L'uchronie ou l'avenir virtuel

According to Charles Renouvier, “uchronia” is an apocryphal historical outline of the development of European civilization as it has not been, but as it might have been if… It is therefore in the same tradition as Niall Ferguson’s book Virtual History, since it brings together historians to imagine what might have happened if certain events had not taken place.
After a short introduction to uchronia, Bernard Cazes analyses the impact of nine imaginary decisions or events: such as if Cromwell had not lived, if America had remained British, if Great Britain had been neutral in 1914, if Britain had been invaded by the Nazis in 1940.
In three out of nine cases, Bernard Cazes argues, the imaginary alternatives would have made no difference. But clearly he was not totally convinced by the demonstration of these historians of uchronia. This is a pity, because the exercise is amusing and could shed light on the real impact of human decisions on social change.