*nods* A small war is usually preferable to a big war.
Joel Send a noteboard - 07/04/2010 01:49:06 AM
Some French victory over Germany in the final decades of the 19th century, to let off pressure and serve as revenge for the Franco-Prussian war, and then maybe WW1 doesn't happen anymore. Or even just a war caused by one of the earlier crises of the 20th century - the Morocco one, for instance - in which Germany and France duke it out alone and the UK and Russia stay out.
Another interesting question if we're going to talk alternative history, is how WW1 would've happened - if at all - if Belgium hadn't been created. Either with the Kingdom of the Netherlands remaining together, or with France holding on to those lands. After all, the German violation of Belgian neutrality was the decisive factor in bringing the UK into the war.
Another interesting question if we're going to talk alternative history, is how WW1 would've happened - if at all - if Belgium hadn't been created. Either with the Kingdom of the Netherlands remaining together, or with France holding on to those lands. After all, the German violation of Belgian neutrality was the decisive factor in bringing the UK into the war.
Unless it just sets the stage for the next one the way the Franco-Prussian Wars did. Sometimes I think Bismarck was too successful for his own good; he seems to have been sincere in just wanting to integrate what he considered "German" territory into the nation proper, but by the time that goal had been achieved it had worked SO well that the Kaiser started buying into the whole "manifest destiny" line.
As to the other point you raise, I hadn't thought about it, but it's a good one. Without checking, I don't know what role Britains rivalry with the Netherlands from the Age of Exploration down to the colonial era had in England acting as Belgian Protector, but they might not have been as willing to stick their neck out for the Dutch. And, of course, if Belgium is just a French province it's to some degree another Franco-Prussian war (though I'm not sure ties between the British and Russian royal families wouldn't have dragged Britain anyway when Russia declared war on Germany in defense of Serbia, but Britain might have opted for neutrality to avoid another Crimean War. )
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Last First in wotmania Chat
Slightly better than chocolate.
Love still can't be coerced.
Please Don't Eat the Newbies!

LoL. Be well, RAFOlk.
I know I just did a survey, but this was too good to pass up.
- 07/04/2010 12:44:15 AM
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Myself: World War I.
- 07/04/2010 12:45:57 AM
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I don't think it's that simple.
- 07/04/2010 12:57:16 AM
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I see your point.
- 07/04/2010 01:02:33 AM
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True, one might even say *adding* a war there would've improved things.
- 07/04/2010 01:36:07 AM
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*nods* A small war is usually preferable to a big war.
- 07/04/2010 01:49:06 AM
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Re: True, one might even say *adding* a war there would've improved things.
- 07/04/2010 10:48:49 AM
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I had a teacher with an interesting theory related to that
- 07/04/2010 12:57:49 AM
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Well, at this time, it was pretty well accepted that Russia wasn't exactly a techinical power.
- 07/04/2010 01:04:35 AM
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The Plague
- 07/04/2010 12:52:33 AM
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Re: The Plague
- 07/04/2010 01:05:35 AM
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He must be talking about a different plague, but I'm not sure which one, either. *NM*
- 07/04/2010 01:37:32 AM
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Maybe; there were episodic plague epidemics before and after that time.
- 07/04/2010 02:05:18 AM
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I am talking about one of the plagues not THE plague
- 07/04/2010 02:50:25 AM
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Re: I am talking about one of the plagues not THE plague
- 07/04/2010 08:45:26 PM
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I'm so glad you have the time and inclination to type up these replies.
*NM*
- 08/04/2010 07:09:22 AM
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*NM*
- 08/04/2010 07:09:22 AM
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...?
- 08/04/2010 07:51:14 PM
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Sounds like he was thanking you for saving him the effort of writing a similar reply. *NM*
- 08/04/2010 09:28:55 PM
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OK, think this one's been pretty thoroughly covered in my absence.
- 13/04/2010 11:51:16 AM
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- 13/04/2010 11:51:16 AM
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The spread of Christianity
- 07/04/2010 12:55:29 AM
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Re: The spread of Christianity
- 08/04/2010 09:29:17 AM
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But wasn't Christianity the inspiration for a whole era of art? *NM*
- 08/04/2010 01:41:34 PM
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Re: But wasn't Christianity the inspiration for a whole era of art?
