Greatest empires of all time

[Gangerolf]

The British Empire (not nowadays of course, but 100 years ago).

Bah...the chinese. They were greater earlier, and lasted the longest. They had cities twice the size of rome during the same time period. 1/2 the world's population can't be wrong...

I think it's closer to 1/5. BTW, "can't be wrong"? I don't think China is the nicest place to live in... (not the worst either though)

[Gangerolf]

Originally posted by Faboba
The only hyponated power I can think of from our history books is Austria-Hungary...

Denmark-Norway (1380?-1814)?


Sonic,
was the Mongol Empire larger than the Soviet Union at it's biggest?

[Faboba]

Originally posted by Gangerolf


Denmark-Norway (1380?-1814)?


Sonic,
was the Mongol Empire larger than the Soviet Union at it's biggest?

Yes.... but I can't think of that, can I?

Unless....

Am I you? OH MY GOD! I'VE BEEN LIVING A LIE!!!

But if you're still here.... who's grooming the badgers for the badger parade?

[Sonic]

Yes, Mongol Empire was bigger. In east it continued up to korean peninsula, in south - to southern indostan peninsula's part and indo-china, in west - to modern day Belarus, in north - to about half of current Russia.

[Saint Marcus]

Republic of the Netherlands!

but in all honesty:

1. Britain
2. Rome
3. China

China may have been bigger and around longer, it didn't impact the world (both short and long term) as much as Britain, or Rome did.

[Saint Marcus]

was the Mongol Empire larger than the Soviet Union at it's biggest?

more importantly: was the Mongol Empire larger than the British Empire at it's biggest?

[Sonic]

No it wasn't. I only said Mongol Empire was largest continuous empire, and British empire wasn't continuous

[Gangerolf]

Originally posted by Faboba


Yes.... but I can't think of that, can I?

Unless....

Am I you? OH MY GOD! I'VE BEEN LIVING A LIE!!!

But if you're still here.... who's grooming the badgers for the badger parade?

Yes. You are in fact me. And the badgers groom (lick) themselves, very low maintenance pets if you must now

[King of Rasslin]

AMERICA!!!!!!!!

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by markusf
Egypt is the greatest of all time, its been around longer then all the other empires combined. A empires greatness is usually defined by how long it existed and how big it was.. The second greatest would have to have been rome...

Oh pish-posh! Historians measure "greatness" by cultural and historical impact.

Egypt lasted so long because of relative geographic isolation. However, their cultural impact on future civilizations outside of Egypt was pretty minimal, romantic Egyptology aside.

Rome still gets it. It is the epitome of the gigantic empire that engulfs many peoples and dissimenates its culture to a huge area. Roman culture still has a dramatic impact on the Western world today.

That being said, China's empire could be said to be Rome's equal. While I would say its cultural impact is more localized, there's no denying its power, longevity and richness of history.

[Boris Godunov]

The British Empire at its greatest extent probably edges out the Mongol Empire in pure square footage.

I wouldn't put the Mongol Empire very high on the list, anyway. Cultural impact was small if any, and the historical impact limited to a relatively small segment of time.

[Alinestra Covelia]

I'd go with China, but I'll admit that has a lot to do with their achievements in the appropriate timeframe. To have united a country of that sheer size, and to have it survive for such a long time against increasing odds is quite a feat. Plus, four massively influential inventions/discoveries were chalked up to their names - the printing press (centuries before Gutenberg brought it to Europe), the compass (both the magnetic and the mechanical chariot types), gunpowder (used in cannon and naval missiles, though the Chinese did not perfect any portable such weapons), and paper money (indirectly leading to an early banking economic structure).

However, this early self-sufficiency also worked against the Chinese. Later dynasties, convinced that the outside world had nothing to offer them, became introverted and refused to trade or have dealings with outsider powers such as Britain and France. Unfortunately, by that time the British were very good at making ships and cannon, as the Qing dynasty found out the hard way.

