alternatehistory.com

I don't think we've ever really discussed this, but it's worth asking.

I think we'd all agree that by, oh, 1760, the industrial revolution was pretty likely. But I'm not sure liberalism was. Before 1775, it looked like the future belonged to the "Enlightened despots"; Catherine, Frederick, and even Maria Theresa. Even in Britain George III had basically gotten Parliament to do his bidding.

So, let's suppose that the Revolution is strangled on Manhattan in 1776; the French unpleasantness of the early 1790s is handled by Louis XVI gaining an atom of firmness. Except... now what? You still have the radical change of the 19th century coming, but the idea of a democratic society hasn't really taken off.
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