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  1. WI: Stalin given details of Barbarossa?

    We all know Stalin's spy rings informed him of the coming German invasion, which he dismissed as counter intel. He didn't believe them, and feared calling up reserves would be interpreted as an act of aggression by Hitler. But what if a copy of the operational details of Barbarossa landed on...

  2. WI: Mormon Taipings

    In 1837 the guy who who start the Taiping Rebellion had a vision that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ after reading the Bible and suffering from a fever. What if he was introduced to Mormonism at the same time?

  3. Most Plausible Independent Scotland?

    What would be the best time to establish an independent Scotland that would remain sovereign today?

  4. Sabotage operations against Japan possible?

    In WWII there were OSS and SOE operations even within Germany but no direct action operations were carried out against Japan. Granted it was harder to impersonate Japanese subjects, but surely it was not impossible given the large numbers of Japanese in America and perhaps Chinese and Korean...

  5. WI: Steve Jobs self identifies as Arab-American?

    Steve Jobs' biological father is a Muslim Syrian-American. He was give up for adoption after birth and never reconciled with his father. Moreover we never hear about Steve Jobs' ethnicity. I feel Jobs missed out on an area where he could have profoundly influenced the world. If he had self...

  6. Alliance between America and France

    What if as condition of military and economic assistance, America had to ally with France post independence? What impact would this have on Europe in the period of the French Revolution?

  7. WI: All Melanesians and Aborigines Blond

    Melanesian children and some Aborigines are blond, this is less common among adults. What if nearly all of them remain blonds into adulthood, how would early European explorers react? Would settlers be more sympathetic?

  8. WI Hang Glider invented 1200AD by the Chinese?

    Barry Hill Palmer invented the first flexible wing glider in the 1960s using a simple Rogallo wing design. WI this was invented in China and became well known by the 13th century. Like they did with gunpowder and handgonne, the Mongols could spread this technology throughout Eurasia during their...

  9. WI: Earlier Ironclads

    I'm aware of the history of ironclad development, as a reaction from Paixhans guns etc. But what if the ironclad precedes shell gun design. Suppose you take the hull of the CSS Virginia back to Napoleonic times, remove the steam engine and replace it with sail/horse powered paddles, change the...

  10. Meiji Restoration vs Tanzimat Reforms

    This is more of a non-alternative history question. Both the Japanese and Ottomans launched impressive modernization reforms in the 19th century. I can easily find more information on the Japanese modernization than the Tanzimat. How did the reforms compare in ambition and results? How did they...

  11. Alternative musical instruments

    The post-classical music world is dominated by instruments like the guitar, drums, sax, and so on. A few classical instruments like the piano continue to dominate. But what about even older instruments. I'm sort of partial to the Hammered Dulcimer, an ancient globalized Persian instrument...

  12. WI: No WP Invasion of Czechoslovakia?

    The 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia was a watershed event for the Soviet Union. IMO it was probably the single biggest mistake that doomed the Soviets. Unlike the Hungarian Revolution a decade earlier, the Czechoslovakians were not trying to end Communism but implement reform. The...

  13. The Huan Dynasty

    I'm no good at writing timelines, but I'll propose one anyways. The premise is an earlier end to the Chinese Ming dynasty, which leads to a new, rejuvenated empire. Instead of the Ming ending in possibly the worse possible way, I'm going to give it a relatively painless end, pregnant with better...

  14. WI DPJ lose the Japanese election of 2009

    DPJ couldn't have picked a worse time to come to power. After decades of effectively one party rule by the LDP, the DPJ under Hatoyama finally took over a country that was soon reeling from global economic crisis and the Tsunami/nuclear meltdown, neither of which it had answers for. It's likely...

  15. Alternative Wine Producers

    The 20th century has seen a proliferation of wine making. It used to be only French wines were even considered by serious aficionados, today the American Napa valley, Australian, and Chilean wines are a force to be reckoned with. Historically England used to be a wine producer before the...

  16. James Gavin for President

    The legendary airborne General Jim Gavin considered running for President in 1968 on the Democratic ticket on an anti-war platform. However he withdrew when Robert Kennedy decided to run. Gavin thought the office rightfully should go to RFK. Suppose RFK couldn't run for some reason, my feeling...

  17. Why wasn't Roman technology better preserved by the Eastern Empire?

    Many useful technologies like concrete and surgical instruments had to be reinvented as late as the 18th century. What I don't understand is how these were not kept by the Byzantines, or were they still used but hopelessly obscure to be noticed?

  18. Khazaria, SSR

    In 1934 Joseph Stalin created the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, a small territory on the Manchurian border. What if he create a much larger, full size Soviet Socialist Republic for the as part of his Jewish nationality policy, and in keeping with history, this territory is roughly located near old...

  19. United States Police Department

    The Canadians have the Mounties, the French have their Gendarmes, the Italians have the Carabinieris. Is it possible for the US to have a federal para-military police outfit? I think the closest thing was the US cavalry in the Indian territories.

  20. Allies invade Sardinia instead of Sicily

    The entire Italian campaign was sort of a bust because progress was too agonizingly slow. Italy was mountainous and only the narrow coastlines were useful for allied advance. These coasts were easy choke points for the Axis to defend, especially where nearby hilltop provided highground to cover...
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