History has always fascinated me. It was one of my favorite school subjects and even today I will happily watch some Discovery/Learning Channel program on nearly any subject. Just as long as it's about the HISTORY. I can't explain excactly why.
Maybe it is learning some facts which we have forgotten on the dustheaps of "progress", perhaps it is finding out how closely something that occured 50, 100, 200, or even 1,000 years ago parallels events happening right now.
One genre of books I particularly like is alternative history. What would have happened IF X had made decision Z instead of decision Y. Now, this can sometimes get silly if just pop culture is discussed. So I will endeavour to discuss only "serious" subjects.
Intrigued? Please follow me below the fold and mind the gap.
Let's start with some events which didn't happen quite so far in the past:
What would have happened if:
- The "White Russians" had succeeded in defeating the Bolshevik Red Army during the Russian Civil War of 1918-21? Would we have been spared decades of Soviet aggression, and that long, hard Cold War? Would there not have been any wars in Korea, and Vietnam? Would we now have terrific relations with Cuba and China? Gee, where would McCarthy have found his bogeymen?
- Adolf Hitler had been killed in action during World War I? Would any of his contemporaries (flunkies?) - Himmler, Goring, Goebbels, Hess - had the leadership skills and the charisma to rebuild the German armed forces? Or even implemented the horrible "Final Solution"? Would we have been spared four years of a brutal war and the suffering of millions of people?
- John and Robert Kennedy had not been assasinated? The Kennedys were already a political dynasty, but would the family's star shown even more brilliantly if John had completed his first term and probably run for a second? If Robert had lived to win the Democratic nomination, would he also have won the White House?
These are just three examples of the questions pinging like BBs around my brainpan, but I think these will give readers enough to chew on and debate. But,just for fun, let us consider two example of lesser "what ifs".
- George W. Bush hadn't doged the draft, and Dick Cheney's request for a deferment had been denied? Maybe they'd still be in the jungles of Vietnam somewhere and Al Gore would be completing his second term in office? The mind just boggles.
- Elvis Presley had been represented by a more ethical promoter than Colonel Tom Parker? Would he have gotten better movie roles? Recorded fewer crappy songs? Still be alive and hosting "American Idol"?