Then again, when I ran the original question by a coworker, he answered that he'd give Damascus steel to the Scots, just because.

Why not just go all out and give them the knowledge of steam power, as well as black powder?

Sometimes, a person going back in time to alter the future need only suggest minor things to past cultures, not actually bring future technologies back with them.

 

For instance, what if someone had inspired the ancient Greeks to adapt ship-mounted ballistas with tips containing a poultice of the greek fire compound (naptha?) ?

Effectively, that would've created the first true warhead-equipped (albeit unguided) anti-ship missile.

It would've been interesting to see how far they would have advanced (as far as various sizes and ranges) by the time ship-mounted cannon and culverin were introduced.

 

Or consider the so-called "Baghdad battery", one of the earliest attempts at human-generated electricity.

Perhaps made to do little more than electroplate cheaper metals to fool the unknowing into thinking they were real gold,

imagine if widespread electricity had been developed from it, way back then.

 

Or like I mentioned above with the "steam curiosity" created by the Roman engineer/philospher.

 

...or if someone managed to convince the great chinese fleet to continue sailing around Africa and up along the early European coast, could war have been provoked between Europe and china back then (perhaps with Africa being the primary battleground)?

 

...or what if the Central American tribes had learned to cultivate and refine hemp (and other, ahem, "medicinal" herbs), to the point instead of being wiped out by the Spanish Conquistadors, they instead managed to get them, and consequently much of Europe, addicted to marijuana, or even cocaine, centuries ago on a widespread scale...

 

...or convince the chinese fleet to sail east acroos the Pacific instead of west towards Africa. How different would the Central American tribes have been affected.

(...and imagine if the Aztecs, Maya, or Inca had cooperated with the early chinese, developed their own composite bows from those descended from the Mongols, and faced the Conquistadors with frog-poisoned tipped arrows that could pierce the Spanish armor at range (ranges beyond sword melee).

 

What could the US have looked like if the chinese fleet landed along the US western seaboard and started colonies.?Would there have been war with Europe then over who would rule North America?

Would the chinese have sided with or against the Native Americans?

(and would Mt Rusmore look different because of it?)

 

(Sometimes it might be interesting to see how much one could screw up history by means other than intentionally trying to jumpstart progress.)

 

What about giving rifling technology, percussion caps, and cartridge ammo manufacturing techniques to Napolean prior to his rampage across Europe and Russia?

 

Or if someone had convinced Custer to take along his 4 gatling guns and 20,000 rounds of ammo to Little Bighorn?

 

The different factions throughout history have written their own conclusions as to who were the madmen and who were the sane. If going back in time, which madmen do we side with, or do we seek to depose them alogether, but in the process rewriting history even more (uh oh, paradox time...).

 

...I remember reading, back in the early 1990s,

a book where the author proposed an alternative history in which the South managed to retain power after the Civil War (I don't think it was an outright victory, insomuch as they forced the North to concede considerably) and allied with the Kaiser during WW1.

 

Anyone by chance recall the title?

I never did finish it.

sounds like one of harry turtledoves alternate histories.  if memory serves there was a trilogy about the civil war then another about ww1 with the confeds siding with britain and france and the north siding with the kaiser.  think there is a trilogy about ww2 but i'm not sure.