"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.
Tropes:
- Advanced Ancient Humans: An ancient or even prehistoric human civilization that was far more technologically advanced than later human societies.
- Airstrip One: Conquered territories are rebranded with a label and a number.
- Alien Space Bats: A catchall term for alternate history scenarios which involve sci-fi/fantasy elements, or are otherwise very implausible and unrealistic.
- Alliance of Alternates: Multiple incarnations of the same person from different timelines or universes teaming up together.
- Allohistorical Allusion: Some different version of a major historical event in our timeline also happened in an alternate timeline.
- Alternate-History Dinosaur Survival: The dinosaurs never went extinct.
- Alternate-History Nazi Victory: Nazi Germany (and presumably the other Axis powers as well) win World War II.
- Alternate History Wank: When a particular nation or faction becomes far more powerful in the alternate timeline than they were in reality.
- Alternate Landmark History: A real-life landmark or monument has a different origin story in fiction.
- Alternate Self: Another version of you or someone else from another timeline or universe.
- Alternate Techline: Technology developed differently in this timeline.
- Alternate Timeline: A different series of events compared to our original timeline.
- Alternate Universe: A different counterpart to our universe.
- America Is Still a Colony: The British colonies in North America never became independent, as The American Revolution was either thwarted or averted altogether.
- Americasia: Western North America was colonized by East Asians instead of Europeans.
- America Takes Over the World: The whole world is somehow under the effective control of the USA.
- Ancient Astronauts: Alien visitors came down to Earth during prehistoric/ancient times and influenced the development of early human civilizations.
- Area 51: A US Air Force base in Nevada that is said to be secretly housing captured alien spacecraft (usually recovered from Roswell, New Mexico).
- Artistic License – History: When a work of historical fiction contains factual inaccuracies that are more the result of poor research or outright carelessness, rather than an intentional effort at writing a different take on history.
- Atlantis: A legendary ancient island civilization which was said to have been destroyed and sank into the ocean. It has appeared in many different works of fiction as a place which really existed, either as a bunch of submerged ancient ruins or somehow still thriving and inhabited.
- Avoiding the Great War: World War I never happened as we know it.
- Balkanize Me: A real country gets divided into smaller countries following a major war or other great political upheaval.
- Been There, Shaped History: A fictional character who was involved in real historical events, maybe even responsible for causing them in the first place.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: A historical figure's life or identity was secretly far more fantastical than what we know about.
- The Bermuda Triangle: 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.
- Bizarro Universe: A universe where everything is the opposite version of its regular counterpart.
- Black Vikings: Someone who is a member of a distantly foreign ethnic group appears in a very unlikely historical setting.
- Butterfly of Doom: Time travelers to the past often find that their actions will accidentally result in extremely unpredictable (and undesirable) consequences for the future.
- Caused the Big Bang: There's a lot more to the story of how the universe began than we know of.
- China Takes Over the World: The whole world is somehow under the effective control of China.
- Close-Enough Timeline
- Conspiracy Kitchen Sink: Almost every kind of conspiracy theory or Urban Legend you've ever heard of is at least partially true in this story's setting.
- Dated History: When new discoveries and updated research about historical events causes older works on the subject to now be considered innaccurate, thus retroactively making them works of accidental alternate history.
- Day of the Jackboot: A country gets taken over by an authoritarian regime.
- Dead Alternate Counterpart
- Demon King Nobunaga: The 16th century Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga was actually (or became) a supernatural being.
- Did Anastasia Survive?: What if the Grand Duchess Anastasia (the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia) had somehow managed to escape the executions of the Romanov dynasty during the Russian Revolution?
- Different States of America: Different versions of the history and geography of the United States.
- Different World, Different Movies: Works of fictional media that only exist in alternate timelines.
- Divided States of America: The USA has been balkanized, usually because of the Civil War (or its sequel).
- Double-Blind What-If: 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.
- Elvis Lives: Elvis Presley didn't actually die of a heart attack in 1977, he just faked his death and is hiding out somewhere.
- Elvis Has Left the Planet: Elvis Presley just left Earth to move to another planet.
- Eurabia: All or most of the nations of Europe (and the Western/Christian world) have somehow been conquered and converted by the Arab/Muslim world.
- Evil States of America: The USA has become The Empire.
- Expanded States of America: The USA has acquired many more states and territories than it did in real life.
- Failed Future Forecast: A story makes a prediction about the future that doesn't come to pass, thus becoming (accidental) alternate history in the present day.
