History Forum / General / What If / October 2006

I have been rereading a biography of Mary Queen of Scots. Of
course she was also Queen of France at one point. Her husband
died young and before fathering children. Shortly before he took
ill, Mary suspected she was pregnant but this turned out to be

at least 10 other sites were considered originally, not to mention other,
more modern options.
--

POD: 1644.
China's Ming dynasty has slowly collapsed over several generations of
misgovernment, famine, and rebellion.  In the 1630s, a peasant named Li
Zicheng became first a bandit, then a rebel, then a rebel general; by

thoughts on a WWII and other ramifications.....

This post is inspired by two things.  One, recently watching the Yacht
Rock videos.  (1)  Two, Jussi Jalonen saying that he'd lost all respect
for me.  Strangely, that gave me the courage to admit something that
will make *most* of you lose all respect for me.  To wit:

Long May He Reign, Part the Thirty-Ninth: The Land Saved in Vain
No breath of air to break the wave
That rolls below the Athenian's grave,
That tomb which, gleaming o'er the cliff

Tender readers,
The year is 1942.  The location is Lake Tuusula or, more correctly, Ainola
- Jean Sibelius' idyllic lakeside home.  After an 18 year break Jean is
penning a symphony, his eighth.  It will become known in this alternative

Let's think about this:
Cortez arrives in Mexico in the 16th century. Moctezuma kills and
butchers
him and his entire crew. The Aztecs like the white European meat, take

POD: 1685: In addition to repealing the Edict of Nantes, Louis XIV
allows
for emigration of non-Catholics to French colonies. Many Heugonauts will
still go elsewhere in Europe, but perhaps French holdings in the New

In 1942, while returning from Burma after visiting Genral Stilwell,
Chiang Kai-Shek's plane crashes, killing him and his wife (and several
others).
Effects, anyone?

If Richmond had been captured in 1861 or 1862, before the emancipation
proclomation was proposed without things being much different on the
other fronts would this have gotten the CSA to surrender? How would
that have affected slavery? Might a guerrilla war ensue?

I am for real
What-if Rachel Jackson, the wife of Andrew Jackson had not passed away
before her husband's Presidential inauguration?
At age 17 Rachel Donelson had married the son of a prominent Mercer

Harder than it sounds.  OTL, Persia was in a state of near-anarchy all
through this period, and insofar as there was popular sentiment it was
anti-Russian and anti-British.  In fact, in 1915 a group of nobles
tried to form a pro-German government and join the Central Powers.

Beijing, October 1660
The Emperor awoke in a cold sweat, and sat up in bed. He was silent for
a moment, as doctors began to run to get elixirs for him. Before they
could get anything, however, he began to speak. His throat was parched,

POD: Arab leaders get personality transplants
Presume that starting in the late 1960s/early 1970s that the oil
producing areas of the middle east, Lebanon, Syria and Iran all got
leadership as development focused as the United Arab emirates has in