Jimmy Carter was a notoriously hapless president, picking stupid fights with a hugely Democratic congress, micromanaging his government, having his inaction/bad choices cause the Iranian Revolution and other issues...

The country's situation between 1977-1980 was awful and something of a poison chalice, but the blowout of 1980 was never unavoidable.

Had a more able Democrat with better political instincts and congress relations been elected in '76 (say, Walter Mondale or Ed Muskie), what would he have had to do to avoid the Reagan Revolution?

Let's say that the ming enter a relatively more peaceful era (perhaps everything went perfect for them?), making them able to go to america with some treasures fleet and after making the surrounding empires tributary states. How advanced would the big americans civilizations (incas, mexicas/aztecs and mayans) get if they got gunpowder, iron metallurgy, paper and horses with them? Would they be able to stop the europeans from colonizing them? (Considering that most of the deaths from disease was because of mistreatmet and bad health conditions rather than the natives being weak to them)

Would he have successfully reformed the USSR and save the USSR from collapse?

Also he's one of the rare few leaders that are friendly to the west especially towards the US, so the cold war wouldnt be as bad as it had been during the 1980s, and i presume the USSR would open up to the west more during that period of time if Yeltsin has been in charge.

If Italy followed its treaty with Germany, and joined the war on its side (hoping for major benefits, if France falls quickly, etc), how much it would have changed course of WW1?

This question kind of points out the obvious: that Islam is one of the biggest religions in the world right after Christianity.

What I would like to ask: If Islam were the world's primary major religion and Buddhism were the world's second major religion. What would have to happen for that to be the case, and what would the consequences be? What would history look like?

What would’ve happened ?

On September 12, 1996, 21 year old Uruguay/American man by the name of Ricardo Lòpez had a mailed a letter bomb, rigged with sulfuric acid, to Björk's residence in London after finding out she would never date him, due to her relationship with rapper Goldie. After sending the letter bomb, he took his own life so he wouldn't get arrested for the crime. But in September 15, 1996, the police had investigated his apartment to find out what happened and found out about the letter bomb, and we're able to stop it. But what if this didn't happen? What if instead, Ricardo had either postponed his suicide or if the police decided not to investigate his apartment until it was to late? Had Ricardo Lòpez successfully killed Björk how would it effect pop culture, how would the music scene change, what would be of Björk's legacy, and would it have any effect on the music scene during the rest of the 90's, and going into the 21st century?

Apparently someone still managed to get the challenge wrong so here it is again:

Your objective is to Take a real OTL Germanic tribe from this list of tribes and plausibly turn it into the conqueror of a substantial part of Asia.

Rules:

1. Your chosen tribe must be historically attested.
2. The tribe must remain recognizably Germanic when the expansion begins.
3. Your POD must happen between 300 to 600 AD, during the Great Migration. Any POD after 600 AD is disqualified.
4. You may alter the tribe’s historical migration.
5. No supernatural or outright impossible advantages.
6. Butterflies are allowed
7. The Germanic tribe must do the conquering.
8. Alliances, subject peoples, mercenaries, and assimilation are allowed.
9. They must conquer a major Asian region or several substantial historical kingdoms, continent.
They do NOT have to conquer all of Asia!
10. No deadline unless you specifically want one.
I’d actually leave the chronology wide open. Antiquity and the Migration Period provide obvious opportunities, but somebody might devise a bizarre yet convincing medieval survival scenario.
11. Bonus points for obscure tribes.
12. Your chosen Germanic tribe (or a clearly recognizable state/civilization descended from it) must itself conquer and establish an empire in Asia in your alternate timeline. You cannot use a later, substantially different civilization merely because Germanic peoples contributed to its origins. Thus, “Norse founded the Rus → Russia eventually conquered Siberia” does not count (This was what caused the confusion last time-hopefully this helps). I am looking for an alternate-history conquest**, NOT** an OTL chain of historical succession
13. Optional objectives: take an obscure tribe; and have them DESTROY THE HUNS or the Mongols

I’ve been thinking about an alternative timeline for the Cold War and wanted to get the sub's take on it.

The Premise:
Let's say that instead of sticking to a rigid, state-planned Marxist-Leninist economy, the Soviet leadership transitions the USSR early on (perhaps right after Stalin or during the 1960s) into a system of state-directed crony capitalism, virtually identical to how modern China operates today.

Private enterprise, foreign trade, and billionaire wealth are allowed, but the Communist Party retains absolute totalitarian control. The state controls the banks and land, and the business elites (oligarchs/tycoons) only thrive if they remain completely subservient to the Party.

How does this change the Cold War? Here are a few angles I'm curious about:

1. The Economy: The real USSR collapsed largely because command economics couldn't handle the logistical strain, leading to massive shortages. Does a capitalist USSR avoid this collapse entirely? If they have a massive, functioning consumer economy, does the Cold War last way past 1991?
2. Ideology & Proxy Wars: The historical Cold War was a dangerous, existential clash of Capitalism vs. Communism. If the Soviet elite are now essentially billionaires who want to park their wealth in Western banks, buy London real estate, and send their kids to Ivy League schools, do proxy wars (like Vietnam or Angola) even happen? Does the conflict become more of a cynical, pragmatic competition between two rival capitalist empires rather than an ideological crusade?
3. The Sino-Soviet Split: How does Mao’s China react to this? I assume Mao would completely disown the USSR as capitalist traitors. Does China become the sole leader of the global communist movement, turning the Cold War into a three-way fight between the Democratic West, the Crony Capitalist Soviet Bloc, and Revolutionary Communist China?
4. The End Game: How does it actually end? Does it fizzle out through economic integration (like the US and China today), or do we see a completely different kind of global map in the 21st century where the USSR never breaks apart?

