Welcome to /r/HistoricalWhatIf!

PoD: At the battle of Gura, all of the Ethiopian nobility that fought in it are killed, allowing the emperor to make Ethiopia into an absolute monarchy. With this new power, he's still able to prevent the Egyptians from conquering any of Ethiopia's territory. Although absolute monarchism comes with pros for military power, there are also cons, with no check or balance on the emperor's power, corruption can abound, so Ethiopia still loses Eritrea to Italy, this is the last straw for many Ethiopians and Ethiopia has a revolution similar to the French revolution. It establishes a Republic that fosters just barely enough development to prevent mussolini from conquering Ethiopia. It also has enough official mechanisms in place to prevent a dictator from taking over almost immediately like Napoleon, but it won't be enough to prevent Ethiopia from becoming something like a far-right dictatorship or communist much later down the line.

Also, considering, there were notable actions that suggested Emperor Yohannes IV's awareness of the growing international pressure to address the issue of slavery, he abolishes it right after the war, or his successor or the new rulers of the Ethiopian Republic do that.

Personally, I think that Mussolini’s failure to conquer Ethiopia in the 1930s would have been a major blow to his regime. The conquest of Ethiopia in 1935-36 was one of Mussolini’s key aims to showcase Italy’s strength and expand its colonial empire. The failure to do so would undermine the legitimacy of his fascist government and could have led to political instability at home. Mussolini might not even try to invade this more developed Ethiopia. But what do you guys think? Would there even be a ww2 as we know it irl? Would ww1 go differently? Would Ethiopia expand into the Mahdist state or what is now irl: South Sudan before the British do? Would the revolution Ethiopia has likely be so violent that it weakens Ethiopia in the short term too much for it to expand anywhere? Eventually when Eritrea is decolonized, would it remain a part of Ethiopia or would it still gain independence like it did in OTL?

What if a rouge Allied tank fired at soviet tanks during the berlin crisis standoff in 1961?

The allied tank commander acted on his own and make an impromptu decision to fire at the soviet tanks without receiving permission and orders from the higher ups.

This would provoke a response from the soviets that would fire back,eventually leading to a bigger response from the allied side, which would then trigger a wider confrontation between the allies and soviets. The suitation esclates to an all out war between the allies and soviets, possible even triggering a nuclear confrontation. But regardless, this will trigger a wider european conflict and a Soviet invasion of Europe, possibily even ww3.

All due to a rouge tank commander who fired upon Soviet tanks without orders.

What do u guys think?

In other words, Polands previous form of government is restored and it stays with the West.

Negotiations were later made otherwise about the future map of Europe.

But before that, could the US have used lend lease to get such long term concessions? Stalin himself said Lend Lease was crucial, and at that time had a weak bargaining position.

A lot of People don't know that Viacom filed a lawsuit regarding copyright against YouTube in 2011, which 95% would've led to YouTube being shut down if they had lost. YouTube eventually won this lawsuit in 2012 and continues to exist today. However, if Viacom had won the lawsuit against YouTube, it would've opened the door to other media companies demanding compensation for copyright, leading to Google outright terminating YouTube due to them not wanting to deal with more lawsuits. What would the Internet look like without YouTube? Would the Internet be sent back to the Pre-YouTube days or would DailyMotion and Vimeo simply replace YouTube?

I've recently been working on a novel that tells an alternate history of the world where Kaiju really do exist, and after Japan was bombed, they sicced Godzilla, Anguirus, Varan, and Manda on America. Leading to a full-on Kaiju apocalypse. I'd love some ideas, can you help?

Like i get this is for actually historically physically plausible scenarios but still

Obv OTL Mussolini was basically a dimwitted shouting thug who rallied a couple other thugs to bully and intimidate his way into power via the march on rome and then proceeded to screw everything up,and now whenever he is mentioned in a ww2 documentary its just him pulling weird faces and funny mocking music playing in the background

But what if,by some chance it somehow managed to happen,that Mussolini actually knew what the hell he was doing for half a milisecond? What would change?

What if I could go back in time and had brought gold, silver, jewels, etc with me. Even though no one would know me wherever I located to, would having “riches” protect me from any local harassment or suspicions? Just viewed as a weirdo foreigner. Or would I be viewed as a witch and possibly targeted, whether by the town or by the nobility? Does riches protect you?

Lincoln had seen John Wilkes Booth perform at Ford's Theater prior, on November 9th 1864. Booth ignored an invitation to visit the president between acts.

