I was intrigued to find a wiki (group-written blog) on alternative history called http://althistory.wikia.com.
There's also alteratehistory.com, mostly discussion boards about alternate American history.
What is Althistory? A "fictional genre which often presupposes a change of a minor historical event that produces an incredible series of changes in the world."
The site includes alt-histories on U.S. presidential elections; world economy; satirical alt-histories; nuclear war; disasters; world war II; alternative histories by continent and country; and believe it or not, alt-histories on The Beatles.
Some of the highlighted or best alternative histories are:
- Napolean's World: Instead of invading Russia in the winter of 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte falls ill and stations his Grand Army in Borodino and Smolensk. That following spring, he launches an invasion of Russia, defeating the Russian army at Petrograd, where Czar Alexander perishes. The 'Imperial Wars' end shortly thereafter following the Forty Days Campaign to defeat the British, and Napoleon spends the next twenty years consolidating the Empire before his transference of power to his son, Napoleon II in 1832 and his death in 1844. The French Empire would continue to assimilate Europe and engaged the United States of America in the 20th century in a Cold War. Today, the French Empire is the world's superpower, competing only with the rival military powers of America and China.
- Allies Defeated at Normandy and Nazis Victorious.
- Mayflower sinks; English scale back colonalization of New World.
- Failure of American Revolution.
- Confederates Win the Civil War.
To write really good, plausible alternative history, you need to have a detailed knowledge of what actually happened. Otherwise alternative history is not persuasive or plausible to those who know more about the actual history than you do. The best alternative histories do not fly far afield of the facts as we know them.
Most of the posts on the alternative history wiki are not credible, but childish fantasies.For example, I view the creation of terminal illnesses to leading historical figures, such as Ronald Reagan contracting colon cancer in June, 1984, resulting in Walter Mondale's election as President, to be idle speculation. It's simply an acknowledgement that it's impossible to imagine Mondale winning without a mortal wound on Reagan.
"Create. Collaborate. Be Original" are the themes of wikia.com, where you can freely create pages for students or friends or those who share a common interest to post to. Intriguing tool for students. Wikia has more than two million users and more than 100,000 wikis. It grew 33% in 2012, and was voted one of the top 10 social networks by Nielson.
