Counterfactual history

Counterfactual history (also virtual history) is a form of historiography that attempts to answer the What if? questions that arise from counterfactual conditions.^[1] As a method of intellectual enquiry, counterfactual history explores history and historical incidents by extrapolating a timeline in which key historical events either did not occur or had an outcome different from the actual historical outcome. Counterfactual history seeks by "conjecturing on what did not happen, or what might have happened, in order to understand what did happen."^[2] It has produced a literary genre which is variously called alternate history, speculative history, allohistory, and hypothetical history.^[3]^[4]

^ Bunzl, Martin (June 2004). "Counterfactual History: A User's Guide". The American Historical Review. 109 (3): 845–858. doi:10.1086/530560. ISSN 0002-8762. JSTOR 10.1086/530560.
^ Black, Jeremy; MacRaild, Donald M. (2007). Studying History (3rd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. p. 125. ISBN 9781403987341.
^ Cite error: The named reference Arnold was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Singles, Kathleen (2011-06-01). "'What If?' and Beyond: Counterfactual History in Literature". The Cambridge Quarterly. 40 (2): 180–188. doi:10.1093/camqtly/bfr007. ISSN 0008-199X.

[1] Bunzl, Martin (June 2004). "Counterfactual History: A User's Guide". The American Historical Review. 109 (3): 845–858. doi:10.1086/530560. ISSN 0002-8762. JSTOR 10.1086/530560.

[Black_Macraild-2] Black, Jeremy; MacRaild, Donald M. (2007). Studying History (3rd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. p. 125. ISBN 9781403987341.

[Arnold-3] Cite error: The named reference Arnold was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[ksingles-4] Singles, Kathleen (2011-06-01). "'What If?' and Beyond: Counterfactual History in Literature". The Cambridge Quarterly. 40 (2): 180–188. doi:10.1093/camqtly/bfr007. ISSN 0008-199X.

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