"Minor Alternate History" PODs

[oshron]

some of you may remember that there was a thread way back when that was subjected to necromancy relatively recently. it predictably got locked, but i thought the idea was well and good enough to deserve revisiting, so here's a new version of that. i also compiled nearly all of the original suggestions from it, with some of the answers that went with them, though clearly alot of them aren't as "minor" as the thread premise meant them to be (some of the answers are why they aren't actually minor AH). here's a link to that thread for good measure: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/minor-alternate-history.97243/

1. What if the Golden Gate Bridge was painted gray? (Or azure?)
   1. It might cause several wrecks to take place on it.
2. What if the United States declared independent on July 5th? (Or July 7th?)
3. What if Joseph Stalin was cleanshaven?
4. What if Jumbo the elephant died in the wild and the word “jumbo” never enters common use?
5. What if John F. Kennedy wore a hat the day he was assassinated?
   1. Depending on the type of hat, it would become permanently associated with the assassination and probably fall out of style, or at least not be paired with a suit.
6. What if Mount Rushmore was completed?
7. What if the Statue of Liberty was male, held a lantern, and had a shield reading “July 4, 1776”?
8. What if John Roebling didn’t die of lockjaw? (This is apparently linked to the Brooklyn Bridge.)
9. What if people living in the Green Mountains agreed to become part of New Hampshire or New York? (E.g., what if Vermont wasn’t its own state?)
   1. This would have major effects on all subsequent legislation passage and every presidential election because of the missing two voters and three electors from Vermont. It would have further effects if the combined New Hampshire/Vermont still held the first primary of each year because the state would lean more liberal than libertarian.
10. What if uranium had a half-life of only ten thousand years?
    1. The half-life of uranium-238 is about 4.47 billion years, and 704 million for uranium-235; if the half-life were only ten thousand then the whole supply on Earth would have depleted by the time fission was discovered, making it extremely impractical to develop nuclear weapons or power.
11. What if the President of the United States’ residence was painted light blue?
    1. “Blue House” would result in slightly different oration and terminology. (As a note, this is exactly what the executive mansion of South Korea is called.)
12. What if O was more common than E in the English language? (Meaning SES instead of SOS, or SMS or LSL, etc., because of differences to Morse code by necessity.)
13. What if the Forth Rail Bridge was painted green?
14. What with “Brunel’s greatest ship” was named The Great Easterly?
15. What if the Channel Tunnel opened in 1992?
16. What if the wings of the World War II-era Lancaster bomber were six inches longer? (This was apparently the original design.)
17. What if a man in Hiroshima immediately before the atomic bombing walked around a building leftwards instead of rightwards, being incinerated by the bomb instead?
18. What if King Chilperic of Neustria insists on his alphabet being used, substituting four Greek letters for common diphthongs?
19. What if Rome was named after Remus instead of Romulus and was therefore “Reme”?
20. What if Otto von Bismarck was cleanshaven?
21. What if Abe Lincoln was 6’6” tall?
22. What if the US $500 bill stayed in circulation?
23. What if George Washington never lost his teeth?
24. What if Max Schleming was killed during World War II?
25. What if the streets in (the US version of) Monopoly were named after ones in New York instead of Atlantic City?
26. What if the name of Arkansas was pronounced the way it’s spelled?
27. What if Arnold Schwarzenegger kept using his “Arnold Strong” credit from Hercules in New York?
28. What if the Pink Panther was the “Blue Panther”?
29. What if Fidel Castro wore a cowboy hat?
30. What if everyone except for the United Kingdom and Japan drove on the lefthand side of the road?
31. What if most of Canada was francophone but Québec was anglophone?
32. What if Makhno was successful in Ukraine?
33. What if Texas reunited with México instead of joining the United States?
34. What if Canada retained its title as a Dominion?
35. What if Buzz Aldrin was the first man to set foot on the Moon?
    1. Apparently Aldrin had a prepared quote remarking on “sweet desolation,” and Aldrin fundamentally stayed in the limelight after the landing while Neil Armstrong mostly left the public eye.
36. What if the stripes on the American flag were blue?
37. What if the New England Patriots won Super Bowl XLII and went on undefeated?
38. What if the AFL-NF merger never happened, or if the NFL was folded int the AFL?
39. What if Waylon Jennings was killed on February 3rd, 1959, “the day the music died,” instead of the Big Boppa?
40. What if New Coke wasn’t a huge failure?