- Fallen States of America: The USA has grown weak, no longer qualifies as a global superpower, or may not even exist anymore.
- Famously Mundane, Fictionally Magical: Something which exists in real life has supernatural features in fiction.
- Fantasy Americana: The USA as a magical setting.
- Fictional Combat Troop: A fictional combat formation serving a Real Life entity.
- Fictional Country: A made-up sovereign nation-state which has been inserted into an otherwise-identical map of the real world.
- Fictional Earth: An alternate counterpart of our real planet, which features (radically) different political and/or physical geography; up to and including completely unrecognizable continents and oceans.
- Fictionalized Death Account: A historical figure's death happens much differently from real life.
- Fictional Province: A province, state, or other sub-national region of a real-world country which only exists in-universe.
- Fictional Political Party: A made-up political organization which participates in a real-world government.
- Fictional United Nations: An international diplomatic organization which acts as an expy of the real United Nations.
- Flash Sideways
- For Want of a Nail: Also known as the "butterfly effect". Seemingly minor changes to the historical past result in majorly different outcomes for the future.
- Fourth Reich: The Nazis somehow rise to power again after losing WWII.
- Ghostapo: Nazi Germany tries to weaponize various forms of dark magic or supernatural phenomena to gain an advantage in World War II.
- Giving Radio to the Romans: A time-traveler from the future decides to introduce modern technology to the past.
- Godwin's Law of Time Travel: Using time travel to meddle with the past increases the chances of a German victory in WWII.
- Historical Badass Upgrade: A historical figure is depicted as being much braver and more awesome than they were in reality.
- Historical Beauty Update: A historical figure is depicted as being much more physically attractive than they actually were.
- Historical Character's Fictional Relative: A fictional character who is somehow a blood relative of a real person.
- Historical Domain Character: Any character who existed as an actual person from real-world history, though they may be depicted extremely differently in works of fiction.
- Historical Domain Superperson: A historical figure possesses superhuman abilities.
- Historical Downgrade: A historical figure is depicted as being overall much less important, impressive, or influential than their reputation implies.
- Historical Fantasy: When supernatural beings and events are inserted into a historical setting that is otherwise based on the real world.
- Historical Gender Flip: A real person has a different gender or sex in fiction.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: A historical figure is depicted as being much more good and heroic than they were in reality.
- Historical Hilarity: A joke or gag about a historical figure.
- Historical In-Joke: A gag about how that character changed history or left their mark on it.
- Historical Person Punchline: An unnamed character is revealed to actually be a famous historical figure.
- Historical Rap Sheet: A particular villain was the culprit for some infamous crimes or disasters in history.
- Historical Ugliness Update: A historical figure is depicted to look more physically unattractive than they actually were.
- Historical Villain Downgrade: A historical figure who was well-known for committing some very bad deeds has them downplayed in fiction, though without being completely glorified and whitewashed either.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: A historical figure is depicted as being much more evil and villainous than they were in reality.
- Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act: Time-traveling assassins who try to kill Adolf Hitler in the past will usually fail (and even if they do succeed, it may result in undesirable consequences).
- Humanity Came From Space: Humans are not actually from Earth, and only settled down here from another planet a very long time ago.
- Interdimensional Travel Device: A teleportation device similar to a Time Machine, though instead of transportation to the past or future, it takes the user to an alternate timeline/universe in the present day.
- In Spite of a Nail: When (drastic) changes to the past somehow result in some future events somehow still happening with little or no alteration.
- Invaded States of America: The USA is under foreign military occupation.
- Istanbul (Not Constantinople): Alternate names for real locations.
- Japan Takes Over the World: The whole world is somehow under the effective control of Japan.
- Julius Beethoven da Vinci: A long-lived or immortal character turns out to have assumed the identities of one or more historical figure(s).
- The Lost Colony of Roanoke: What caused the abandonment of Roanoke, a short-lived English settlement in what's now present-day North Carolina during the late 16th century?
- Mass Teleportation: An entire location or large quantity of objects and people get displaced into another time period.
- Mexico Called; They Want Texas Back: Mexico has regained (or never lost) control over the US state of Texas (and maybe even the rest of the Southwestern United States).
- Middle Eastern Coalition: All or most of the nations of the Greater Middle East (and the Arab/Muslim world) have somehow been united under one big caliphate/empire/federation, or at least form a cohesive geopolitical alliance.
- Mirror Self
- Mirror Universe: A universe where morality is reversed, with the counterparts of good people being evil and vice versa.
