Highly underused PODs with great potential
- Thread starter vultan
- Start date
I don't know about "highly underused" since I haven't been on these boards for that long, but a couple of TLs I haven't seen any/enough high quality versions of that I really would:
Surviving Roman Republic
Attalus III does not bequeath Pergamon to Rome/Attalids hold on to power and expand to create a stronger Hellenistic power in Anatolia
Surviving Kingdom of Burgundy
Surviving Al-Andalus
Dutch keep some/all their holdings in North America and the Cape
Surviving Roman Republic
Attalus III does not bequeath Pergamon to Rome/Attalids hold on to power and expand to create a stronger Hellenistic power in Anatolia
Surviving Kingdom of Burgundy
Surviving Al-Andalus
Dutch keep some/all their holdings in North America and the Cape
I Blame Communism
Banned
Of course, I would be indignant that we're prone to forget about one of Russia's great missed opportunities...
Last edited:
Here are two PODs from British political history:
1) The Conservatives under Benjamin Disraeli win the British general election of November/December 1868, instead of the Liberals under Gladstone. With the electoral pendulum alternating between Conservatives and Liberals, each party would be in power when they were in opposition in OTL, unless the pendulum becomes jammed on one side for two or more general elections.
2) John Clynes beats off the challenge by Ramsay MacDonald to the leadership of the Labour Party in November 1922. In OTL MacDonald beat Clynes by only 5 votes in the poll by Labour MPs. Assumimg that he becomes Prime Minister of a Labour minority government dependent on Liberal support in January 1924, as MacDonald did in OTL, he manages to keep the government in power for say up to 2 years. The Conservatives win the general election in the autumn of 1925. They lose the general election of 1930 because of the economic depression, and Labour under Clynes wins an overall majority. Because in OTL, Clynes was opposed to the formation of the National Government, this does not happen in this scenario. British foreign policy, particularly from 1935, could be different from OTL.
1) The Conservatives under Benjamin Disraeli win the British general election of November/December 1868, instead of the Liberals under Gladstone. With the electoral pendulum alternating between Conservatives and Liberals, each party would be in power when they were in opposition in OTL, unless the pendulum becomes jammed on one side for two or more general elections.
2) John Clynes beats off the challenge by Ramsay MacDonald to the leadership of the Labour Party in November 1922. In OTL MacDonald beat Clynes by only 5 votes in the poll by Labour MPs. Assumimg that he becomes Prime Minister of a Labour minority government dependent on Liberal support in January 1924, as MacDonald did in OTL, he manages to keep the government in power for say up to 2 years. The Conservatives win the general election in the autumn of 1925. They lose the general election of 1930 because of the economic depression, and Labour under Clynes wins an overall majority. Because in OTL, Clynes was opposed to the formation of the National Government, this does not happen in this scenario. British foreign policy, particularly from 1935, could be different from OTL.
No Miracle of the House of Brandenburg. Empress Elizabeth lives longer, and Prussia gets a harsh peace-- Austria gets Silesia back, Russia gets East Prussia, and the Kingdom gets demoted to a mere electorate, losing all influence among the German states. Poland will be a very interesting place for a while...
I've done* the Henry Clay one and the first John Jay one
*- that is, I started on TLs involving them, but never finished.
I haven't been on the board for very long, so there may be TLs about some of these:
Gustav Adolf the Great isn't killed at Lutzen
Hundred Days' Reform succeeds in China
Nationalists win Chinese Civil War
Boleslaw I doesn't partition the first Polish kingdom among his heirs in 1138
Genghis Khan dies in his teens
Anything making Poland a major power
Charles the Bold of Burgundy isn't killed at Battle of Nancy
Teutonic Knights win the Battle of Tannenberg (1410)
Russia wins the Battle of Tannenberg (1914)
Holy Roman Empire becomes a real empire
Japan doesn't modernize in the Meiji era
Anything involving a major Indian power
Rashidun Caliphate survives
Inca Empire/Aztec Empire fight off the Conquistadors
Gustav Adolf the Great isn't killed at Lutzen
Hundred Days' Reform succeeds in China
Nationalists win Chinese Civil War
Boleslaw I doesn't partition the first Polish kingdom among his heirs in 1138
Genghis Khan dies in his teens
Anything making Poland a major power
Charles the Bold of Burgundy isn't killed at Battle of Nancy
Teutonic Knights win the Battle of Tannenberg (1410)
Russia wins the Battle of Tannenberg (1914)
Holy Roman Empire becomes a real empire
Japan doesn't modernize in the Meiji era
Anything involving a major Indian power
Rashidun Caliphate survives
Inca Empire/Aztec Empire fight off the Conquistadors
Abdul Hadi Pasha
Banned
No Haitian Revolt, hence no Lousiana purchase, and Napoleon flees defeat and becomes Emperor of French America.
