History Main / AlternateHistoryTropes

* ForWantOfANail: Also known as the "butterfly effect". Seemingly minor changes to the historical past result in majorly different outcomes for the future.

* IstanbulNotConstantinople: Alternate names for real locations.

* NonSequiturCausality

* StockUnsolvedMysteries: Various historical mysteries, UrbanLegends, and UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories that are rife with fantastical speculation to explain how they happened.

* UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories: Most conspiracy theories are pseudohistorical claims that various real-life events had allegedly occurred ''very'' differently from mainstream records of those events and are being kept secret by people who don't want the public to know what actually happened.

** AnachronismStew
** PunkPunk

** HumanityCameFromSpace: Humans are not actually from Earth, and only settled down here from another planet a very long time ago.

** FourthReich: The Nazis somehow rise to power again ''after losing'' WWII.
** GodwinsLawOfTimeTravel: Using time travel to meddle with the past increases the chances of a German victory in WWII.
*** HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct: Time-traveling assassins who try to kill UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler in the past will usually fail (and even if they do succeed, [[ButterflyOfDoom it may result in undesirable consequences]]).

** AllianceOfAlternates: Multiple incarnations of the same person from different timelines or universes teaming up together.
** DeadAlternateCounterpart
** MirrorSelf

** OneManIndustrialRevolution: One particular inventor is responsible for the creation of most modern technology.
*** TeslaTechTimeline: UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla was far more influential on the development of electrical engineering.
** SchizoTech: Anachronistic technology (i.e. futuristic machines in the past).
*** GivingRadioToTheRomans: A time-traveler from the future decides to introduce modern technology to the past.
** ThoseMagnificentFlyingMachines: The invention and proliferation of hypothetical aircraft.
*** ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: Airships never went out of fashion.

** BizarroUniverse: A universe where everything is the opposite version of its regular counterpart.
** MirrorUniverse: A universe where morality is reversed, with the counterparts of good people being evil and vice versa.
** NeverWasThisUniverse: A work takes place in a universe that clearly has a different history from the real world, but no clear point of divergence.

* CloseEnoughTimeline
* UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories: Most conspiracy theories are pseudohistorical claims that various real-life events had allegedly occurred ''very'' differently from mainstream records of those events, and are being kept secret by people who don't want the public to know what actually happened.
** ConspiracyKitchenSink: Almost every kind of conspiracy theory or UrbanLegend you've ever heard of is at least partially true in this story's setting.

** AmericaIsStillAColony: The British colonies in North America never became independent, as UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution was either thwarted or averted altogether.
** {{Americasia}}: Western North America was colonized by East Asians instead of Europeans.
** DividedStatesOfAmerica: The USA has been {{balkanize|Me}}d, usually because of the [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War]] ([[SecondAmericanCivilWar or its sequel]]).
** EvilStatesOfAmerica: The USA has become TheEmpire.
** ExpandedStatesOfAmerica: The USA has acquired many more states and territories than it did in real life.
** FallenStatesOfAmerica: The USA has grown weak and no longer qualifies as a global superpower, or may not even exist anymore.
** FantasyAmericana: The USA as a [[HistoricalFantasy magical]] [[UrbanFantasy setting]].
*** WeirdWest: TheWildWest, but with strange events and supernatural beings getting involved.
** InvadedStatesOfAmerica: The USA is under foreign military occupation.
** MexicoCalledTheyWantTexasBack: Mexico has regained (or never lost) control over the US state of Texas (and maybe even the rest of the Southwestern United States).
*** RussiaCalledTheyWantAlaskaBack: Russia has regained (or never lost) control over the the US state of Alaska.
** OppressiveStatesOfAmerica: The USA is under an authoritarian/totalitarian system of government.

** Area51: A US Air Force base in Nevada that is said to be secretly housing captured alien spacecraft ([[RoswellThatEndsWell usually recovered from Roswell, New Mexico]]).
** TheBermudaTriangle: An area of the Atlantic Ocean (somewhere between Bermuda, Florida, and Puerto Rico) that is supernaturally prone to causing the strange disappearances of ships and planes that cross it.
** CurseOfThePharaoh: The ruins of AncientEgypt are haunted, and the tombs of {{mumm|y}}ified [[NephariousPharaoh pharaohs]] are especially cursed. Grave-robbers and archaeologists dare to enter at their own risk.
** MysticalHollywood: America's entertainment capital is a literally magical place. May be haunted by the spirits of dead celebrities.

** FictionalCountry: A made-up sovereign nation-state which has been inserted into an otherwise-identical map of the real world.
** FictionalProvince: A province, state, or other sub-national region of a real-world country which only exists in-universe.
** NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: A fictional city which is based on a real city, and which may even be an in-universe stand-in for it.

