This is yet another alternate history brainstorming session.  The idea here is that various political leaders have politically ambitious sons (or daughters or grandkids or even younger brothers or cousins I guess).

1.      Adolph Hitler:  What if he had a politically ambitious cousin or nephew who rose fairly high in the Nazi hierarchy?  What would the Allies do with guy?  I'm assuming no direct provable connection to war crimes.  The Allies would have to be very wary of the guy as a focus for possible neo-Nazi nonsense.

2.      Franklin Roosevelt: If he had a politically ambitious close relative who had advance to the rank of governor or was in the Senate by 1944 that could get interesting.  I doubt that any such person would have made vice-president on the 1944 ticket, but I could see him running in say 1952

3.      Stalin: Stalin did have a son or two, but they were pretty much non-entities in terms of political power. What if one of them had turned out to be a chip off the old block?  Now that could have gotten interesting.  I could easily see Stalin Junior eventually making a play to house daddy, or daddy fearing such a thing and killing or imprisoning the kid.  Lot's of fun intrigue to be had there

4.      While we're on Soviet leaders, how about a political mover and shaker among Lenin's near relatives?  He would be a natural focus for anti-Stalin Soviet leaders, and as such would probably be well-advised to keep his life insurance paid up

5.      Pancho Villa: A son who is a chip off the old block and plies his father's trade?  That could make life in northern Mexico lots of fun

Napoleon: A legitimate and healthy son for Napoleon could have some very interesting affects.  If Napoleon Senior loses and goes into exile, what happens to the kid?  Chances are he's going to be grandson to the Austrian emperor, who would love to have him on the throne of France.  That could make matters interesting for the anti-Nappy coalition.

Posted on Feb 3, 2012.

More Stuff For POD Members Only

What you see here is a truncated on-line version of a larger zine that I contribute to POD, the alternate history APA.  POD members get to look forward to more fun stuff.