If you could change one thing in history.

[Terio]

Pretty simple.
If you could change one event in world history, what would it be and why?

[Foamy XIII]

King Asoka of India conquered the rest of the world out of non-violence and compassion. No weapons were used.

[New England and The Maritimes]

I'd have Osman II escape, crush and disband the Janissaries and have his uncle Mustafa hanged for crimes against the crown.

[Modern Gondor]

The Native American civilizations and tribes were not wiped out and instead co-exist with us.

[Socialist Central Asia]

The Mongols succesfully invaded Japan and China

[Drekka]

Robert McNamera chose the FAL over the M16

[Isointania]

Hsitory was never invneted

[Yipestan]

I would have made sure that barter economy would have stayed and not being replaced by money. Reason is that in my opinion money is a needless process to trade goods between each other. Why use junk with no real value when you can trade goods instantaneously? One man's trash is another man's treasure! Plus, money does not reach everyone who needs it.

[Sideonia]

Invention(or what it is called) of conservatism or liberalism.

[Falsea]

Oh god, that's a difficult question. There are lot of things i wanted to change. Here are a few:

- War of independence ends with british victory.
- European colonization, mainly spain and portugal.
- Monarchs in Europe never came to power.

But of course, what i really want change is: My country was never annexed nor influenced by imperialist nations.

[New England and The Maritimes]

Oh god, that's a difficult question. There are lot of things i wanted to change. Here are a few:

- American civil war ends with british victory.
- European colonization, mainly spain and portugal, never happened.
- Monarchs never came to power.

Pick events, not centuries-long ongoing processes.

[Torisakia]

Auburn never would have won 2 national championships.

[Akatos]

The fall of the British Empire in the late 20th century.

[Priory Academy USSR]

American civil war ends with british victory.

Just to say, the American Civil War was between the Union and the Confederacy. You're either confusing it with the War of Independence, or considering British intervention in the civil war.

Personally, I would change the fall of the Byzantine Empire (so that they didn't get destroyed by the Ottomans).

[Maltropia]

- Monarchs never came to power.

What the heck does that even mean?

[Blood Rose (Ancient)]

Marie Antoinette and her family lived.

[The Archregimancy]

King Asoka of India conquered the rest of the world out of non-violence and compassion. No weapons were used.

The problem there being that Ashoka didn't even conquer most of India with 'non-violence and compassion'. His conversion to Buddhism post-dates his only significant territorial expansion, the violent conquest of Kalinga; it was the violence of the Kalinga War that's generally held to have inspired the conversion. Otherwise, the territorial boundaries of the Maurya Empire were set by Ashoka's grandfather Chandragupta. Following Ashoka's conversion, he didn't even attempt to expand the boundaries of his empire via diplomacy and persuasion; he merely formed alliances with neighbouring states.

So given he didn't conquer a single state with 'non-violence and compassion', it's hard to see how he could have 'conquered the rest of the world' using the same principles were directly responsible for his ending attempts at further territorial expansion.

[Laerod]

I would have made sure that barter economy would have stayed and not being replaced by money. Reason is that in my opinion money is a needless process to trade goods between each other. Why use junk with no real value when you can trade goods instantaneously? One man's trash is another man's treasure! Plus, money does not reach everyone who needs it.

Because apples rot.

[Awesomeland]

I'd prevent the start of life on Earth. Everything wrong with the world started there.

[Dagnia]

I would change the fact that the Abrahamic religions became dominant. The pagan gods of Europe, Egypt and Arabia were so much more interesting than the sterile "perfect" gods of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The pagan religions were much less dogmatic and though there was some persecution of other religions, it was nothing like the inquisitions and jihads brought on by the Abrahamic ones. The pagan philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle gave us reason, logic and science, while the Abrahamic religions brought us the Medieval era. While some Christian, Jewish and Muslim philosophers and scientists used logic, reason and science to an extent and even gave us new inventions and discoveries, it wasn't until the religious superstition was thrown off that we really got anywhere.

I would have made sure that barter economy would have stayed and not being replaced by money. Reason is that in my opinion money is a needless process to trade goods between each other. Why use junk with no real value when you can trade goods instantaneously? One man's trash is another man's treasure! Plus, money does not reach everyone who needs it.

True, fiat money (nearly all money in the world today) is useless, unless it is backed by gold or anything tangible. The main problem of the barter economy is you end up with a lot of people who need something, a lot of people who have it, but none of those people who have it need what the people who need it can trade for it. Money, backed by something valuable or not, simplifies the process of acquiring a needed or wanted item. And the problem of a modicum of prosperity not reaching everyone who needs it is not solved by the barter economy. Starvin' Marvin and his family would still have to produce something for trade to get food. If they have nothing to begin with and are not producing anything, they can't barter for anything, so they are no better off.

[Arumdaum]

Have the housing bubble pop after I finish college.

[Daihan]

Have the housing bubble pop after I finish college.

This actually happened to me - right after I finished college. Believe me, it was no picnic.

[Christmahanikwanzikah]

Everyone agrees - if you have the chance to change history, you go back and kill Hitler.

[Laerod]

Everyone agrees - if you have the chance to change history, you go back and kill Hitler.

Fuck no.

[Libertarian Territories]

Anarchist Catalonia was succesful despite the efforts of the Communists and the Fascists.

Or, same thing with Free Territory, minus the Fascists.