What If Implausible alternate histories
#1
(This post was last modified: 07-23-2024, 06:22 PM by Kyng.)

Alternate history scenarios can be great fun to discuss - and that's especially true if they could reasonably have happened in the real world. However, there are some scenarios that sound plausible, and often get discussed - but which, on further inspection, turn out to be completely unrealistic. The above video, by Cody of AlternateHistoryHub, lists some of these:

  1. Alexander conquers Rome - He didn't consider them a threat :P . Had he survived, he had plans to conquer Arabia, Egypt, and Carthage!

  2. Rome industrialises - They lacked some important pre-requisites, e.g. understanding how maths, physics and engineering were interconnected; having a good economic theory; and having a decent-sized middle class.

  3. Hardrada conquers England - Even if he wins Stamford Bridge, he won't be quick enough to defeat William the Conqueror.

  4. The Ming sail to America - Colonisation was never the goal of the Treasure Voyages: they wanted to impress known civilisations. Even if they made it to the west coast of America, they probably wouldn't have seen worth in it.

  5. The Aztecs go East - Even if we ignore their immense technological disadvantage (and give them frigates and firearms, because reasons), they didn't really "invade land to conquer it": they cared more about tribute and influence.

  6. The Trent Affair leads to a Confederate win - Britain was already too anti-slavery, and had too much trade with the Union, to side with the Confederacy. Also, they could (and did) easily replace Southern cotton with Indian and Egyptian cotton.

  7. Italy joins the Central Powers in WW1 - Italy's economy was too dependent on France, Britain, and the USA - and Austria-Hungary was its historical enemy. (Yes, Italy, Austria-Hungary and Germany had a defensive alliance - but Germany was engaged in a war of aggression!)

  8. Republicans win the Spanish Civil War - Even if Hitler didn't support the Nationalists, or Franco got shot, the Republicans were too split amongst themselves.

  9. The Allies invade Japan in WW2 - Even without the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan would have lost so much to the Soviets that they would have been forced to surrender before the invasion ever happened.

  10. The Man in the High Castle - Even if the Axis won WW2, they had no plans to invade America. And besides, this story was never meant to be a realistic alternate history: it was just dystopian sci-fi :P .

Of course, if anyone still wants to make threads about any of these scenarios (just for fun), that's completely fine :) . And if anyone wants to argue that Cody was wrong about any of these scenarios (and some of them actually are plausible), then go right ahead! But otherwise: are there any other alternate history scenarios that sound plausible, but aren't?
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#2
For 8, there’s a whole topic about that(sorta): https://tch-forum.com/showthread.php?tid=17413
Either way, the Spanish Republican government would not keep it together even if they beat the Fascists with Allied assistance; They’d just be shooting at each other.
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#3
He also missed out on Napoleon totally subjugating Spain and Portugal.
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#4
(This post was last modified: 10-27-2024, 05:50 PM by slooroo.)
Any hopes of Republican Spain winning is a giant pipe dream (one that's seen way too much in some far left circles) because the factions within the "Republican" forces were radically different politically and had little to no coordination together and in fact Stalin's meddling to try to insure a Soviet puppet would win only made things worse. George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia is a great read if you want to hear from a guy who has direct experiences with the conflict and why things weren't working.

EDIT: But say the Republicans DID win. The likely government to take over would've been the Stalinists who would've quickly purged the democrats, socialists, and anarchists. Now whether a communist Spain so far from the rest of the Soviet bloc could last long term is hard to say.
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#5
(10-27-2024, 05:48 PM)slooroo Wrote: Any hopes of Republican Spain winning is a giant pipe dream (one that's seen way too much in some far left circles) because the factions within the "Republican" forces were radically different politically and had little to no coordination together and in fact Stalin's meddling to try to insure a Soviet puppet would win only made things worse. George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia is a great read if you want to hear from a guy who has direct experiences with the conflict and why things weren't working.

EDIT: But say the Republicans DID win. The likely government to take over would've been the Stalinists who would've quickly purged the democrats, socialists, and anarchists. Now whether a communist Spain so far from the rest of the Soviet bloc could last long term is hard to say.
First, he's really Eric Arthur Blair. Second, it could happen IF the democratic nations in Europe(and some not so democratic) decided "Enough is enough with enough appeasement" and declared war on the fascists. That's one win condition out of all the lose conditions. As for communist Spain, ask how Cuba's fared right in team USA's neighborhood...oh wait they're now popping at the seams and can barely hold it together.
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