Alternative history (fiction)

Alternative history or alternate history is fiction that is set in a world in which history has diverged from history as it is generally known; more simply put, alternate history asks the question, "What If history had developed differently?" Most works that employ this rubric are set in factful historical contexts, yet feature several social, geopolitical or industrial circumstances that developed differently or at a different pace from our own, sometimes as a result of progress in technological or social paradigms that were accomplished via the understanding already present in the given zeitgeist. While to some extent all fiction can be described as alternative history, the genre proper comprises fiction in which a change happens that causes history to diverge from our own. For a variety of reasons, alternate history is generally classified as a subcategory of speculative fiction. Secret history, which gives an account of history at odds with our general understanding, presenting its own account as having been lost or forgotten, is not alternate history.

Online alternative histories

soc.history.what-if is a Usenet newsgroup devoted to discussing alternative histories. This newsgroup has spawned a number of interesting alternative timelines, including an online role playing game which has run continuously since 2000 called SHWI-ISOT with a POD in 1800 and in which the characters are based on the players being sent from the 21st century back to an alternate early 19th Century, where they have started altering history. The concept was inspired by S.M. Stirling's "Island on the Sea of Time" books.

Related Topics:
Soc.history.what-if - Usenet - Newsgroup - Role playing game - 2000 - POD - 1800 - 21st century - 19th Century - S.M. Stirling

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In online alternative history, the timeline is usually referred to by the abbreviation ATL (Alternative Time Line), as contrasted with OTL (Our Time Line) which refers to real history.

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• 1933 an alternative view of the 20th century post-1933 in which Adolf Hitler succeeds in creating an alliance between Nazi Germany and the British Empire resulting in the invasion and conquests of France and the Soviet Union, and the resulting long and prolonged cold war between the Anglo-German alliance and the United States.
• For All Time ("President Chester A. Arthur" or Mike Davis) is a dystopian post-WWII scenario resulting from the death of Roosevelt shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, featuring horrific race riots in the United States between white, black and Jewish gangs, and frequent usage of nuclear weapons around the world.
• Shattered World (Bobby Hardenbrook) is a devastating alternative World War II, resulting from a Soviet invasion of Poland in 1937. The timeline currently continues up to the summer of 1948.
• A Loose Bandage (Beck Reilly) is an alternative 20th century following the failed assassination of William McKinley.
• Sealion Fails (Steven Rogers) is an alternative World War II in which Germany invades England, but the invasion is defeated.
• A Shot Heard Around the World (Ed Thomas) follows from the assassination of the Prince of Wales in 1900 (who in OTL became King Edward VII), preventing the Entente Cordiale. Without Britain as an ally France and Russia are easily defeated by the Central Powers. After the war Charles de Gaulle seizes power in France, and plans a war of vengeance against the Germans.
• Decades of Darkness ("Kaiser Wilhelm III") suggests the early death of President Thomas Jefferson leading to the secession of New England, resulting in a United States of America dominated by slave owners.
• For All Nails is an ongoing, collaborative online continuation of For Want of a Nail, which ended in 1971, the year the book had been written. The authors believed the world depicted at the end of For Want of a Nail was an unpleasant one — hence the name inspired by Chet's For All Time.
• Ill Bethisad is an ongoing, collaborative project with currently ca. 45 participants, originally created by Andrew Smith from New Zealand.
• Mr. Hughes Goes to War An alternative history where Charles Evans Hughes is elected President of the United States in 1916
• Dusk is an Open Source novel where on December 27 2004, a huge explosion halfway across the galaxy had packed even more power. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050718_star_quake.html

Eric Flint's rare policy of supporting fanfiction based on his 1632 novel universe has created a vibrant forum section at Baen's Bar, discussing the consequences of an event in which the fictional modern American town is transported back in time into the middle of the Thirty Years' War, in the German province of Thuringia.

Related Topics:
Eric Flint - Fanfiction - 1632 novel - Baen's Bar - Thirty Years' War - Thuringia

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