If you could change one thing about history, what would it be?

Question

I have to pick one thing from history and change it for a final in my history class. The rules are that it has to be from the 19th or 20th century and it has to be in the realm of possibility. (Example: Changing the treaty of Versailles to keep Germany from staring WWII. Bad Example: Fly back in a time machine and kill Hitler.) Any ideas?

Answer 1

General Ewell doesn't hesitate to attack the Union troops outside Gettysburg and scatters them. The Union does not fortify Cemetery Ridge as a result and eventually Lee is able to force the Union army from the field leaving nearby towns and cities at his mercy.
Lee doesn't have the manpower to conquer the North, but eventually he agrees to an armistice and the Confederate States of America is officially recognised by the North as a sovereign nation. Lincoln signs the declaration of southern independance himself along with Jefferson Davis at the White house in 1865.
Britain is the first country to recognise the Confederate States, followed by Mexico.
Lincoln still establishes the state of Liberia and a number of free blacks from the north and even some from the south emmigrate there. Slavery in the north is discouraged, but continues on long after Lincoln dies of old age. Groups of whites help black slaves escape and send them to Liberia.
Slavery lasts until the beginning of the 20th century when following Britain's example, the practice is discontinued.
And so on..
Would the CSA or USA have got involved in WWI or WWII? How would the midwest have been divided up? Would the CSA have taken over control of Cuba and other Latin American lands?
Would the space programme have developed in North America at all. Actually if the nazis had won WWII, then the first men into space would have been Germans and the first flag on the moon would have had a swastika on it.

Answer 2

Hmmm.............19th and 20th centuries??? That's the 1800s and 1900s, right? Let's see.... There's a lot of history leading up to the Civil War in the United States in 1860. Read up on some of the Presidents and or influential people of the day and find out who could have been most inclined to realize the magnitude of and most influential in stopping the events that led up to the Civil War. Maybe go a step further and have this person or persons create an organization in the 1800s that not only succeeds in ending slavery on peaceful terms and stopping the Civil War but also stops the future world wars before they begin. To have an organization like this started in the 19th century (1800s) would have been quite an accomplishment. Good luck!!!
Another idea would be to have modern technology for peaceful purposes, i.e., air and space travel occurring much earlier than it did. If that happened we might already be much farther along in technology allowing us to inhabit the vast reaches of space and solve all of the earths problems of limited resources. What one event would have been crucial in causing all this to happen? Well, those are a couple of my ideas, good luck on your report!!!!

Answer 3

Change the transfer of Russian leadership from Lenin to Stalin instead from Lenin to Trotsky. Not great...but I'd say he's a heck of a lot better than Stalin who killed 30 million people (yes...that IS worse than Hitler by the way). Possibly make this "historical change" realistic by explaning that Lenin could have determined this in stead of letting them fight it out. Had Lenin clearly stated this, Stalin would not have come to power and furthermore he wouldn't have sent Trotsky all over the world (i.e. NYC, Mexico, Italy) and eventually killed him to assume full control. Good luck with this.

Answer 4

Have some well known (even unto this day) Roman historian at the crucifixion and document ACCURATELY exactly what happened. All we got are stories written by God knows who years after the event, and since those stories were written by followers of Jesus, you might say they were just a bit biased in what they wrote.

Answer 5

Stopping you from making any changes, since this could cause a paradox/new universe. Very bad idea.

Answer 6

Something very small and insignificant otherwise it would be like the movie the butterfly effect and I might not even be here

Answer 7

the genocide of the native americans