What if Booth had been armed, accepted the invitation, and shot him then?

There were three aircraft carriers ordinarily stationed at Pearl Harbor that weren't attacked because they were out at sea.

Other important facilities at Pearl Harbor such as Naval repair facilities and fuel storage weren't hit.

What if they had destroyed all of that?

What if Hitler was an officer in ww1 and he went to officer cadet sch and receive a proper officer training in the traditional prussian way?

He would get to learn about battlefield tatics, strategy etc.

Even if he were to only remain as a junior officer in the military, when he became a furher later in his life, with all these officer training he wouldnt have made the mistakes he did as in our timeline that cause the german army dearly. That means no diaster at stalingrad, no battle of kursk. And of course, no 'stand fast, hold your ground, fight to the last men/bullet' order.

Instead hitler as furher and commander in cheif would know how to think flexibly and it will be much much harder for the allies and soviets defeat the nazis, germany might have a better chance to win the war.

My point is that to command the german army effectively as furher, and commander in chief and not make those mistakes hitler did as in our timeline, u would have to be at least be an officer before in your career, even being a junior officer is better than corporal hitler.

Knowing what we know now, and ignoring the particular psychologies of those involved (Hitler in particular) as well as potential future attacks (by the Soviets), could Nazi Germany have survived, economically, had it stopped to consolidate after Czechia became part of the Third Reich?

Let's give old Moustache McGenocide the benefit of the doubt and say he keeps stealing from the untermensch and, moreover, adds new peoples (like the Czechs) to that list as time goes on, thus allowing the complete replacement of Czechia with "Aryan" Germans.

In time, most Eastern European powers would drift toward Fascist ideology (the alternative being Socialist) and Germany could even assist Italian adventures in Greece (which would probably fail thanks to an allies that are both wanting to stem the growth of Fascism and willing to get involved, unlike in Spain). France would potentially fall to Socialism, which immediately returns British attention to the dangers of that ideology, giving Germany yet more breathing room.

Ultimately, could Germany have successfully fixed its economy under such circumstances?

Say at some point, they changed their mind on creating and adopting the Electoral College during the 1787 Constitutional Convention. What will the outcome be from this and will we have more major political parties because of this?

Was the attack on Poland the optimal time to intervene?

With 20/20 hindsight would it have been better to try and defend Czechoslovakia?

Italy in our timeline joined ww1 in the side of The Entente and won, and i have seen many alternate timelines like them losing ww1 with The Entente and Italy joining The Central Powers and winning, but i have never seen a timeline where they joined ww1 on the side of The Central Powers and lost, so i ask you people, what would have happend if they lost alongside The Central Powers and what consequences would have fallen on the italian nation?.

In OTL, Orland Steen Loomis of the Wisconsin Progressive Party won the 1942 Gubernatorial Election, but died of a sudden heart attack about a month before he was to be inaugurated. He was succeeded by Republican Lt. Governor-Elect Walter Goodland.

What would have been the ramifications of a Loomis administration? Would he have seeked reelection in 1944? Would he have had a shot at a second term?

In the last days of the Battle of Berlin, Germany receives 20 Leopard tanks, 8 Eurocopter Tiger and 6 Eurofighter jets. All operators of those vehicles and aircrafts are 21th century nazi sympathizers. How will the battle go for the Germans against overwhelming numbers from the Soviets and Allied forces with these new weapons?

1890, the British made the worst geopolitical mistake and handed over a very small island known as Heligoland(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heligoland?wprov=sfla1 ) to Germany.

The island lies in the North Sea 69 kilometers from Germany and was a route under British rule between 1808 and 1890. And in 1890, Great Britain got Zanzibar and Wituland(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wituland?wprov=sfla1 ) , Germany got Heligoland which the British surrendered in 1890.

For now, the small island, barely 1.7 km in size, doesn't seem to matter, but it could help the British in World War I and the so-called blockade of Germany(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_of_Germany_%281914%E2%80%931919%29?wprov=sfla1) and North Sea Campagne (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_warfare_of_World_War_I?wprov=sfla1)

Essentially just asking if it was possible for Japan to forgo capturing the Philippines and conducting the attack on Pearl Harbour. The obvious problem is they become substantially more vulnerable if America decides to declare war anyway, but would they have done so if not directly attacked? Additionally, would this affect the European theater substantially consider how the US entered the war? Would they delay their entry or would it not have occurred at all?

What if the nazis decided to go for Moscow instead of Stalingrad in the summer offensive 1942?

