AH: People Who Could Have Died

Soundgarden

Banned
I know there was one battle during the American Revolution where Benedict Arnold was badly wounded. If he died right there imagination the legacy he would have - he'd have monuments, be on stamps, possibly coins and dollars, maybe even have a holiday in his honor.
 
Emperor Norton I

Emperor Norton I

Ngo Dinh Diem (1960, 1962, August 29 1963, Coup)

There were three previous attempts at getting rid of Diem. One took place on November 11, 1960 where army officers and soldiers, upset at Diems corruption and patronage and autocracy, initiated a plot to remove Diem from power, or at least remove his brother and Madame Nhu who were viewed as a negative influence. The plot fell apart. It wasn't properly executed, the rebels didn't act decisively and lost inertia, and they took time to negotiate with Diem which gave enough time for loyalist soldiers to come into Saigon and put down the coup. I've also heard it said, though I don't know enough of this at the moment to know how true it is, that something else that put down the coup was the US ambassador saying the United States would not support this unlike the 1963 coup where the US said if the generals removed Diem from power, they would continue to support South Vietnam. One of the loyalists who helped put down the coup was Nguyen Van Thieu, who later took place in the 1963 coup and became president of South Vietnam.

http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/failed-coup-south-vietnam

There was also a coup attempt in 1962 when two South Vietnamese airforce pilots attempted to kill Diem and his brother by strafing and bombing the presidential palace.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/diem-survives-coup-attempt

I've also read there were plans to launch a coup in August of 1963, though a book source on that stated claims of such a plot existing are dubious so I'm not sure of that one. It is on the "history place" Vietnam site that it did happen, but fizzled "due to mistrust and suspicion within the ranks of the military conspirators."
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1961.html

Overall, Diem probably could have been killed any time by any number of potential assassinations and coups. He was not a beloved man. If there were further official, actual attempts or plots at killing Diem or removing him from power than just those three I know of listed, I would believe it.
 
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dilbert719

Coming down a level in notoriety here, but two that instantly come to mind for me in a sports sense are Clint Malarchuk (1989) and Richard Zednik (2008), both of whom had their throats accidentally slashed with skate blades, and could have bled out on the ice.
 
Plumber

Plumber

There was an assassination attempt during the 1968 Governors Convention on Ronald Reagan. This was shortly before the Republican National Convention, and a failed attempt could've been enough to give Reagan more momentum.
 

Colin

Pikers3 said:
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this one

Margaret Thatcher - killed in the assassination attempt by being blown up in Brighton in 1981 by an IRA bomb.
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Perhaps because it was 1984. Entirely possible that Dennis Thatcher could hav been killed, wonder what would have happened then
 

Hörnla

The POD would be pre-1900, but the effects would mostly concern the 20th century:

Wilhelm II was lucky to have lived at all. The birth was very complicated (and, as we all know, resulted in his disabled arm). The baby was lifeless, and only reportedly came to life due to the midwife, against the protocol, whipping him with a wet blanket.

Had the boy died, next in line might have been an equivalent (due to butterflies) of Heinrich (*1862), who was quite an opposite to his older brother.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Henry_of_Prussia_(1862–1929)

A hobby inventor, racing driver, modest personality (!), skillful diplomat (!!), able naval commander (!!!) and a great supporter of technological innovation within the armed forces (!!!!) .

Well, monarchy is a gamble. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
 

Tocomocho

Another pre-1900, I was considering opening another thread:

Ferdinand II of Aragon - Assassination attempt in Barcelona, December 1492

A peasant tried to slash his throat from behind, however the king turned his head in the last second and most of the blow was stopped by the heavy gold chain around his neck. Nevertheless, he still was injured in the neck and had to be sutured; the wound was infected and he developed fever before recovering a week after the incident. Many though that he was going to die.

The would-be murderer was caught and identified as Joan Canyamas, a mentally ill Catalan peasant. Ferdinand himself though that he had been a victim of a plot, however. Indeed, some have suggested that Canyamas was not ill but a supporter of the remença rebels of the 1480s, and immediately after the attacks there were rumours that the attacker was French, Navarrese or Castilian.

Now, wether Canyamas was feigning being ill to get some sympathy or a genuine mentally ill person used as a front by other people didn't mean much for him in the end, and his fate was... not pretty.

Had Ferdinand died, he'd be succeeded by his teen son John, whose death might have been averted through butterflies, and the Trastamaras remain in control of Castile and Aragon after a definitive union in 1504.
 

BillyShears

Some musical ones...

Paul McCartney
Mugged in Nigeria recording Band on the Run, the demo tapes consequently being stolen and him having to remember it all
Was at the airport, sitting in a plane during 9/11
Quite recently almost had a helicopter crash

David Bowie
Heart-attack kills him

Ray Davies
Tried to commit suicide with an overdose, dressed as a clown
Shot by a mugger in America

Dave Davies
Could have suffered a brain haemorrhage from being whacked on the head with a kick-stand and knocked unconscious so badly Mick Avory (the drummer with the Kinks) thought he killed him and ran off through the streets of Cardiff

Mark Ronson
Almost drowned in a pool as a child but Paul McCartney saved him
 

Binky the Clown

I know of a handful of near-death experiences of four Fascist/Right-Wing dictators:

Adolf Hitler/Francisco Franco (1916)
At the first Battle of the Somme, Hitler was stabbed in the groin by a French Bayonette, losing a testicle in the process. Similarly, el Caudillo Francisco Franco lost a testicle while serving in Morocco. Their injuries could've been fatal if one of their vital organs had been punctured or if they'd become infected. With the poor antibiotics of the time, chances are that they would've died. (I'm particularly fond of this one, because it means that we'd have lost *two* of the most brutal fascist dictators in the same year to the same kind of injury. Talk about a coincidence! :p)

Adolf Hitler (1918)
Adolf Hitler was sprayed with Mustard gas at one point, rendering him temporarily blind. Had he been unable to put his gasmask on, he'd likely have died from inhaling the chlorine in the air.

