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?

Yes.

I was thinking about that as well.

Maybe. Do you think Labour would have still been elected though? Like him or not, I think they needed Tony Blair to get into power.

Suppose their was no or little antisemitism in Germany and the Jews were of equal standing to Aryans.
The Jewish scientists and engineers would have been working flat out to win for Germany.
Jet Engines, Rockets, V3?, They would have been developed much earlier and before us.
We would have lost, early. Would the USA have joined the Allies?

Yes his reign was definitely a watershed.

I suppose the real "what if" moment is if Arthur hadn't died and had been king instead and had a son with Catherine.

Yes so many Jewish scientists fled and worked towards the bomb. Fearing Germany would get there first

If Tony Blair hadn’t decided not to enforce the UK’s right to limit freedom of movement from the 2004 EU accession countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia etc etc), there wouldn’t have been a massive wave of immigration into this country and we would probably still be members of the EU.

I was going to say this.
if only…

I believe it sped up the dissolution of the aristocracy of the time.

Confessions, how did the sinking of the Titanic speed up ‘dissolution’ of the aristocracy and in what way were they dissolved?
There were a number of rich Americans also on board - was America affected by it in the same way?

If Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain had been less religious.

Yes.

And also the Libdems going back on their promise not to increase university tuition fees when in coalition with the Tories which meant they lost loads of seats and David Cameron could call his referendum.

So many factors for "what were the causes of Brexit". I like the one about Gordon Brown's microphone being switched off too!

Brilliant idea for a thread by the way OP.

The Stephen Fry book about Hitler and being careful what you wish for is "Making History".

If Elizabeth I had died of smallpox in 1562.

But you can't say that the indigenous peoples of America or Australia etc woukd not have progressed in the same way as Europeans have and they would have continued to be nomadic people living off the land. Without the marginalisation and discrimination of European colonisers they have just as much capacity to be viracipus developers and consumers as Europeans. Much European wealth was taken from Africa, the Americas and India. Those countries would have been hugely wealthy without it. To say they would not have done what Europeans did and had their own industrial revolutions, built their own machines, exploited their own natural resources ( as Brazil, India, China etc are doing now) is a bit silly, and mildly racist, as if only European brains were clever enough to invent machinery to simplify farming, built industrial machines etc. They would just be the ones on top and people in Europe would have been the poor. I say ' they', I would not have been born here without colonisation of India by Britain and Portugal.

What if Ireland hadnt won independence from Britain... Would other countries, India etc?

What if USA hadn't won independence fron UK? What about France then?

Think its lucky that the desire for independence and freedom was strong. Good for the world as a whole.

@Angrycat2768 they most definitely would have caught up if not matched or excelled. The indigenous people of Latin America were head and tails above the west in many areas, notably women's rights. They conceived of the number zero and invented the wheel to make carts although strangely only for children's toys not use in farming.

Absolutely. The Incas, Maysns, Egyptians, ancient Indians, Mongols, Persians were way ahead of Europeans, and were building huge structures, etc, while Europeans were farming and living off the land. China has produced more carbon in 40 years than Britain has since the Industrial Revolution ( although they are now also world leaders in future carbon neutral technologies). Europeans have been top of the tree for 3-400 years. Not since the beginning of humanity.

@enchantedsquirrelwood

Wasn't a great move on Tony's part

It has caused so many problems

If the colonists in America had been defeated in the war of independence ...
Likely that with the need to reinforce the colony with a large garrison, to suppress and future uprising, and deploy a large fleet of warships to support said garrison, the number of units to defend the UK would be massively reduced so when the French revolted, we may have become a republic. And or a vassal to France.

I recommend The Rest is History podcast they cover a really wide range of topics and you can just dip in and out of ones that look interesting.

How about if Beatrix Potter hadn't bought vast acres of the Lake District and bequeathed it to the National Trust with strict covenants about how it was to be managed in perpetuity. The area would have been ruined by overdevelopment and the gorgeous Herdwick sheep wouldn't have survived.

If the kaiser had not spirited Lenin into Russia, communism not been successful, the soviet union not existed - the world would have been much better place and millions of people survived the slaughter that the vile regime caused.

If Dermot McMurrough hadn't invited Richard "Strongbow" De Clare to support him in his battle to be King of Ireland would the next 800 years have seen such brutality by the British in Ireland?

I second this - I do my ironing to it!

If there hadn't been the penal laws in Ireland and people didn't cling to religion as part of their identity so much, would the Church have had so much power and influence there that the priests could abuse their power and molest hundreds of children?