Although no longer the cultural superpower it once was, China is still culturally very important in Asia, as the vast numbers of overseas students here attest (especially the South Koreans, who have established "Little Koreas" in most major cities). Economically too China is heralded to be the next powerhouse in the coming century, though only time will tell. Most major companies and every major country has a policy as regards China, whether it's for business or for politics.

China's a wonderful country, past and present, and it's well worth a foreigner's time to visit. Although the political situation is still problematic to many nations, the people and the heritage here are fascinating and incredibly varied. A few trips to the South showed me how even individual towns had their own unique cultures and histories through thousands of years.

[Oerdin]

Grrr, like Firaxis sonic doesn't know the difference between the being English and being British. It was the BRITISH and not English Empire!

(disgruntled half-Scot walks a way grumbling...)

[Boris Godunov]

And what is supposed to be the German Empire? Does he mean 1871 Bismarck, or 1941 Third Reich, or 800 Charlemagne?

I'm surprised nobody at all selected French. No Napoleonites here?

[Oerdin]

Originally posted by Saint Marcus
more importantly: was the Mongol Empire larger than the British Empire at it's biggest?

There was a thread on this in the civilizations forum and the British Empire was larger in over all land area. The Moguls had all of their land contigious though if that counts for anything. One thing is certain though and that is the power Queen Victoria (theoretically) wielded far out weighed what the Khan had. Of course with 500 years of seporation one would expect that...

[Boris Godunov]

Queen Victoria? Not really...it was the British Parliament and PM. Vicki wasn't all that much more than a figurehead.

[Oerdin]

Thus the theoretical part...

[Paris]

As a Greek i must correct something in poll:

Didn't exist never a Greek empire!

From the historical books we get to know that ancient Greeks they hadn't created never an empire. There isn't the term "Greek Empire", as the exist "British" or "Chinese" Empire in historical field.

The cities-states had separate administration, COMMON LANGUAGE (the most imortand issue for any state until today) - and being a union under the terms "Greece, Greeks" only in the case of appearance of a common enemy (Persians).
The first time that a Greek had being an emperor was the Great Alexander. Great Alexander was absoloutely a GREEK from MACEDONIA area but the biggest piece of his empire that he creates was except the european geographical limits and it existed at Asia (historicals called it 'til now "Macedonian" age or macedonian empire).

[Serb]

Greatest empires of all time

Troll thread!!! Troll thread!!!
I can't beleive I've miss it.

[Serb]

Originally posted by Sonic
What do you think was the greatest empire of all time (please drop patriotism here and tell your opinion based on size, strenght, loyality, ect.)

Ok. It's a hard task to make such desicion without pressure of patriotism, but I'll try.
Let's see.... It should be Russia!!!

Size- the largest.
Strenght- the strongest
Loyality- the happiest.
Lifetime- the oldest as an Emipre.
And we have the coolest national hymn ever.
Russia forever!!!

Have a nice day.

[Tingkai]

The American empire has the ability to become the greatest empire ever, but it is too early to say.

On the plus side:
- They put a man on the moon;
- The US is among the first truly multi-cultural nations, although it is still dominated by white males politically, but that will probably change this century;
- Science research in the US will likely outshadow any other empires, and arguably has already done so;
- American corporations are the dominate players in the global economy and international trade laws are largely set by the US;
- The US is the only country capable of exerting its military power throughout the world;
- Despite some problems, it has set a standard for freedom in many areas.

On the downside:
- The US has a strong isolationist streak that interfers with its foreign policy;
- It is still trying to figure out how it should behave on the world stage. Sometimes the US acts as an international leader, other times it acts like a spoiled kid.
- Internal problems, such as the high crime rate, could destroy the nation from within;
- Why does such a rich nation have so much poverty and such a lousy education and health system?

The United States is moving towards its "golden age" and I think, despite, its problems, it will become the greatest empire of all time (and like all empires, it will often screw up big time).