41. What if Walmart went out of business in the 1960s?
42. What if the Sega Genesis outsold the Super Nintendo and almost put Nintendo out of business?
43. What if Michael Jordon didn’t retire for 1½ seasons in the early 1990s?
44. What if basketball hoops had a green rim holding up a blue net?
45. What if a speck of dust was two inches to the left?
    1. A fly takes a slightly different course, lands on Elizabeth I’s maid’s eyebrow, startling her, causing her to knock over a candle, leading to the entire royal family dying in a house fire.
46. What if the Titanic was named Gigantic instead?
47. What if Finnish president Urho Kekkonen had a full head of hair through to the 1970s?
48. What if Carlo Buonaparte named his son Nazario instead?
49. What if the color scheme of the Alternate History Discussion Board was olive green instead of grayish-blue?
50. What if Diet Pepsi was called “Pepsi Zero”?
51. What if Luke Skywalker was still named “Luke Starkiller” in the final version of A New Hope?
52. What if Tolkien never wrote The Lord of the Rings?
53. What if rhetorical-you ate just one piece of bread instead of two twenty minutes ago?
54. What if William Penn named his land “Sylvaepenn” instead? (This would avoid the corruption of Latin roots in “Pennsylvania.”)
55. What if Pittsburgh kept its original name as “the City of Fort Pitt”? (And “City of Fort Detroit,” “City of Fort Chicago,” etc.)
56. What if General Worth took his troops a few miles west? (Meaning there’s a Dallas-Fort Twiggs International Airport instead.)
57. What if a five goal lead over the other team in soccer resulted in the match being immediately called?
58. What if Hitler was shot during the Beer Hall Putsch but not badly, delaying Mein Kampf by two days?
59. What if James Bond didn’t canonically die in the second book, From Russia with Love?
60. What if the Czechs called themselves “Bohemians” and Czechia was therefore “Bohemia”?
61. What if Andorra was invited to the Treaty of Versailles?
62. What if no UFO sightings ever occurred in Roswell, New Mexico?
63. What if Tutankhamun’s mask was made of silver?
64. What if the Jewish state in the Middle East was named “Judea”?
65. What if George W. Bush changed the terror alert to “guarded” after declaring “Mission Accomplished” in ‘Irāq?
66. What if the Americans didn’t bomb Switzerland during World War II?
67. What if Dag Hammarskjold’s personal journal (titled Markings in English) wasn’t published?
68. What if Canada was named “Colonia” instead?
69. What if the old London Bridge was broken up for its stone instead of being sold to an American?
70. What if Jean Valjean’s first name was “Jacques” instead?
71. What if the CD was colloquially known as the “Laser Disk”? (LD for short.)
72. What if New York was renamed “New London”?
73. What if the Theory of Relativity was written as “M=E/C^2”?
74. What if the works of William Shakespeare weren’t written by him but by a different Englishman with the same name?
    1. The only possible change would be that this Shakespeare wouldn’t benefit from his father’s respected position and his works might not get as much attention as a result.
75. What if the “Neue Reichskanzlei” wasn’t destroyed during World War II and torn down during the construction of the Berlin Wall instead?
76. What if Kurt Lowenstein had reorganized the Berlin school system in the 1920s?
77. What if East Germany had a major computer industry in the late 1960s or early 1970s as planned by Ulbricht?
78. What if Staten Island left New York City to become its own city in 1974?
79. What if John F. Kennedy never said, “Ich bin ein Berliner”?
80. What if the Model-T came in black?
81. What if Oregon was named “Lincoln?” (Paralleling Washington state.) Alternatively, what if Washington state was named “Jefferson”?
    1. Oregon was created in 1859, before Lincoln became President.
82. What if William Henry Harrison had red hair?
83. What if the Balrog in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings didn’t have wings?
84. What if humans evolved a third, nonfunctional eye?
    1. This already exists—the pineal gland.
85. What if Enoch Powell didn’t have a moustache?
86. What if Vladimir Lenin wasn’t bald?
87. What if John Lennon was bald?
    1. This might have a drastic effect on the Beatles, or at least their popularity, and would almost certainly have impacted his own importance post-breakup.
88. What if Elvis Presley was Jewish?
    1. He would almost certainly not have his gospel roots, therefore affecting his music, but the actual effects on his career are otherwise unclear: it could have major or minor consequences, probably depending on how anti-Semitic certain people in his early career were.
89. What if Konigsberg was “Konigsburg”?
    1. “We suddenly have a mountain on the Baltic coast.” (?)
90. What if Jesus was born in Jerusalem instead of Bethlehem?
91. What if Konrad Adenauer lived in Munich and not near Bonn?
92. What if Theodore Roosevelt grew a beard?
93. What if Abraham Lincoln didn’t have a beard?
