I am placing this in pre-1900 because that is probably where most examples can be found, but if you have a good example from after 1900, please share.
So many pivotal episodes in human history have turned on events that were incredibly improbable in hindsight. Thanks to Harry Turtledove, one example that is commonly cited in alternate history is the random discovery of Robert E. Lee’s Special Order 191 by Union soldiers before the Battle of Antietam.
With that in mind, what were some of the biggest coincidences in history? “Biggest” both in the sense that the odds of the event happening were probably astonishingly low, and in the sense that they had huge ramifications. How would history have unfolded differently without these coincidences? To be clear, I am talking about single events - I have heard people argue that, say, the conquests of Alexander the Great were extraordinarily lucky even in hindsight, but that was a series of many events.
So many pivotal episodes in human history have turned on events that were incredibly improbable in hindsight. Thanks to Harry Turtledove, one example that is commonly cited in alternate history is the random discovery of Robert E. Lee’s Special Order 191 by Union soldiers before the Battle of Antietam.
With that in mind, what were some of the biggest coincidences in history? “Biggest” both in the sense that the odds of the event happening were probably astonishingly low, and in the sense that they had huge ramifications. How would history have unfolded differently without these coincidences? To be clear, I am talking about single events - I have heard people argue that, say, the conquests of Alexander the Great were extraordinarily lucky even in hindsight, but that was a series of many events.