I wished I can see more alternate history scenarios being discussed involving countries outside of the Anglosphere. Most postings in here seems to focus on British and American history.
What alternate history ideas you wish they were used more often?
- Thread starter Gar48
- Start date
I’m gonna have this happen in my timeline later on. I’ve always wanted to see a Nixon presidency…. But mine has a different angle to it I think you’d find interesting. Just note it’s gonna be a good while before I get to 1960.
Medieval Germany.
What about it? EVERYTHING!
Seriously, most Medieval TLs focus almost entirely on France and England - somewhat understandable for a webboard that is largely (though not entirely) anglosphere in its makeup, but still.
Any timeline where Poland-Lithuania manages to remain a power of note, while still retaining it's semi-republican features. Too many people on here think that the Liberum Veto was the sole purpose Poland began to suffer from internal issues, and so, naturally, the only way to 'cure' it is for it to turn into a highly centralized monarchial state.
Timelines where England remains Catholic without turning into some backwards hellhole. There seems to be a view that England NEEDS to go Protestant (and no matter how far back the TL, it wanders into that camp) but if it doesn't, it's going to devolve into some authoritarian, theocratic, state (which kinda reeks of the Black Legend of Catholicism in the Aanglosphere, but that's another matter).
Timelines where the US has to co-exist with a greater number of Norh American states. I've always found that idea fascinating.
What about it? EVERYTHING!
Seriously, most Medieval TLs focus almost entirely on France and England - somewhat understandable for a webboard that is largely (though not entirely) anglosphere in its makeup, but still.Any timeline where Poland-Lithuania manages to remain a power of note, while still retaining it's semi-republican features. Too many people on here think that the Liberum Veto was the sole purpose Poland began to suffer from internal issues, and so, naturally, the only way to 'cure' it is for it to turn into a highly centralized monarchial state.
Timelines where England remains Catholic without turning into some backwards hellhole. There seems to be a view that England NEEDS to go Protestant (and no matter how far back the TL, it wanders into that camp) but if it doesn't, it's going to devolve into some authoritarian, theocratic, state (which kinda reeks of the Black Legend of Catholicism in the Aanglosphere, but that's another matter).
Timelines where the US has to co-exist with a greater number of Norh American states. I've always found that idea fascinating.
Last edited:
British Imperialism of the 19th Century has 5 nations in North America at one point
Well I’ll check out your TL (the one in your signature I imagine?). I’ve seen Nixon done a few times, but surprisingly few considering how important the election was. I’ve done before for Profiles In Courage but that wasn’t the main focus of the TL, though it certainly played an important role.
Deleted member 90949
More timelines focused on the Americas. On this website you would think all of history occurred in the old world, which it kind of did seeing as only the Mayans ever developed written language.
I want to see just one timeline were South America goes through massive border changes while Europe remains stagnant.
I want to see just one timeline were South America goes through massive border changes while Europe remains stagnant.
Yup. Gonna be a little while before I update it though since I’m kind of in a writers slump rn, though.
Indeed it was not. The Commonwealth's republican system had even worse internal issues than the Liberum Veto.
I do agree that it's a very underdeveloped setting, although I understand why, It's the worst combination of being outside the traditional AH spectrum, being a really complex and multifaceted period, and being villified by the nations whose members would know the most about it.
Zillian
Gone Fishin'
There are also a lack of early medieval timeline other than a few ongoing Late Roman/Byzantine Empire timeline.
I have considered to write a early medieval timeline myself with the POD being Charlemagne died in the hand of the Danish king Gudfred in 810 and the Frankish empire being spilt between his survived sons. Would such a timeline being interesting?
I have considered to write a early medieval timeline myself with the POD being Charlemagne died in the hand of the Danish king Gudfred in 810 and the Frankish empire being spilt between his survived sons. Would such a timeline being interesting?
