So I've been lurking this forum without a membership for some years now, and I remember around the time I first started coming on here, a guy posted a similar thread with several interesting ideas and titles for his respective timelines with summaries for what their focuses would be and such. While I don't think anything is going to be that organized here, I still want to present a few ideas and put them up for a vote, if that's not too annoying...
No Maccabean Revolt
Mattathias is stillborn, or perhaps he dies as a child. The point is, the man who set the whole chain of events in motion isn't there to do it. As a result, there is no Maccabean Revolt, and the Jewish Religion is slowly Hellenized, perhaps dwindling into the pages of history entirely, like other ancient religions. Certainly there will be no Abrahmic religions, which is big... but how else does this change the world?
Julius Caesar Dies in Gaul
This one could be a real shit storm. What is the future of the Roman Republic without Julius Caesar and the conflicts that produced his heir, Caesar Augustus? Does Rome still conquer the whole Mediterranean, or does political corruption destroy the Republic?
Earlier Reindeer Domestication
I once heard Edward Vajda talk about the possibility of a linguistic affinity between the Yeniseian languages of Siberia and the Na-Dene languages of North America. In one of his lectures I heard him discuss the possibility of languages that may have been affiliated with other Native American language groups having been absorbed by the spread of other languages following the domestication of the reindeer about 2,000 years ago. So what if we move the date back 2,000 years? What if reindeer are domesticated 4,000 years ago in Siberia?
Alexander Loses a Hand
I have seen quite a few timelines try to approach a lasting Argead Empire from the approach of a surviving Alexander who goes on to live for a few more reckless years and then dies gloriously in battle after one of his sons is old enough to take the throne. These are interesting, and I do love them, especially Of Satraps and Kings by SlyDessertFox, but no one seems to have approached the idea of Alexander living to a ripe old age after some kind of a drastically humbling experience. What if he loses his hand at the Battle of Hydaspes, or during his campaign against the Malli? Will he really grow up and settle down to actually build a state? If so, what kind of a state do you think he would build?
An Infant Jesus Dies
An infant Jesus dies as a result of infection from his circumcision. Granted, circumcision of the time was considerably more mild and less risky than circumcision is today, but any cut back then carried the real possibility of an infection that could, especially for an infant, be life-threatening. Joseph gets enveloped in zealotry and is killed by Roman authorities, Mary remarries to a Greek and leads an inconsequential life as the mother of four half-Greek children. And the world goes on. What happens?
The Japanese Win the Battle of Baekgang
It would certainly take some time for the butterflies of this to reach the rest of the world, but it is certainly an interesting idea, since it would set in motion an entirely different set of events that could very well butterfly away the world's most famous warrior class - the samurai. What if Japan had been successful in its foreign intervention in Korea? Might this set a future precedent for Japanese involvement in East Asian politics later, perhaps even butterflying away the Mongolian conquest of most of Eurasia?
Voluntary Citizenship
Thomas Jefferson is actually at the First Continental Congress to debate the points of his essay, A Summary View of the Rights of British America... he wins. The First Continental Congress agrees that all notions of the old feudal system need to be abolished, and that true freedom can only be granted when men can own property in true allodial title, thus birthing an entirely new understanding of the relationship between citizens and the state. Politics will never be the same.
Which one of these appeals the most to you guys?