Heres a challenge, think of a small POD wich couses a big change, no ASB it has to make sense. e.g Ganges Khans father desided to stay at home that day, thus did not get murderd, and did not, in the end drive ganges to forge a huge empire. P.S. I am not sure if this is the right place to put this, if not, just say it.
Challenge:the smallest change
- Thread starter jabberwoky
- Start date
one idea that has intrigued me is the chartist uprising in 1839. and if william jones had turned up on time meaning that the charist riots would have occurred 6 and a half hours earlier, then the impact of it could have created considerable changes.
It's just barely in the "Before 1900" class, I think (or maybe just barely after), but...
Around the turn of the century, Hiram Maxim was working on an improvement to the Maxim gun: a lever that would walk the gun across a preset arc of fire. That version was the one that Kaiser Wilhelm II personally tested out, and he accidentally hit the auto-traverse. If Sir Hiram hadn't been on hand with the tools to disable the gun very quickly, it would have walked across the German General Staff...
Around the turn of the century, Hiram Maxim was working on an improvement to the Maxim gun: a lever that would walk the gun across a preset arc of fire. That version was the one that Kaiser Wilhelm II personally tested out, and he accidentally hit the auto-traverse. If Sir Hiram hadn't been on hand with the tools to disable the gun very quickly, it would have walked across the German General Staff...
1889: Annie Oakley, in OTL, fires at Kaiser Willy's cigarette. If she misses by an inch or two...
Thee small PODs related to French History.
1) During a ride in 1131, the eldest son of Louis VI of France, Prince Philippe, accidentally died: a dog appeared in front of his horse, the horse panicked and reared and Prince Philippe fell on his head. Suppose the dog hadn't moved or had been slower...
2) When he was 5, Louis XIV fell in a pond of the Palais Royal and nearly drowned but was saved by an attendent who saw the scene. Suppose the attendent doesn't see Louis XIV falling or wasn't fast enough...
3)During his Second Italian Campaign, Napoleon apparently nearly fell into a ravine while crossing the Alps: he was saved by the swift reaction of his guide. Suppose the guide was one second slower...
1) During a ride in 1131, the eldest son of Louis VI of France, Prince Philippe, accidentally died: a dog appeared in front of his horse, the horse panicked and reared and Prince Philippe fell on his head. Suppose the dog hadn't moved or had been slower...
2) When he was 5, Louis XIV fell in a pond of the Palais Royal and nearly drowned but was saved by an attendent who saw the scene. Suppose the attendent doesn't see Louis XIV falling or wasn't fast enough...
3)During his Second Italian Campaign, Napoleon apparently nearly fell into a ravine while crossing the Alps: he was saved by the swift reaction of his guide. Suppose the guide was one second slower...
Suppose a certain mole digs its burrow in 1702. William III thus doesn't fall off his horse, doesn't contract pneumonia, and lives for longer.
Suppose Emperor Maximilian I's fall from his horse is worse and dies. His son Philip would then have to campaign to gain the Imperial throne.
Suppose Emperor Maximilian I's fall from his horse is worse and dies. His son Philip would then have to campaign to gain the Imperial throne.
wolf_brother
Banned
This is implicitly the entire point of my own timeline; hell I titled it The Smallest Possible Difference 
The POD is a Swiss general throwing a slightly bigger hissy-fit than IOTL over another Swissman taunting him for not being able to speak German. So far we've seen a united imperial Germany, united confederal Italy, semi-independent Hungary and Poland, republican France under Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (admittedly rather authoritarian), surviving Chartism in Britain (and accompanying reactionary response), slowly reforming Ottoman Turkish empire, some very large changes in culture and science, a very different US Compromise of 1850 ('51 ITTL), the Argentine Civil War ending with two Argentine states, and earlier republicanism in Australia. And we're still not even a decade past the POD yet. I don't mean to toot my own horn (yes I do, I'm advertising), but is that not a small change with big outcomes?
The POD is a Swiss general throwing a slightly bigger hissy-fit than IOTL over another Swissman taunting him for not being able to speak German. So far we've seen a united imperial Germany, united confederal Italy, semi-independent Hungary and Poland, republican France under Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (admittedly rather authoritarian), surviving Chartism in Britain (and accompanying reactionary response), slowly reforming Ottoman Turkish empire, some very large changes in culture and science, a very different US Compromise of 1850 ('51 ITTL), the Argentine Civil War ending with two Argentine states, and earlier republicanism in Australia. And we're still not even a decade past the POD yet. I don't mean to toot my own horn (yes I do, I'm advertising), but is that not a small change with big outcomes?
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A factory worker stares at his bosses daughter's chest for several seconds. This causes a rat trap being made to be faulty. A single rat survives which boards a boat. This rat bites Thomas Payne on the hand giving him rabies. Thomas Payne dies en route to the thirteen colonies. He never publishes "Common Sense" so the war is not about separatism but representation in parliament. The American's win the Revolutionary war and get seats in parliament rather than becoming a separate country.
thankyou for such an infuseastic reply! I thought of another one! Brain Boruna's gaurds were just slightly more alert, and maneged to cach a serten viking, Brain survieves the battle of clonturf!
I thought of another one! Brain Boruna's gaurds were just slightly more alert, and maneged to cach a serten viking, Brain survieves the battle of clonturf!Snake Featherston
Banned
Well, Up With the Star produced a nuclear WWII between Tsarist Russia, Fascist Italy, the Republic of China and associated puppet-states against Imperial Germany, Imperial Japan, the Dutch, Belgian, and British Empires and the United States of America, a war that sees Russia starting with a much more economically and technologically advanced basis for the war as well as the Ottoman Empire poised to become one of the great cultural and economic engines of postwar Europe, while South America is the most pristine continent in the postwar world.
All this from Benjamin Butler accepting Abraham Lincoln's offer to be Vice President, leading to David Hunter taking his place as commander of the Army of the James in May 1864.
All this from Benjamin Butler accepting Abraham Lincoln's offer to be Vice President, leading to David Hunter taking his place as commander of the Army of the James in May 1864.
Spithridates manages to kill Alexander the Great with his first blow during the Battle of Granicus, meaning no Alexander the Great, only Alexander the Dead.
Dismiss the person who was stupid enough to implement the practise of banishment to Siberia for any kind of revolutionarism in 19.cent Russia instead of bullet to the head on the spot. Going to need a lot of bullets, but hopefully that butterfly's away Narodnaya Volya, Lenin and any socialist movement that spreads beyond basements and attics.
Fanya Kaplan fires three times at Lenin, and every bullet misses their mark. The Red Terror is never implemented and Lenin also lives longer to lead the USSR Socialism for the win!
Socialism for the win!Besides, you know, killing a whole bunch of pretty much innocent people.
Emperor John II is not hit with an arrow while hunting.
Barbarossa does not drown before reaching the Holy Land.
Alp Arslan does not think he can take out a potential assassin, or if he does, he does manage to kill the guy.
Constantine VII is a little sicklier and dies young. Ends the Macedonian dynasty.
Barbarossa does not drown before reaching the Holy Land.
Alp Arslan does not think he can take out a potential assassin, or if he does, he does manage to kill the guy.
Constantine VII is a little sicklier and dies young. Ends the Macedonian dynasty.
Hitler was just that little bit better at painting, becomes a Artist, and is vurtuly forgotten by history.