As a writer of an Early Medieval TL, I will never NOT read any other timelines from that era - there needs to be more of us
I'd also point out: The Final Light as another excellent timeline featuring the Carolingians.But, yes, yes, I love this idea! Would this end up with Saxony drifting more into the Scandinavian orbit? Because that alone would make for an amzingly underused divergence.
-Third Parties in presidential elections are always cool as long as it's not something ridiculous like Jill Stein winning multiple states in a TL with Romney 2012 as the PoD. I'll admit that I often make third parties perform better than they should to make elections more entertaining.
-More attention given to East Asia.
-I'd love to see a Medieval Christian Egypt in a TL (I plan on making this happen in the future).
-I like to see more attention given to religion in general. I'd love to read about the Oriental Orthodox Christians or the Kharijite Muslims gaining more prominence.
-Indigenous states in the Americas are usually fun to read about.
It's been a while since I've read any medieval TLs, I really wish that the wiki was more up to date. Avitus' Against the Tide was one of my favorites.
-More attention given to East Asia.
-I'd love to see a Medieval Christian Egypt in a TL (I plan on making this happen in the future).
-I like to see more attention given to religion in general. I'd love to read about the Oriental Orthodox Christians or the Kharijite Muslims gaining more prominence.
-Indigenous states in the Americas are usually fun to read about.
It's been a while since I've read any medieval TLs, I really wish that the wiki was more up to date. Avitus' Against the Tide was one of my favorites.
Carter I'm Yog
Banned
But the PLC does not have a bureaucracy system strong enough to counterbalance the... what do the Polish call their nobles again? Szchlata? Boyar? just being bribed into decisions that favor Russia/France bla bla bla. Of course, trying to fix that does not necessarily end up with a Louis XIV or Catherine II, but would quickly render the semi-republican features superficial, like... Rome, probably.
How much raw data do people wanting to write such a TL have though? Like what people populate the Yucatan and beyond, in what we today call Central America and stuff like that. Access to such material generally decides how likely it is for such a TL to appear.
Looks at notes, where a Medieval Coptic Christian Egypt shows up.
Hmm.
Last edited:
Rattenfänger von Memphis
Donor
In general I would like to see timelines in which China, Japan and Korea did not turn their backs on the world but instead fully participated in history as did the European powers and confront the Western powers beginning in the 1400s and 1500s on somewhat equal terms.
I would enjoy timelines about France maintaining control of Canada for a lengthy amount of time much as Great Britain did in OTL, either by never losing Canada at all or recovering Canada at the end of the American Revolutionary War or during Napoleon’s time.
I would like to see timelines based on France and Spain being under one ruler at the time of the War of the Spanish Succession (“The Pyrenees no longer exist” as Louis XIV supposedly said), much like how Emperor Charles V, by ruling them both, had Austria and Spain to do his bidding in the 1500s. Such a Franco-Spanish superpower could wreak untold havoc all over the world.
Timelines about a surviving Gran Colombia could be especially interesting. According to Wikipedia, John Quincy Adams considered Gran Colombia “to be one of the most powerful nations on the planet.” Its establishment had Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico clamoring to be allied with it before its end in 1831. Austria, France and Russia did not recognize it only because Gran Colombia would not accept a monarch from a European dynasty (this was also their condition for recognizing any other newly independent Latin American nation as well.) I wonder which monarch the Gran Colombians would have chosen? Or if other Latin American nations would have chosen different European dynasties and if the balance of power politics would expand to the New World ?
A powerful, expansionist Ethiopia from the time of the Roman Empire until modern times would make tremendous timelines to enjoy. In OTL, they successfully resisted the Muslim conquerors of Asia, North Africa and Spain. As a Christian nation, they could have interfered in the Crusades fulfilling the Prester John myth . As a black nation, they could throw their weight against slavery. As an powerful, independent African nation, Ethiopia could be as imperialistic as any Western power would be. Many possibilities.
