If you had the power to change one event in history ?

Question

If you had the power to change just one event in history as long back as you like - what would you change and why ?

It could be saving someone or killing someone or stopping a natural disaster or preventing a war - anything !

Answer 1

Nothing.
Everything happens for a reason.

Answer 2

Slavery. The trickle-down effects that came as a result of the decisions of a few, are so widespread and devastating to society as a whole - not just black people - that it can never be assessed or is there any real recovery. There is no way predict or estimate the successes (or failures) that a group of people would have come into naturally if they had been afforded the "freedoms"/opportunities others enjoyed as members of the human race. Maybe black people wouldn't be the minority. Maybe African tribal communities, as well as, Africa as a whole would have been different today if certain people had remained where they began. Maybe America as a whole would not have progressed the way it has (or at the pace that it has) if it had not been for the years of "free labor." Where would this world be today if the concept of "chattel slavery" had not developed and inevitably implimented as a way of life for society? Hmmmm.........

Answer 3

Well there are many things i would like to change. the holocaust, black enslavement, countless wars, the death of alexander the great (ok maybe that isn't as noble but still...) anyway these are all things i would most likely do away with good intent but there is always the fact that i do it thinking to make the world better...but then it turns the world out worse than it already is, makes things go crazier lots quicker..the possibility that i change one and it increases the impact of the other such as if i take away black enslavement...alright well what if that means all the jews die and hitler rules the world...ok now what if i decide to take away the holocaust..now what happens if all the blacks in america die and whites and black s have an on going war...that is what i fear...now if I was possitive that it wouldn't make thing worse in anyway i would still not know what to take away honestly...too bad poverty isn't an event.

Answer 4

Open discussions everywhere in the world should the planet accept Charles Darvin's theory of evolution ; Save Giordano Bruno ; Save women from Salem; Acknowledge all work to the whole world of genius Nikola Tesla; Extract the idea of atomic energy from everyone's mind ; Encourage cooperation between all countries to finance the 1st trip to the Moon together and doing so every third year... so much that humans could have done in this planet.. such a shame !

Answer 5

I would travel to the New World circa AD 1000. I would introduce airborne innoculants to spread to all the inhabitants and introduce them to basic technologies that would, over a period of several centuries, allow them to engage in ship-building, agriculture, and weaponry. In addition, I would introduce them to basic tenants of Christianity, so that even if centuries later they weren't Christian, they at least understood what the story was about. And for good measure, I'd give them written and spoken samples of a few European languages.

The hope would be that before Columbus made his voyage, Europe would have visitors in the 15th century from the Americas. Visitors who, despite their skin color, would be on relatively equal footing in terms of technology, a common religious background and a smattering of the language.

Perhaps formalized treaties could be adopted, opening up new trade routes and curbing the colonialization fever that would have swept Europe a couple of centuries later. With the might of the gun behind them and tobacco to trade, everyone would have to play by the rules.

By the 17th century, the industrial revolution would have long since started since competition would be fiercer than ever... not for land in the Americas, since it would be occupied by a civilization as strong as Europe, but for technological innovation and production as each European country tried to maintain its identity and deal with its neighbors while fitting into the greater scheme of things.

The early advent of industry would prevent slavery (mostly, though not entirely) from taking hold, so the influx into Africa doesn't occur on anywhere near the same scale, and the terrain is at that time too rough to claim land (except for countries along the Mediterranean).

The expectation of finding civilizations on the same plane helps the East Asians to open up the silk trade route in full, and with the Pacific opened up, the world trade routes are cracked wide open by the 18th century.

The Africans and Indians over the next 2 centuries aren't conquered, but absorbed as trade and technological innovation swarm the globe, a flurry of activity that speeds things up to a fever pitch. By the start of the 20th century, there are telephones and computers. Science and mathemetics take quantum leaps all in the name of advancing knowledge and trade.

By the late 20th century, borders blur further and further, and everyone wants to get into the game. The advances spur the first excursions into space to obtain more resources to trade and exploit.

In the year 2006 in this timeline, countries and principalities are moldy ideologies and war is a silly affair. People keep up with each other and so the important thing is to trade and bargain and sell and keep ahead to live a better life. To do so means you have to get along with everyone else, use the same currency and have the same sort of governmental structure.

It's far from perfect, but there are no holocausts, no wars, and little racism. It would be a good start.

Answer 6

With a basic understanding that all events somehow interconnect, changing one event in history, no matter how terrible it was, could adversely affect all events following.
If I were forced to answer...it would probably be the time(s) that I embarrassed or humiliated someone.

Answer 7

I would convince the British to change the words of the declaration of balfour and give German Jews a home not in Canaan/Israel/Palestine, but in Canada. French Canadians have been highly pro-Jews for atleast since the time of Louis Saint-Laurent.

Answer 8

If I was in the shoes of a German ruler,other than Hitler,and recognizing myself as a anti-racist and anti-communist person,I would use my Blitz-Krieg for putting my anti-communist border near the Soviet Union and putting the bases of a European Union-remember we are in 1939-1940. No persecutions to any race,but communists would be invited,very polite,to migrate to Soviet Union.

Answer 9

I would save the library at alexandria. Enough people are saving Adam and Eve from the Apple.

Answer 10

It would involve the death of Jesus Christ.

I know that it was the divine plan that he had to die for us. But, why did he have to be so brutalized? If he had to die....why couldn't he have gone gently? Wasn't dying itself....more than enough. Why did he have to be tortured?

BTW.....great question. It really gets ya thinking of all the possibilities.

And, yes....like the others here.....I would love to undo all the hate crimes against man, that has ever happened.

Answer 11

I would have change the stealing and killing and enslaving of Africans and Indians, for it has great impact on we Africans in the Diaspora and Indians. Till now we suffer of the impact!