The common thought that wouldn't history (Q - whose?) be better if Princip / Hitler / Stalin / Mao had been killed off before they "achieved their potential" has a darker side. We often bemoan the lost generations - those politicians, artists, scientists, doctors, etc. whose bright futures were snuffed out in 14-18 or 39-45, but how do we know that one or more of those lost could have been an even worse choice for humanity? A Hitler without his weaknesses, a British PM who would not hesitate to meet calls for independence for India with genocidal crackdowns, the atomic scientist who gives the Bomb to Stalin (or without Stalin would we have had someone like Beria?), a US President determined to conquer Mexico...
The common thought that wouldn't history (Q - whose?) be better if Princip / Hitler / Stalin / Mao had been killed off before they "achieved their potential" has a darker side. We often bemoan the lost generations - those politicians, artists, scientists, doctors, etc. whose bright futures were snuffed out in 14-18 or 39-45, but how do we know that one or more of those lost could have been an even worse choice for humanity? A Hitler without his weaknesses, a British PM who would not hesitate to meet calls for independence for India with genocidal crackdowns, the atomic scientist who gives the Bomb to Stalin (or without Stalin would we have had someone like Beria?), a US President determined to conquer Mexico...