94. What if Australia was called “Cooksland”?
95. What if the myth of the Flying Dutchman was never developed?
96. What if mobile phones were marketed as “portable phones”? (“Ports” for short.)
97. What if Walt Disney’s ancestors didn’t change their name from “D’Isingy”?
98. What if Adolf Hitler had a cat instead of a dog?
99. What if Adolf Hitler had a bigger mustache?
100. What if the Long Island ice tea was never invented?
101. What if men wore cosmetics instead of women?
102. What if Julius Caesar wasn’t assassinated?
103. What if Bill Gates went to jail for computer fraud instead of founding Microsoft?
104. What if the Internet remained “military-only?”
105. What is pasteurization was never developed?
106. What if Richard Nixon wore a khaki suit coat to the 1960 debates?
107. What if Bob Dole had a mustache, beard, and Southern accent?
108. What if all kings George were named “Jacob” instead?
109. What if Moscow was (consistently) named “Moscovy”?
110. What if Adolf Hitler had no mustache or hair?
111. What if Franklin Delano Roosevelt lived five seconds longer?
112. What if John Cook’s first name was “George”?
113. What is Canada was named “New Albion”?
114. What if Mortal Kombat was released one day earlier?
115. What if the Soviet Union fell one day earlier?
116. What if William Henry Harrison died after thirty-four days instead of thirty?
117. What if “Jesus Christ” was spelled (by translators) with a K?
     1. It might encourage the Ku Klux Klan, or they might be the Cu Clux Clan instead. (Note: it actually comes from the Greek kyklos, “circle,” combined with “clan,” [ultimately meant to mean “circle clan” or “circle of brothers” as a fraternal society] or alternatively is meant to resemble the onomatopoeia of a rifle being cocked.)
118. What if Africa was named “Draka”? (Without acting like the fictional Draka Empire.)
119. What if the eastern British Isle was called “Albion”?
120. What if George Washington had a small gray goatee?
121. What if Larry King wore contacts instead of glasses?
122. What if humans were 0.001 inches taller on average?
123. What if circumstances resulted in the Nazi salute being performed as a wave instead of all at once?
124. What if Benito Mussolini was slim and “1.80” tall?
125. What if Ronald Reagan gave a thumbs-up at his inauguration?
126. What if Charlemagne was 0.00002 centimeters shorter?
127. What if George Washington had a twin brother who died of typhoid, etc., at age 9?
     1. Such a death in Washington’s family could affect him greatly, given that his relationship wit his older brother led him to become an officer in the French and Indian War.
128. What if there was an additional, tiny Hawaiian island? (In the range of 20 square kilometers.)
129. What if footballs were designed with one flat end, like a projectile?
130. What if Ææ remained in common used as a letter in English?
131. What if people live five seconds longer?
132. What if women have lips that are 0.05 inches “bigger” than men?
133. What if Winston Churchill had sideburns?
134. What if India owned 1 inch of Burmese territory?
135. What if John Brown’s hanging was attended by a black woman who kisses him?
136. Wat if Francis Scott Keye’s The Star Spangled Banner didn’t become popular “outside of bar rooms” in Washington, D.C.?
137. What if Alexander Graham Bell’s device is used to find the bullet in Abraham Lincoln’s dead but causes him to die a few days earlier in the attempts to remove it?
138. What if Richard Nixon wore a fedora during his administration?
139. What if South Africa was named “Capeland”?
140. What if Italy was consistently called “Italia” in English?
141. What if the Republican Party was called the “Conservative Party”?
142. What if “Europe” was spelled with a V instead of a U?
143. What if Australia kept its original name of “New Holland”?
144. What if New York kept its original name of “New Amsterdam”?
145. What if İstanbul kept its earlier name of “Byzantium” or “Constantinople”?
146. What if Tōkyō kept its original name of “Edo”?
147. What if English was entirely written backwards, including its letters?
148. What if the 1981 riots in Liverpool 8 were called “the Granby Riots” by mainstream news?
149. What if Sam Carsten was replaced by “Sam Capstan” in Timeline-191?
150. What if Spanish used the Cyrillic alphabet?
     1. While this by itself probably wouldn’t have many drastic consequences, many significant changes would be needed to get this change in the first place, assuming that traditional Cyrillic is used.
151. What if Benito Mussolini always wore a black cape with the Italian flag in the middle of it?
152. What if México was named “Latina”?
153. What if Mike Dukakis chose Ted Kennedy as his running mate?
154. What if Stephen Colbert had a mustache?
155. What if John McCain had a mustache?
156. What if Barack Obama had a nose piercing?
157. What if Adolf Hitler always had a piece of non-smoked marijuana in his mouth?
158. What if Los Angeles was named “San Maximilian”?
159. What if Islām used the full moon as its symbol instead of a crescent?