Abdul Hadi Pasha
Banned
Anything that doesn't result in the Greeks getting Istanbul and the Aegean coast of Asia Minor.
Assassinations that we're never even thought of in OTL, seriously, it just takes a mad man with a gun.
Daniel Webster is picked as Zachary Taylor's or William Henry Harrison's VP.
No Berlin Conference.
Daniel Webster is picked as Zachary Taylor's or William Henry Harrison's VP.
No Berlin Conference.
Alexander is never born.
Persian victory at Marathon.
Aristotle does not become dominant in ancient Western thought.
The Golden Horde never reaches Europe (specifically Russia).
No Great Schism.
Agriculture develops more consistently throughout the world.
-Borderline ASB, but would have incredibly interesting implications for societal development.
Fascist Germany focuses on bringing Plan Z into fulfillment.
-Difficult to do, but possible.
Persian victory at Marathon.
Aristotle does not become dominant in ancient Western thought.
The Golden Horde never reaches Europe (specifically Russia).
No Great Schism.
Agriculture develops more consistently throughout the world.
-Borderline ASB, but would have incredibly interesting implications for societal development.
Fascist Germany focuses on bringing Plan Z into fulfillment.
-Difficult to do, but possible.
-Lincoln survives
I've never seen a Lincoln survives timeline, and that always seemed like it should be a more common POD, but it just isn't done
-French Revolution fails
Again, never seen a timeline where it fails. It is always some form of revolutionary government that rises and starts violent wars.
-World War Three
Now I have seen some of these, but for all the possible ways the war could have started and could have gone from 1945-1990, I don't see that many them.
I've never seen a Lincoln survives timeline, and that always seemed like it should be a more common POD, but it just isn't done
-French Revolution fails
Again, never seen a timeline where it fails. It is always some form of revolutionary government that rises and starts violent wars.
-World War Three
Now I have seen some of these, but for all the possible ways the war could have started and could have gone from 1945-1990, I don't see that many them.
This one's been done. G. Bone's "A Healthy Baby Boy..." The only problem is it kind of fizzled in around 1911. I wished he'd have finished it though. I'm a big fan of his style.
Anything immediatly after WW1 is very underused. The Russian Civil War as well. WI the Russians won the Battle of Warsaw in 1921, or Mussolini stayed a Socialist like he was before the war?
HMCS Rainbow engages SMS Leipzig off of San Francisco
Wilfred Laurier wins the Federal Election of 1911
The Canadian Army retains the Ross Rifle
Canadian Special Air Service Company is retained post 1949
The RCAF adopts the Avro Arrow
The Dominion Police are not merged with the Royal North West Mounted Police
Wilfred Laurier wins the Federal Election of 1911
The Canadian Army retains the Ross Rifle
Canadian Special Air Service Company is retained post 1949
The RCAF adopts the Avro Arrow
The Dominion Police are not merged with the Royal North West Mounted Police
France granting citizenship rights to the Algerian Arabs sometime in the early 20th century, avoiding the later Algerian War.
The US state of Vermont remaining an independent republic (as it did IOTL for 14 years)
The Paris Commune blocking the Thiers gov't from access to the Bank of France
Christianity evolving somewhat differently-Arianism predominating or a version of Gnosticism having more influence
Christianity becoming the dominant religion among the Mongols outside of Mongolia instead of Islam
Karl Marx completing Capital, or Marx living a few years longer and continuing his research into non-Western societies or Marx being more specific about what a socialist society would be like
France falling into a civil war in the 1930s
Nixon definitively winning in 1960 or Gore definitively winning in 2000
The Western powers-the US, UK, France, Germany, moving to the left after the economic crisis of te early 70s instead of to the right
The US state of Vermont remaining an independent republic (as it did IOTL for 14 years)
The Paris Commune blocking the Thiers gov't from access to the Bank of France
Christianity evolving somewhat differently-Arianism predominating or a version of Gnosticism having more influence
Christianity becoming the dominant religion among the Mongols outside of Mongolia instead of Islam
Karl Marx completing Capital, or Marx living a few years longer and continuing his research into non-Western societies or Marx being more specific about what a socialist society would be like
France falling into a civil war in the 1930s
Nixon definitively winning in 1960 or Gore definitively winning in 2000
The Western powers-the US, UK, France, Germany, moving to the left after the economic crisis of te early 70s instead of to the right
Last edited: