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In his Alternate Histories prints series, Etsy seller Matthew Buchholz imagines small, subtle changes in American history as reflected in iconic prints. Here, for example, is a picture of the massive statue Emperor Krgyyx Threatening the World. Of course, if you live in New York City, you can just look at the real thing, although the visitors’ center is currently closed for renovations. Link -via The Breda Fallacy
Alternate history asks what the world would be like if certain events in the past were somehow different. Shaun Clayton of Topless Robot has looked into geek history (TR prefers the term ‘nerd’, but that’s a debate for another day) and unearthed six horrifying possibilities. Let’s say, for example, Star Trek was revived prematurely with the proposed Star Trek: Phase II. Or Stephen King died of his injuries after getting hit by a van in 1999:
As much as people may debate the end of The Dark Tower series as being good, bad or “whaaa?” there is a far worse ending for The Dark Tower — never getting finished. Somewhere there’s a universe where, on a June afternoon, while taking a walk by the side of the road, King is struck by the minivan that hit him in our reality and dies in 1999. The Dark Tower series would end at Wizard and Glass and be unresolved. Further, anything Stephen wrote after that point does not exist. You may not like anything he wrote over the past 11 years, but just imagine that you have to imagine what he wrote over the past 11 years, like Cell, From a Buick 8, and Faithful, in which King relates his giddy experience in watching the Boston Red Sox finally win a World Series. If there were anything for King himself to want to exist in our universe for, it would be that.
By the way — if you’re a fan of alternate history (as I am), you should check out the work of Peter G. Tsouras. He is, IMHO, the best alternate history writer ever. Yes, even better than Turtledove.
Link | Image: Topless Robot | Previously: The First Alternate History
For several months after the US entry into World War II, Americans feared air raids or even invasions of the continental United States by Germany and Japan. An article in the March 2, 1942 issue of Life magazine suggested several possible invasion routes that Axis forces might take. These include a Germany landing at Norfolk, Virginia supported by fifth columnists hidden in the US. At the link, you can view maps of a few other fanciful scenarios.
Link | Image: Time Warner
Hiring lots of actors and building elaborate sets (and then blowing them up) is expensive. So the directors of Jackboots on Whitehall used 12-inch action figures to scale down the cost.
Above is the trailer for that movie, which is a comedic alternate history of World War II. After trapping the British Army at Dunkirk, the Germans drill a tunnel under the English Channel and send an invasion force through into the heart of London. “Never,” as the movie’s Churchill says, “in the field of human conflict was so much buggered up by so few.” Naturally, the Scots, led by a farmer voiced by Ewan McGregor, save the day.
via Geek Tyrant
Alternate history is a genre of fiction in which counterfactual historical events are examined. For example, if Lee won the Battle of Antietam and then the American Civil War, what would a divided America be like in the 1880s?
As a widely-published genre, alternate history is a fairly recent phenomenon. But in a post at io9, David Daw examines the early history of the field, which long predates modern alternate history fiction. He argues that it can be traced back to 1st Century A.D. Roman historian Livy, who speculated about what would have happened had Alexander the Great invaded Roman-dominated Italy. Livy writes:
He would have crossed the sea with his Macedonian veterans, amounting to not more than 30,000 men and 4000 cavalry, mostly Thracian. This formed all his real strength. If he had brought over in addition Persians and Indians and other Orientals, he would have found them a hindrance rather than a help. We must remember also that the Romans had a reserve to draw upon at home, but Alexander, warring on a foreign soil, would have found his army diminished by the wastage of war, as happened afterwards to Hannibal. His men were armed with round shields and long spears, the Romans had the large shield called the scutum, a better protection for the body, and the javelin, a much more effective weapon than the spear whether for hurling or thrusting. In both armies the soldiers fought in line rank by rank, but the Macedonian phalanx lacked mobility and formed a single unit; the Roman army was more elastic, made up of numerous divisions, which could easily act separately or in combination as required.
To read the entire passage in Livy’s History of Rome, click on the link, which leads to Book 9 of the work. Then scroll down to sections 9.17 – 9.19.
Link via io9 | Image of Livy via the University of Michigan
If Star Wars Was Real is a photoshop gallery of images which imagine a synthesis of human history (particularly in the 20th Century) and Star Wars. Well, I think that it’s photoshopped. The hosts are a bit more ambitious:
Our mission is to compile any evidence we can find to prove that Star Wars is real. So far, we have several contacts around the globe studying photographs and artifacts for any shred of evidence they can find. However, since most of the evidence seems to be hidden away by some sort of worldwide government consipracy, we need your help to find the truth!
