If you could change one event in history pre 1900

Have the Puritans take over in England and force convert the population leading to the last non-Puritans leaving for the New World...
 
Anyways, there's a number of changes that would be better for the world. I think one big one that's not often discussed would be a liberal king being born for Spain in the 19th century, avoiding the Carlist Wars.

They could then avoid those devastating series of civil wars that racked Spain IOTL and reform it to be freer and more modernized. A liberal Spanish Empire including Spain, Puerto Rico, the Phillipines, and possibly even San Domingo could be a positive force in the world. They probably get a bigger piece of Africa, butterflying the Belgian Congo. And though they won't be as strong as France, Britain, or Germany, they will be an influential power that might serve to reduce tensions between those nations or act as a balance of power.

What is assured is no Carlist Wars or Spanish Civil War to kill a shitload of people.
Well for preventing the Carilst Wars you need to have either a son for Ferdinand VII of Spain (maybe either Isabella or Luisa Fernanda is born as male or they have a brother) or no child at all instead of his OTL daughters
 
Well for preventing the Carilst Wars you need to have either a son for Ferdinand VII of Spain (maybe either Isabella or Luisa Fernanda is born as male or they have a brother) or no child at all instead of his OTL daughters
That's what I was going for. Yes, no children would also work, but it's far less likely and I'd rather Spain be liberal. A son sympathetic to liberalism would be the best of all scenarios, and would lead to the Spanish monarchy finally accepting a liberal constitution that conservatives couldn't really fight if it comes from the King.
 
Basically the question is if you could change one event pre 1900 and make whatever alternate events of that timeline true what would you change? Basically you could create a real alternate history timeline. Me, I would have the Anglo Saxons beat William the Conquerer at Hastings because I think that the English language and culture was so much cooler without the French influence, and if the United States still existed in this timeline, I'd have a much more awesome language I'd be speaking.
  • Have Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia foster closer ties with the Franco-Russo alliance after the Battle of Adwa.
  • Have Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia invite a Russian Military Mission to Ethiopia to train his personal army.
  • Have Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia implement structures in place to allow for the continuation of Ethiopia's modernization after his death.
 
That's what I was going for. Yes, no children would also work, but it's far less likely and I'd rather Spain be liberal. A son sympathetic to liberalism would be the best of all scenarios, and would lead to the Spanish monarchy finally accepting a liberal constitution that conservatives couldn't really fight if it comes from the King.
At that point better a son from his third wife than one of the fourth (as she was the bride less related to him: first was a first cousin, the second a niece (and at that time Portugal was really imbreded between themselves and with Spain) and the fourth another niece and herself daughter of first cousins)
 
Or have him die a year earlier.

I read somewhere that about a year before his death he was critically ill and not expected to survive. His ministers, making preparations for this, discovered a will setting aside the Salic Law and naming his daughter heir instead of his brother, a private act which was of highly doubtful validity without the consent of a Cortes. They decided to ignore it, proclaim Carlos V on his brother's death, and leave him to dispose of the will as he saw fit.

However. Ferdinand VII then proceeded to recover. Learning what had happened he sacked the Ministers and appointed ones who were prepared to carry out his wishes. Having done this, he died a year later. Might have saved a lot of bother if he had just died the first time.
 
- the Romans don't destroy the Second Temple
- Mohammed becomes a Christian and Bishop of Arabia
- Zheng He discovers America first
- Martin Luther doesn't condemn the Peasant's that hard and shows some empathy
- Martin Luther doesn't write "About The Jews And Their Lies"
- Henry IV stays a Protestant
- Gustav Adolphus doesn't die in 1632
- the Levellers take over Britain after the death of Cromwell
- the Parlements win the Fronde
- the Pope sides with the Jesuits during the Chinese Rites Controversy
- the French Constitution of 1793 is implemented
- Napoleon wins at Waterloo
- Wilhelm Weitling becomes the main proponent of Socialism/Communism, the movement doesn't become majority Atheist
- the German Revolution of 1848/1849 succeeds
- after the ACW the US prevent any kind of Jim Crow legislation
- Engels writes a book about political freedom in Socialism and the need of democracy to implement Socialism
 

Grimbald

Monthly Donor
James I (&VI) decrees that any slave or indentured servant in his American Colonies shall be indentured or enslaved no more than seven years and his heirs ratify this degree each in turn.
 
I’d suggest the rise of extreme nationalism. It was often very destabilizing, while it was used (and arguably was a factor that caused) so many destructive wars and conflicts in the 20th century.

Another one could be slavery, though I think that it’s rise is almost inevitable (sadly).
 
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