** ButterflyOfDoom: Time travelers to the past often find that their actions will accidentally result in extremely unpredictable (and undesirable) consequences for the future.
** InSpiteOfANail: The inversion/subversion of the above; for when (drastic) changes to the past somehow result in some future events somehow still happening with little or no alteration.

** NaziZombies: [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons Schutzstaffel and Wehrmacht soldiers]] who have been turned into [[NightOfTheLivingMooks undead minions]].
** StupidJetpackHitler: A more sci-fi version of Ghostapo, in which the Nazis try to develop futuristic technology and super-weapons.

** BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: A historical figure's life or identity was secretly far more fantastical than what we know about.
*** JuliusBeethovenDaVinci: A long-lived or immortal character turns out to have assumed the identities of one or more historical figure(s).
*** YouWillBeBeethoven: A time-traveler from the future assumed the identity of a historical figure.
*** DemonKingNobunaga: The 16th century Japanese warlord UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga was actually (or became) a supernatural being.
*** WeDidntStartTheFuhrer: UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler was actually (or became) a supernatural being.
** FictionalizedDeathAccount: A historical figure's death happens much differently from real life.
*** DidAnastasiaSurvive: What if the [[UsefulNotes/AnastasiaNikolaevnaRomanova Grand Duchess Anastasia]] (the youngest daughter of [[UsefulNotes/TsarTsarAutocrats Tsar Nicholas II of Russia]]) had somehow managed to escape the [[RulingFamilyMassacre executions of the Romanov dynasty]] during the [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober Russian Revolution]]?
*** ElvisLives: Music/ElvisPresley didn't actually die of a heart attack in 1977, he just faked his death and is hiding out somewhere.
*** ElvisHasLeftThePlanet: Elvis just left Earth to move to another planet.
** HistoricalBadassUpgrade: A historical figure is depicted as [[AdaptationalBadass being much more brave and awesome]] than they were in reality.
** HistoricalBeautyUpdate: A historical figure is depicted as being much more physically attractive than they actually were.
** HistoricalCharactersFictionalRelative: A fictional character who is somehow a blood relative of a real person.
** HistoricalDowngrade: A historical figure is depicted as being overall much less important, impressive, or influential than their reputation implies.
** HistoricalGenderFlip: A real person has a different gender or sex in fiction.
** HistoricalHeroUpgrade: A historical figure is depicted as [[AdaptationalHeroism being much more good and heroic]] than they were in reality.
** HistoricalHilarity: A joke or gag about a historical figure.
** HistoricalPersonPunchline: An unnamed character is revealed to actually be a famous historical figure.
** HistoricalDomainSuperperson: A historical figure possesses superhuman abilities.
** HistoricalUglinessUpdate: A historical figure is depicted to look more physically unattractive than they actually were.
** HistoricalVillainDowngrade: A historical figure who was well-known for committing some very bad deeds has them downplayed in fiction, though without being [[HistoricalHeroUpgrade completely glorified and whitewashed]] either.
** HistoricalVillainUpgrade: A historical figure is depicted as [[AdaptationalVillainy being much more evil and villainous]] than they were in reality.
** NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: A fictional {{expy}} character who is clearly based on a real historical person, but they have a different name and identity.
** RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman: A historical figure has a [[AdaptationalJobChange radically different career]] in an alternate timeline.

** UrbanFantasy: Similar to the above, except that the setting is based on the modern-day real world rather than in the distant past.
* InterdimensionalTravelDevice: A teleportation device similar to a TimeMachine, though instead of [[TimeTravel transportation to the past or future]], it takes you to an alternate timeline/universe in the present day.

** TakeOverTheWorld: Some players in the game of geopolitical strife have somehow managed to achieve total global domination; whether by conquering and annexing all other territories, or at least by becoming the biggest and strongest superpower in the world.
*** AmericaTakesOverTheWorld: The whole world is somehow under the effective control of the USA.
*** ChinaTakesOverTheWorld: The whole world is somehow under the effective control of China.
*** JapanTakesOverTheWorld: The whole world is somehow under the effective control of Japan.
*** RussiaTakesOverTheWorld: The whole world is somehow under the effective control of Russia or the USSR.
** UnitedNationsIsASuperpower: The UsefulNotes/UnitedNations has somehow become much more powerful than it ever was in reality, exercising actual authority over its member states, if not behaving as a true world government.

** SecondAmericanCivilWar: The United States goes through ''yet another'' [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War]].
** WorldWarIII: The tentative sequel to the previous two [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI World]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Wars]]. Most WWIII scenarios involve the UsefulNotes/ColdWar between the USA, USSR, China, etc. turning into a hot war that ultimately ends with a [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction global nuclear holocaust]].
** WorldWarWhatever: [[RidiculousFutureSequelisation World Wars IV, V, VI, etc]]. May have to be [[MemeticMutation fought with sticks and stones]] [[AfterTheEnd since nothing else was left after WWIII]].

