Alternate history, also called alternative history, allohistory, althist, or A.H., is a type of speculative fiction where one or more events from the past happen in a different way than they actually did.
These stories are based on real history but imagine different outcomes for important events. They often focus on a "point of divergence," which is a moment where history changes, leading to different results. Some alternate history works are grouped under science fiction or historical fiction.
Since the 1950s, many stories in this genre have included ideas like time travel between different timelines, the ability to sense other universes, or the splitting of history into separate time lines.
Definition
Alternate history, also known as alternative history, is a type of imaginative fiction where one or more events from the past happen in a different way than they actually did. This genre often asks questions like "What if?" to explore important moments in human history.
To be considered alternate history, a story usually includes three key parts:
Works of fiction that take place in the past or present but were written before those time periods—such as the book 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Arthur C. Clarke, the book 1984 (1949) by George Orwell, or the movie 2012 (2009)—are sometimes incorrectly called alternate history. These works do not change the historical facts that were known when they were created.
Alternate history is similar to, but not the same as, secret history. Secret history can be fictional or real and describes events that happened but did not influence the recorded history. It is also related to, but different from, counterfactual history. Counterfactual history is a way of studying real events by imagining what might have happened to better understand why events actually unfolded the way they did.
History of literature
Thinking about what might have happened in history appears in some of the earliest works by Western historians. One of the earliest known examples is found in the writings of the Roman historian Livy in his book Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Book IX, sections 17–19). Livy imagined a different 4th century BC in which Alexander the Great survived to attack Europe as he had planned. He asked, "What would have happened to Rome if it had fought a war with Alexander?" Livy believed the Romans would likely have won. An even earlier example is found in the work of Herodotus, The Histories, which includes similar imaginative ideas.
Another example of thinking about what might have happened in history was written by Peter Damian, a 11th-century cardinal and religious leader. In his book De Divina Omnipotentia, a long letter discussing God’s power, he considered questions like whether God could change the past, such as if Rome had never been founded. He wrote: "If God is all-powerful, can He make things that already exist not have existed? He can destroy things that exist now, but it is unclear how He could make things that were never created in the first place. For example, Rome could be destroyed in the future, but no one can understand how it could have never been built long ago."
One of the earliest fictional stories about a different history is Tirant lo Blanch, a 1490 epic written by Joanot Martorell. This story was created when the fall of Constantinople to the Turks was still a painful memory for Christians in Europe. It follows a knight named Tirant the White from Brittany who travels to the remaining parts of the Byzantine Empire. He becomes a powerful leader and helps defend the city from the Ottoman Empire, led by Mehmet II. Tirant saves the city from being conquered and even pushes the Turks back from lands they had taken.
One of the earliest widely published alternate history works may be Histoire de la Monarchie universelle: Napoléon et la conquête du monde (1836) by Louis Geoffroy. This book imagines Napoleon’s French Empire winning the 1812 invasion of Russia and the 1814 invasion of England. It then describes how Napoleon unites the world under his rule.
The Book of Mormon (published in 1830) is described as an "alternative history" by Richard Lyman Bushman, a biographer of Joseph Smith. Smith claimed to have translated the book from golden plates that told the story of a Jewish group that migrated from Israel to the Americas around 600 B.C. to 400 A.D. This group, according to the text, became the ancestors of Native Americans. In a 2005 biography, Bushman wrote that the Book of Mormon "changed how American history was understood" by suggesting that a book could reshape a nation’s identity.
In English, the first known complete alternate history story may be Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “P.’s Correspondence” (1845). It tells the story of a man who is called a "madman" because he believes he lives in a different 1845, where famous people like Robert Burns, Lord Byron, and Napoleon Bonaparte are still alive.
The first full-length alternate history novel in English is Aristopia (1895) by Castello Holford. This book describes settlers in Virginia discovering a reef made of solid gold and building a perfect society in North America.
In 1905, H.G. Wells published A Modern Utopia. As stated in the book, Wells wrote it mainly to share his ideas about society and politics, with the story serving as a way to explain them. This book introduced the idea of a person being transported from our world to an alternate world where history unfolded differently. The main characters explore this alternate world and then return to our world. This idea became a common feature in alternate history stories.
Many alternate history stories appeared in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Joseph Edgar Chamberlin’s The Ifs of History (1907) and Charles Petrie’s If: A Jacobite Fantasy (1926). In 1931, historian Sir John Squire collected essays from scholars and writers for his book If It Had Happened Otherwise. These essays explored questions like "If the Moors in Spain Had Won" and "If Louis XVI Had Had an Atom of Firmness." Some essays were serious, while others, like Hendrik Willem van Loon’s, were humorous. Contributors included Hilaire Belloc, André Maurois, and Winston Churchill.
One essay in Squire’s book was Churchill’s “If Lee Had Not Won the Battle of Gettysburg,” which imagined a world where the Confederacy won the American Civil War. This story considers what might have happened if the North had won the war. Stories that describe events from the perspective of an alternate history are sometimes called "recursive alternate history" or "double-blind what-ifs." Churchill’s essay influenced Ward Moore’s novel Bring the Jubilee, which describes a timeline where General Robert E. Lee won the Battle of Gettysburg, leading to the Confederacy’s victory. The novel’s main character, Hodgins Backmaker, accidentally changes history, resulting in the Union’s victory in our timeline.
In 1930, American humorist James Thurber wrote a short story titled “If Grant Had Been Drinking at Appomattox,” which parodied alternate history stories about the American Civil War. He included a brief introduction stating that the story was part of a series, including “If Booth Had Missed Lincoln” and “If Napoleon Had Escaped to America.”