- Modern Mayincatec Empire: A pre-Columbian Mesoamerican or Andean civilization that still exists today.
- Moon-Landing Hoax: 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.
- Mystical Hollywood: America's entertainment capital is a literally magical place. May be haunted by the spirits of dead celebrities.
- Nazi Zombies: Schutzstaffel and Wehrmacht soldiers who have been turned into undead minions.
- Never Was This Universe: A work takes place in a universe that clearly has a different history from the real world, but no clear point of divergence.
- No Communities Were Harmed: A fictional city which is based on a real city, and which may even be an in-universe stand-in for it.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: A fictional expy character who is clearly based on a real historical person, but they have a different name and identity.
- Non Sequitur Causality
- One-Man Industrial Revolution: One particular inventor is responsible for the creation of most modern technology.
- One World Order: All the nations of Earth have somehow been united under one big global government.
- Oppressive States of America: The USA is under an authoritarian/totalitarian system of government.
- Phlebotinum Killed the Dinosaurs: Something else besides a meteorite caused the mass extinction of the dinosaurs.
- Point of Divergence: The significant date in an alternate timeline at which it stops resembling real history.
- Politically Correct History: When modern cultural attitudes (especially regarding morality and prejudices) are injected into a historical setting in which people of the time held radically different beliefs.
- Possible War: A potential military conflict which some expected to happen in the past (or future).
- Post-Soviet Reunion: Russia reunites with the other ex-Soviet states into a new alliance, supranational union, or unified superstate.
- Prevent the War: A real-life war has been averted in this timeline.
- Real Event, Fictional Cause: An unconventional (or even fantastic) explanation is given for a real historical event.
- Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: A historical figure has a radically different career in an alternate timeline.
- Roswell That Ends Well: Rather than a weather balloon, an alien spaceship crash-landed near the town of Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.
- Rubber-Band History
- Russia Called; They Want Alaska Back: Russia has regained (or never lost) control over the US state of Alaska.
- Russia Takes Over the World: The whole world is somehow under the effective control of Russia or the USSR.
- Salem Is Witch Country: The infamous 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 actually were practicing genuine witchcraft.
- Schizo Tech: Anachronistic technology (i.e., futuristic machines in the past).
- Second American Civil War: The United States goes through yet another Civil War.
- Secret History: Some historical records which have been hidden away from the general public.
- Sliding Scale of Alternate History Plausibility: Just how possible or realistic is this alternate timeline?
- Soviet Superscience: The USSR develops futuristic technology and super-weapons during World War II or the Cold War. This is basically Josef Stalin's answer to Stupid Jetpack Hitler.
- Space-Filling Empire: The world's geography is dominated by just a few or several gigantic empires.
- Split Timelines Plot
- Stock Unsolved Mysteries: Various historical mysteries, Urban Legends, and conspiracy theories that are rife with fantastical speculation to explain how they happened.
- Stupid Jetpack Hitler: The Nazis try to develop futuristic technology and super-weapons.
- Suppressed History
- Tesla Tech Timeline: Nikola Tesla was far more influential on the development of electrical engineering.
- Those Magnificent Flying Machines: The invention and proliferation of hypothetical aircraft.
- The Tunguska Event: A large explosion that happened in the remote Siberian wilderness of the Russian Empire in 1908. While believed to be the result of a meteorite, it may have been something more than that...
- United Europe: All or most of the nations of Europe have somehow been united under one big empire or federation (for example, a larger and more powerful version of the real-life European Union).
- United Nations Is a Superpower: The United Nations 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.
- Video Game Historical Revisionism
- We Didn't Start the Führer: Adolf Hitler was actually (or became) a supernatural being.
- Weird Historical War: A real-life war has strange events happen, which may even be of a supernatural nature.
- Weird West: The Wild West, but with strange events and supernatural beings getting involved.
- What If?: The most common way to start a question asking about how history could have gone differently.
- Who Shot JFK?: John F. Kennedy's assassination was not just the work of Lee Harvey Oswald, who is said to have been just one actor in a convoluted Government Conspiracy.
- World War III: The tentative sequel to the previous two World Wars. Most WWIII scenarios involve the Cold War between the USA, USSR, China, etc. turning into a hot war that ultimately ends with a global nuclear holocaust.
- World War Whatever: World Wars IV, V, VI, etc. May have to be fought with sticks and stones since nothing else was left after WWIII.
- You Will Be Beethoven: A time-traveler from the future assumed the identity of a historical figure.
- Zeppelins from Another World: Airships never went out of fashion.
