Here's a fun idea: If you could go back, and had the ability, what in history would you change? I.E. win a battle, take technology to a different level, explore places sooner, kill someone, etc. Please state why, what you'd hope to achieve, and its possible implications on todays world, small or large.

I wouldn't dare do any of that- It might mean I wouldnt have been born anymore. Unless it happened during the last thirty years, I guess, but still.

Poland wipes out Russia from the map in the 16th century. Nuff said.

well two wrongs don't make a right though...

I'd prevent the Turks from advancing onto Constantinople and Greece, purely for the sake of the Greeks. If I was in a meaner (and more reckless) mood, I'd prevent Islam from being founded. (By reckless, I'm thinking of the preservation of Greek thought, the advances in mathematics and medicine made by Islamic thinkers), and so on.)

Something I would want to do -- but am not sure how to accomplish -- would be to bring about freedom and civil rights for all Americans sooner.

I would kill Genghis Khan or even better wipe out the Mongols as an effective fighting force so that the Islamic world would have survived such destruction and probably come to be a dominating power. Second the Ottomans would have succeeded at the siege of Vienna in 1529 and if he ever came to existence after all this happened I would kill Muhammad ibn abd-al-wahhab.

Really there are many things I would have changed but its all wishful thinking.

I would have allowed the Vikings to stay in the Americas.

- Allowed Egypt to invent machine guns so they could take over the Western World! :)

- Made the 1421 theory actually come true and make it so that China continues expanding. So that i won't have to learn English. :p

- Make Quang Truong, the VIetnamese general, not die mysteriously at the age of 40, so that he could conquer half of China by c. 1800.

- Save Constantinople

Inoculate the entire population of the Western Hemisphere against smallpox, measles, hepatitis, etc., etc.

Inoculate the entire population of the Western Hemisphere against smallpox, measles, hepatitis, etc., etc.

I like this one best!!! It would be more like the colonization of Africa, I'd guess, lack of epidemics save much of the Native population, and fighting back is much easier. Nevertheless, the Europeans would still have advanced quite well, but nearly as far as they actually did, and we may well see countries today that are truly native.

Actually, preventing the spread of diaseases could have longated the existence of both the Aztec and Incan empires. meaning that they could've played a truly major role in modern history.

I like this one best!!! It would be more like the colonization of Africa, I'd guess, lack of epidemics save much of the Native population, and fighting back is much easier. Nevertheless, the Europeans would still have advanced quite well, but nearly as far as they actually did, and we may well see countries today that are truly native.

Seconded. "The Democratic Republic of Inca" or something! :lol:

I don't think the final outcome would have drastically different - the Europeans would have still had an enormous influence, and in areas with already low native populations, they would have done much as they did - but it would have been for, say, the Inca, more like occupation than replacement.

I don't think the final outcome would have drastically different - the Europeans would have still had an enormous influence, and in areas with already low native populations, they would have done much as they did - but it would have been for, say, the Inca, more like occupation than replacement.

But it is true that the Europeans used land that Natives used, so their cities were mainly based on old Indian grounds, with trees cut down and land for farming cleared, and the helped out immensely with the progression they made inland, using that land. Sure, they probably would have taken much of the land, but the fact that the Indians would have had more numbers to attack and defend would at the least slow them down, and would be like Africa, for as we see today, the natives there govern themselves once again and haven't been completely wiped out. But the Inca, Aztecs, maybe some powerful midwest coalitions and such might have survived, in some form.
Of course, they would have advanced as well, so we can't expect that their would be sacrifices and all that stuff, I'd assume they'd be modern, with their own twist. I wonder how that would have affected the rest of history thought. The U.S would surely be smaller, but Canada would probably be pretty similar to how it is, along with Brazil and other eastern countries in South America. Europeans were good at slaughtering, so who knows how good they would have been w/o disease. I'd imagine the Carribean would be much like today, and there maybe some seperate country on the west coast of North America, as I'd think the strong tribes in the midwest, as said before, would be powerful enough to create a divide.

I would turn the Battle of George Square, 1919, into a full blown socialist revolution, overthrow the British capitalist system and establish a new socialist state. Then I'd convince the rest of Europe to follow suit, use the influence of social-democratic Europe to prevent the rise of Stalinism and establish a pan-European socialist federation.
S'a laugh, innit? ;)

I'd prevent the Turks from advancing onto Constantinople and Greece, purely for the sake of the Greeks. If I was in a meaner (and more reckless) mood, I'd prevent Islam from being founded. (By reckless, I'm thinking of the preservation of Greek thought, the advances in mathematics and medicine made by Islamic thinkers), and so on.)

