How would you change history?

[Lord Baal]

My religious education teacher told us straight-faced that it made sense that bible folk apparently frequently lived 100+ years because life was less stressful back then.

Well, it's a lot less stressful to be in danger of death by hunger and starvation than to have an essay due in a few days, right?

 

[Vandal Warlord]

I wonder what would have happened if Brian Boru wasn't killed after the battle of Clontarf in 1014 - would a centralised monarchy have been formed that didn't give the Normans an opportunity to invade?

That would be my thoughts. However, Brian's desendents would need to be strong willed and defiant like their late ancestor to face the unbending ambition of the Normans.

 

[Godwynn]

wrong thread

 

[Plotinus]

My religious education teacher told us straight-faced that it made sense that bible folk apparently frequently lived 100+ years because life was less stressful back then.

If he or she presented that as a serious claim, then he or she shouldn't be teaching RE.

 

[amadeus]

They tried that, most of them hid in Canada.

Hippies make rotten soldiers, anyway.

 

[Shekwan]

I'd go back to 1922 and take the bullet for Mick.

 

[Lord Baal]

Hippies make rotten soldiers, anyway.

Good cannon-fodder though. We should make them march before our armies, to clear minefields and expose enemy positions.

 

[TheLastOne36]

I'd go back to 1922 and take the bullet for Mick.

Who's Mick?

I assume you mean an Irish Revolutionist, but I am not familiar with the names.

 

[Dachs]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(Irish_leader)

 

[Virote_Considon]

One of my RE teachers at school still actually believed the world was flat.

 

[lumpthing]

If he or she presented that as a serious claim, then he or she shouldn't be teaching RE.

I've no doubt that she was serious. But I wouldn't say she was an unfit teacher on the whole. It was the only instance of craziness I can recall.

 

[Lord Baal]

One of my RE teachers at school still actually believed the world was flat.

You must be joking, because that is so stupid that said teacher shouldn't have been able to tie her shoes unassisted.

 

[Phrossack]

I would import a Mongol tribe to the 16th-century Great Plains. Superior weaponry and the use of horses would let them dominate for the next three hundred years.

 

[TheWesley]

It depends what I was doing it for.

Selfish- Give my ancestors more sucess in politics/Genetically modify myself in the womb (depending on what is considered plausible)

Unselfish- Using a series of encounters, introduce large amounts of modern technology (especially high crop yields+hygiene) around the time of the first peoples intelligent enough to use it.

 

[Tee Kay]

Unselfish- Using a series of encounters, introduce large amounts of modern technology (especially high crop yields+hygiene) around the time of the first peoples intelligent enough to use it.

When exactly is this? I am under the impression that they never existed.

 

[mythmonster2]

I would import a Mongol tribe to the 16th-century Great Plains. Superior weaponry and the use of horses would let them dominate for the next three hundred years.

Better: 15th century Great Plains so that they have time to get an empire up when Colombus crosses. Of course, they'd need to come with metal weaponry since they didn't have any in the Americas back then.

 

[Phrossack]

Agreed. They would make mincemeat of the conquistadores then.

 

[MilesGregarius]

I would import a Mongol tribe to the 16th-century Great Plains. Superior weaponry and the use of horses would let them dominate for the next three hundred years.

I'd ship a couple battalions of Buffalo soldiers to Zululand circa 1870. Impis backed by veteran carbine-equipped cavalry and a few drill instructors giving the Zulus some rifle-equipped infantry units would have made Isandlwana the start of Zulu glory rather than its last hurrah.

 

[MilesGregarius]

Agreed. They would make mincemeat of the conquistadores then.

Hang, draw, and quarter anyone suggesting the torching of Mesoamerican libraries.

Also, import a couple hundred East Asian physicians and weaponsmiths to Mexico about a century before Cortes shows up.

 

[Glassfan]

Hang, draw, and quarter anyone suggesting the torching of Mesoamerican libraries.

Mesoamerican libraries? Expand please.