The obvious choice would be to close the pocket around vzyma salient, trapping another 500000 soviet troops in the salient. The pocket near kharkov also gets crushed as in our timeline, netting the germans another 300000 soviet troops. The soviet defense around moscow gets torn open and the road to moscow lays open.

Army group center consisting of the 9th army, 2nd and 3rd panzer army approaches moscow from the north, forming a northern pincer around the city, while army group south consisting of the sixth army and 4th panzer army approach moscow from the south, with their start point at kharkov, they swing north towards moscow, the two army groups then met east of moscow, closing the pincer in and around moscow trapping yet another 700000 soviet troops in moscow.

Winter is soon arriving, the germans have already surroundered and trapped most of the soviets inside moscow. All they have to do is to clear out the pocket, which they spend the rest of the year doing so. Soviet counter attacks are weak and futile. Also the 17th army having captured the crimea now arrives as reinforcemnts to help clear the moscow pocket. Bloody street fighting in moscow takes place (but not as bloody as the one in stalingrad in our timeline). After 3 months of intense street fighting,the soviets having been surrounded at their captial, and being cut off from their supplies, finally surrendered.The germans finally captured moscow and planted the swastika in the kremlin.

Stalin barely escape the city in his undergrond train as the germans surround the capital but even he could do little to save the captial. The german frontline then pushed 100km east of moscow. But now having taken moscow, they could set up winter defensive position and fend off the weak and feeble soviet counter-attacks for the rest of 1942.

Andrew Jackson had a bout of serious illness early on in his presidency, when Calhoun was still Vice President.

What if Jackson dies and Calhoun is sworn in?

The Persecution of the Knights Templar was an event that happened in the Kingdom of France under King Philip IV, since he was deeply in debt to the Templars for his wars against Britain. He ordered the arrest of all the Templars in France, including their Grand Master, Jacques de Molay. The French Courts accused the Templars of heresy, idolatry, sodomy, and being secretly Muslim. Most Templars were burned at the stake and became extinct in France. However, what if things were different and the leaders of the Knights Templar immediately declared war against the Kingdom of France in response to the arrest of Grand Master Jacques de Molay? How would the Knights Templar fair against King Philip IV's Army?

Scenario 1: The Knights Templar simply wants to break Grand Master Jacques de Molay out of Prison, fight their way out of France, and escape into the Papal States, where they'll be safe.

Scenario: The Knights Templar want to overthrow the Kingdom of France and create a Theocratic State, not too different from the State of the Teutonic Order, headed by Grand Master Jacques de Molay.

Would the British have tried to retake the United States? Would the United States become a constitutional monarchy?

Maybe a few so literally no building in the city or outskirts is left standing and no one within left alive.

And the US says, "Alright Taliban or whoever wants to run that joint. Good luck with all that "

I’ve always wondered , since the Allies won WWII, the USA had the power to shape the post-war world. They encouraged democracy in some places but conveniently ignored it where it didn’t serve their interests. But what if things had gone differently?

If Hitler had won, could the Nazis have taken over the entire world, including British colonies and Asian countries like China and India? Did they even have the manpower and resources to pull that off? Would Nazism have spread beyond Europe, or would Japan have taken control of Asia while Germany focused on its own empire?

And that brings me to the bigger question: Is the world really democratic because the USA “allowed” it to be? After WWII, Western Europe and Japan got democracy, but other parts of the world weren’t so lucky. The US had no problem supporting dictatorships when democracy wasn’t convenient for them. They backed coups, propped up oppressive regimes, and only promoted "freedom" when it aligned with their interests.

And if the Axis had won, what would have happened to Africa, India, and the rest of Asia? Would Hitler have tried to exterminate non-European races, or would he have just let Japan rule them? The Nazis considered many non-white races as "inferior," but would they have had the resources to carry out mass exterminations outside Europe? Or would they have been too focused on holding onto power in their own empire?

So was the post-war world truly a victory for democracy, or just a shift from one form of control to another?

What if hitler died in 1939 just before his invasion of poland and the outbreak of ww2?

And gobbels became the furher of germany. How would things turn out? Will there still be a second world war.

Also i read somewhere that if hitler died in 1939, he will be remembered as the greatest statemen in history.

I read recently in my studies on chemical warfare that Hitler stockpiled and produced over 10 tons of sarin, tabun and soman during WW2. What if in a desperate attempt towards his downfall, he ordered these munitions to be used? Could it have aided them more than harm?