Gorbachev tried to reform the ussr but failed but what if he got them to survive into the 90s and even 2000s, what would the world look like

Limitations: By mid August, the Americans would only have 1 more bomb.

By october 1945, they were said to have 7 more bombs in total.

Some estimate thet would have close to 20 atom bombs ready to be dropped by end of 1945.

Assuming Truman wanted to wrap up the war by 1945, and assuming he gave absolutely 0 fucks about what happened to the Japanese, which regions would he have nuked to maximize devastation to military hotspots and death? (Greater amounts of death would ensure fewer of them could resist when they eventually sent occupational forces to forcefully deconstruct the government)

As a bonus: Let's assume each of the nukes was live televised throughout every Japanese household, as a demoralization tactic. At which point do you think they would have realised the hopelessness of the situation and revolted against the imperial emperor and his generals?

Maybe the current emperor is sent back to bring the message to his "honored grandfather" so the emperor listens, or something, I don't know.

What would come of this?

What if in either 16 or 24 he won NY, (that being the only change) what occurs to the political scene? does Trump do anything interesting about it? do the Dems panic?

What if William Wilberforce (The one chad that abolish the trans Atlantic trade) failed to abolish the slave trade and slavery is still running in England and other part of the world, and when the civil war broke out, England decided to help the Confederate 'win' as in signing an armistice with the north, will a second civil war broke out?

Im no historian so please excuse any inconsistencies in my question, as I am genuinely curious what others may imagine could have happened. I read about how the Vikings influence extended from the UK all the way through France towards even Constantinople. in the scenario I propose, what if the failed settlement made by Lief Eriksson didn't fail, but instead it became a hub that grew as more Vikings chose to move westward instead of south, interacting with the various peoples in the American northern continent?

If Henry the Proud had become emperor in 1125, he likely would have secured the succession for his son, Henry the Lion, and continued the Welf dynasty at the center of the empire. As emperor, he wouldn’t have needed to fight for legitimacy, and his death—likely caused by poisoning—might have been avoided. This could’ve allowed him time to strengthen Welf control over both Bavaria and Saxony. It’s likely he would have ensured his dynasty ruled for generations, like the Hohenstaufens tried with their heirs.

This also means Bavaria and Saxony would have stayed under one ruler and never been split. Henry the Lion wouldn’t have needed to weaken his own lands by supporting the creation of the Duchy of Austria. That means Austria likely never becomes its own power, staying part of Bavaria instead. The Welfs would have held a stronger empire with no need to fear Barbarossa’s rise.

With no Austria, the Habsburgs may never gain enough influence to become emperors. That power might instead go to the Luxembourgs, who ruled later on and may have kept control even without male heirs. The Welfs, already strong in the empire, would have had no reason to focus on Hanover. Without Hanover, they likely never become Kings of England through Queen Victoria.

In reality, Henry the Proud lost the imperial election to Conrad of Hohenstaufen even with strong support in northern and western Germany. His loss marked a huge turning point in imperial politics. The Welfs lost influence while the Hohenstaufens rose. This election set the stage for decades of dynastic rivalry.

The defeat increased tensions between the Welfs and Hohenstaufens and also with the papacy. These tensions led to the Welf-Hohenstaufen War, a long conflict over who should control the empire. The war hurt both families, but the Welfs lost more. Their chance at empire slipped away.

Henry the Proud died in 1139, most likely from poisoning, though it’s never been proven. His death ended his direct ambitions for the crown. His son, Henry the Lion, inherited Saxony and Bavaria. But without imperial backing, his power slowly faded.

In 1156, Barbarossa took lands from Henry the Lion and turned them into the Duchy of Austria. Then in 1180, he deposed him entirely. Henry was exiled to England where King Henry II gave him land, but his empire was gone. The Welfs wouldn’t rise again until the 1600s, when they got Hanover and later the British throne through Victoria.

Originally, Biden planned on saving one term, saying he would be a "bridge" president. However this changed in April 2023 when he announced he would be running again in 2023, ultimately he dropped out in July 2024 following declining health and low chances against Trump. However what would have happened if Biden decided to stick to his "Bridge" president promise and didn't try running again?

They were already struggling economically, militarily, socially. If the Japanese had continued fighting the war, Truman had said it best– the US would have continued nuking Japan until they had surrendered. At which point do you think the Japanese people would have given up, or would they even have given up? When Kyoto was destroyed? When all the military generals were killed? When their whole army was wiped out? Do you think the civilians would have lived out the rest of their lives to kamikaze the allies? Would they only have stopped when everything was nuclear wasteland, and they were all dead/diseased and developing cancer from radiation– when it was too late and there was nothing to call a country to be surrendered?

In essence, would Japan even be with us today? Or would it be reduced to even more of a puppet than it is now– a state completely under the subjugation of the US like Puerto Rico, without voting rights?

And the most important question– How would history have changed, and how would the present differ from what it is now?

Here's to hoping Reddit doesn't shadowban me for posting this a few times. Cheers!

This is a follow-up of sorts to my post about the presidential lineup in a world where WW1 doesn’t happen until the 1930s. I feel like there’s a lot of factors that would prevent it from happening, but I’m curious about whether or not the Great Depression would still happen in this type of timeline, no matter what.