Benito Mussolini (1915-1917)
During WWI, Mussolini suffered two near fatal incidents. In early 1916, he contracted Paratyphoid Fever, which could've easily killed him if it had gone untreated of . In 1917, Mussolini was badly injured when a motar went off in the trench he was stationed in. Just a few steps closer to that mortar, and the founder of Fascism would've become another casualty of the Great War.

Miklós Horthy (1917)
Horthy was wounded during the Otranto Barrage, and even fell unconscious. A more serious injury could've easily made him a footnote in Hungarian history. Horthy planned another raid shortly after, which involved the battleships of the Austro-Hungarian navy. Italian MAS torpedo boats sunk the Szent István, causing him to cancel the mission. Perhaps, in an alternate timeline, the MAS torpedo boat sunk the ship Admiral Horthy was on (or maybe he was on the Szent István when it sunk).
 

Binky the Clown

Soundgarden said:
I know there was one battle during the American Revolution where Benedict Arnold was badly wounded. If he died right there imagination the legacy he would have - he'd have monuments, be on stamps, possibly coins and dollars, maybe even have a holiday in his honor.
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I actually quite like that idea. :D
 
Emperor Norton I

Emperor Norton I

Pete Best (Suicide attempt, 1965)

After he was sacked for Ringo Starr, original Beatles Pete Best had a rough life initially. Musical success was difficult and the Beatles rose to unbelievable success and were everywhere and inescapable even if you wanted to escape them, taunting Best. This prompted a failed suicide attempt in 1965.

Best thereafter became a civil servant, a job he happily had for 40 years, and married and had some children. He reentered music in 1988, and received millions in royalties when some of the recordings he played on were featured on the "Anthology 1" release from the Beatles. He currently runs the reopened Casbah club, one of the most popular destinations in Liverpool, tours with his own band ("The Pete Best Band"), and is something of a king of Liverpool.

Billy Joel (Suicide attempt, 1970?)

After the failure of his Heavy Metal band "Attila" and a break up, Billy Joel attempted to kill himself by drinking a bottle of furniture polish. The furniture polish was next to a bottle of bleach, and he thought the furniture polish would taste better. It didn't kill him, and he was taken to a psychiatric ward and put on suicide watch.
 

Romantic Nihilist

Johnny Rotten: Set about by louts during the Sex Pistols heyday.

Kurt Cobain: Tried heroin before 'Teen Spirit exploded. Imagine the 90's with no Nevermind?

Scott Stapp: What if he actually shot himself?
 

JVM

There was an often unmentioned attempt by some Middle Eastern men to have a "poolside interview" with George W. Bush on the morning of September 11th, 2001. An ATL where Bush is taken down on the exact same day as the other 9/11 attacks could be insanely interesting and it'd be on my list of possible ATL's.

I also know John Hinckley, Jr. targeted Jimmy Carter for a period before his faithful encounter with Ronald Reagan... the latter's probably been done (I haven't seen it, but I'd lbe interested.) but it'd also be interesting to see how a dead Carter could spice up a 1980 presidential election.

And I think it'd be kind of interesting to see Chappaquiddick twisted around, with Ted dead and Kopechne alive, even though the ending's pretty easy to see.
 
Emperor Norton I

Emperor Norton I

Richard Nixon (1963, Assassination by Lee Harvey Oswald)

No, not the kind you're thinking. In what is estimated to be April, 1963 or November 20th to 21st of 1963, Oswald said to his wife that he was planning to shoot former vice president Richard Nixon who was visiting Dallas on business with the Pepsi corporation. Marina did not know who Richard Nixon was, reportedly, but knew she needed to do something so he didn't kill a man so she tricked Oswald into the bathroom and forced him to stay in there. Oswald therefore didn't manage to shoot Nixon.
 

phx1138

George Lucas
12 June 1962, his Autobianchi Bianchina was broadsided, nearly killing him. It could easily have been fatal.

George H. W. Bush
Killed when his TB is shot down & his parachute fails. (Another crewman did OTL.)

Douglas MacArthur
Near-missed by several IJA snipers...

Alternate History Geek said:
John McCain -
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Makes me think John Sydney McCain II, his father, could have been killed when his sub was hit by a circular run by a Mark XIV torpedo....


OTOH...
James Dean
30 September 1955, his 550 was broadsided by a blind nitwit in a Merc. It wouldn't have taken much for Dean to be at that intersection a few seconds sooner, or later, & avoid the wreck...
 
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Thande

Thande

Donor
Harold Macmillan was nearly killed in WW1:

Macmillan served with distinction as a captain in the Grenadier Guards during the First World War, and was wounded on three occasions. During the Battle of the Somme, he spent an entire day wounded and lying in a slit trench with a bullet in his pelvis, reading the classical playwright Aeschylus in the original Greek.[19] Macmillan spent the final two years of the war in hospital undergoing a long series of operations, and saw no further active service.[20] His hip wound took four years to heal completely, and he was left with a slight shuffle to his walk and a limp grip in his right hand from a separate wound. As was common for contemporary former officers, he continued to be known as 'Captain Macmillan' until the early 1930s.
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Though that's just a specific incident we know about: to be honest an awful lot of politicians from the 20th century could've been killed in WW1...which makes you wonder how many potential leaders died in the trenches in OTL.
 
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