160. What if Richard Stallman had short hair?
161. What if Bill Clinton didn’t have an accent?
162. What if the Canadian flag was blue instead of red?
163. What if Egypt was called “Agypta”?
164. What if Peter the Great didn’t move the Russian seat of government to Moscow?
165. What if Adolf Hitler learned English? (As suggested by Ernst Hanfstaengl.)
166. What if the Hollywood sign still read as “Hollywoodland”?
167. What if the United States of America was “the United States of Columbia”?
168. What if Texas was named “Woodbury”?
169. What if Zimbabwe was still called “Rhodesia”?
170. What if Germany was still called “Prussia”?
171. What if Gustave Eiffel’s ancestors didn’t change their name from Bonickhausen?
172. What if the impeachment of Bill Clinton was completely successful?
     1. This would result in major changes in the rest of the 1990s and likely the 2000 election.
173. What if Abraham Lincoln’s mother didn’t die when he was 9?
     1. His mother surviving would drastically affect the rest of his life.
174. What if Portugal didn’t separate from Spain?
     1. This would result in significant changes.
175. What if the 1981 Spanish coup attempt resulted in one of the princesses of Spain being accidentally killed?
     1. This would make the aftermath of the coup much messier than it was historically.
176. What if German forces in Europe surrendered thirty seconds later?
177. What if two virtually identical pebbles on top of Mount Snowden switched places?
178. What if evidence that the 2002 FIFA world cup was manipulated was leaked to the press?
179. What if a film of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis was greenlit?
180. What if Cleopatra chose death by elephant?
181. What if Jesus was spelled “Jesu”?
182. What if Franz Ferdinand shaved off his hair before his assassination?
183. What if Mountain Dew was called “Mountain Mist”?
     1. Apparently Mountain Dew is called such in reference to moonshine, because it had a kick from its caffeine content.
184. What if Columbus landed further north when he “discovered” the New World?
185. What if the Canadian Crown was represented with a Governor-General instead of a Governor General?
186. What if Julius Caesar is stabbed one more time before he dies?
187. What if Jack the Ripper was caught?
     1. Because his identity would be known, there wouldn’t be so many works of fiction centered on who he might have been or his real motives.
188. What if penicillin was discovered two days earlier?
189. What if the Anglo-Zanzibar War lasted for one hour?
190. What if the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years’ War didn’t end?
191. What if the Place de la Concorde was still known as “Place de la Révolution”?
192. What if Constantine IX lived one second longer?
193. What if the American-Canadian border was one inch further north or south?
194. What if “Canada” was spelled “Kanata”?
195. What if Kenneth Branagh played Obi-Wan Kenobi?
196. What if the Pyramid of Giza was 0.1mm to the left?
197. What if there were Eight Wonders of the Ancient World?
198. What if the Eiffel Tower was demolished after the world exhibition it was built for?
199. What if Hermann Göring didn’t commit suicide and was executed at Nuremberg instead?
200. What if the 1996 Summer Olympics were held in Athens?
201. What if Muslims prayed in the direction of Jerusalem instead of Mecca?
202. What if Adolf Hitler left the Catholic Church during World War II?
203. What if the Russian-Kazakh border had an ancient analogue dating to the Persian Empire as a humorous map drawn as unpublished satire by a courtesan?
204. What if English used ẞß as a letter?
205. What if Russia changed to the Gregorian calendar?
206. What if Denver taxpayers voted to pay for improvements so they could host the 1976 Winter Olympics instead of causing an emergency switch to Innsbruck?
207. What if Latin-English dictionaries used Y instead of J?
208. What if English retained the suffix “-eth,” the pronoun “thee,” and the possessive pronouns “thy” and “thine?”
     1. They still do this in Yorkshire.
209. What if Kentucky was named Jefferson?
210. What if Alexander the Great didn’t marry Roxana?
211. What if Vincent van Gogh didn’t cut off his ear?
212. What if Elisha Gray got the telephone patent before Alexander Graham Bell?
213. What if beer was never invented?
214. What if Mr. Game & Watch was omitted from Super Smash Bros. Mêlée?
215. What if Key West was independent? (E.g., what if the Conch Republic was recognized as independent?)
216. What if John Wilkes Booth misses his shot in killing Abraham Lincoln and hits his right ear instead, but Lincoln dies after a couple of months anyway from a post-surgery infection.
217. What if Erik the Red reached Cape Hatteras and then turned back to Greenland?
218. What if a German named Heinrich was born in Germany in 1895 and died at age 3?
219. What if Chevy Chase didn’t have a drinking problem?
220. What if John Ericsson won the Rainhill trials instead of George and Robert Stephenson?