Another example of alternate history from this time is H.G. Wells’ Men Like Gods (1923). In this story, a London journalist named Mr. Barnstable, along with two cars and their passengers, is mysteriously transported to a different world called "Utopia."
Television
In 1983, the story takes place in a world where the Iron Curtain still exists, and the Cold War continues until 2003.
An Englishman's Castle is about a soap opera writer in 1970s England, a country that lost World War II. England is ruled by a government that works with the enemy but tries to keep life looking normal. Over time, the writer discovers the truth about the situation.
In the Community episode "Remedial Chaos Theory," six members of a study group roll a die to decide who must go downstairs to accept a pizza delivery. This creates six different alternate worlds. Characters from the worst timeline, called the "darkest timeline," later appear in the main story.
Confederate was a planned HBO series set in a world where the South won the US Civil War. Social media criticism during its planning led to the series being canceled before any episodes were made.
Counterpart follows a United Nations group that monitors travel between alternate worlds. Two of these worlds, Alpha and Prime, are locked in a Cold War.
The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer is a 1977 telemovie where George Custer survives the Battle of Little Bighorn and faces a trial for his poor leadership.
C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America is presented as a British TV documentary that reveals dark secrets of the Confederacy in a world where the South won the US Civil War.
Dark Skies describes a history shaped by a government conspiracy involving aliens since the 1940s. One alien race can control humans, while others who are immune fight back.
In Doctor Who, the main character visits two alternate worlds in the TV show and several more in related media. The Third Doctor explores a world with a fascist Great Britain on the verge of destruction in Inferno. The Tenth Doctor visits a Britain with a president and blimps as common transportation, facing Cybermen in Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel. The Seventh Doctor deals with a threat from an alternate world in Battlefield, where magic is real, and an alternate version of the Doctor is hinted to be Merlin.
Fallout is set in a 1950s-style world that suffered a global nuclear war, destroying much of the Earth.
Fatherland is a TV movie set in a 1960s alternate world where US President Joseph Kennedy and Adolf Hitler meet to end their Cold War 15 years after the Axis victory in World War II. An American reporter discovers evidence of the Final Solution, threatening the meeting.
The anime Fena: Pirate Princess features an alternate 18th century.
For All Mankind shows a timeline where the Soviet Union lands on the Moon before the US, leading to an intensified Space Race.
Fringe includes a plot where a character crosses into another reality to retrieve his son after his death. This world has different US states, such as only one Carolina and Upper Michigan as a state. The 9/11 attack destroyed the White House instead of the Twin Towers, and major DC Comics events differ, like Superman not dying in Crisis on Infinite Earths. The act causes harm to the alternate world, but the realities eventually work together to fix the damage.
The Man in the High Castle is based on a novel and shows a world where the Axis Powers won World War II.
Motherland: Fort Salem explores a female-dominated world where witchcraft is real. This world diverged from our timeline when the Salem witch trials ended with an agreement between witches and non-magical humans.
Noughts + Crosses is a British TV show set in a world where a powerful West African empire colonized Europe 700 years before the series begins.
Parallels was a planned TV show whose pilot was later released as a Netflix movie. The story involves a building that shifts between realities every 36 hours.
The Plot Against America is an HBO miniseries where Charles Lindbergh wins the 1940 US presidential election as an anti-war candidate, leading the country toward fascism.
Primal features characters from the prehistoric era encountering Ancient Egypt and Vikings. In one episode, Charles Darwin is alive in 1890 instead of 1882.
Sliders explores different alternate realities by having the protagonist "slide" into parallel dimensions of Earth.
The Great Martian War 1913-1917 is an alternate history mockumentary where giant Martians invade Earth during World War I, leading to technological advancements and the Entente and Central Powers fighting together.
SS-GB shows a world where the Axis Powers quickly win World War II, killing Churchill and installing a puppet government. British resistance fights back.
In various Star Trek shows and related media, a "Mirror Universe" is depicted where Earth is an empire that conquers other planets. Doppelgängers of main characters appear in this reality.
Watchmen is set 34 years after the events of the comic book, in a world where costumed heroes were initially welcomed but later banned.
The Loki series on Disney+ (2021 & 2023) follows an agency that prevents changes to the timeline. Alternate versions of Loki from different universes appear.
The What If…? series on Disney+ (2021–2024) explores alternate universes that show different outcomes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
Online
Fans of alternate history began using the internet early to share their work and help others find information about alternate history. They first used mailing lists and Usenet groups. In April 1991, the "Usenet Alternate History List" was posted to the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.sf-lovers. In May 1995, a new newsgroup called soc.history.what-if was created for discussing and sharing alternate history ideas. This group became less popular as people moved from unmoderated Usenet to moderated web forums. One popular forum, AlternateHistory.com, claims to be the largest online group for alternate history fans, with more than 10,000 active members.
In 1997, Uchronia: The Alternate History List was created as an online collection of alternate history works. It now includes over 2,900 books, stories, essays, and other materials in many languages. Uchronia was chosen twice by the Sci Fi Channel as its "Sci Fi Site of the Week."
Uchronia
In Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan, and Galician, the words uchronie, ucronia, and ucronía are original terms for alternate history. These terms led to the English word uchronia, which is a new word borrowed from another language. The English term uchronia is sometimes used as a direct synonym for alternate history. However, it can also now describe a broader category of fiction that includes alternate history, stories about parallel universes, and fiction set in futuristic or non-time-based settings.