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[Zanzetkuken The Great]

I am curious as to what the opinions are on the direction history would have taken if one decision had wound up being changed, an event that occurred had not, an event that didn't occur occurred, or the outcome of an event changed.

Undoubtedly, religion will come up eventually.  Whether it is as a analysis of the reactions of the various faiths to the addition, extension, or removal of an event, or if a scenario is proposed wherein we analyze what would be the results of a religion having not existed.  When this does occur, please focus more upon the objective side of the reactions to the events caused and do not make intentionally derogatory statements. 

Furthermore, please keep in mind that these hypotheticals are highly opinionated and attempt to keep an intellectual atmosphere.  Don't start a flame war.

With that out of the way, here's an initial scenario: What if a true living dead style apocalypse were to happen?  How would the world react in the after the event ends?  Assume a few separate 'strains' started in the 10 largest population centers and managed to sustain itself for a time before the bodies fell apart.

[Loud Whispers]

You gotta define what you mean by living dead. Personally when it comes to alternate history I'm interested in trying to imagine how radically different human civilization would be if Alexander had taken the time to actually have sex with women and produce an heir

[redwallzyl]

You gotta define what you mean by living dead. Personally when it comes to alternate history I'm interested in trying to imagine how radically different human civilization would be if Alexander had taken the time to actually have sex with women and produce an heir

actually i think he did they just died. quick search and here you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_IV_of_Macedon

my personal favorite alternate scenario is Belisarius and Justinian get along better and succeed in securing Italy leading to a roman resurgence.

[RedKing]

So.....how exactly are zombies a "decision"?

Unless you mean like....God decided to raise ALL the dead in Israel, not just Jesus. Now that would be an interesting scenario....

[Sonlirain]

With that out of the way, here's an initial scenario: What if a true living dead style apocalypse were to happen?  How would the world react in the after the event ends?  Assume a few separate 'strains' started in the 10 largest population centers and managed to sustain itself for a time before the bodies fell apart.

We would need more variables. How far the plague managed to spread before dying off?
Are the goverments/military still intact and managed to contain the spread?

In the optimist scenario i assume that several larger cities would become closed zones cordoned off by the military with only the most desperate of looters and thieves getting through (after all zombies don't eat peoples savings jewelry and electronics so zone like that would be a honeypot for looting)

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

You gotta define what you mean by living dead. Personally when it comes to alternate history I'm interested in trying to imagine how radically different human civilization would be if Alexander had taken the time to actually have sex with women and produce an heir

Was intending the variety to be the typical 'corpses are literally walking around, but still slowly decomposing'.  Would die out eventually as all the bodies fall apart, but the damage dealt to the major centers and the reaction of the population are interesting thoughts to look at.

So.....how exactly are zombies a "decision"?

Unless you mean like....God decided to raise ALL the dead in Israel, not just Jesus. Now that would be an interesting scenario....

Forgot to check over that section before I posted.  Battery had been getting low on my laptop at the time.

[Shadowlord]

Instead of a lead crisis, Flint has a zombie crisis.

[RedKing]

I dunno, I'm liking my "Roman Empire vs. zombie Judea" idea.
Especially if the Romans try to figure out a way to turn the zombies against the Parthians.

[mainiac]

my personal favorite alternate scenario is Belisarius and Justinian get along better and succeed in securing Italy leading to a roman resurgence.

The fallout between Belisarius and Justinian never made that much of a difference IMHO.

I think an interesting possibility with Rome is what if the Sassanid shah Yazdegerd had decided stay in the capital instead of taking a trip north.  If he dodged assassination the sassanid civil wars that lead to religious hardliners taking over never would have started.  The first major religious war never would have happened between Rome and Persia.  Without the Roman-Persian wars both empires would have quite likely survived until the industrial revolution.

[sprinkled chariot]

I dunno, I'm liking my "Roman Empire vs. zombie Judea" idea.
Especially if the Romans try to figure out a way to turn the zombies against the Parthians.

