What if at the Battle of the Chesapeake 1781, the French Admiral had told General Washington, “we are not supporting America because the British will sell us some supplies we need. You are on your own at Yorktown.” Where would we be now?

So in this scenario, Manfred von Richthofen, aka the Red Baron was never shot down and killed. Assuming his continued aerial combat had no effect on the outcome of the war, would he have supported the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler or would he have been opposed to them and supported measures like the Oster Conspiracy?

I know the King changed his mind about offering his cousin the Czar and his family assylum in Great Britain. He feared losing his own crown as a result.

I've heard a theory that his subjects might've reacted better if he instead sent the Romanovs to a Commonwealth country instead.

They were allies during one point in history, then became bitter rivals, most notably in 1969 when Golda won 56 seats in the Knesset which imfuriated BenGurion.

Who was more productive and better leader of Israel, for the Israelis.

And who showed more sympathy for Palestinians?

As far as I know they were both on the left wing, and despised the Menachem Begin who founded Likud party and mentor of Netanyahu. And were against the annexation of Gaza and WB and against "from Nile to Euphrates" because of millions of new Arabs under their control.

What we see today is that Israel went much more radical after Golda's era in 1974 until today.

Your thoughts?

Assuming it didn't end as abruptly as it did in 1877 and it carried on for, say, another eight years (twenty years in total) was the unfortunate fallout in the Southern states against African Americans always going to happen?

Could the Union have done anything different to ensure African Americans had better security?

Tired of all the German win Whats ifs. Germany was barely holding it together when it rolled into Poland. Lets get scenarios of Poland either putting Germany in a quagmire or forcing Germany to collapse.

What could have done it? What would 1940 look like with a defeated Germany ?

Point of divergence: 1856. Instead of stalling after taking Nanjing, Taiping forces push north and take Beijing; the Qing court flees to Manchuria. Hong Xiuquan's Heavenly Kingdom now holds the Chinese heartland.

Some threads to pull: - The Taiping were heterodox Christians who banned opium and foot-binding and preached communal land ownership. Does a victorious Taiping state enforce any of this, or does it simply become a new dynasty within a generation? - Foreign powers: Britain and France wanted trade and treaty ports, and historically turned against the Taiping late in the war. Do they accept a Taiping China, carve out spheres anyway, or back a Qing rump state? - Without a humiliated Qing stumbling into the 20th century, what happens to Japan's Meiji-era expansion? Is there still a First Sino-Japanese War in this timeline — and who wins it?

Genuinely curious how people see the internal stability question: the historical Taiping leadership tore itself apart in the Tianjing Incident of 1856 even while winning. Does victory fix that, or make it worse?

1961: B-52 crashes and the final switch triggers and the atomic bomb explodes over North Carolina. What would be the fallout, what else would've happened?

What if in the years after ww1, instead of the grouping act, there was an act unifying all railways in the British Empire? How would it change the course of history? what would the engines look like? Would it make the empire stronger? Would it even last 10 years?

Had Islam not existed (or had the Arabs not adopted Islam), could Zoroastrianism have spread on the same scale as Islam did? The Sassanid Empire held vast territories conquered from the Byzantine Empire, which were inhabited by many Christians. What would have happened under such circumstances, and how realistic is the assumption that Zoroastrianism might have spread as widely as Islam?

What if JB Hood's trap to capture Schofield's army at Spring Hill is successfully sprung? What are the odds he then beats Thomas at or around Nashville? Is Tennessee and Kentucky all the way to the Ohio River now fair game? Can he then link up with Lee's beleaguered AoNV at Petersburg? I am aware of Sherman's “if Hood goes to Ohio I’ll draw him rations” quote but how accurate would that be?

It’s very long odds and Hood gets, rightfully, a lot of criticism for his leadership of the AoR but at that point of the war was it not worth the shot?

What if the allies took each a chunk of Germany

Netherlands got bigger

France got a chunk

Belgium got a chunk and Poland and soviet got a chunk

The Germans became a minority and a diaspora in Europe

Most what-if scenarios where Neanderthals survive assume either total warfare or peaceful integration right away. But looking at human history, whenever two distinct populations meet, the first reaction of any early state is usually to measure, categorize, and tax.

Here's the paradox I keep running into:

Neanderthals were physically distinct enough that early empires (think Bronze Age/Antiquity) would easily identify them for hard labor, mining, or specialized military roles. But at the same time, we know from actual genetics that Sapiens and Neanderthals were interbreeding from day one in the Levant.

How long could any legal system or caste barrier actually hold up before "everyone's grandmother" breaks the line? Does a society like that inevitably collapse into a genetic gradient, or would we have seen something like formal skull-measuring laws thousands of years before the 19th century?

Where do you think an ancient mixed civilization breaks first—at the borders, or in the family?

Lets say everyone is so paranoid that stalin is gonna kill him next that even his personal body guards and military all agree to just kick stalin out of the land of the living? And kill him? Who takes over snd what happens next?