What If?

Fülszöveg

The American cause hung in the balance. The British, as [General George]
Washington seems not to have realized—or allowed himself to think—had
him in a perfect trap. They had only to move a few warships into the East River
and all escape would be sealed. Indeed, but for the caprices of weather, the out-
come would have been altogether different. What actually happened was
extraordinary."
—David McCullough,
on George Washington's brilliant withdrawal after the Battle of Long Island
On a gloomy New Year's Day 1863, a melancholy Lincoln called Republican
congressional leaders and state governors to the White House. This is not
the duty I had hoped to discharge today,' he told them. Last July, I decided to
issue a proclamation freeing the slaves in rebel states, to take effect today/ he
continued sadly. 'There is no chance of that now. . . . Whether or not we admit
we are conquered, we must admit that we have failed to conquer the rebellion.'"
—James M. McPherson's... Tovább

Fülszöveg

The American cause hung in the balance. The British, as [General George]
Washington seems not to have realized—or allowed himself to think—had
him in a perfect trap. They had only to move a few warships into the East River
and all escape would be sealed. Indeed, but for the caprices of weather, the out-
come would have been altogether different. What actually happened was
extraordinary."
—David McCullough,
on George Washington's brilliant withdrawal after the Battle of Long Island
On a gloomy New Year's Day 1863, a melancholy Lincoln called Republican
congressional leaders and state governors to the White House. This is not
the duty I had hoped to discharge today,' he told them. Last July, I decided to
issue a proclamation freeing the slaves in rebel states, to take effect today/ he
continued sadly. 'There is no chance of that now. . . . Whether or not we admit
we are conquered, we must admit that we have failed to conquer the rebellion.'"
—James M. McPherson's supposition,
based on a Confederate victory at Gettysburg in October 1862
It is not inconceivable that Hitler and Stalin would have groped their way back
to 1939, when they were partners, and reinstated the Nazi-Soviet pact. It is
also possible that Stalinmight have overrun Germany, then France, and the war
in Europe would have ended with the Communists in control of the Continent.
The Red Army would have been on the English Channel. It is hard to imagine
a worse outcome.''
—Stephen Ambrose,
on the aftermath of a failed D-Day invasión Vissza