Review of "What If?: The World’s Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been," edited by Robert Crowley

 Review of

What If?: The World’s Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been, edited by Robert Crowley, ISBN 0425176428

Five out of five stars

Informed, plausible speculation about forks in history

 The butterfly effect is a well known and genuine phenomenon in science. It means that the actions of a butterfly flapping its’ wings can lead to a major storm thousands of miles away. In other words, very small changes in initial conditions can lead to dramatic changes in later events. There is no question that small changes in historical events would lead to significant changes later. The example that is probably most often stated is what would have happened if the assassination attempts against Adolf Hitler that took place before September 1, 1939, had been successful.

 In this book some of the foremost military historians look back on a specific historical event and ponder how the world would have changed if the situation had evolved differently. The events considered were certainly major. Likely most significant was the one that took place in 1242. The Mongol army came from the east and swept all the way into eastern Europe. They defeated the armies of Poland and Hungary and left an incredible amount of death in their wake as they built their empire, the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world.

 Yet, in 1242 the Mongol army withdrew. Ogadai, the third son of Genghis Khan and the current occupant of the Mongol throne had died. Their law required that they return to their homeland in order to elect a new khan. How strange it must have been to the Europeans that anticipated widespread death and destruction to watch the Mongols pack up and depart.

 Other events include the near death of George Washington at the hands of a British soldier that had him in his sights, the events after the assassination at Sarajevo that led to the start of World War I, if the weather had turned bad on June 6, 1941, and led to the D-Day invasion failing, had even a few American planes failed or were delayed in the battle of Midway in 1942, if Hitler had moved through the Middle East in 1941 instead of attacking the Soviet Union, and if the Spanish Armada had defeated the British fleet in 1588.

 These intelligent speculations regarding what could easily have happened and the dramatic alterations in the historical timeline are some of the most entertaining and thought-provoking items that you can read. One of the best aspects of history is you can read it and then think how things might easily have been different. This is one of the best books regarding potential history that is available. I found it so worthy that once I completed it I immediately ordered volume II.

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