Keep someone alive...

[silver wolf009]

snip

Apologies if the message is too long, but I'm a history student and this is the kind of "what if" stuff I live for.

Ah, a man after my own heart...

Still, if there was ever a fault of Alexander, it was ambition... he was just as capricious as his kinsman Pyrrhus in the sense that he could never really sit still. That said, had his army been willing, it may have been interesting seeing him attempt to take on the western Mediterranean, though one, he undoubtedly preferred eastern aesthetics and two, as you say his Persian holdings would've disintegrated within a year of his departure.

One thing that never ceases to puzzle me, though... how did Seleucus get the lion's share of the empire afterwards? He was a relative nobody in the Somatophylakes, wasn't he??

The Kaiser.

It'd be fun to see how WW2 would have played out, if it would have played out at all, if the Kaiser had not fallen from power. Perhaps his defeat in The Great War would lead to Germany never becoming involved in the fight.

I think that's a case of 'stayed in power' rather than continued living, because he died in exile (in the Netherlands rather ironically) in 1941...

I must have gotten my timeline mixed up in my head, as I thought he'd died only shortly before the onset of WW2. Apologies.

 

[MetalMagpie]

Franz Marc. Incredible German painter who was killed in World War 1. He was just 36, and his art was beginning to head off in a fascinating new direction. As an artist, he had a lot more to give and a lot further to grow.

 

[cswurt]

I wonder what would happen if Dwight Schrute took JFK's place the day he was assassinated and JFK lived on.


Or I wouldn't mind it if George Carlin were still alive either.

 

[Psychedelic Spartan]

Martin Luther King Jr. Think of how much more he could have done.

 

[exessmirror]

JFK, i think the cold war would have ended a lot quicker

 

[Imthatguy]

Rasputin, sure he was a bit of a brute but what if he turned out good later on and used his influence to help people

Yeah right...

If Lenin had survived long I doubt we would have seen Stalin rise to power and all the bad shit that entailed.

there is no need for lenin.
leon trotsky was his rightful sucessor but he got robbed that title by a an orchestrated ?coup? set up by stalin.
so in this case, stalin should have died sooner.

Thats my point perhaps if Lenin's death hadn't been so abrupt...

 

[Albino Boo]

One thing that never ceases to puzzle me, though... how did Seleucus get the lion's share of the empire afterwards? He was a relative nobody in the Somatophylakes, wasn't he??

He got it because he was regarded as a safe pair of hands. Under Alexander he never got an interdependent command but commanded the silver shields so he had strong links into the elite Macedonian infantry. After Alexander's death he was appointed to command of the companion cavalry so again he built strong links to the elite of the cavalry arm. Seleucus got his position rather because he was a relative nobody and therefore wasn't a threat to the others. Similar to Stalin he used his appointments to put his own men into key roles.

 

[The Funslinger]

Hitler

I don't want to bring anyone back, but if I have to, I think he could make a fantastic leader in the right environment.

Don't think the thread's about who you want to bring back. It's more 'pick someone and predict how that would alter history'.

And I think putting Hitler in a leadership position would be a bit stupid, given the obvious... track record. It'd be the sociopolitical equivalent of waving your junk in a polar bear's face.

What he could be good for is being put in an advisory role. Guy fixed the German depression where people literally burned fistfuls million mark notes on the fire because they were worth that much less than newspaper.

But giving him a leadership position? Naaaaaaaaah! He was very much documented as being almost hypnotically charismatic as a figurehead.

Edit: Almost forgot. OT: Julius Caesar. His son wouldn't have been killed, and would likely have started a birthright empire. He'd probably have made a stable emperor and probably would have taught his son well enough.

There'd have been less unpredictable, fast and loose wankers for emperors, that's for sure. Not necessarily 'better', but more respectable as people.

 

[SckizoBoy]

He got it because he was regarded as a safe pair of hands. Under Alexander he never got an interdependent command but commanded the silver shields so he had strong links into the elite Macedonian infantry. After Alexander's death he was appointed to command of the companion cavalry so again he built strong links to the elite of the cavalry arm. Seleucus got his position rather because he was a relative nobody and therefore wasn't a threat to the others. Similar to Stalin he used his appointments to put his own men into key roles.

I knew as much (of his background), but wouldn't've guessed that it would be enough for him to be nominated to take the crown in Babylon... Would've thought that the other Diadochi would lay into his piece of the pie a couple years later.

Still, based on the above, surely he would've been given Lysimachus' demesne instead... *shrug* It's just that the Seleucid Empire was an expansive part of the empire and the illustration of Alexander's conquests. That said, he did very well for himself since AFAIK in the event, as he wasn't actually allocated anything at the Partition of Babylon...

Gotta love Macedonian politics!

 

[Albino Boo]

He got it because he was regarded as a safe pair of hands. Under Alexander he never got an interdependent command but commanded the silver shields so he had strong links into the elite Macedonian infantry. After Alexander's death he was appointed to command of the companion cavalry so again he built strong links to the elite of the cavalry arm. Seleucus got his position rather because he was a relative nobody and therefore wasn't a threat to the others. Similar to Stalin he used his appointments to put his own men into key roles.

I knew as much (of his background), but wouldn't've guessed that it would be enough for him to be nominated to take the crown in Babylon... Would've thought that the other Diadochi would lay into his piece of the pie a couple years later.

Still, based on the above, surely he would've been given Lysimachus' demesne instead... *shrug* It's just that the Seleucid Empire was an expansive part of the empire and the illustration of Alexander's conquests. That said, he did very well for himself since AFAIK in the event, as he wasn't actually allocated anything at the Partition of Babylon...

Gotta love Macedonian politics!

Personally I think there is a missing piece of the puzzle. Seleucus was obviously of noble birth but his farther doesn't appear to be a significant person but I suspect the answer lies in his extended kin group. The clannish nature of Macedonian politics leads me to suspect that Seleucus was very well connected by cousinage and by guest friendship.

 

[Friendly Lich]

I think it'd be fun to keep Jesus alive.

Would be interesting to see how things would have evolved if he was never crucified and killed.

This^ Also Lincoln