Alternate History!

[bigyihsuan]

Self-explanatory.

What would happen if an event in history (within all of Earth's history) did not happen/did something different/etc.?

Post your speculations below!

[chobit-389]

USS Yorktown sunk at Battle of Coral Sea instead of Midway. USN down one carrier at Battle of Midway, possibly Japanese success. Midway becomes springboard for invasion of Hawai'i, then on to San Diago. It's anyone's guess as to what happens after that, even I have no idea (nor did the brass of the IJN and IJA) what would happen during an invasion of the American mainland.

[tommygunyeah]

What if the Egyptians never existed?

What is the Nuke was never invented?

BOOM Brain hurter

[ROFLCopter64bit]

I remember something from American Dad that if JFK wasn't assassinated, the Russians would've taken over America. How, I can't remember.

[tommygunyeah]

I remember something from American Dad that if JFK wasn't assassinated, the Russians would've taken over America. How, I can't remember.

What is Franz Ferdinand wasn't assassinated?

[bigyihsuan]

What is Franz Ferdinand wasn't assassinated?

WWI would'ven't (would have not) happened and caused WWII to be "The Great War."

[pharoahjared]

USS Yorktown sunk at Battle of Coral Sea instead of Midway. USN down one carrier at Battle of Midway, possibly Japanese success. Midway becomes springboard for invasion of Hawai'i, then on to San Diago. It's anyone's guess as to what happens after that, even I have no idea (nor did the brass of the IJN and IJA) what would happen during an invasion of the American mainland.

They can't invade the mainland even if they did they would be slaughtered. even if they lose at mid way American easily replace the loses. 1 year after midway US still has more carrier then japan does.

In other words, even if it had lost catastrophically at the Battle of Midway, the United States Navy still would have broken even with Japan in carriers and naval air power by about September 1943. Nine months later, by the middle of 1944, the U.S. Navy would have enjoyed a nearly two-to-one superiority in carrier aircraft capacity! Not only that, but with her newer, better aircraft designs, the U.S. Navy would have enjoyed not only a substantial numeric, but also a critical qualitative advantage as well, starting in late 1943. All this is not to say that losing the Battle of Midway would not have been a serious blow to American fortunes! For instance, the war would almost certainly have been protracted if the U.S. had been unable to mount some sort of a credible counter-stroke in the Solomons during the latter half of 1942. Without carrier-based air power of some sort there would not have been much hope of doing so, meaning that we would most likely have lost the Solomons. However, the long-term implications are clear: the United States could afford to make good losses that the Japanese simply could not. Furthermore, this comparison does not reflect the fact that the United States actually slowed down its carrier building program in late 1944, as it became increasingly evident that there was less need for them. Had the U.S. lost at Midway, it seems likely that those additional carriers (3 Midway-class and 6 more Essex-Class CVs, plus the Saipan-class CVLs) would have been brought on line more quickly. In a macro-economic sense, then, the Battle of Midway was really a non-event. There was no need for the U.S. to seek a single, decisive battle which would 'Doom Japan' -- Japan was doomed by its very decision to make war.

victory for japan in WW2 is impossible.

[rryy]

If the USSR never collapsed in 1991 and the spread of communism continued, what would the world be like? Would Europe be mostly or completely communist? Would the USA and the USSR destroy each other with nuclear missiles? Would Korea already be unified or part of the USSR? Would the Soviet Union remain relatively the same size, grow, or shrink? Maybe the Middle-East would become communist as well. And what about space and the ISS? Would there be less cooperation between the USSR and the USA, or would there be another space race, taking the first humans out to Mars, return and base building on the Moon, more advanced rocket technology in use such as NTRs or SSTOs, space tourism? So many questions!

Edited April 19, 2013 by rryy

[rryy]

WWI would'ven't (would have not) happened and caused WWII to be "The Great War."

WWII may not have even happened, either, if WW1 didn't happen, as Hitler may not have even come to power.

Edited April 19, 2013 by rryy
Apparently, there has been eleven World Wars.

[pharoahjared]

If the USSR didn't collapse in 1991 and the spread of communism continued, what would the world be like? Would Europe be mostly or completely communist? Would the USA and the USSR destroy each other with nuclear missiles? Would Korea already be unified or part of the USSR? Would the Soviet Union remain relatively the same size, grow, or shrink? Maybe the Middle-East would become communist as well. And what about space and the ISS? Would there be less cooperation between the USSR and the USA, or would there be another space race, taking the first humans out to Mars, return and base building on the Moon, more advanced rocket technology in use such as NTRs or SSTOs, space tourism? So many questions!

the collapse of the 2nd world was pretty much ensured by 1980. NK and communism have almost parted ways.Even if they didn't NK is more friendly with China which the USSR hates. The only middle eastern country that has a chance of going communist is Afghanistan.depending on if the leader of the USSR is a hardliner or not will determine if there is more cooperation. If there is a hardliner we might see a Soviet-Sino war like Brezhnev wanted`.

