Alternate History Ideas and Discussion

[ATP]

I wonder what other points in our history look like backfiring time traveler interventionism? General Patton's car crash? It was an assassination. In the original timeline where he lived, he turned his popularity with the troops into the start of a political career, with unfortunate consequences involving operation unthinkable.

Was there a chance that General Patton was going to become President of the US? I heard a theory that's why he may of been killed by the ...

Dean Gibson's answer: Whether he had such ambitions or not, I don’t know. I can’t immediately think of any instance in which he spoke of political ambition, but that doesn’t mean it never happened. What I do know is that, had he run for President, he would have most likely lost the election. In t...

qr.ae

Cue OTL where we didn't have a nuclear war in the forties.

Yes,he was murdered by soviets with USA help - but,becouse he knew that soviets were weak monsters which could be easily defeated.
And,nuclear war in forties? BWAHAHAHA.
Soviets made first A bombs in 1949,but since they do not manage to steal all plans,bomb capable of using in Tu4/B.29 copy/ was made in 1951.
Till then,all they had was A devices which could be blown on land as kind of mine.And very few of them.

So,it would be no A war,but one-sided slaughter.
And, liberation of enslaved people in Europe and soviet union.

 

[49ersfootball]

Chiang Kai-shek wins the Civil War & crushes the communists. What's the ramifications going forward ?

 

[ATP]

Chiang Kai-shek wins the Civil War & crushes the communists. What's the ramifications going forward ?

China rule for real,even without Biden help,like OTL.
No Polpot,no many african genocides,too.
Soviets fell earlier,and lost Siberia.

Better world for most of people.

 

[Zyobot]

'Box Office Flops That Could've Been Blockbusters?'.

 

[Skallagrim]

'Box Office Flops That Could've Been Blockbusters?'.

There are good films that flopped. There are excellent films that flopped. But not all of them could have plausibly been blockbusters.

I think that Blade Runner could have done spectacularly, if people had known what it was. Its enduring resonance proves as much. Completely different type of film, but also an '80s classic, is Labyrinth. Has it all, but flopped. Universally praised after the fact. Two rather obvious candidates -- both sabotaged by people in their own studio, and hindered by terrible marketing -- are
Treasure Planet and John Carter. (The latter should also have had a better title.)

 

[bullethead]

'Box Office Flops That Could've Been Blockbusters?'.

Star Trek Beyond?

 

[Bassoe]

'Box Office Flops That Could've Been Blockbusters?'.

Flip this. Steven Spielberg gets his mechanical shark puppet working properly, Jaws loses all its suspense and bombs as a forgettable b-movie taking his career with it.

https://www.cbr.com/jaws-original-opening-b-movie/

JAWS shark not working made it a scarier film says Steven Spielberg — The Daily Jaws

Here’s why the shark not working in JAWS delivered a better film and was great news for film audiences says Steven Spielberg

thedailyjaws.com

 

[49ersfootball]

Flip this. Steven Spielberg gets his mechanical shark puppet working properly, Jaws loses all its suspense and bombs as a forgettable b-movie taking his career with it.

https://www.cbr.com/jaws-original-opening-b-movie/

JAWS shark not working made it a scarier film says Steven Spielberg — The Daily Jaws

Here’s why the shark not working in JAWS delivered a better film and was great news for film audiences says Steven Spielberg

thedailyjaws.com

Jaws freaked me the Hell out.

 

[Zyobot]

'AHC: Mercantile Japan'.

 

[Circle of Willis]

'AHC: Mercantile Japan'.

A Christian or otherwise foreign-friendly and non-isolationist clan coming out on top at the end of the Sengoku Period would be the easy answer, but for something different I'd rather propose the Taira/Heike winning the Genpei War. They were more interested in seafaring & maritime trade (especially with the Song dynasty over in China) than their Minamoto rivals, and actually tried to move the Japanese capital from Kyoto to the port of Kobe. While the Taira still were the first samurai family to attain the highest offices in the land, IIRC they were also more inclined toward ruling through the existing official channels rather than constructing a whole parallel administration (the Kamakura Shogunate was the Minamoto's doing), so the Emperors and traditional aristocracy may not end up being marginalized quite as severely as they were historically in the event of a Taira victory.

So yeah, that seems like the earliest & easiest path to a (slightly - again, the Taira were still samurai, not civil nobility) less militaristic and much more commercial/naval-inclined Japan than the Japan of our real Middle Ages.

