Silverberg, Robert. "Translation Error"
Divergence: 1914 CE
What if: World War I was ended by the 1916 Treaty of Dusseldorf, and the German victory resulted in a peaceful world with a slowed-down pace of technological progress.
Summary: An alien returns to Earth after tampering with history in 1914, finds things are askew and decides that he has shifted onto a parallel by mistake.
Published: In Astounding, March 1959; Worlds of Maybe: Seven Stories of Science Fiction (ed. Robert Silverberg), q.v.; The Cube Root of Uncertainty, Macmillan 1970, Signet 1971; Transformation II (ed. unknown), Fawcett 1974; and Needle in a Timestack, Sphere 1979, Ace 1985 (0441568726).
Original in: English.
Translation: French by Hélègne Collon as "Le Traité de Düsseldorf", in Le nez de Cléopâtre, q.v.
Translation: German by Herbert Molden as "Nur ein kleiner Versetzungsfehler", in Duell unter fremder Sonne, Mö 1966.
Translation: German by Tony Westermayr as "Falsch berechnet", in Die Schatten dunkler Fluegel, Goldmann 1975 (3442232031).
Translation: Portuguese by Elza Martins as "Erro de Leitura", in Rumo à Estrela Negra, Expressão & Cultura 1974.