[Deathwalker]

The British empire was the most powerfula dn largest empire in history do I go for that

Though you called it England

[ranskaldan]

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia
Plus, four massively influential inventions/discoveries were chalked up to their names - the printing press (centuries before Gutenberg brought it to Europe), the compass (both the magnetic and the mechanical chariot types), gunpowder (used in cannon and naval missiles, though the Chinese did not perfect any portable such weapons), and paper money (indirectly leading to an early banking economic structure).

Don't forget paper itself.

China!

[Heresson]

Sono, Obviously it was not stronger than Poland-Lithuania later.It wasn't even stronger than Poland at this time. It was giant territorially, but quite weak militarilly and culturally and whatever else, Culture; when a first book in Lithuanian was written? In XIX century? Miliary; How your wars against Teutonic Knights and Poland were going? Why weren't You able to destroy %decisevely% little puny Muscuvian state?
And anyway, after the "aplication" of Lithuania to Poland,
the state was even bigger.

[Sonic]

Heresson, first Lithuanian book was written in XV century. Our military was very good, remember that we didn't let in christianity from teutonic knights for such a long time. Also we were never taken by Mongols, who ended their territory taking near LGD borders. It now oftenly said that if not LGD Mongolds would have invaded Europe and current Europe might be not as we see it today. I do agree however that LGD culture was relatively low when comparing to other countries at western Europe, but our military at the best times was one of strongest. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to expand LGD that much. And, yet again, good defense was what Poland-Lithuania lacked. And you know what was the end for this country. I wouldn't call Poland-Lithuania even empire. It never really conquered anything. While LGD expanded from small territory to one of the biggest continuous empires which ever been in Europe.

Also, I would like to answer several questions by other people - Germany is all their empires combined. Because all were build by nation of Germans. And Greece was never a true empire but it's input to worlds history was bigger than of some huge empires, so I included it to the list.

[Bereta_Eder]

The Hellenic Empire of Alexander was indeed an empire and one of the largest of the world. The ensuing kingdoms can also be seen as empires and there is also the Byzantine Empire.

So I think that there indeed was. It's just that Greece is better known for its literacy and thinking than for its weapons and expansion.

[Serb]

Originally posted by Heresson
Why weren't You able to destroy %decisevely% little puny Muscuvian state?

What did you just said?

[Giovanni Wine]

Originally posted by Heresson
Giovanni, there's nothing to explain. It's a fact.
Romans-Byzantines, You-Longobards.
Longobards-Germanic tribe, Germanic tribe - barbarians,
ergo Italians...

Romans didn't struggled indecisively with Persians.
Their capital was taken several times and it's enough proof that Persians were much weaker. Romans lacked consequence. Anyway, Roman Empire survived Arabic
attack, and Persian didn't.

ehmm

You do realize that when the Longobards arrived the Latin were already populating all of the Italian peninsula?
You do know that South Italy was still under Byzantium rule, and that Central Italy was under Papal rule (which means nobody ever invaded it)

So the Longobards were just on the NORTH, where they MIXED with the Latin populations there, but they did not take the place of them.

Of course Italians are not fully-latin ethnicity, (Mixed with Arab on the south and Germans on the north) (but no West European country come from the same ethnic group), but it is hard to say that Italians are full Germans like you stated.

Cause if that's the case... how do you explain that Italians is probably the closest language to Latin... if we are Germans.... we should speak German right ?

Saluti

[VJ]

China.

[Heresson]

Even if so, next was in XIX century. What was it?
Was it really in Lithuanian or in Ruthenian?
Lithuanian was not any anti-Mongol bufor for Europe. It took the place of Mongols in Ruthenian duchies and that's it. Not a really impressive thing, as they were weak and hopeless.
Empire doesn't have to conquer anytjing to be an empire. And Poland-Liuthuania conquered
several pieces of territory, not much, as our gentry was too
much interested in other things than war.
We were too riich alone to want to conquer surrounding us
poor nations as Swedes, Russians, Brandenburgians...


Descendance of Romans have nothing to do with language
or rase.

Macedonian Empire wasn't created by Greeks, but by Macedonians.

I said the truth