What historical event do you think would have changed history if it had turned out differently?

[MaryQueenofKnots]

Here's mine:
What if Edward VI had lived?
What if JFK hadn't been shot?
What if Edward VIII hadn't abdicated?

I’d be very interested to see our quality of life if 9/11 did not happen and the Brexit outcome was remain.

If Nick Clegg and the coalition with Tories had been stronger or had not happened.

Did Red Dwarf do some alternative reality regarding Kennedy? I think they suggested he'd have been impeached for something.

If Edward VI had lived, I think England would have been much more like Germany. Our religion would have followed a more Lutheran tradition. We would not have had the Golden Age we had under Elizabeth, so no Shakespeare (or certainly not one we would have remembered). No Scottish King in James I so unlikely there would have been the Acts of Union in 1707 at the end of the Stuart reign. No Great Britain and ultimately no UK.

@Iwanttheraintostop Have you watched ‘The looming tower’? It’s a dramatised series about the CIA agent who repeatedly tried to warn everyone about the threat of OBL and was ignored.

In terms of the British Isles, things would be different if one of Henry II's 3 older sons had produced an heir, and John had not become king. Something you can read more about, if interested

Here's mine:
If Henry VIII had been satisfied with a daughter there would have been no union of the crowns, without the union of the crowns the formation of the U.K wouldn't have hapoened, the Jacobite rebellion wouldn't have happened, the British Army would have been weaker without the massive influx of destitute Highlanders after 1745, the British Empire wouldn't have been so large so quickly, the British wouldn't have been in such a good position to dominate North America, Spanish and French interests would have held their territory and the USA as we know it wouldn't exist.

What would Britain look like if Margaret Thatcher hadnt been prime minister? Her " no such thing as society", everyone out for themselves attitude that still remains to this day.
The start of the massive division between the rich and the poor.

Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII? No no no.

If Catherine's first husband, Arthur, Prince of Wales, hadn't died young, Catherine wouldn't have married Arthur's younger brother Henry. If Catherine and Arthur had had a son, Henry might not have become king at all.

If David Miliband had won the leadership election in 2010 rather than being pipped at the post by his brother at the last minute…. Labour would have got back into power and there would have been no Brexit / Tory shambles…. maybe!

If the Inn Keeper had space in the room, then Jesus would have been born in an inn. That would affect the Nativity scene quite a bit.

And if Pontius Pilate had said "Gosh, you're right, I think I am just going to let you off and ignore the crowd!"

That would have meant no crucifixion.

Christianity might not even exist

That is fascinating but so huge it's hard to surmise. You'd have to take it country by country. I don't think it's practical to say a world without colonisation, because by that you'd need a world where there isn't a desire to exert power and gain more land. That just isn't human nature.

I mean if you take Ireland there are two things you can surmise immediately if Britain hadn't occupied it. Firsty the population would now be much bigger as the genocide of the "potato famine" would not have occured. It is likely emigration would have been as high (this then having a knock on affect to counties that emigration was too). Secondly, would the Catholic Church have got such a controlling hold on Ireland?

That's ignoring the fact it's like Irish would be still spoken (and very possibly evolved to be a bit more similar throughout the country) Ireland's legal system different.

On top of that the political identity of both Ireland and Britain would be very different.

If Mr and Mrs Hitler hadn't have had sex that night

If one of these 23 assassination attempts on Hitler had succeeded:

List of assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler - Wikipedia

That attitude existed before her. Someone else would have brought it in, likely.

If Al Gore had been declared the winnner in the tightly contested election rather than George W Bush.

That’s not the case about Nancy Mitford. Unity and Diana, and their parents, yes. But Nancy worked in French refugee camps during the war, and went as far as to inform on Diana’s ongoing Nazi sympathies- she was no Nazi herself.

We would not have the deluge if "my husband/partner/boyfriend watches porn " pear clutches on here, in fact we would not be on here- oh to have a life!

If Charles Edward Stuart had been victorious and Bonnie prince Charlie had assumed the crown of the UK in 1746?

If the Vikings had beaten Harold at Stamford Bridge in 1066....

Would they have been up for a battle with William?

Would Yorkshire be a part of Scandinavia?

One of the reasons I fought to keep a unit on Henry VIII in our (primary) history curriculum following 2014 is because the series of events set off by Henry’s desire for a son changed the U.K. - and parts of the world by extension - forever.

Don't be RIDICULOUS

Ooooh this is a good one!

Arguably the whole trajectory of the Middle East would be different if WW1 had had a different outcome. Certainly the British would have not had a role in carving up the post-Ottoman lands and establishing the Palestinian Mandate. I think about that a lot - to the poster whose dad said Franz Ferdinand should have been in a different car, only up to a point as I think the war would have happened anyway but certainly much of our current reality would be very different if WW1 had not happened or had a different end point.

What if China hadn't adopted a period of isolation...