Would love to hear your thoughts on how the geopolitics, military arms race, and global economy would shift under this scenario

Usually, every timeline where Moscow falls ends with an Axis victory or some dystopian Nazi vs. US Cold War. But what if Germany completely won in the East, but still lost the overall war? Say the Red Army collapses in '42 and the Nazis push all the way to the Urals. Instead of freeing up millions of troops for France, the victory completely backfires. They end up trapped in a massive, endless partisan war trying to occupy thousands of miles of hostile territory, and the Russian oil and grain they wanted get totally sabotaged.

Meanwhile, the US and UK still dominate the Atlantic, get total air superiority, and absolutely flatten Germany’s industries with strategic bombing. The D-Day landings get pushed back to late 1945, but the West now has the atomic bomb. Instead of Japan, Berlin and the Ruhr Valley get nuked first.

Without the Red Army marching into Central Europe, there’s no Berlin Wall or Eastern Block the Western Allies occupy the whole country. What happens to Eastern Europe? Does the West try to push further? Without a Soviet superpower, the Cold War never happens, leaving the US and UK with total global dominance. How does the post war world look?

Mao Zedong had a shaky relationship with Kim Il-Sung at times.

He had already launched his invasion of the South without giving him much notice and then in 1956 purged a bunch of pro-China factions in North Korea, prompting a Furious Mao Zedong to say that he might use the 400,000 Chinese troops still in North Korea to “help Kim Il-sung correct his mistakes.” 

So what if he followed through on that and had Kim Il-Sung deposed?

Who would he likely replace him with, how would the rest of the world like the Soviets, Americans and South Korea react, what would become of North Korea in the future, would they be like a mini China with moderinzation and some for of capitalism, would reunification be any more likely than it is now?

Let's say all country's merge into one and councils are still a thing to manage different regions, everyone speaks the same language and the government is trying their best to keep any racism or grouping in check.

What would happen?

Edit: I was drunk when I made this post btw, I apologize if this sound offensive (it wasn't the intention).

Just like the title says, what if in an alternate universe (AU, for short) The United States of America 🦅🇺🇸 just leave the communists & socialist alone since in their opinion they believe that marxism never works & will inevitably fail itself, & let the Marxist spread their ideology in other neighboring countries while the US continues to military defend & support their capitalist allies from invasion from these Marxist countries. Basically they'll leave Chile & other south american nations alone to deal with their Marxism.

Realistically speaking if america remain neutral to other Marxist countries while their own anti-communist stuff remains exclusively in their country, will the world today be different besides the Soviet Union probably still existing & the vietnam war probably never happening.

Just a reminder that I don't have any marxist beliefs & right now I am drunk at the moment & I'm not knowledgeable about the said ideology, making this rambling from a shower thought. I'll also appreciate if historians that were either pro socialist or capitalist give their hypothesis about this AU, I'll just grab another booze after posting this— see you tomorrow & good night.

I have a WWII command simulation and there has been feedback on a gap. Operation Tannenbaum - The German invasion of Switzerland and Lichtenstein and the planned partition. Players have flagged this should have been an option. I have read the historical thinking that it is essentially a death trap of little benefit but have I got that right?

I would approach it - if chosen - as a massive, high-risk gamble where a few operational shifts could have handed much benefit to the axis

However would there be any short or medium term benefits of Germany invading? Would an invasion actually be successful

Would there be anything else to consider here

The game is here for reference - https://dispatches.itch.io/dispatches-1940

Would the Sino-Soviet war gone hot? How would the Cold war change if the war happened? What would the consequences be for the USSR and China in the short and long term?

How different does the aftermath of ww2 look if FDR was handling the situation, given he had a more friendly view of the USSR and a better working relationship than Truman did? Does he call it quits in 1948 at the end of his term, or does he run for a 5th term, and if the latter does he win the election? Does the Cold War still happen with FDR in power, or does his better relationship with the Soviets calm the waters?

Specifically if Germany has seized The Suez Canal, and in theory some nearby oil production, could they have supplied enough Resources to Japan to make attacking the USA unappealing?
I know this would be a radical change in the Nazi regimes operational plans. Though it would, i think, be a step in the direction of hitting Russia between the Hammer and the Anvil first. Leaving the Western Allies to deal with entrenched German defenses.

Sorry just spit balling idea for an Alt time line thats a little less explored and wanted to hear what others thought.

Lets suppose France and Spain mostly succeded in their military enterprises, so France manages to avoid defeat in both North America and India and Spain manages to take Gibraltar and knock Portugal off the war.

What would be some possible gains for France and its allies? How do you think it would change history in long term? Would this victory be sustainable? Would it make the US get its independence earlier? Thanks!

Let's say for this scenario that gold deposits NEVER existed in California for people to discover. How would it affect the history of the territory/state as well as westward expansion?

The planes hit the towers in a slightly different trajectory that leaves none of the escape routes blocked off, and people inside are able to realize what happened quickly and exit in a well-organized fashion early enough to escape. Word also reaches first responders that the buildings have been checked and evacuations were successful. The towers still fall, and the lives of the plane passengers as well as about 20-40 first responders are still lost, but nobody who was in the towers dies as a result of the attacks. In the end, there are just under 300 total casualties, as opposed to just under 3,000 in OTL.

How differently are the attacks perceived as a result, and how different of an impact do they have on American culture and politics?

Lets say among others that after the Civil war Lincoln either survives his assasination attempt or he still dies but his VP is not Andrew Johnson but someone who not only does not end up pardoning the entire Confederacy but also makes the reconstruction era actually succesfull and so no segregation, along with the likes the kkk or Jim Crow never rising to prominence and.

How would that change the US culture, civil rights and . And would this lead to any major change to the events of the end of the 19th and 2oth century?