** AvoidingTheGreatWar: UsefulNotes/WorldWarI never happened as we know it.

** BeenThereShapedHistory: A fictional character who was involved in real historical events, maybe even responsible for causing them in the first place.
*** HistoricalInJoke: A gag about how that character changed history or left their mark on it.
*** HistoricalRapSheet: A particular villain was the culprit for some infamous crimes or disasters in history.
** CausedTheBigBang: There's a lot more to the story of how the universe began than we know of.
** UsefulNotes/TheLostColonyOfRoanoke: What caused the abandonment of Roanoke, a short-lived English settlement in what's now present-day North Carolina during the late 16th century?
** MoonLandingHoax: {{UsefulNotes/NASA}}'s famous Apollo 11 space mission which saw American astronauts land on the Moon never actually happened. The US government decided to just save money by staging a fake Moon landing at a film studio instead.
** PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs: Something else besides a meteorite caused the mass extinction of the dinosaurs.
** RoswellThatEndsWell: Rather than a weather balloon, an alien spaceship crash-landed near the town of Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.
** SalemIsWitchCountry: The infamous [[WitchHunt Salem witch trials]] that occurred around colonial Massachusetts in 1692 were not merely the result of superstitious mass hysteria -- because (at least some of) the unlucky defendants [[RealAfterAll actually were practicing genuine witchcraft]].
** StockUnsolvedMysteries: Various historical mysteries, UrbanLegends, and UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories that are rife with fantastical speculation to explain how they happened.
** TheTunguskaEvent: A large explosion that happened in the remote Siberian wilderness of the [[UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia Russian Empire]] in 1908. While believed to be the result of a meteorite, it may have been something more than that...
** WhoShotJFK: UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy's assassination was not just the work of Lee Harvey Oswald, who is said to have been just one actor in a convoluted GovernmentConspiracy.

** SuppressedHistory

** DoubleBlindWhatIf: People living in an alternate timeline ponder how different things would be if history had turned out more like it did in the real world.

* DidAnastasiaSurvive: What if the [[UsefulNotes/AnastasiaNikolaevnaRomanova Grand Duchess Anastasia]] (the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia) had somehow managed to escape the [[RulingFamilyMassacre executions of the Romanov dynasty]] during the [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober Russian Revolution]]?

* ElvisLives: Music/ElvisPresley didn't actually die of a heart attack in 1977, he just faked his death and is hiding out somewhere.
** ElvisHasLeftThePlanet: He left Earth to move to another planet.

*** DemonKingNobunaga: The 16th century Japanese warlord UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga was actually (or became) a supernatural being.

*** WeDidntStartTheFuhrer: UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler was actually (or became) a supernatural being.

* InterdimensionalTravelDevice: A teleportation device similar to a TimeMachine, though instead of [[TimeTravel transportation to the past or future]], it takes you to another universe that's an alternate version of the present day.

* ButterflyOfDoom: Changes to the historical past result in very wildly extreme or unpredictable outcomes for the future.

* ForWantOfANail
** InSpiteOfANail

* StockUnsolvedMysteries

* DoubleBlindWhatIf: People living in an alternate timeline ponder how different things would be if history had turned out more like it did in the real world.

** FourthReich: The Nazis somehow rise to power again after losing WWII.

** HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct: Time-traveling assassins who try to kill UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler in the past will usually fail (and even if they do succeed, [[ButterflyOfDoom it may result in undesirable consequences]]).

* BeenThereShapedHistory: A fictional character who was involved in real historical events.
** HistoricalInJoke
** HistoricalRapSheet

* DemonKingNobunaga: The 16th century Japanese warlord UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga was actually (or became) a supernatural being.

** WeDidntStartTheFuhrer: UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler was actually (or became) a supernatural being.

** RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman: A historical figure has a radically [[AdaptationalJobChange different career]] in an alternate timeline.

* OneManIndustrialRevolution

** TeslaTechTimeline: UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla was far more influential on the development of electrical engineering.

* GivingRadioToTheRomans: A time-traveler from the future decides to introduce modern technology to the past.

* InterdimensionalTravelDevice

* AlternateTechline
** TeslaTechTimeline

* SchizoTech: Anachronistic technology (i.e. futuristic machines in the past).

* ThoseMagnificentFlyingMachines: The invention and proliferation of hypothetical aircraft.
** ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: Airships never went out of fashion.

* WeirdWest: TheWildWest, but with strange events and supernatural beings getting involved.

* AllianceOfAlternates: Incarnations of the same person from different [[AlternateUniverse universes]], [[AlternateContinuity continuities]] and/or [[AlternateTimeline timelines]] teaming up.

* AlternateSelf: Another version of you or someone else from another timeline.