- Save Constantinople

NEVER!

I would allow the Turkish invasion of Italy of 1480 to suceed and sucessfully let them enter Rome that the Pope had already evacuated then plan for the Invasion of Austria!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_invasion_of_Otranto

I'd kill Mohammed and wipe out Islam before it came into being.

Major troll infraction given. - KD

I would prevent Jesus' body from being stolen from his tomb.

Just to see what would happen and how the world would turn out!

I would have lowered the weight of the two ton stone in front of Jesus's cave a bit. Then put a sleeping spell on the very alert 4 to 15 romans guarding the tomb. Make it easier for atheists.

Wonder what would happen if the 9/11 terrorists were intercepted?

I'd kill Mohammed and wipe out Islam before it came into being.

I believe Allah would just pick another man as pure as him

I believe Allah would just pick another man as pure as him
Andy Dick?

Andy Dick?

No Britney Spears and Nicole Richie

I wouldn't change anything that would stop me from being born, except perhaps to get my mother to a hospital quickly when she was a child...

except perhaps to get my mother to a hospital quickly when she was a child...Why that? :confused:

I think history is more complex than anybody can imagine. If you alter something intending to improve the world you probably could make everthing worse.

^or better. who knows.

Kill all the first humans and any similar creatures on this planet and save the universe from us.

I would take personal charge of the Republican Revolution of 1912 in China, and establish a firm democratic-Capitalist power. We would ally ourselves with America, and be the modern superpower.
Communism proabably would have collapsed sooner without a secure power base in Asia, China might not have a population of a billion, and there would be a much more even playing ground for the people. It wouldn't be the mest up place it is today and would be without an evil autocratic party in power. And Tibet would be free.

China might not have a population of a billion, and there would be a much more even playing ground for the people.

it'll have a population of 5 billion, with 5 billion colonists around the world. :D

Why that? :confused:

Because she suffered a lot from the paralysis and the inadequate treatment that followed. Ideally I'd get her to a hospital beforehand, but I suspect I'd be arrested for being a madman, so I'd just have to arrange transport carefully so that I could be nearby and get her away quickly.
I'd have to oversee treatment too, but that'd not be a problem.

Because she suffered a lot from the paralysis and the inadequate treatment that followed. Ideally I'd get her to a hospital beforehand, but I suspect I'd be arrested for being a madman, so I'd just have to arrange transport carefully so that I could be nearby and get her away quickly.
I'd have to oversee treatment too, but that'd not be a problem.

She gets cured by paralysis , she changes mood , meets someone else rather than your father OR has sex with him in a different time than when she originally did (Say one month earlier) and the result will be you getting a new brother and you ceasing to exist.

This thread reminds me of a sci-fi short story I once read. It told of a futuristic, time-traveling agency which sold historical holiday packages. The story followed one tourist on a holiday back to the days of Jesus Christ. He even got to attend Pontius Pilate's hearings. Feeling emboldened on holiday, the tourist thought he would be the first to chime in with a "crucify him", which was the catalyst that set the whole crowd off into the typical, repetitive mob chanting, thereby passing sentence on Jesus. That one little holiday maker, making such a difference.

I would have nuked Europe in the 1400's.

^sounds a lot like...

^sounds a lot like...

that page on wikipedia

edit: They seem to have deleted the page =/

I would go back and tell/threaten myself to be a better person.

^i think i would do that too...

Yeah, me too. I am sure that if enough people told taillesskangaru he needed to be a better person, he would listen.

All of this has been beat to death in the NES forum...once again. There's been some interesting results too.

She gets cured by paralysis , she changes mood , meets someone else rather than your father OR has sex with him in a different time than when she originally did (Say one month earlier) and the result will be you getting a new brother and you ceasing to exist.

I realise that. This was the one exception to my statement that I wouldn't do anything that would stop me being me.

This thread reminds me of a sci-fi short story I once read. It told of a futuristic, time-traveling agency which sold historical holiday packages. The story followed one tourist on a holiday back to the days of Jesus Christ. He even got to attend Pontius Pilate's hearings. Feeling emboldened on holiday, the tourist thought he would be the first to chime in with a "crucify him", which was the catalyst that set the whole crowd off into the typical, repetitive mob chanting, thereby passing sentence on Jesus. That one little holiday maker, making such a difference.
Do you happen to remember the title and author of that story? It sounds similar to a Robert Silverberg novel called Up the Line, in which the main character is a Time Courier whose job is to escort groups of tourists back in time to witness interesting/important historical events.

Closed. Somewhat spammy, and lack of of any discussion.