You know, what if the Campanile, or Bell Tower, in Pisa didn't lean. Pisa would just be another quaint, yet random Italian city. Surely, it wouldn't have the same notoriety that it does.
And what if Elvis hadn't died at the age of 42. Would he still have been making music into his 60s? And what would that music have sounded like at the end of the 20th Century?
Even the marketing folks hired by the National Hockey League, had a what if moment. In their current series of TV spots, they show a classic moment during a Stanley Cup playoff game, and then reverse the footage, ending with a, What If...tag.
In one, the Boston Bruins are playing the St. Louis Blues in the 1970 Cup finals, and we see Bobby Orr's now famous overtime goal in which he is flying across the crease after scoring the game winner, giving Boston its first Stanley Cup in 30 years. The spot ends with, What if Bobby didn't fly? History will be made.
photo: Ray Lussier
You can view the spot and others (as well as some parodies) here:
During my recent travels to Israel and Palestine, I mused over some of those, what ifs.
What if 6 million Jews hadn't been exterminated by the Nazis?. Would there have been the same guilt and impetus by the world community to create a Jewish State (Israel) in Palestine? And what if the Arab armies that attacked Israel in 1948 weren't so inept, and had in fact defeated the Israelis as they boasted they would? Of course we can't rewrite history (though many try, or at least write it differently) But I wonder how different the region be today, had events been different?
Being in the Holy Land and all, I was also wondering how different the world would be had Jesus not been crucified. I mean the cross or crucifix plays such an integral part of Christian imagery. Would the religion have gained such a following had Jesus just died of old age. Maybe it wouldn't have changed the course of Christianity, but I wonder. Imagine how different churches would look. And what of the ubiquitous crosses that many women wear - part statement - part jewelry.Maybe you have your own, what if moments.
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2 comments:
I know when I studied history, some profs would get all hissy when you talked about the "what ifs" of history. Too bad. I enjoy that kind of thought experiment. Plus, it makes for some great stories. I particularly liked the "What Might Have Been" series of short story anthologies edited by sci-fi writer Greg Benford.
There's also some good 'what if' fiction centred around what the world would be like if the Nazis had won the war.
A particularly good example is Robert Harris's 1992 novel "Fatherland" (with apologies to Ken, who doesn't read fiction) .
From the book's Wikipedia entry:
According to the novel's version of history, the German armies on the Eastern Front are stopped at the gates of Moscow at the end of 1941, as in our history. Defeated in battle but not demoralised, they launch a second major offensive into the Caucasus in 1942, cutting the flow of oil to the Red Army. The first major divergence in the course of the war is that this second offensive is far more successful. With its armies immobilised for want of fuel, Joseph Stalin is forced to flee to the east, and a rump Soviet government surrenders in 1943.
The second major change in the war's campaigns is that around the same time, German intelligence (in a way never explained) learns the British have cracked the Enigma code, which is leading to the sinking of German submarines. They withdraw their submarines from the Atlantic temporarily and send false intelligence to lure the British fleet to destruction. The U-Boat campaign against the United Kingdom resumes, starving Britain into accepting a humiliating armistice in 1944. Winston Churchill, King George VI and other prominent British officials are forced into exile in Canada. Edward VIII regains the throne at the helm of a pro-German puppet government.
Germany tests its first atom bomb in 1946, and fires a "V-3" missile that explodes above New York City, to demonstrate Germany's ability to attack the continental United States with long-range missiles. Following this demonstration of power, the United States signs a peace treaty with Germany. This results in the Third Reich being one of the two superpowers of the world, along with the US, which defeated Japan, reflecting the actual history of the war, though a year later than in actual history.
Having achieved victory in Europe, Germany annexes Eastern Europe and most of the western Soviet Union into the Greater German Reich. Following the signing of the Treaty of Rome, Western Europe and Scandinavia are corralled into a pro-German trading bloc, the European Community. The surviving areas of the Soviet Union, still led by Stalin, become engaged in an endless guerrilla war with German forces in the Ural Mountains. Mounting casualties (at least 100,000 since 1960 stated in the novel and that the bodies have to be shipped back to Germany in the dead of night), have sapped the German military despite Hitler's earlier statement (quoted in the novel) about a perpetual war to keep the German people on their toes, like in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. By 1964, the United States and the Greater German Reich are caught in a Cold War and an arms race to develop more sophisticated nuclear weapons and space technology.
The novel takes place from April 14 – 20, 1964, as Germany prepares for Hitler's 75th birthday celebrations. A visit by the President of the United States, Joseph P. Kennedy, is planned as part of a gradual détente between the United States and the Greater German Reich. The Nazi hierarchy are hinted at being desperate for peace because the German economy has been staggering since the end of the war and the cost of fighting the war against the Russians has led to a situation whereby German citizens are encouraged to make even larger contributions than before to "Winter Relief". The Holocaust has been explained away to the satisfaction of many as merely the relocation of most of the Jewish population to the East into areas where communication and travel are still very poor, explaining why it is impossible for most of their relatives in the West to contact them. Despite this, many Germans are aware — or suspect — the government has eliminated the Jews.
- Geoff G.
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