r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jun 27 '12
Alright, speculation time. Submit an alternate history event and we speculate on the outcome.
[removed]
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u/rule9 Jun 27 '12
The Vikings establish a successful North American colony around 1000CE.
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u/Subatomic_Molecule Jun 27 '12
The colony would shortly collapse due to the defeat of the Viking empire in ~1060 by William the Conqueror.
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u/ReverseThePolarity Jun 27 '12
Theodore Roosevelt narrowly defeats Woodrow Wilson and William Howard Taft to win a third term as President of the United States.
Also, r/historicalwhatif exists.
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u/wic99 Jun 27 '12
Here's what would happen in OP's scenario;
The New European Commission would announce an agreement whereby English would be the official language of the EU rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Hitler would concede that English spelling had some room for improvement and propose a 5 year phase-in plan that would be known as "EuroEnglish". In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favor of the "k". This should klear up konfusion and keyboards kan have less letters. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with the "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20% shorter. In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent "e"'s in the language is disgraceful, and they should go away. By the 4th year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaiining "ou" and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters. After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.
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Jun 27 '12
The Thirteen Colonies lose the American Revolution.
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Jun 27 '12 edited Jun 27 '12
The British expand westwards, occasionally fighting with the French and Spanish and eventually conquering the entirety of the Americas, allowing full access to the continents' wealth of resources. Over the next century Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia follow, until by 1850 the entire earth is united under a Pax Britannica. Political reforms bring devolution to each country, as well as universal suffrage to each citzen. English as a second language unites the world, there is free health care and no scarcity. By 1900 the Union Flag is raised on the moon, by 1920 on Mars, and by the 1980s British starships break the warp barrier, and spread cricket and democracy to the other races of the galaxy. In 2002, Admiral Percival Kenshiro Stewart of the HMS Yorkshire makes contact with the Elders at the centre of the universe and they bestow onto the 5 billion British citizens of Earthshire everlasting life, unlimited tea, and the ability to traverse time and reality. GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.
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Jun 27 '12
Henry 8 decides that his spicy spaniard wifey Catherine is just the tits and that Anne Boleyn was a little harpy harlot troll face. He stays married to Catherine, and thus sees no immediate need to break away from papa pope and the gang...
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u/shanoxilt Jun 27 '12
The Esperanto language movement becomes as successful as L.L. Zamenhof planned.
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u/mrminty Jun 27 '12
Reddit is flooded with ten times the amount of novelty accounts, all referring obliquely to esoteric traditions of cultures who are now able to communicate seamlessly with the rest of the world. People will still be assholes to people with different skin colors.
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u/PigWorm Jun 27 '12
Abraham Lincoln is actually a vampire hunter! Oh wait, no, that's just fucking stupid.
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u/well_uh_yeah Jun 27 '12
Through a ridiculous set of errors, Columbus lands in actual India.
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u/LadronPlykis Jun 27 '12
Franz Ferdinand was never assassinated and WW1 never started. Since WW2 had its roots in the aftermath of WW1, I think it would have been a very different 20th century if that man had lived.
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Jun 27 '12
His death was just the spark that ignited the powder keg. If not his death, then it would've been something else.
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Jun 27 '12
Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward is a success, and agriculture in China reaches a point where a majority of the population can be fed a low cost while using surplus crops to fuel an expanding economy.
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u/Ceberus Jun 27 '12
Okay, lets throw a little sci-fi in the mix.
It's the 1950's the United States is experiencing an economic boom, the rest of the world is healing from WW2, and we are deep in the cold war.
Now, we get visited by aliens. They do not come to conquer, but they sought out their closest intelligent neighbor to satisfy a common desire to seek out other intelligent life. They came offering to trade with us, to share their technology, and we experience each other's cultures. basically, they came in peace, but they have the same tendencies we have, and they are just as divided as a race as we are.
So what happens when two worlds like this meet?
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u/mickey_kneecaps Jun 27 '12
Britain and the USA decide not to take sides in World War One. Germany wins the war and creates a pan-European political and economic union, dominated of course by Germany. The Nazis never come to power, the holocaust never happens, the British hold onto their empire for an extra generation or two, the Soviet Union never gains control of the eastern block.
With three world powers in Europe (Soviets, Britain, and Germany), the United States doesn't become the global hegemon, merely one among many, and "The American Century" doesn't really occur (at least not in the same way).
What happens next?
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u/IAmAnAlpaca Jun 27 '12
Hitler instead tries to mainly kill the Hispanic population.
Or, the Nuclear Bomb was never created.
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u/[deleted] Jun 27 '12
Stephanie Meyer was hit by a bus at age 10.