- 08/04/2010 01:44:36 PM
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The product of Christian inspiration was heavily Hellenistic in origin...
- 08/04/2010 07:54:12 PM
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The destruction of the Great Library.
- 07/04/2010 01:02:59 AM
547 Views
Internet spam sucks indeed.
- 07/04/2010 01:08:23 AM
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We'll never know; makes for fascinating speculative fiction.
- 07/04/2010 01:13:49 AM
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This whole topic is wild, it's something I sometimes think about.
- 07/04/2010 01:17:50 AM
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"Joel captures Alexandria! The Great Library is destroyed!" *NM*
- 07/04/2010 01:08:35 AM
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It's crazy to think that the human knowledge base doubles every 2 years...
- 07/04/2010 08:49:28 PM
440 Views
Literacy and communication have literally made a world of difference.
- 13/04/2010 09:25:45 AM
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if the giant meteor hadn't destroyed the dinosaurs...
- 07/04/2010 01:10:42 AM
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"FOR" global warming? Now there's a phrase I never thought I'd here!
- 07/04/2010 01:16:04 AM
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The spread of Islam
- 07/04/2010 01:26:11 AM
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oh aren't you clever. *NM*
- 07/04/2010 01:47:13 AM
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There's such a thing as being right for the wrong reasons, though I'm not sure he is.
- 07/04/2010 02:12:14 AM
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Wikipedia is of course not a scholarly source, but all the same...
- 07/04/2010 11:57:01 AM
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Fair enough.
- 07/04/2010 12:51:16 PM
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Re: The spread of Islam
- 08/04/2010 09:24:31 AM
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I...do not know.
- 07/04/2010 07:18:13 AM
482 Views
A lot of times, you change one thing, and everything changes- even the things you don't think about.
- 07/04/2010 12:26:51 PM
450 Views
Amusing that the underlying expectation seems to be more along political history lines
- 07/04/2010 12:56:49 PM
667 Views
Here's one that'll be more to your liking...
- 08/04/2010 10:40:53 AM
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Re: Here's one that'll be more to your liking...
- 08/04/2010 11:58:27 AM
448 Views
Uh...
- 08/04/2010 12:11:14 PM
610 Views
Re: Uh...
- 08/04/2010 12:15:20 PM
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The Devil is always in the details
- 08/04/2010 12:29:25 PM
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- 08/04/2010 12:29:25 PM
578 Views
Re: The Devil is always in the details
- 08/04/2010 12:32:34 PM
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- 08/04/2010 12:32:34 PM
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Not really
- 08/04/2010 01:07:57 PM
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Re: Not really
- 08/04/2010 01:10:16 PM
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Only to a degree
- 08/04/2010 01:27:22 PM
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Re: Only to a degree
- 08/04/2010 01:30:12 PM
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I was into cultural and religious history
- 08/04/2010 01:38:24 PM
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Re: I was into cultural and religious history
- 08/04/2010 01:41:31 PM
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Ha!
- 08/04/2010 01:49:23 PM
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- 08/04/2010 01:49:23 PM
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Re: Ha!
- 08/04/2010 01:51:28 PM
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- 08/04/2010 01:51:28 PM
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Since, surprisingly, no one's pointed it out yet, prehistory/=history.
- 13/04/2010 09:52:19 AM
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Re: I know I just did a survey, but this was too good to pass up.
- 07/04/2010 09:04:02 PM
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Science getting on the ball in the 40's and making superhumans *NM*
- 08/04/2010 05:31:34 AM
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The spread of peanut butter and jelly.
- 08/04/2010 07:12:21 AM
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I think two spreads that would be better to eliminate would be marmite and vegemite (sp).
- 08/04/2010 05:30:26 PM
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- 08/04/2010 05:30:26 PM
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The head of [Roman Catholic] Christianity.
- 08/04/2010 07:15:21 AM
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You completely missed the "pick 1" part of the question, didn't you? *NM*
- 08/04/2010 09:26:23 AM
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Well, techinically, I never said that you couldn't make multible posts, each discussing 1 thing. *NM*
- 08/04/2010 05:36:37 PM
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I'm fairly sure he was just mocking someone's earlier post "just thought it would be interesting..." *NM*
- 08/04/2010 08:06:56 PM
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I'm pretty sure of that too. *NM*
- 08/04/2010 08:33:46 PM
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