Umleitung · What If? Stories of Germany

In the Teutoburg Forest, two visitors view the site of one of Rome’s greatest victories; a monk sees Friedrich Barbarossa restore Christian control of Jerusalem; a Hanseatic League expedition seeks the passage to China; King Gustavus Adolphus witnesses the final battle of the Eighteen Years War; a Prussian soldier returns to find his kingdom under foreign control; delegates at the Congress of Vienna discuss the growth of the Kingdom of Saxony; a businessman seeks to employ the lawyer Otto von Bismarck; in 1918, German tanks drive into Calais; SA men defend Berlin from the Polish invasion; a German woman seeks better work in the Dutch-occupied Rhineland and an East German officer has a special role to play in the seizure of West Berlin.

These and other stories all feature in Alexander Rooksmoor’s latest book - ‘Umleitung: What If? Stories of Germany’. It is a collection of 18 short stories about different paths that could have been followed in Germany's history. Some of the differences featured would only have impacted on a few individuals, but many would have had vast implications for Germany, Europe and the wider World. These stories are bound to both fascinate and entertain anyone interested in how German history could so easily have turned out differently.

NOTE: Unlike a number of Alexander Rooksmoor’s books, this one contains stories, not chapters of historical analysis of potential counterfactuals. Please ensure that this is the type of book you want before buying it.

Alexander Rooksmoor is the author of a number of popular counterfactual books. His publications draw on over twenty years’ experience in researching and teaching history and discussing ‘what if?’. He has even longer experience in writing fiction. This background has enabled him to produce stories that are both liable to intrigue you and to provoke you to think.