( that were never developed or employed )

    Definitely yes, these could absolutely have been more widely developed/adopted. Russia and North Korea have 300mm rocket systems, and North Korea recently developed a 600mm system that basically blends an MLRS with a short range ballistic missile. If more countries saw a need for that kind of...

  6. Wars that could have had a second round

    Basically no chance of the US letting the Soviets send support to Iceland. IOTL Iceland asked for a surplus US warship to strengthen their coast guard, but the US demurred because it wanted to stay neutral in a dispute between NATO members. Iceland was able to get US diplomatic intervention in...

  7. Wars that could have had a second round

    Agreed. There have been 3-4 near misses that could have escalated. The trouble a second Mexican-American war is constructing a scenario where Mexico could actually believe it might get a positive outcome. The imbalance between the countries is just too big by the 20th century. I don’t think...

  8. Meta-AHC: Why more extensive Russian Expansion of Asia

    Annex in all likelihood. Russia strongly considered annexing Ili when it occupied the region.

  9. What if Germany insisted Italy be on board for any war in 1914?

    By the time of the July Crisis I don’t believe there was any serious expectation that Italy could be induced into joining the war on the side of the Central Powers. Certainly not for a price that Austria would pay. And all three governments knew it. The Triple Alliance had very much worn thin...

  10. Military tactics ( that were never developed or employed )

    Sure, although if you’re caught laying those mines you’ll probably find that “transition” happens a lot faster. In fact, some modern mines can already do this. You can set delays so the mine lays inactive for a period (which can be months) before turning itself on. Some also have various low...

  11. Military tactics ( that were never developed or employed )

    I believe there’s an R-27 variant intended for exactly this role, actually.

  12. Military tactics ( that were never developed or employed )

    Navies would definitely love this. The issue, as I see it, is how do you communicate with the mine? Modern mines can already have a dormant mode, but all modern command mines are physically linked back to the command station by cable. Not sure how you get around that problem. That said...

  13. Alternative Invasive Animals and Plants

    There could easily be a a sustained population of feral cameos in the American southwest. It’s really just chance that we don’t have them today. IOTL the US created an experimental camel corps just before the Civil War, but it was disbanded due to the outbreak of the war. The camels were...

  14. WI: Coffee in ancient Rome

    They definitely weren’t. I don’t think there are any strong attestations of coffee cultivation and consumption before fifteenth century Yemen. We know the plant itself originated in Ethiopia so presumably there was some level of coffee trade to spread it across the Red Sea, but it doesn’t seem...

  15. Balkanization - how did the US avoid it?

    For quite a while what’s now Oklahoma was the Indian Territory. A lot of tribes were resettled there (it was the destination of the Trail of Tears for example) and it was reserved for native settlement until it was eventually opened to white settlers and later made into the state of Oklahoma...

  16. Earlier adoption of sugar beet

    I'm very skeptical that an earlier sugar beet will seriously impact colonization of the Caribbean and probably won't stop the use of slavery on sugar plantations. It would probably mean lower profit margins for the sugar plantations, but IOTL sugar beets didn't drive cane sugar plantations out...

  17. Redrawing Borders for the US PNW States

    Honestly, this is a tougher problem than it initially looked. I think the key is getting the territory admitted as a state as early as possible before regional tension builds up to the point settlers outside of the core want their own territory. Historically, the Willamette valley was the...

  18. What if drive in movie theaters never died out

    Alas, I think the new-ish rise of explicitly luxury cinemas probably fills that market niche well enough to prevent drive-ins from returning. They do still sort-of exist for community events though! There are a couple “outdoor cinemas” in my area that run combo drive-in/walk-in theaters. At...

  19. AHC: No Split US States

    There’s lots of potential to have the Dakotas admitted as a single state. The split was actually mostly driven by the territorial inhabitants who felt the northern and southern portions were disconnected from each other. What would become South Dakota was significantly more settled with more...

  20. How to Keep Tulare Lake

    IIRC Lake Tulare was highly variable so it could expand significantly in wet periods and then shrink in dry ones. The whole Central Valley is characterized by extreme wet-dry variability and seasonality. I think that’s probably the biggest issue with keeping Lake Tulare around and more important...
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