[pharoahjared]

WWI would'ven't (would have not) happened and caused WWII to be "The Great War."

WW1 is inevitable regardless of the death of Ferdinand.

[chobit-389]

Hey Pharoahjared, this isn't a thread for you to tell people why they are wrong, this is for us to throw What-ifs at eachother. Unless you can think of a snappy What-if, out, now.

Heres a good one, Aliens and WWII?

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[ROFLCopter64bit]

Heres a real big one:

What if cheezburgers never existed?

1# most important thing that will never exist: Cat Memes!

[rryy]

Here's one, what if America lost the American Revolution? I would think that America would eventually get freedom from Britain, but it would probably be much smaller. Maybe Mexico would still have most of the Southwest, there would be some French country in the Midwest, and the rest either Canada or America.

[pharoahjared]

Hey Pharoahjared, this isn't a thread for you to tell people why they are wrong, this is for us to throw What-ifs at eachother. Unless you can think of a snappy What-if, out, now.

Heres a good one, Aliens and WWII?

(

)

The forum where I come from if someone asks a WI we discuss if it is possible or not if the general consensus is that it is then we discuss it effects.

WI: Operation Downfall is given the go ahead, Soviets invade Hokkaido effect on the Cold war?

as for aliens during WW2

[chobit-389]

The forum where I come from if someone asks a WI we discuss if it is possible or not if the general consensus is that it is then we discuss it effects.

WI: Operation Downfall is given the go ahead, Soviets invade Hokkaido effect on the Cold war?

as for aliens during WW2

[-moderator snip-]

[EDIT]: And about that link you dropped at the end, what do you think the Dawn of Victory mod is based on... I'll give you three guesses but I hope you'll only need one.

Edited April 20, 2013 by KasperVld

[KasperVld]

Alright people - keep it friendly in here

[pharoahjared]

[EDIT]: And about that link you dropped at the end, what do you think the Dawn of Victory mod is based on... I'll give you three guesses but I hope you'll only need one.

I honestly don't know but I assume the Worldwar series.

[UltraVires]

Here ya go... What if the Transistor (the basis of all modern digital technology) was never invented??? No Internet, no pocket calculators, no cell phones, etc, etc. That will hurt your brain!

Edited April 20, 2013 by UltraVires
spelling

[NASAFanboy]

USS Yorktown sunk at Battle of Coral Sea instead of Midway. USN down one carrier at Battle of Midway, possibly Japanese success. Midway becomes springboard for invasion of Hawai'i, then on to San Diago. It's anyone's guess as to what happens after that, even I have no idea (nor did the brass of the IJN and IJA) what would happen during an invasion of the American mainland.

Ahem. During the WWII, the United States was behind in number, but it production rate of aircraft carriers was around 30x that of the Japanese Empire. If the Yorktown sunk, the USS Lexington would fight at Midway. If the Hornet and Lexigton sunk, and Enterprise was sunk, the USS Wasp would come in. If the USS Wasp got sunk, Japan would see hundreds of tiny escort carriers in American fleets.

My prediction. If we kept progressing after Apollo and nw had outposts on the moon and Mars and Phobos, and was colonizing Castillo and Ganymede.

[Czman007]

what if Apollo 11 was a failure? Would the government close NASA because of the bad publicity? Would the Soviet Union land on the moon? Or would it strenghten the reslove of the American people and would we have a successful moon landing later? What ifs make my brain hurt.

[ROFLCopter64bit]

What if space core never went to space? What if GLaDOS never replaced Wheatley incharge again? What if GLaDOS didn't tease Wheatley right after he was plugged in? Would Chell escape earlier in the game?

[pharoahjared]

Here ya go... What if the Transistor (the basis of all modern digital technology) was never invented??? No Internet, no pocket calculators, no cell phones, etc, etc. That will hurt your brain!

Due to transistor managing fuel-air mixtures in cars, they will not have such a gas mileage. The American car culture would not exist as we know it, perhaps the 1973 oil crisis would kill it.Cars in Europe would be very rare. Edited April 20, 2013 by pharoahjared

[Trux]

Well one of the main concepts of Alternate History is for it to have a clear point of divergence and to be able to explain why and how events would change which I haven't really seen here.

If you want some interesting AH to read just search "Alt History Forums" on Google (Or your chosen search engine).

[bigyihsuan]

What if space core never went to space? What if GLaDOS never replaced Wheatley incharge again? What if GLaDOS didn't tease Wheatley right after he was plugged in? Would Chell escape earlier in the game?

Um.... I would prefer if you stuck to REAL history, please.