I’d like to see timelines where Troy, Carthage and Cleopatra’s Egypt were the winners.
And what if some other U.S. President, before Franklin Delano Roosevelt who had 4 terms in the 1930s and 1940s, had been President for more than two terms ? I have also wondered what would have happened to America had Huey Long beaten Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930s and become U.S. President.
I would enjoy timelines about France maintaining control of Canada for a lengthy amount of time much as Great Britain did in OTL, either by never losing Canada at all or recovering Canada at the end of the American Revolutionary War or during Napoleon’s time.
I would like to see timelines based on France and Spain being under one ruler at the time of the War of the Spanish Succession (“The Pyrenees no longer exist” as Louis XIV supposedly said), much like how Emperor Charles V, by ruling them both, had Austria and Spain to do his bidding in the 1500s. Such a Franco-Spanish superpower could wreak untold havoc all over the world.
Timelines about a surviving Gran Colombia could be especially interesting. According to Wikipedia, John Quincy Adams considered Gran Colombia “to be one of the most powerful nations on the planet.” Its establishment had Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico clamoring to be allied with it before its end in 1831. Austria, France and Russia did not recognize it only because Gran Colombia would not accept a monarch from a European dynasty (this was also their condition for recognizing any other newly independent Latin American nation as well.) I wonder which monarch the Gran Colombians would have chosen? Or if other Latin American nations would have chosen different European dynasties and if the balance of power politics would expand to the New World ?
A powerful, expansionist Ethiopia from the time of the Roman Empire until modern times would make tremendous timelines to enjoy. In OTL, they successfully resisted the Muslim conquerors of Asia, North Africa and Spain. As a Christian nation, they could have interfered in the Crusades fulfilling the Prester John myth . As a black nation, they could throw their weight against slavery. As an powerful, independent African nation, Ethiopia could be as imperialistic as any Western power would be. Many possibilities.
I’d like to see timelines where Troy, Carthage and Cleopatra’s Egypt were the winners.
And what if some other U.S. President, before Franklin Delano Roosevelt who had 4 terms in the 1930s and 1940s, had been President for more than two terms ? I have also wondered what would have happened to America had Huey Long beaten Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930s and become U.S. President.
I for one would like to see more TLs based on an alternative Battle of Hastings and/or 1066 in England. There are entire bookshelves of AH books on the US Civil War or alternative WWII scenarios but virtually nothing on what was probably the seminal event in western Europe in the past thousand years.
You change the outcome of Hastings and you change English history, which changes the history of France too. You change Hasting and you change history. No Norman Conquest, no Harrying of the North, England remains English, with strong connections to Scandinavia instead of becoming part of central Europe, possibly the Church of England gets a five-hundred year head start than in OTL. Or perhaps Harald Hadrada defeats Harold at Stamford Bridge. Or Harold defeats Harald Hadrada earlier and much more decisively can respond more quickly when William lands at Pevensy.
The possibilities (and butterflies) that flow from a changed Battle of Hastings and/or a different version of 1066 are endless because they would echo down to today.
We really would quite likely be living in a different world if Harold had won at Hastings.
You change the outcome of Hastings and you change English history, which changes the history of France too. You change Hasting and you change history. No Norman Conquest, no Harrying of the North, England remains English, with strong connections to Scandinavia instead of becoming part of central Europe, possibly the Church of England gets a five-hundred year head start than in OTL. Or perhaps Harald Hadrada defeats Harold at Stamford Bridge. Or Harold defeats Harald Hadrada earlier and much more decisively can respond more quickly when William lands at Pevensy.
The possibilities (and butterflies) that flow from a changed Battle of Hastings and/or a different version of 1066 are endless because they would echo down to today.
We really would quite likely be living in a different world if Harold had won at Hastings.
Last edited:
This could be an awesome TL, but potentially a real slog to write. Yellow Peril stuff was bad enough OTL; in a TL such as this I imagine there would be full on race wars over it.