To ask which historical crossroads you wonder about?

[HoneyParsnipSoup]

For me it’s wondering what would’ve happened had Catherine of Aragon had a son and Henry hadn’t divorced her. Country may well be totally different.

Ooh thought of another one

If Alexander III of Scotland hadn’t fallen of his horse and died, he was newly married to his 2nd wife and might well have had an heir. We might not have had the Scottish wars of independence, and William Wallace and Robert the Bruce would never have made the history books. It was fairly peaceful up until his death.

If Margaret Beaufort hadn't been such a strong woman, determined for her son to be King, we'd have swerved the Tudors altogether. But let's not forget that Elizabeth of York mothered them.

If the Romans hadn't left Britain and the Anglo Saxons invaded we'd still be Britons and speaking Welsh not English 😜.

If Charles had been allowed to marry Camilla in the first place.

My other wish is that Argentina had won the Falklands War.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was already unpopular and would have soon been turfed out of office instead of strutting around as if she'd been on the front line. We wouldn't have had the wave of privatisations that have crippled our infrastructure and taken our essential utilities even our water supply out of our control. We still live with the damaging results now.

Fascinating thread, OP, thanks! I'm saving most of it to read and think about when I've got time to mull it over and look things up.

Crossroads wasn't still on in 2002.

Whoa! Edited to eat humble pie. It had a revival for a couple of years! Well I never!

The history of agriculture is fascinating. It developed independently in multiple places on the planet. Without it everyone would have had to participate in hunting and gathering so we wouldn’t have had specialist skills develop and nearly all technology just wouldn’t have happened.

I think I would have enjoyed hunter gathering times but the lack of medical care and not being able to read would be too much of a sacrifice for me to wish for it

I think the two who do The Rest is History podcast would make a brilliant job of this. Their research is impeccable and they bounce well of each other with great humour. I listen to them a lot but despite this I while i can visulise their faces I can't recall their names

When all that vile stuff about Mohhmed Al Fyed (sp) came out I thought about "what if Diana was still alive" I am sure that the media would have milked the connection

If Elizabeth had been a boy surely Ann Boleyn would have kept her head. She and Henry may well have grown apart or he would have got tired of her but as mother of the future king her position would have been much safer. It is cruelly ironic that the disappointment of a daughter became such a great monarch. I always wonder about the repressed trauma of knowing your father had your mother murdered and wonder if she had any memories of Ann at all given that she was so young when her mother was killed

Ah, thanks for clarifying that!
So you meant negotiating the return of the Six Counties. (I stupidly assumed it was about independence in the first place, even though that was already done and dusted of course)
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Not to derail this fab thread into a neglected old siding, but in the late 1940s the Protestant, Loyalist population in Norn Iron was such that just handing the province back would have been exceedingly tricky. Even now, with the population stats having completely reversed that picture, it’s no easy matter.

What did occur after WW2 of course was the final step in shaking off the old coloniser, while sticking to the Collins’ backed Treaty. Ireland seceded from the Commonwealth, for which the ghosts at Daily Mail Towers have never forgiven her.
(During the Brexit argy bargy, they were fulminating about Ireland having the gall to look after her own interests rather than jump ship with GB! About Ireland not displaying any ‘historical gratitude’. 🤣Oh how we laughed! )

Anyway, thanks for all this.
What a great thread, (and not a useless cocklodger or annoying in law in sight)

Most immediately relevant for today's UK, of course, would be if the 2016 "Brexit" referendum had not happened, or if it had happened but was fairly, equitably, and truthfully handled. Or maybe even even if the wrongdoing around it had been properly handled, even after the fact.

If Harry hadn't married Meghan.

If only the unions didn't control the labour party. They made sure Ed won.

What if Noah hadn’t built the Ark

What if newly appointed Cyril Radcliffe hadn't rushed the job of deciding India's borders, leading to ongoing conflict? What if the British government had taken more responsibility implementing this absolutely crucial decision, would it have spared the lives of millions? Would there now be peace in Kashmir? I can't get my head round Mountbattten saying there would be no bloodshed under his watch during the partition!

If the Jewish people had been given a remote corner of North Western Australia as their homeland as was mooted after World War 2.

If Mandela had died in his 27 years on Robben Island and not survived to lead post apartheid South Africa.

If JFK jr had not insisted on piloting that small plane with no visibility and a broken ankle.

On a personal note, if my and DH's grandfathers had not both somehow survived the Somme.

I work in Barnsley, with a few ex miners. Our office is built on the sire of an old pit. Totally agree. For years they all carried over a day’s leave to go out and celebrate when she died. There was quite a party in some S Yorks pubs that night.

Maggie was ready to hand them over. Have a look at the history of Falkland Islanders citizenship.

The world's population would certainly be a lot smaller, which would arguably have been a good thing.

Brilliant thread and I often think of the what ifs. Battles of Hastings and Bosworth my two big ones.

My other (personal) what if not really relevant to the U.K. is what if Turkey hadn’t invaded Cyprus in 1974? I’d still have some family ties & family land in the north. And ditto my Turkish Cypriot friend who had ties in the south.

If Edward IV had died at, say, fifty rather than forty, his sons would have been adults, there would have been no Protectorate, no struggle for power, no Richard III and no Tudors.

Yes I knew independence had been achieved in I think 1921(?) for what is now the Republic. I meant more that joining the Allies would’ve I think dissipated many old grudges and after such a contribution it would’ve been impossible for the British government to continue to treat Ireland with the same disdain and suspicion.

That said it would’ve killed far more Irish than the Troubles, Ireland would’ve been levelled in the aerial bombing campaign as a major shipbuilder, and it would’ve altered Ireland’s relationship with the rest of the world in a way that meant its current reputation as neutral and benign would’ve been impossible. And a second (milder) famine would almost certainly have happened, at the very least Ireland would have undergone rationing like the UK.

We’ll never know but it’s interesting to think about!

What if either Adam or Eve had been gay? Or trans? They would not have had children. O