Always loved to play this game. Here are a few to ponder. The idea is to try and give your opinion on what a certain something (place, time, era, etc) would be like or maybe this event would never have happened had ____________________ not happened, or not lived or was killed earlier in life. Example: What if Cyrus the Great is killed as a baby like Astyages wanted him to be? Do the Israelites even survive Babylon? And what if they don’t? How does that change the world we are living in today? Another one is, what if Germany wins WWI? Is there a rise to power by Adolph Hitler?
I wanted to post the old (Belushi was the star) SNL skit "What if....Napoleon had a B-52 at Waterloo", but its not on YouTube. Seriously, my favorite of those is, what if Stonewall Jackson had not been accidentally killed at Chancellorsville? In that case, he, not Ewell is leading rebel troops into Gettysburg shortly after and almost certainly takes the high ground on day one. The battle and possibly the Civil War, evolves far differently in that case.
I saw a movie once where a modern aircraft carrier with a full complement of fighter planes went through a time warp back to December 7, 1941. Unfortunately the carrier came back to the present before they could wipe out the Japanese air force.
Love this movie. Katherine Ross is hot! Kirk Douglas is cool as hell as captain of the Nimitz. And great aerial footage in the dogfight between Japanese Zeroes and F-14's.
The Jackson one is a good one. The one I brought up about Cyrus and maybe it’s because I’ve become fascinated with the ancient Middle East, is this guy, a Persian, (present day Iran and now Islamic as F) not only saved the Jews from possible extinction, but he paid to rebuild the temple of Solomun that was burned by the Babylonians. Fast forward to today and look at the Israelis and Iranians. It’s just funny to me that a Persian freed the Jews and sent them home to Judah and paid to have their shit rebuilt, and today those peoples probably couldn’t even sit down and have a cup of coffee together without wanting to kill the other.
By the way I highly recommend the 3 part King of Kings series by Dan Carlin. It’s audio and anyone that drives and likes history would love this. Hardcore History Dan Carlin
I think people overvalue Gettysburg... Grant was still tearing it up in the West and was about to take the Mississippi. Gettysburg would have just been seen as a setback.
I'm not so sure. Had Lee been successful in routing the Army of the Potomac - at Gettysburg or wherever that summer - he would have then turned and threatened Washington. At the same time, Lincoln would have received a peace offering from Davis; it was already written and waiting for the appropriate delivery moment. The Mississippi River campaign might as well have been in China where the majority of northern citizens were concerned. The "country" was still the Atlantic seaboard in their eyes. Lee's threat would have greatly outweighed Grant's success at the time.
