Alternate History Tropes

"Some men see things as they are and ask ‘Why?’ I dream things that never were and ask ‘Why not?’"

— Robert F. Kennedy (paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw)

Alternate History has numerous associated tropes, answering questions of how history could have happened differently.

See also Alternate Universe, This Index Is Anachronistic, and Time-Travel Tropes.

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Tropes:

Main topic:

• Alternate History

Subcategories:

• This Index Is Anachronistic
  • Anachronism Stew
  • Punk Punk

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• Advanced Ancient Humans
  • Humanity Came From Space
• Airstrip One
• Alien Space Bats
• Allohistorical Allusion
• Alternate History – Nazi Victory
  • Godwin's Law of Time Travel
  • Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act
• Alternate History Wank
• Alternate Landmark History
• Alternate Self
• Alternate Techline
• Alternate Timeline
• Ancient Astronauts
• Artistic License – History
• Balkanize Me
• Been There, Shaped History
  • Historical In-Joke
  • Historical Rap Sheet
• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy
  • Julius Beethoven da Vinci
  • You Will Be Beethoven
• Bizarro Universe
• Black Vikings
• Butterfly of Doom
• Close-Enough Timeline
• Conspiracy Theories
  • Conspiracy Kitchen Sink
• Day of the Jackboot
• Dead Alternate Counterpart
• Demon King Nobunaga
• Dewey Defeats Truman
• Different States of America
  • America Is Still a Colony
  • Americasia
  • Divided States of America
  • Evil States of America
  • Expanded States of America
  • Fallen States of America
  • Fantasy Americana
  • Invaded States of America
  • Oppressive States of America
• Different World, Different Movies
• Double-Blind What-If

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• Famously Mundane, Fictionally Magical
• Fictional Country
  • Fictional Province
• Fictional Political Party
• Fictionalized Death Account
• Flash Sideways
• For Want of a Nail
  • In Spite of a Nail
• Ghostapo
  • Nazi Zombies
  • Stupid Jetpack Hitler
  • We Didn't Start the Führer
• Giving Radio to the Romans
• Historical Domain Character
  • Historical Badass Upgrade
  • Historical Beauty Update
  • Historical Character's Fictional Relative
  • Historical Downgrade
  • Historical Gender Flip
  • Historical Hero Upgrade
  • Historical Hilarity
  • Historical Person Punchline
  • Historical Villain Downgrade
  • Historical Villain Upgrade
• Historical Fantasy
• Interdimensional Travel Device
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
• Love Transcends Spacetime
• Mass Teleportation
• Mexico Called; They Want Texas Back
  • Russia Called; They Want Alaska Back
• Middle Eastern Coalition
• Mirror Self
• Mirror Universe
• Modern Mayincatec Empire
• Never Was This Universe
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed
• Non Sequitur Causality
• One-Man Industrial Revolution

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• Point of Divergence
• Politically Correct History
• Possible War
  • World War III
  • World War Whatever
• Prevent the War
  • Avoiding the Great War
• Putting on the Reich
• Real Event, Fictional Cause
  • Caused the Big Bang
  • Phlebotinum Killed the Dinosaurs
  • Roswell That Ends Well
  • The Tunguska Event
  • Who Shot JFK?
• Richard Nixon the Used Car Salesman
• Rubber-Band History
• Schizo Tech
• Secret History
• Sliding Scale of Alternate History Plausibility
• Soviet Superscience
• Space-Filling Empire
• Split Timelines Plot
• Stock Unsolved Mysteries
• Suppressed History
• Take Over the World
  • America Takes Over the World
  • China Takes Over the World
  • Eurabia
  • Japan Takes Over the World
  • Russia Takes Over the World
• Tesla Tech Timeline
• Those Magnificent Flying Machines
• United Europe
• Video Game Historical Revisionism
• Weird Historical War
• Weird West
• What If?
• Zeppelins from Another World

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