feel free to try to answer any of these (or add to their answers) or add new questions. and let's try to make any new ones into actual minor AH, m'kay?

 

[ramones1986]

6. What if Mount Rushmore was completed?

Who could be the fifth President to be featured in Mount Rushmore and in what year?

33. What if Texas reunited with México instead
of joining the United States?

Quite tough in the first place, but I thought of earlier immigration of Spanish-speaking settlers from Florida and Louisiana Territory; however, ATL Texas could be more autonomous in relation to Mexico.

34. What if Canada retained its title as a Dominion?

They are de facto, given that they shared the same Crown as the rest of the Commonwealth; only a law that confirm such official name would be needed.

[35]What if the stripes on the American flag were blue?

Then the canton in the flag would be red.

60. What if the Czechs called themselves “Bohemians” and Czechia was therefore “Bohemia”?

Moravia: 👀!

61. What if Andorra was invited to the Treaty of Versailles?

Why should they? Any territorial compensation on their part?

64.What if the Jewish state in the Middle East was named “Judea”?

"Eretz Israel" would remain their endonym.

 

[Codae]

• What if Konigsberg was “Konigsburg”?
  1. “We suddenly have a mountain on the Baltic coast.” (?)

For reasons that don't make sense to me, the city ended in "-berg" (mountain) instead of "-burg" (fortress) IOTL. Flipping the original WI around, someone from a timeline with the -burg spelling might assume the city would only get -berg if there were a mountain there.

Why should they? Any territorial compensation on their part?

It would help avoid their OTL mistake of not making peace until the 50s.

What if the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario, were named Lakehead instead?

 

[Philip]

What if uranium had a half-life of only ten thousand years?

1. The half-life of uranium-238 is about 4.47 billion years, and 704 million for uranium-235; if the half-life were only ten thousand then the whole supply on Earth would have depleted by the time fission was discovered, making it extremely impractical to develop nuclear weapons or power.

This is such a fundamental change that the evolution of human life is questionable at best.

What if the CD was colloquially known as the “Laser Disk”? (LD for short.)

LaserDisc was invented in 1978, four years before the CD.

 

[Philip]

What if humans evolved a third, nonfunctional eye?

1. This already exists—the pineal gland.

If you are going to call the pineal gland in humans a third eye, you should also refer to the middle and inner ear as gills.

 

[oshron]

If you are going to call the pineal gland in humans a third eye, you should also refer to the middle and inner ear as gills.

i didn't--whoever it was in the old thread did good to see this is picking up some steam

 

[HJR]

'27. What if Arnold Schwarzenegger kept using his “Arnold Strong” credit from Hercules in New York?'

Back in high school, I got jumped because I made a joke about Schwarzenegger and someone thought I said the hard-r. If he had kept going by Arnold Strong I would have had slightly better teenage years.

 

[ghappy1000]

"What if Hermann Goering didn't commit suicide and received the hangman's noose the next day as planned (on 16 October 1946)?"

Despite involving one of the more important Nazis (Goering), the pod will only add a few more hours of difference to Goering's life and alternate history that this pod hasn't been posted as its own thread and is a minor pod. The only difference will be that Goering will get his opportunity to eat a last meal and say his last words before being hanged and the remaining Nuremberg executed Nazis will get to walk to the gallows with free hands until reaching the gallows. As Goering was to be the first to be executed and time was spent investigating his suicide, him being hanged instead of committing suicide will only mean the actually executed at Nuremberg will face the gallows a few minutes early than reality.

