WI: Babbage completed the Analytical engine in the 1870s?

Having a 'mechanical computer' would probally change little until the 1860s and the American Civil War breaks out. Even then its not going to change a great deal, since for a mechnical computer to work, you've got to design the punch cards right to run the programs. This means its going to be week or months of work to get specific items to run.

It's not as simple as 'turn the handel, get your elevation and charge strength for your guns', no way as good for that! (and even if it were your carting round a big heavy (fragile) metal machine to do so. Ships aren't going to be able to make use of mechanical computers until the very late 1890s and the 'Dreadnought Age'.

Where the greatest impact would be, would be in accounting, finance and commerce. If your a trader in some docklands your'd have to employ an accounter to 'keep the books' and he can only do so much work a day.

Give him a mechanical computer then instead of books of logs every order comes with a card, insert card, turn handel boom! all the information.

What it would do is take trade from being manually conducted to the 'packets and bonds' that made up 20thC trade in the 19thC. This might have the knock on effect of canceling out things like the Great War and Great Depression simply from the fact that economics starts running away with the Great Powers from the 1980s and that's going to change the possition on the ground for everything.

Other knock ons might be that the Gold Standard never gets left, international debts can never rise to what they might be today. This leaves autarky as a more acheivable aim in the AH which allows Central Powers of Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria-Hungary) to not become economically embroiled with one another, this might in principle result in nothing like the EU forming since nations are economically independant....but whho knows...
 
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