The world that wasn't

On impulse, I recently picked up a discount copy of For Want of a Nail, a fictional "textbook" of an alternate history based on the loss of the Battle of Saratoga. It's been a suprisingly good read so far -- all the more so, since the 225th Anniversary of the real Battle of Yorktown is next month.

Too many people can't stand to read actual history, so it's no surprise the genre of alternate history has few real fans. Besides, the quality of the work in that field varies greatly. But for those who study how events played out in real life, there is usually the habit of asking "what if..."

From the "textbook:"

"Of the fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, only seven were taken to London for trial and subsequently executed ². Another thirty-one were tried by colonial courts, found guilty of crimes against the state, and given sentences ranging from imprisonment or exile to the loss of citizenship rights.

(Footnotes)
² This group consisted of: John Adams, Sam Adams, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, Robert Treat Paine, and Roger Sherman. In addition, Tom Paine and Patrick Henry were also put to death. George Washington was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Benjamin Franklin, seventy-three years old at the time, was not put on trial, in deference to his age, previous contributions to science, and aid in bringing the fighting to a halt. He did not return to America, taking up residence in London, where he died in 1781."

Of course, we all understand the Colonial leaders faced grim fates had the Revolution failed. Ben Franklin warned the revolutionaries they must "hang together, or surely, we will all hang separately." But to see the fates of three men we remember as presidents listed as a fictional "footnote" in a "textbook" brings home the scale of their wager when they pledged their "lives, fortunes and sacred honor."

The best part of this exercise is the paragraph above is in the opening chapter. The "text" is a survey history of North America, from the time of the "failed American rebellion" to the 20th Century. It'll be interesting to see how many horses, battles, riders and kingdoms the author supposes were lost... all for the want of the nail that was the Battle of Saratoga.