Similarly, with Bormann executed at Nuremberg, Bormann's circumstances will be similar to Goering's above, but with Bormann providing testimony at Nuremberg.

 

[ghappy1000]

18 Famous People Who Died on Their Birthday, From Shakespeare to Ingrid Bergman (Photos) - TheWrap

Celebrities like Merle Haggard left the planet on the month and day they joined it

www.thewrap.com

"What if these people (and Elizabeth of York) died one day earlier than they actually did?"

Then, they would have died a day and a year younger than they did and the list may not exist or may list different people. Otherwise, this is a minor ah pod or comprised of minor ah pods with minimal butterflies.

"What if people who died one day before their (death year) birthdays died a day later?"

Then, they would have died a day and a year older than they did and they may be listed in the list above depending on their otl fame (the ah pod or pods involved wouldn't make them more famous in alternate history than their otl counterparts with the pod or pods involving them not giving them enough time to make more difference or more fame than their otl counterparts). Otherwise, this is a minor ah pod or comprised of minor ah pods with minimal butterflies.

 

[HeavyMetal]

What if Julius Caesar wasn’t assassinated?

Minor? Yeah, sure.

 

[oshron]

Minor? Yeah, sure.

yeah, alot of the posters in the original thread seemed to have a skewed definition of "minor"

 

[ghappy1000]

"What if Turkey didn't declare war on Germany and Japan when it did or delayed its declaration?"

Another minor pod with minimal to zero impact except for Turkey's UN membership being delayed from 1945 (as a reward for joining the Allies of WW2) until the 1950s (in exchange for joining the Korean War).

"What if Romania wasn't able to declare war on Germany again on 10 November 1918 or was treated as if it were defeated?"

Then, whatever Romania gained from Hungary in WW1 would be Hungarian and Bessarabia and Bukovina would return to the Soviets in 1940 as in otl regardless of previous ownership. Bulgaria would also retain Southern Dobruja in 1919 and later and with Northern Dobruja together with Southern Dobruja. Another minor pod with minimal to zero impact otherwise.

 

[PobreCesar]

1. What if the Theory of Relativity was written as “M=E/C^2”?

It would be less punchy and have less currency in popular culture, so the numerous references to it wouldn't be there or we be for something else.

1. What if Stephen Colbert had a mustache?

Republicans would compare him to Stalin.

1. What if John McCain had a mustache?

Democrats (especially during the 2008 election) would have compared him to Hitler.

1. What if Barack Obama had a nose piercing?

Republicans would have used it as proof of his degeneracy, etc.

1. What if Zimbabwe was still called “Rhodesia”?

That would imply that Mugabe didn't come to power, which would in turn imply that Zimbabwe's government didn't destroy their own economy. It would definitely be a major point of contention by now though, along the lines of the Confederate Battle Flag in the USA.

1. What if English used ẞß as a letter?

Why would it? Unless "s" is used to write "sh" in which case "shameless" would be written "sameleß". I guess this could be the result of one of those horrid attempts to standardize the spelling of English (ßtandardeiz the ßpelling of Englis) but it would seem to imply some sort of rather bizarre, yet mangled Germanophile movement as well in the nations (naysonß or perhaps najsonß) that adopted it.

1. What if Texas reunited with México instead of joining the United States?

That would actually have massive implications for the borders of both countries, the Mexican-American War, the Reform War, the US Civil War, etc.

 

[Drex]

Gonna try to answer those I can:

What if uranium had a half-life of only ten thousand years?

With such a short half-life, pretty much all of Earth's uranium would have dissolved. The amount left today would be on the order of 0.5^457200. Pretty much 0 atoms. Earth's Uranium would have released all the heat that released until now twice in its first hundred thousand years. This wouldn't be enough to destroy the planet (there's a theory that says the Moon is a piece of Earth that separated due to a huge, uncontrolled nuclear reaction, but that's ASB science), but enough to prorrogate the cooling of the planet for a while. Life would appear later, if it does, as would plate tectonics (completely new continental configuration). However, from that point on, Earth would cool down faster than IOTL. Vulcanism would be less intense, greenhouse gases less prevalent, and recycling of materials slower. This would also slow down plate tectonics over time. I can't approximate this out of thin air, but by the present Earth could be close to being a geologically dead planet. This entails loss of oceans due to photodysothiation, weakining of the magnetic field, lack of surface resources necessary for life (especially carbon and sulfur), and cooler climate with less greenhouse gas emissions, to the point Earth could have been a snowball for hundreds or thousands of millions of years prior to the present. Humanity would certainly not exist.

