Alternative History Or What Changed the World

[wolfbittenpoet]

While reading the thread about when people were born my mind wandered as it often does. Has anyone ever thought about how a flip of the cosmic coin changes history?
If Truman hadn't said yes to the atomic bomb how long would the invasion of Japan last.
If Truman hadn't pulled MacArthur out of Korea what would of happened.
If JFK wasn't shot or even elected. An earlier reign of Nixon *shudders*.
If Bobby Kennedy or MLK weren't assasinated in '68?
What event of the 20th or 21st century do you think really could have caused the most change bad or good if we had gone down the other pantsleg of history?

I am personally leading to the assasination of RFK. Without his assasination he was an almost an assured victor in the '68 election. War strategy would of been different and troops would of been out of Vietnam earlier in my opinion. Disillusionment in the office of President would of been less as well as cross party paranoia. But who knows what would have happened to the summer of love? Would it have been needed?

[Kobi]

I wonder what would have happened if:

- we didnt get involved in a global economy
- if we didnt sell off the infrastructure of the country
- if Al Gore won
- if we kept our noses out of questionable wars
- if major decisions affecting the whole werent based on greed
- if the Red Sox didnt trade Babe Ruth

[Venus007]

-If an educated and aware populace knew what was in the PATRIOT ACT before if was forced through congress

[Jude]

I wonder what would have happened if the Jewish remnants of Hitler's holocaust had been relocated in Uganda (as originally proposed) instead of Palestine and had not displaced an ethnic culture.

I wonder how long a president of the US could last who had the gonads to say "to hell with the lobbies; I'm gonna do what's right". (Of course, he'd never get into office in order to see for myself.)

I wonder what it would be like if people who professed strong religious beliefs chose to live their convictions instead of talking about them.

I wonder why we look for perfection in others when we know all too well how far from that goal we ourselves are.

I wonder why people on forums and newsgroups often create personas online and then waste their own and the time of others living out the life of an individual that doesn't otherwise exist.

[homoe]

I just wonder how different things might be if the technology for cells phones had not been discovered.

Don't get me wrong cell phones are a godsend in times of an emergency, but would we as a society be communicating & interacting MORE without them?

[Blade]

I had a medical professional tell me one day, " it's not if you get cancer, if you live long enough at some point you will get some kind of cancer"

I wonder how our cancer outlook would be if Monsanto and GMO's didn't exist.

[Gráinne]

I know this is 19th century, but I read a book about what might have happened if the Confederacy had won the Civil War, and described several turning points that if the South had won, could have changed the course of the war. For instance, the Confederates crush the Union army at Shiloh, retaking all of Tennessee and poising for a decisive invasion of Kentucky. Or, Gettysburg is a crushing Southern victory (it looked that way after day 1), menacing Philadelphia, Washington, and the railroads, and forcing negotiations.

The "what happens after", I don't remember completely. There would be two nations, something like the two Koreas but without communism. Slavery would have died out on its own as it was already horrifically expensive. But, the Industrial Revolution would have left the South behind (which it already was in 1860), and gradually, the two halves of the country would come back together but way behind technology-wise and in terms of world power than we are now.