Theme: Alternate Histories

Alternate Histories are concerned with different outcomes of historic events had some event in the past been changed. Common variants include the depiction of the world that might have come about had Germany won World War II, what might have happened if the dinosaurs did not die out or if the South won the American Civil War to name some of the most common treatments.

Alternate Histories should be differentiated from the theme Alternate Timelines. Alternate Timelines concern themselves with personal stories – how the events of an individual’s life may have transpired differently had a crucial event been changed at some point or they made a different decision leading them on a different pathway – as opposed to widespread historical and societal changes.

Quite a number of different scenarios have been posited over the years both serious and unserious. For more detail and an overview of the genre see the Theme Essay Alternate History Films.