What if a speck of dust was two inches to the left?

Anything can happen. From Earth never forming, to a hurricane destroying Columbus' fleet, to a river shifting course due to extra rain and killing millions of Chinese peasants, again.

What if a five goal lead over the other team in soccer resulted in the match being immediately called?

The sport would definetely be more agressive, now you can win a math by either waiting 90 minutes or trying to force your opponent out by goaling them. In the early days, huge differences were the usual, so most games would be cut short and would leave the opposing team fuming in many cases. Over all, I think it'd be a less popular sport.

What if the Theory of Relativity was written as “M=E/C^2”?

It would be less popular since this is a less "elegant" form of the expression, being more a mouthful. I feel it would still be the icon of science it is today thou. At the time, physics was an exercice of elegance.

What if there was an additional, tiny Hawaiian island? (In the range of 20 square kilometers.)

Probably would be privately owned, like the rest of small Hawaiian islands.

What if footballs were designed with one flat end, like a projectile?

Plenty of quick throws would be fumbled by aerodynamics, as now you can only throw accurately from one side.

What if India owned 1 inch of Burmese territory?

Nobody would ever realise the difference. Pretty sure this happened A LOT in border demarcation, with the points that define the borders changing so very slightly every time a new version was set up.

What if English was entirely written backwards, including its letters?

It'd probably be such a mess that French would eventually replace it completely.

What if México was named “Latina”?

The term "Latin America" was popularised by the French in the mid-to-late 19th century in an effort to approach those countries by a common identity. Didn't work outside of language. By calling their country "Latina" it would be an appeal to the Spanish heritage rather than the native one. If early Mexican independence movements took inspiration from the Roman Republic, instead of the continuation of New Spain that we saw IOTL (Mexico legit broke from Spain because the peninsulares were going too liberal), could be possible. A small group of romantic criollos would be pissed, and then swept under the rug.

What if Peter the Great didn’t move the Russian seat of government to Moscow?

Thousands wouldn't die building Saint Petersburg to all its OTL glory. The Russian government would also be less influenced by the west over all, so Russia would be seen even more "alien" than IOTL.

What if Portugal didn’t separate from Spain?

It's likely that the Portuguese Empire would be further preyed on, as Spain would continue to focus more on America. There would still be conflicts regarding the borders between Brazil, Peru, and La Plata, as the Bandeirantes would probably still exist, even if lesser in numbers. During the War of Spanish succession, Portugal's position would be a bit hard to predict, they don't like the Habsburgs but would fear Bourbon centralisation (Philip V never wanted that, and only did it after the Aragonese rebelled fearing he would do exactly that, Navarre meanwhile kept all its privileges). Whatever the case, the Bourbons would be doing better in Spain, as even a pro-Habsburg Portugal would be less organised than an independent one. The Lisbon earthquake would be as devastating, but the city would receive extra help and cash from the rest of Spain to aid in its reconstruction. Spain would probably sit out of the 7YW and perform better, at least navally, during the century, possibly securing some extra gains from Britain or preventing some losses, such as taking Jamaica or Gibraltar. From then on, Portugal would be assimilated without much problem. It'd probably be compared to OTL's Galicia (north) Valencia (center), and Andalusia (Alentejo would become an extension of it): they speak a different language, but are pretty well integrated.

What if the 1981 Spanish coup attempt resulted in one of the princesses of Spain being accidentally killed?

The government would completely dismantle the military cupula to ensure that can't happen again, and the army would have a terrible reputation, worse than OTL's.

What if Columbus landed further north when he “discovered” the New World?

He would've reached Florida, Georgia, or the Carolinas. The natives there wouldn't be the sheer example of innocence and goodwill he (apparently) encountered in the Bahamas. The New World would be way less alluring to the European imagination, not being that much of a "Lost Paradise or Garden of Eden" as was thought in the 1490's. The Spanish would probably have a large colony encompassing OTL's South, it wouldn't take long for them to trace the source of the gold to the Appalachian mountains (they did IOTL but were so busy elswhere they kind of forgot) and spread from there to the fertile farmlands. This changes the timing of the discovery of Mexico and very likely the people, and considering OTL's conquest was close to a one-man's miracle, who knows what would happen.

 

[Onedotman]

What if Kentucky was named Jefferson?

