But What If... - The Productive Leisure Network

At the Diet of Worms in 1521, Martin Luther rebuked the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor by saying, "Here I stand, I can do no other." Except he didn't exactly say that, and he had already rebuked both the Pope and the Emperor before 1521. But if Luther had not taken the actions he did at the Diet of Worms, the entire Protestant Reformation would maybe not have happened, or happened quite differently. Also, Martin Luther would have just become another John Wycliffe or Jan Hus, rather than the signature reformer. In other words, the Diet of Worms made the Protestant Reformation what it was, but everything could have been different.

The Battle of Antietam was a pyrrhic victory for the Union which was the bloodiest single day in American history, yet it was basically a stalemate, leading to a number of questions: But what if the South had won the Battle of Antietam? But what if the North had had a convincing victory? But what if Abraham Lincoln had not been able to issue the Emancipation Proclamation after the battle? Those questions and many others occupy our time on this inaugural episode of But What If..

Welcome to But What If..., a podcast that explores what could have been in history. Hosted by Will Floyd and Brad Harris, we will be exploring the question of other possibilities in history. Join us right here on the Productive Leisure Network to think about the What Ifs in history.