What really happened
1967·Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara was executed in Bolivia by Bolivian and CIA-backed forces.
Instead
Che Guevara escapes from Bolivia and reaches sanctuary in a neighboring country.
Today's divergence
One thing that really happened, undone. A new one every morning.
Every day so far
41- The Rocket fails to complete the Rainhill Trials, leaving horse-drawn rail transport as the industry standard.
1829 · George Stephenson's locomotive Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials in England, demonstrating steam power's viability for railways.
- The United States does not invade Afghanistan.
2001 · The United States invasion of Afghanistan begins in reaction to the terrorist attacks of September 11.
- Jason Lewis abandons his journey and returns home before circling the globe.
2007 · Explorer and author Jason Lewis completed a human-powered circumnavigation of the globe.
- Milosevic remains in office as the demonstrations disperse without forcing his departure.
2000 · Slobodan Milosevic resigned as president of Yugoslavia following mass street protests.
- The Mount Rushmore carvings are never begun, leaving the granite face unaltered.
1927 · Gutzon Borglum begins carving Mount Rushmore, featuring four U.S. presidents on the mountainside.
- The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes retains its original name.
1929 · The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes formally changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
- The Wehrmacht postpones the Moscow offensive until spring, allowing Soviet forces time to prepare defenses.
1941 · German forces launched Operation Typhoon, the major offensive directed toward Moscow during World War II.
- The Forrestal class is never constructed, and the U.S. Navy operates smaller carriers through the Cold War.
1955 · The aircraft carrier Forrestal was commissioned, the largest carrier built for the U.S. Navy at that time.
- The Sumatra subduction zone remains locked, releasing no seismic energy on this date.
2009 · A 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes off the southern coast of Sumatra, killing 1,115 people.
- The Metropolitan Police Act fails to pass through Parliament, preventing establishment of a professional constabulary.
1829 · London's Metropolitan Police becomes the first official police department in the world.
- The Sulawesi earthquake does not occur, and the Indian Ocean subduction zone remains stable.
2018 · A 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck Sulawesi in Indonesia on September 28, triggering a tsunami that killed over two thousand people in Palu.
- The Warren Commission's report remains classified and is never publicly released.
1964 · The Warren Commission publicly releases its report concluding Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President Kennedy.
- Lloyd Webber withdraws the musical before opening night, and it remains unproduced.
1986 · The Phantom of the Opera premiered on Broadway and became the longest-running show in Broadway history.
- Algeria remains under French rule as a constituent part of the French state.
1962 · Algeria is officially created as an independent state with Ferhat Abbas and Ben Bella as its first political leaders.
- The Hajj's crowd control measures prevent the stampede at Mina.
2015 · At least 1,100 people are killed and 934 wounded in a stampede during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia.
- Neptune remains unobserved, visible only through mathematical prediction, its physical reality unconfirmed.
1846 · Astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle observes the planet Neptune, whose existence had been mathematically predicted.
- The Soviet Union's first atomic bomb test fails to detonate properly.
1949 · The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb.
- The Galileo probe transmits data from within Jupiter's atmosphere instead of being crushed.
1995 · NASA's Galileo probe descended into Jupiter's atmosphere and was destroyed by atmospheric pressure.
- Bush frames the September 11 response as a police action against specific criminal actors rather than a global war.
2001 · President George W. Bush declared war on terror in a speech to Congress after the September 11 attacks.
- The newspapers refuse to print the manifesto, keeping the text unpublished and the bomber's identity unknown.
1995 · The Unabomber's manifesto is published by The New York Times and Washington Post after 17 years of bombings.
- Fleming's culture plate remains contaminated only by staphylococcus, without the mold.
1928 · Alexander Fleming noticed mold had killed bacteria in his staphylococcus culture plate.
- The space shuttle program is cancelled before the prototype is completed.
1976 · NASA publicly unveiled its first space shuttle, the Enterprise, during a ceremony in Palmdale, California.
- The Lebanese militia does not enter the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.
1982 · Members of a right-wing Lebanese militia massacred 1,500-3,000 people in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps over three days.
- Lehman Brothers secures emergency financing and continues operating as a going concern.
2008 · Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, triggering the global financial crisis.
- The Baghdad conference fails to establish OPEC as a permanent international cartel.
1960 · The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was founded at a conference in Baghdad by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
- Congress of the Confederation selects Philadelphia as the temporary national capital instead.
1788 · Congress of the Confederation declared New York City the temporary national capital and authorized the first national election.
- Hurricane Gilbert weakens before reaching Jamaica, causing minimal casualties.
1988 · Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica, killing hundreds of people and causing widespread destruction.
- Anna Lindh is not attacked in the department store.
2003 · Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was stabbed in a Stockholm department store and died the next day.
- The Chiapas earthquake does not occur on this date.
2017 · An 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Chiapas, Mexico, killing at least 90 people and causing widespread destruction.
- Russian historians date the founding of the Russian state to a later event, not Rurik's arrival in Novgorod.
1862 · The Millennium of Russia monument was installed at the Detinets in Novgorod Kremlin to commemorate the millennium of Rurik's arrival in Novgorod.
- The Ciskei massacre does not occur; the demonstration disperses without military intervention.
1992 · South African security forces fired into African National Congress demonstrators near Ciskei, killing 24 and wounding 150.
- Gandhi finds no answer in nonviolence and pursues armed resistance in South Africa.
1906 · Mahatma Gandhi introduced Satyagraha, a philosophy of nonviolent resistance, in South Africa.
- CBS Evening News hires a male anchor instead, maintaining the male dominance of evening news broadcasts.
2006 · Katie Couric made her debut as the first female solo anchor of a weekday network evening news broadcast on CBS Evening News.
- The settlement party sent by De Neve turns back before reaching the Los Angeles River plain.
1781 · Forty-four settlers recruited by Alta California Governor Felipe de Neve founded El Pueblo de la Reyna de Los Angeles on the site of present-day Los Angeles.
- Fleming's contaminated culture plate is discarded without examination.
1928 · Alexander Fleming noticed mold had killed bacteria in his staphylococcus culture plate.
- The Strait of Florida remains unswum without mechanical protection.
2013 · Long distance swimmer Diana Nyad became the first person to swim the Strait of Florida from Cuba without a shark cage.
- Aaron Burr is convicted of treason and executed.
1807 · Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was acquitted of treason.
- The Munch Museum's "Scream" and "Madonna" remain missing following their 2004 theft.
2004 · Edvard Munch's paintings "Scream" and "Madonna" were recovered by Norwegian police after being stolen from the Munch Museum in Oslo.
- East Timorese voters reject independence in the referendum.
1999 · East Timorese voters approved independence in a referendum held on August 30.
- The Treaty of Nanking fails to be ratified, and Hong Kong remains under Chinese sovereignty.
1842 · The Treaty of Nanking is signed, ending the Opium Wars and ceding Hong Kong to Britain.
- Japan's first gay pride parade does not take place.
1994 · Tokyo held the country's first gay pride parade.