What If?: The World's Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been

A friend of mine with whom I always discuss history recommended this novel and I glad he did. It was an enthralling read and I finished its' 395 pages over three days. It was a hard book to put down. One of the topics we often discuss is counterfactual history or "What-if" scenarios. It's just plain fun to imagine what might have been if Custer never had a last stand or the Spanish Conquistadors hadn't have conquered the New World. What if Hitler had won W.W.II? The book explores history from this perspective of imagining how things might have been different if our history didn't occur. Having twenty plus distinguished historians who really know their stuff guide you through "what-if" scenarios makes for a good read. By the way, "counterfactual" is the word that academics prefer to use for "what-if" scenarios. The book's full title is "What of? The World's Foremost military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been." The title fully describes the book's contents and all of the twenty scenarios describe how history could have taken a different turn had factors as uncontrollable as the weather were different. The twenty scenarios range from ancient history and the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians to the final scenario supposing what if Mao and the Chinese Communists hadn't have defeated Chiang Kai-Shek and the Chinese Nationalists. Every scenario was well written and discussed. The book has already provided my friend and I with great conversational fodder.The book includes essays by: William H. McNeil, Victor Davis Hanson, Josiah Ober, Lewis H. Lapham, Barry S. Strauss, Cecilia Holland, Theodore K. Rabb, Ross Hassig, Geoffrey Parker, Thomas Fleming, David McCullough, Allistair Horne, James M. McPherson, Stephen W. Sears, Robert Cowley, John Keegan, Theodore F. Cook Jr., Stephen Ambrose, David Clay Large, Arthur Waldron, and others. The historical distribution of the essays is as follows:- Four essays cover Ancient History (The Hebrews, Persians, Romans and Greeks).- Two essays cover the Dark Ages (Islam, Franks, and the Mongols).- Three essays cover the 16th century (Hernan Cortez, The Spanish Armada, and the Ottoman Muslim Siege of Vienna). - Five essays cover the 18th and 19th centuries (The American Revolution, Napoleon, and the American Civil War).- The final six essays cover the modern period (W.W.I, W.W.II, and the Chinese Communist Revolution of Mao). I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan

Counterfactuals are simply 'What if's'. Here they take the form of twenty essays by well known military historians covering significant battles from mankind's warring past - from the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem in 701 BC to Chiang Kai-shek's war with Mao's communists in 1946. When historians use a pretentious term like 'counterfactual' to describe this type of historical analysis it leads us to cringe in anticipation of tedious, fact-filled, starchy descriptions of the battles.Not so at all. First of all the essays are by some of the best military historians writing today - William McNeill, John Keegan, David McCullough, Alistair Horne and Stephen Ambrose to name a few. Secondly and more importantly, it is obvious that each and every one of the essays is a work of considerable research, creative thought and attention to the possibilities of what might have been.Regardless of what battle, era or commander intersts you - ancient Israel, Persia, Greece, the Mongols, Cortes, the American Revolution, the Civil War, Napoleon or Hitler - you'll find an essay describing an alternative outcome. And while it is true what the editor quotes historian E H Carr as saying, that this is not an "idle parlour game", there is no doubt in my mind that each and every one of these historians enjoyed themselves fully and had fun writing these essays.

The exceedingly negative reviewers of this book seem to have an academic axe (jealousy?) to grind. It should be obvious that the short, provocative essays here aren't meant to compete with comprehensive book-length treatments. If you really do find, say, speculations on the American civil war "boring" go ahead and skip this excellent collection. "You may not be interested in war, as Trotsky said, "but war is interested in you."

I really enjoyed this book. I am a fan of "what if history", counter factual history, or whatever you choose to call it. This book presented a good range of "what ifs" in a chronological order. I feel fairly well versed on events from the Revolution until present, but appreciated the authors usually giving a synopsis of what actually happened in earlier times and places versus the what might have happened "if". Besides being entertained, I learned more than a few things. Good book. Just think, "what if" I hadn't read it?

I read everything I can get my hands on relating to military history. This has been a great year for readers with my interests, with the publication of 'Blackhawk Down', 'The Thin Red Line', 'The Triumph & the Glory', and 'Hart's War' among others. Now the year is topped off with a bang by this intriguing collection put together by Mr. Cowley. The what-ifs are mind-boggling, this book really makes you understand and appreciate the elements that combine to drive historic events, and how everything could have been so very different but for THAT ONE LITTLE THING that determined the outcome.