Thomas Jefferson's controversial legacy with slavery would result in a name change sooner or later.

What if the Canadian Crown was represented with a Governor-General instead of a Governor General?

So the difference here is just a hyphen? Reminds me of the hyphen wars between Czechia and Slovakia in the 1990s on whether to name their country Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia.

What if Adolf Hitler had no mustache or hair?

He would become the real life version of Voldemort, I suppose.

What if evidence that the 2002 FIFA world cup was manipulated was leaked to the press?

South Korea's chances to become a World Cup venue would be reduced to almost zero. The Italians and Spanish were damn pissed about the referees back then.

What if footballs were designed with one flat end, like a projectile?

Ouch.

 

[Ivan Lupo]

What if the New England Patriots won Super Bowl XLII and went on undefeated?

This one is huge, but more for the impact it would have had on the 2008 season. The defending champions always open the season at home on Thursday night during Week 1, so instead of the New York Giants playing the Washington Redskins, it would have been the Patriots in a marquee matchup, probably against the Pittsburgh Steelers instead of on Sunday against the lowly Kansas City Chiefs, where Brady suffered an season-ending knee injury. More than likely Brady makes it out against the Steelers healthy and the Patriots definitely win the AFC East again instead of missing the playoffs behind back QB Matt Cassel. The Miami Dolphins surprised people in 2008 in OTL by winning the division, but they probably get a top wild card seed this season. It would be extremely unlikely that the Patriots go undefeated again, though a repeat Super Bowl appearance is definitely in the cards, possibly even against the underdog Arizona Cardinals. It would be a complete role reversal for Brady and Cardinals' QB Kurt Warner from their matchup years earlier at Super Bowl XXXVI, where the 2001 St. Louis Rams were being compared to some of the best NFL teams of all time and the Patriots behind 2nd year and initial backup QB Brady were massive underdogs. The Giants though would have come into the season with a major chip on their shoulder from coming up just short and I think Michael Strahan sticks around another season to try and win a rifle instead of retiring after beating the Patriots. Hard to say in hindsight who would go back to the Super Bowl, but I have the Steelers playing the Giants in matchup between two franchises connected by dynastic marriages of all things....Rooney and Kate Mara are the granddaughter of former Giants owner Wellington Mara and former Steelers owner Art Rooney.

What if the AFL-NF merger never happened, or if the NFL was folded int the AFL?

The latter is very unlikely to happen unless the AFL somehow managed to really eat the NFL's lunch financially in the years before the merger, but the merger itself is the single most momentous event in the NFL's history and directly led the first Super Bowl being played. Al Davis was strongly against the merger, so perhaps he gets his was instead of Lamar Hunt. This really isn't a minor POD, the whole face of American sports is changed entirely from here. Without the enormous spectacle of the Super Bowl, football in general may never become as popular as it actually did. While there's a good chance that some of the more successful and profitable AFL franchises are allowed to join the NFL, some of the bottom feeders of the time like the Denver Broncos may be left out entirely and whole markets are left without any sort of football team.

What if Michael Jordon didn’t retire for 1½ seasons in the early 1990s?

I think he leads the Bulls back to the Finals in the 93-94 season, where they face Hakeem Olajuwon and the Rockets. Hakeem was arguably the finest big man of the early 90s and he would have dominated the paint against the Bulls. Those back to back Rockets championship teams get flak because they won their titles in the seasons with out Jordan, but those teams were deep and talented and had Hakeem at his prime. The Bulls didn't have anyone who could have matched up with Hakeem and I honestly believe his Rockets prevent the four-peat in the Finals.

 

[ghappy1000]

"What if the Romanovs were trialed prior to their execution (murder)?"

"What if the Romanovs were hanged rather than shot?"

"What if the Romanovs' corpses received enough sulfuric acid to dissolve them?"

 

[ghappy1000]

"What if J. K. Rowling was named Juliet instead of Joanne?"

Assuming this doesn't butterfly the Harry Potter series (at least Philosopher's Stone's success and publishing), people will also praise Rowling for her full given name including references to her birth month and will have Harry James Potter be named Harry Julius Potter.

 

[Kevin in Indy]

I once wrote an exercise titled "What if there was no Indianapolis?" I'll see if I can find it.

 

[jacob ningen]

What if Mansaf still used Bread instead of the shift to rice due to cheap rice in Jordan?
What if the Bartholdy family never converted?
What if people actually listen to Emperor Norton?