John Fredrick Parker
Donor
Post 1900? (TL #1) Well, since WWII was really something of the worst event to befall humanity, preventing it (mostly) by keeping Hitler from coming to power would be tempting. (It would be an easy enough PoD -- just have Hindenburg not run for re-election in 1932.) That said, there would be serious downsides -- anti-semitism would continue to be perfectly acceptable, segregation would be a lot stronger in the US, and colonial powers wouldn't be seriously weakened (YMMV on whether this is a net positive or negative). Plus, there's the matter of Japan (still) invading China, with the possibility of the Russians getting involved.
(TL #2) I actually personally like one where Mao Zedong and his army are killed during the Fifth Encirclement Campaign (in 1934). At first, things don't seem much improved -- Chiang spends a few more years rooting out Communists, then the Second Sino-Japanese War begins roughly as OTL, then WWII proceeds as OTL.
But then the war ends, and China averts a post-war civil-war (aside from some expeditions against the remaining warlords) and the insanely brutal regime of Maoism (replacing it with the still brutal, but less insane, regime of Chiang Kai-Shek). By the time Chiang dies in 1975, China's coastal cities would be quite wealthy, putting them roughly overall where they were OTL when the joined the WTO in 2001. The real great butterflies will be in the rest of the World, though -- in the US, the second Red Scare (circa 1950-54) will be entirely averted, leading to a stronger liberalism in the country, as well as a generally less paranoid approach to world affairs. The Cold War, in addition to being more complex (with China as something of a third side), is less militarized, both in the short term (due to no Korean War) and long term (no NSC-68, no Operation Ajax, no Vietnam, etc). Also, because liberalism isn't curbed in the early 1950's, America tackles issues like health care and organized labor with less paranoia -- agency shops get national protection in the late 40's, while UHC is instituted in the early 1960's.
Since it occurs to me both "ideal" TLs offered here fail to prevent the Japanese invasion of China, I'd offer this -- (TL #3) -- Cao Kun is killed in 1921, Chen Duxiu does not become a Communist, and the Bejiing Government (now stable, and led by Wu Peifu and Li Yuanhong) accept Soviet military aid. Long story short, when the Japanese invade Manchuria in 1931, the Chinese are more united and even moving toward republican government. (This TL, however, does nothing to prevent the rise of Nazi Germany.)
Properly speaking, none of these TLs are real "utopias" -- just because you prevent one horrible aspect of the 20th Century, doesn't mean you can count on the butterflies to take out the ones that follow, and sometimes horrible things happening in human history have a way of teaching us things we would otherwise refuse to learn (or at least, certain societies would).
(TL #2) I actually personally like one where Mao Zedong and his army are killed during the Fifth Encirclement Campaign (in 1934). At first, things don't seem much improved -- Chiang spends a few more years rooting out Communists, then the Second Sino-Japanese War begins roughly as OTL, then WWII proceeds as OTL.
But then the war ends, and China averts a post-war civil-war (aside from some expeditions against the remaining warlords) and the insanely brutal regime of Maoism (replacing it with the still brutal, but less insane, regime of Chiang Kai-Shek). By the time Chiang dies in 1975, China's coastal cities would be quite wealthy, putting them roughly overall where they were OTL when the joined the WTO in 2001. The real great butterflies will be in the rest of the World, though -- in the US, the second Red Scare (circa 1950-54) will be entirely averted, leading to a stronger liberalism in the country, as well as a generally less paranoid approach to world affairs. The Cold War, in addition to being more complex (with China as something of a third side), is less militarized, both in the short term (due to no Korean War) and long term (no NSC-68, no Operation Ajax, no Vietnam, etc). Also, because liberalism isn't curbed in the early 1950's, America tackles issues like health care and organized labor with less paranoia -- agency shops get national protection in the late 40's, while UHC is instituted in the early 1960's.
Since it occurs to me both "ideal" TLs offered here fail to prevent the Japanese invasion of China, I'd offer this -- (TL #3) -- Cao Kun is killed in 1921, Chen Duxiu does not become a Communist, and the Bejiing Government (now stable, and led by Wu Peifu and Li Yuanhong) accept Soviet military aid. Long story short, when the Japanese invade Manchuria in 1931, the Chinese are more united and even moving toward republican government. (This TL, however, does nothing to prevent the rise of Nazi Germany.)
Properly speaking, none of these TLs are real "utopias" -- just because you prevent one horrible aspect of the 20th Century, doesn't mean you can count on the butterflies to take out the ones that follow, and sometimes horrible things happening in human history have a way of teaching us things we would otherwise refuse to learn (or at least, certain societies would).