Imagine how much use there is for zombies in circus and colosseum first.
Also zombies to replace donkeys in mills.
Launching zombies from catapult in parthian cities.
Our emperor is not divine you say? There is only one god, yes ?Then why the dead rise and eat you?
Zombie elephants to remove the low morale problem of elefants.
Gifting cage with zombie children to annoying barbarian leaders. With annotation telling to open the cage, so you can enjoy dancing undead children.

By the way, guys. What about ..
Peter the great getting shot by some swedish soldier and europeisation stopping.
White winning the civil war stomping the communists.
Beria overcoming Khruschev, Malenkov and others.
Lenin not getting shot by Funny Kaplan.
Napoleon not getting rekt.
Pavel 1 not getting killed in coup. So Alexander 1 does not cancel his remove england from india replace with cossacks plan.
Avvacuum stopping church reforms.
Mao getting in korean war from the start.
Decabrists suceeding in their coup.
Bukharin and Zinoviev overcoming Stalin in 30s
Stalin not stopping new economical politics.
Andropov not dieing so early.
Yeltsin appointing not the Putin, but that other guy, whose name I always forget.
Kosygin reform of soviet economics not being a failure.
Arabs not getting rekt by chinese on talasa river/ not getting rekt by Karl Martell/ chazar caganate
Vladimir choosing catholicism/ islam instead of orthodox christianity

[Egan_BW]

Plague zombies in first-world country: disease is quickly contained and eradicated.
Plague zombies in third-world country : everyone dies. No-one in first-world cares.
Magic zombies: Cheap source of power.
Intelligent magic zombies: Plot of Doom happens. Earth overrun by Hell.

[i2amroy]

So.....how exactly are zombies a "decision"?

Unless you mean like....God decided to raise ALL the dead in Israel, not just Jesus. Now that would be an interesting scenario....

That's actually a pretty interesting question, especially if we assume they all raise back in full health. I think there'd be some question about if someone remarried after being widowed/etc. which would still be their actual partner under the religion that most people would probably be a lot more likely to be believing in.

Also Israel probably would suffer some horrible famines and disease spreading due to all the extra people that would suddenly come to life, but afterwards their huge boost in labor would probably help the country as a whole at the time.

[Strife26]

The zombie plague ends in short order, because even reducing a corpse to separate muscle systems isn't especially difficult if the bodies aren't smart nor organized.

[RedKing]

So.....how exactly are zombies a "decision"?

Unless you mean like....God decided to raise ALL the dead in Israel, not just Jesus. Now that would be an interesting scenario....

That's actually a pretty interesting question, especially if we assume they all raise back in full health. I think there'd be some question about if someone remarried after being widowed/etc. which would still be their actual partner under the religion that most people would probably be a lot more likely to be believing in.

Also Israel probably would suffer some horrible famines and disease spreading due to all the extra people that would suddenly come to life, but afterwards their huge boost in labor would probably help the country as a whole at the time.

Well, you're thinking more of a "resurrection plague". Which would be fascinating in its own right. Not to mention, Judea would suddenly become an immensely popular place for aging Romans to retire to.

I was thinking more along the lines of zombies. Which would likely overwhelm the legions in Judea and spread to nearby provinces. If they can't swim and aren't organized, then the Black Sea and the Bosphorus limits the contagion to Asia Minor, and the Nile likely protects much of Egypt and North Africa. So they spread east -- into the heart of the Parthian Empire. Trade routes would be royally fucked though. I rather like the idea of the Romans having special-purpose border guards like the limitanei, only equipped and trained for zombie-fighting duties instead of barbarian-fighting. I'd imagine the Germanic tribes would become even more popular as recruits, since their axes would likely be a better choice than the pilum and gladius. Greek fire would be be very popular as well.

[mainiac]

Why wouldn't the romans just use axes themselves?  They were totally cool with shamelessly ripping off other people's weapons.  Examples including the afore mentioned pilum and gladius.