So according to this video and this wikipedia article, there was a time where both Canada and Britain considered transferring some of the islands in the British West Indies like Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Turk and Caicos from British control to Canadian control. According to the later article, some Canadians like Harry Crowe wanted Canada to control these islands for the following reasons:

• It would increase Canada's territory and population thus increasing the Dominion's importance and influence.
• Control of some Caribbean island would make the Dominion more self-contained, meaning they would be able to make their own tropical products. That and access to the islands other valuable resources would result in a large development of trade.
• It would encourage Canada to develop it's sea power.
• It would be considered good compensation for the losses Canada suffered during the war.

However, due sentiment of anti-expansionism in Canada they ultimately choose not to expand. But what if Canada, took control of some, if not all, of the British West Indies, after WW1 or WW2? How would this affect Canada's development?

Tzaches whas a Turkic Byzantine mercenary general who captured smyrna in the 1080s he made a bid for the Emperorship in 1090.he made plans to attack Constantinople with a joint pechneg-turkic army but he didn't and by 1093 hed been killed by the sultan of Rum.what would have happened then if he'd succeeded?

In OTL, Australian barrister David Kant rushed the stage where (then) Prince Charles was giving a speech for Australia Day and fired two blanks from a starter pistol. Kang claimed the action was in protest of the Australian government’s treatment of Cambodian asylum seekers.

What if (either by accident, or intent) Kang’s protest causes the death of Prince Charles?

The Meiji Restoration helped Japan to successfully modernize. This made Japan a new power in Asia. The success of Japan's Meiji Restoration was due to the great help from the West. The West helped Japan in many ways such as providing machinery to Japan, sending experts to Japan, accepting Japanese students, etc. When Japan gained power from the Meiji Restoration, they started to attack the Western powers.

In this scenario, the West believes that helping Japan is too risky. They fear that Japan will attack the West when it becomes stronger. Therefore, the West refuses to help Japan during the Meiji Restoration. How will this affect Japan? Will Japan be able to modernize successfully?

Tatarstan declared sovereignty in 1990, but president of Tatarstan signed political accord with Yeltsin that made Tatarstan more autonomous within Russia.

Would rejecting uniting with Russia start a military conflict, or start Russian sanctions towards Tatarstan that could weaken the economy of Tatarstan and weaken idea of ​​its sovereignty?

After World War II, the US and the West implemented a policy of transferring production activities from domestic to foreign countries. This made goods cheaper because the countries receiving investment (China, India, Vietnam, etc.) had low labor costs. However, this led to deindustrialization in the US and the West. For example, the industrial decline of the American Midwest. The withdrawal of American companies from the Midwest led to the collapse of this land, followed by increasing social evils. It is no coincidence that people like Donald Trump are trusted by Americans because Americans believe that he will bring jobs back.

I wonder what would have happened if the US and the West had never moved manufacturing overseas. I think there are many things the US and the West could have done to prevent their companies from moving overseas (such as enacting policies that prohibit offshoring, imposing high tariffs on goods made abroad, etc.). I know it is too late to implement the policies I mentioned above. But what if they had implemented them after World War II (specifically in the 1950s)?

In November 2021, Oroville, which is a town in California, symbolically declared independence from California due to their disagreement with Governor Gavin Newsom's policies regarding COVID-19. The Oroville City Council declared their town a "Constitutional Republic" but assured that this was nothing but symbolic and that they weren't actually going to separate from California. However, what if they really did declare independence from not just California but the United States entirely? In this timeline, the Oroville City Council aren't just regular Conservatives but Sovereign Citizen types, and they declare full independence from the United States. The Police Chief is on their side and mobilizes the Oroville Police Department to enforce this independence. How would this turn out?

 Leon Trotsky's parents convert to Eastern Orthodoxy, leading Trotsky to be more culturally east slavic and nationalistic, then instead of being arrested, and being brainwashed by the communists in prison, Leon Trotsky escapes the Russian empire, into the plurality or majority Ukrainian part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, where he becomes a Ukrainian nationalist, and the Ukrainian nationalists that he initially meets, help him successfully conceal his jewish background (so any anti-semites among the Ukrainian nationalists don't drive him into the hands of the communists), and he helps the West Ukrainian National Republic (WUNR) to be formed earlier and with greater pre-planning. Crucially, before the collapse of Austria-Hungary. Ukrainian military committees within the Austro-Hungarian Army are more effective in secretly organizing and stockpiling weapons, and Trotsky helps make it's army more effective in ways he did with the red army in OTL, so when Austria-Hungary collapses, Ukrainian forces are immediately ready and seize control of Lviv and Eastern Galicia more decisively (instead of the initial chaotic fighting and Polish element of surprise) and with the Ukrainians on the offensive, a superior Ukrainian military presence in the region makes it harder for Polish volunteers and returning soldiers to gain a foothold and as the WUNR unites with the UNR, Trotsky gets a high rank in the national Ukrainian army and does his thing. Then the Poles, realizing that the Bolsheviks are the greater threat team up with Ukraine against them. And without Trotsky to help to Bolsheviks, they're able to secure Ukraine's independence

Ahmad al-Mansur Had ambitions for a reconquest of Al Andalus and the takeover of Spanish colonies, let's assume that the stars align and by some miracle this actually works(likely with help from England due to the Anglo-Moroccan alliance), what would have happened?

The Tsar Bomba was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever made and tested with the blast strength of 50 to 58 megatons of TNT. In theory, the bomb would have had a yield over 100 megatons if it had included the uranium-238 tamper which was omitted on the test.

What kind of embarassment would befall the Soviet Union, and what kind of reaction would the United States have, had the bomb failed?