Alternate Historical Timelines

[HeyYou]

Indeed, I could see going back to 1983ish, and telling my young self that investing in Microsoft, and Apple, when the opportunities arose, would be a really good idea. :D

[Vagrant0]

Reading these... Still gotta say that a world without Jar Jar, the Starwars franchise being rebooted and bastardized by Disney, and the handful of horrible games and related ventures would be a better place for all. Yes, this means no KoTR or KoTR2, but sacrifices have to be made for the greater good.

[Maigrets]

I'm sitting here reading this thread while having a cigarette (yes, I know) and although I could think of a lot of things I'd like to go back and change, I would go back and scare the pants off Christopher Columbus and tell him not to bring tobacco leaves and seeds back to Europe from the Bahamas.

 

Having read that tobacco was used for ceremonial and medicinal (obviously questionable) reasons, I have to wonder who was the first to think inhaling the smoke of burning leaves and hallucinogenics was a good idea.

 

That wouldn't stop someone else from starting the noxious cycle of course, but maybe I could also induce a mass hypnotic block and expunge the existence and possibility of tobacco or other substitutes used as inhalants from human history.

 

And this is coming from someone who hates smoking for all the known reasons, and enjoys it at the same time.

[Lisnpuppy]

Well I am going to go big here and not discuss a personal change of history, as I don't think that is what Aurielius was going for in this one. Though if I could go back to my younger self..well we might all be talking about President Lisnpuppy now. ha ha

 

Now there are some big, obvious historical "what ifs" like stopping Booth from shooting President Lincoln, Alexander the Great turning his attentions West instead of East. What if Hitler got into art school or Castro got to play baseball?

 

These have been done so I want to talk about an interesting person with a connection to the State in which I live. It involves Vice President Aaron Burr. Back in the day the President and Vice President were not a ticket but the number one and number two in votes. It made for some interesting politics since they were likely of opposing parties.

 

Well, Burr was not a happy Vice President as he had grander designs. After killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel he hatched a plan to be the great leader of a new nation to the West. Attempting to gain support for this idea (along with some armed resources) he landed at Blennerhasset Island ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blennerhassett_Island ) located in the Ohio River between then Virginia and Ohio and close to Kentucky. Burr planned to carve out a large territory out of parts of Louisiana purchase territory, Texas and perhaps parts of Mexico. Before you think this was some little half-hatched plan know that among the supporters were not only the Blennerhassetts but also James Wilkerson, Governor of the Louisiana Territory and Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army in New Orleans and also future president Andrew Jackson as they both also had issues with Spanish foray into the west. Burr however was doubling down and having secret talks with both the Spanish and the English as his true desire was to rule not reign in the new territories.

 

Burr's great expectations eventually came to naught and he was arrested and tried. Charges against him (as eventually did Jefferson making the warrant a federal one) was treason and some misdemeanors. Congress and the Supreme Court oversaw the trials. The only true evidence brought against Burr was a letter which was admitted to have been doctored and he was acquitted.

 

Further the treason trial became a litmus test for the separation of powers between the office of the Presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court (which oversaw the trials under the infamous Justice John Marshall.) The only true evidence brought against Burr was a letter which was admitted to have been doctored and he was acquitted by Justice Marshall to the fury of Jefferson. Another fallout from Burr's Vice Presidency was the 12th Amendment which changed how the Vice President was chosen. Burr also over-saw the first impeachment processes while serving in public office and helped codify the process which a person could be impeached, giving a very high standard to meet.

 

Burr traveled and lived in Europe for some time (hiding from his creditors) before coming back to New York and practicing law. For all his delusions of grandeur he was a Revolutionary War veteran who served with distinction, certainly a man of great intellect. He also attempted to have slavery abolished after the Revolution.

 

Had be been successful, would Burr have then challenged the greater U.S. states into a civil war in the early 1800s before even the War of 1812? Would the very young and in debt U.S. been able to withstand both an attack from the British and from the West (in whatever manner Burr could have envisioned.) What if we had lost the territories of Louisiana, all the free access to the Mississippi River? Could the U.S. have ended up non existing but looking like Europe with a collection of independent countries or would these have been swallowed again by the countries of the old world?

 

Interesting to think about in my opinions, and certainly not as well known "what if" as some. (And yes I have a history degree so I'm a history nerd, and yes I once did a paper on Burr and since there is a connection to my home state and I have visited Blennerhassett Island I find it all the more interesting.)

 

:edit: some repetition

[Tidus44]

@Tidus

The saving of the Library of Alexandria was always one of my favorite alternate choices.

However I can empathize with your personal choice, it just never occurred to me to use my trip for a familial change.

I heard about the Library of Alexandria in year 4 or 5 and I recall the teacher saying that had the Library survived, the Dark Ages would likely not have occurred and technology and progression of humanity would have continued to advance rather than decline, making the world a better place rather than as it was at the time.

The world of the future envisioned when I was in school at that time saw flying cars, no one being sick due to advances in medicine, world peace and harmony and many other wonderful things. He talked about the technology the Greeks and Romans had and especially their medicine. Silphium as the be all, cure all plant. Roman cement. Greek fire. The Antikythera Mechanism. Damascus steel. The secret of the construction of the Pyramids.

I know now that his opinion isn't specifically true, but it was fanciful and imaginative when I was a kid and has stuck with me.

 

I also don't believe that turning points in history occur because of one individual, so going to a point in history and convincing someone to do or not do something likely would not have much effect and would likely just happen anyway, just in a different way. It did occur to me that I might be able to change some small thing though, thus my personal choice.

 

Fun question though and it got me to think on a different path as I was sick and tired of marking exams and the mental exercise was quite refreshing.

[JimboUK]

I'd probably waste it by choosing to smack George Lucas upside the head repeatedly when he got the idea to start working on the prequels. Not that I personally care about the result, but it had to be done.

 

For that I'd go back to 1983 to the point where "Ewok" first entered his head, that's where the rot started. There are downsides to a world without prequels, we wouldn't have the RedLetterMedia reviews which are fantastic and we wouldn't have such great examples of how not to do it that can be shown to budding filmmakers.

[Lisnpuppy]

If you all are going to just go back and screw around with Lucus (and there is so much more fun you could have in this thread) then just keep him from having that damn car wreck so he goes and becomes like a Drag Racer or F1 racer or something..or kill him off all together. Geez...

[JimboUK]

If you all are going to just go back and screw around with Lucus (and there is so much more fun you could have in this thread) then just keep him from having that damn car wreck so he goes and becomes like a Drag Racer or F1 racer or something..or kill him off all together. Geez...

 

it's not that easy to come up with things that don't have downsides, stopping wars and large scale diseases sounds all well and good but if that been done going back centuries what would the world's population be now? war and disease aren't pleasant but they keep the population under control. As for Lucus, things should be left alone until he's got the first film in the can, after that he's surplus to requirements.

[Lisnpuppy]

As much as I love Star Wars....my life was not changed by it. Totally could have missed it and not have changed a thing.

 

As a history person I would do the other things all day. :)

[mlee3141]

I'd go back in time and either kill or persuade the person who made time travel possible to abandon their pursuits before they reached fruition, because to change the beginning is to change everything, and I, or another temporal traveler would likely bring doom upon all the world.