An interesting derivative put forward by historians like Niall Ferguson is to explore the counterfactuals, or what-ifs, of history.
What if there had been no American War of Independence? What if Kennedy had survived the assassination attempt?
While counterfactual histories can be useful to highlight the contingent nature of history and are often very entertaining, I am personally sceptical of them because the alternative scenario cannot be meaningfully recreated in a world where even the fluttering wings of a butterfly can influence the future state of the world.
If Kennedy had not been assassinated, many other things would have also not happened. Who knows what path history would have taken?
I have discussed this topic ( in Hindi ) on my YouTube Channel:
https://lnkd.in/dBXRnaVV
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