 

[ATP]

A Christian or otherwise foreign-friendly and non-isolationist clan coming out on top at the end of the Sengoku Period would be the easy answer, but for something different I'd rather propose the Taira/Heike winning the Genpei War. They were more interested in seafaring & maritime trade (especially with the Song dynasty over in China) than their Minamoto rivals, and actually tried to move the Japanese capital from Kyoto to the port of Kobe. While the Taira still were the first samurai family to attain the highest offices in the land, IIRC they were also more inclined toward ruling through the existing official channels rather than constructing a whole parallel administration (the Kamakura Shogunate was the Minamoto's doing), so the Emperors and traditional aristocracy may not end up being marginalized quite as severely as they were historically in the event of a Taira victory.

So yeah, that seems like the earliest & easiest path to a (slightly - again, the Taira were still samurai, not civil nobility) less militaristic and much more commercial/naval-inclined Japan than the Japan of our real Middle Ages.

Good and plausible idea.

'AHC: Mercantile Japan'.

Nobunaga lived 30 years longer,made friendly ties with Portugal and created modern fleet.
His descendents used it to get richer thanks to merchants,and eventually take Australia,Hawaii,Siberia and North America shores.

Better world for everybody,especially indians.

 

[Zyobot]

'Jimmy Carter Resigns'.

For one, I guess we get President Mondale, though I question whether he'd be any better than his ineffectual boss was.

 

[49ersfootball]

'Jimmy Carter Resigns'.

For one, I guess we get President Mondale, though I question whether he'd be any better than his ineffectual boss was.

Would Carter resign in the Summer of 1979 ?

Does Mondale come close to carrying 13 states against Reagan in 1980 ?

 

[Agent23]

British Indochina and French India.

How does it happen and what are the implications?

Do we basically get one huge Singapore?

 

[Buba]

1 - this "swap" could happen (not overnight, of course) in the 2nd quarter of the XVIIIth century - the French do better, the EIC worse. Maybe Marathas wipe out Bombay. Henceforth the EIC focuses in SEA. As we know, at some points Sumatra or Malaya were close to being raised to Presidencies.
2 - Singapore as we know it is pretty much a post 1960 development.

 

[Agent23]

1 - this "swap" could happen (not overnight, of course) in the 2nd quarter of the XVIIIth century - the French do better, the EIC worse. Maybe Marathas wipe out Bombay. Henceforth the EIC focuses in SEA. As we know, at some points Sumatra or Malaya were close to being raised to Presidencies.
2 - Singapore as we know it is pretty much a post 1960 development.

Yeah, but it is basically a fusion of Confucian and British values, primarily common law and not hating the merchant classes as much.

Hence my question.

 

[49ersfootball]

1 - this "swap" could happen (not overnight, of course) in the 2nd quarter of the XVIIIth century - the French do better, the EIC worse. Maybe Marathas wipe out Bombay. Henceforth the EIC focuses in SEA. As we know, at some points Sumatra or Malaya were close to being raised to Presidencies.
2 - Singapore as we know it is pretty much a post 1960 development.

Singapore is an amazing place to visit.

 

[TheRomanSlayer]

PC: No Italian Wars

How would the absence of the Italian Wars have an effect on France, Italy, and the rest of Europe as well? Also worth noting that no Italian Wars may also mean Savonarola does not pull off any antics that eventually led to his execution.

 

[ATP]

PC: No Italian Wars

How would the absence of the Italian Wars have an effect on France, Italy, and the rest of Europe as well? Also worth noting that no Italian Wars may also mean Savonarola does not pull off any antics that eventually led to his execution.

Well,since Spain still have all its gold and must spend somewhere,then:
1.They actually help Hungary in 1526 and crush Ottomans - no Ottoman Empire here.
2.They invaded France,and made Brittany,Burgundy and other french provinies spanish,i mean great,again.
3.They invade and take England
4.They invade and take Tunis and North Africa.

I think,that you could just toss a coin to choose who would be invaded and crushed - but somebody would.

 

[TheRomanSlayer]

Well,since Spain still have all its gold and must spend somewhere,then:
1.They actually help Hungary in 1526 and crush Ottomans - no Ottoman Empire here.
2.They invaded France,and made Brittany,Burgundy and other french provinies spanish,i mean great,again.
3.They invade and take England
4.They invade and take Tunis and North Africa.

I think,that you could just toss a coin to choose who would be invaded and crushed - but somebody would.

Henry VIII is still married to Catherine of Aragon, but she's having trouble airing a son, which led to the whole marital rinse and repeat process.

A Reconquista into North Africa might be in the cards as well.

Savonarola might ironically enough, be the one that actually cleans out the rotten structures that had affected Catholicism as a whole. His death killed off the reforms that were needed, which his spiritual successors picked it up and eventually kick started the Protestant Reformation.