Archive for the ‘Alternative History’ tag
What if?
I followed a recommendation and discovered this wonderful short story by Winston Churchill from 1930. Churchill demonstrates, in this story, his mastery in using words to express ideas and his sharp analytical abilities in this interesting attempt to play with alternative history:
THE quaint conceit of imagining what would have happened if some important or unimportant event had settled itself differently has become so fashionable that I am encouraged to enter upon an absurd speculation. What would have happened if Lee had not won the battle of Gettysburg? Once a great victory is won it dominates not only the future but the past. All the chains of consequence clink out as if they never could stop. The hopes that were shattered, the passions that were quelled, the sacrifices that were ineffectual are all swept out of the land of reality.