Butterfly Effect

A series of battles in France had an impact on modern day Europe and the fates of three countries down to our modern century. What might have happened if Richard the Lionheart had not been wounded? Or Philippe Auguste of France had fled the battlefield?

What if Alexander had not died at the age of 32? What if he had listened to advisors and returned to Macedonia instead of going on his worldwide conquest? How does the legacy of ideals and leadership left from Alexanders time resonate today?

Picture the last two hundred years without the publication of Darwins "On The Origin of Species" -- how might the scientific conversation have developed? What were the influences in Victorian England during Darwins youth and how tenuous was his opportunity for sailing on the Beagles voyage?

What would the Civil Rights movement in the USA have been like if Martin Luther King Jr. had not been motivating change? How does the legacy of the American Civil War still affect the American democracy?

The untimely death of the Roman Emperor of the Western Empire and the poor decisions of the Roman Emperor of the Eastern Empire change the fortunes of the Roman Army in their battle with the Goths. And this changes the future of Europe.

Elvis Presley paid $4 to record two songs for his mother and the rest as they say is history. But without Elvis would rock and roll have gone the same route? And how have the many iterations of rock and roll developed and changed our taste and culture since the 1950s?

What if the source codes for the internet had remained with the US military rather than being released to the world? How did our lives of unfettered internet access become a reality?

The former Soviet Union collectivized many aspects of agricultural and industrial development in the 1950s. While some efforts were successful others like the cotton-growing around the Aral Sea have proven to be an ecological nightmare.

Constantinople was a part of the Roman Empire then became the seat of the Byzantine Empire and then was the imperial city of the Ottoman Empire. Here is the story of the fabled city and its history of power and conflict through the ages.

Timing is everything just look at what happened in 1848. How did the finding of gold in Sutters Mill make an impact on the development of California and the history of the United States?

In the 17th century a long period of civil war in France and war across Europe rebellious members of the French Parliament dubbed The Fronde defy the monarchy and this defiance does not end well for them...and changes the history of France.

How did one man succeed in relaunching the Olympic spirit and turn the Games into a global event?

In late Victorian England women began to organize to gain the right to vote. The fight for womens suffrage lasted well into the early 20th Century.

In May 1893 a man is thrown out of a train on the platforms of the train station of Pietermaritzburg a little city of South Africa for daring to sit in a first-class compartment. This young Indian lawyer is named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

In July 1799 during the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria the French soldiers of lieutenant Bouchard discover by chance at Rosetta a large black stone. It is in fact the fragment of a stele engraved in honor of King Ptolemy V including three writing systems: Greek Demotic and hieroglyphs.

1916 the Great War far away from the trenches in the sand of the Middle East war has a very different face. With a handful of intrepid men Thomas Edward Lawrence leads the revolt of the Arabs alongside Sharif Hussein against the Ottoman Empire.

Rented by the BP oil company to drill an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes on April 20 2010 before sinking into the ocean and causing a gigantic oil spill. At issue: negligence in the maintenance and in the tests carried out.

In 1415 the Portuguese launch an era of explorations that will lead to the European discovery of the world. The competition is intense between France and the United Kingdom for the possession of North America and the West Indies for the Indian colonies but also for Science.

University of Glasgow Scotland 1763. A young engineer tries in vain to fix a steam engine before finally understanding what is wrong with it. James Watt still doesn’t know it but he will soon revolutionize the world of industry.

In 814 BC the exiled Phoenician queen Dido founds the city of Carthage on the African Coast. The city develops and takes the lead of a maritime empire based on trade. Carthage dominates the Western Mediterranean. But in the third century BC she finds herself opposed to the Roman Republic.