What is the greatest empire ever existed?

What is the greatest empire that ever existed?

  • Ancient Rome

    Votes: 35 32.4%
  • Alexander the Great's Empire

    Votes: 14 13.0%
  • Byzantine Empire

    Votes: 4 3.7%
  • Ottoman Empire

    Votes: 3 2.8%
  • Safavid Empire

    Votes: 4 3.7%
  • Genghis Khan empire

    Votes: 3 2.8%
  • Mughal Empire

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Han China (202 BC to 220AD)

    Votes: 3 2.8%
  • Ming & Qing China (1368 to 1911)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Aztec Empire

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Inca Empire

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Holy Roman Empire

    Votes: 1 0.9%
  • Spanish Empire of 16th to 19th century

    Votes: 6 5.6%
  • Napoleon's empire

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • British empire of 17th to 20th century

    Votes: 24 22.2%
  • The Third Reich/Nazi Germany

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Imperialist Japan (1940's)

    Votes: 1 0.9%
  • Other empire

    Votes: 10 9.3%

  • Total voters
    108
4321go said:
I think the "Civilization" is a difficult game for play ,It needs patient. However,It is very popular!

I played Civilization since the first version, and especially at the time of Civilization II (only a bit Civ III). It's the only game I have played seriously in the last 10 years ! I would rank it as the best game ever made. :cool:
 
Mycernius said:
Egypt did have an empire. During the reign of Ramases II it stretched almost all the way to the Hittite empire, which is modern day Turkey, and covered where Israel and Lebanon are now. Over 3000 years of the ancient Egyptian civilisation, this was when it was almost at it's maximun size. Ancient Egypt was also a very multicultural society. Like most empires/knigdoms it will wax and wane.
Maciamo said:
Yes, but that was an Empire hardly bigger than Egypt itself. Then, I don't see how it could be greater than Alexander's Empire or the Roman Empire, which were both bigger, more developed and more muticultural. Among the two best remembered structures in Egypt (the Pyramids and the Pharos/Lighthouse of Alexandria), one was built under Greek rule, which did not last a tenth of the length of the Egyptian rule (300 year against over 3000 years).
I suppose it depends how you define 'greatest'. If by 'greatest' you mean most widespread, then Maciamo is right. But if you define 'greatest' some other way, then Egypt is definitely a contender. It is my favourite ancient civilization, probably because I know more about it than any of the others. But if you want more objective reasons, how about these:
- the world's first known peace treaty was between the Egyptians and the Hittites
-the world's earliest historical document tells of the unification of upper and lower Egypt
-international trade; Egypt was exporting wine to Israel over 5000 years ago.
-there is some evidence that the Egyptians traded with South Americans; cocaine, which is indigenous to the Andes, has been found in Egyptian mummies.
-Pharoah Sahure is a good example of Egypt's international interests

I've just mentioned stuff about Egypt as an empire, although it was great for many other reasons. :cool:
 
Maciamo said:
Maybe you mean the Ottoman Empire that ruled the Middle-East from the 15th century to 1918. The Arabs took over a lot of land in their jihad, creating a Muslim world from Spain to Central Asia, but it was not politically unified, and thus was not an empire.

Not Ottoman Empire. It is more early! Which ?i632—1258?jat the same time of Tang dynasty of China.

"Arabian nights" tell the story of that time!

http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/阿拉伯帝国
 
4321go said:
Not Ottoman Empire. It is more early! Which ?i632?\1258?jat the same time of Tang dynasty of China.

"Arabian nights" tell the story of that time!

http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/阿拉伯帝国

There was no Arab Empire. There were just many Caliphates (Damascus, Baghdad, Cordoba...). They were all Arabic-speaking and Muslim, but it was not politically unified.
 
4321go said:
Em~ I see ~ only unified in culture and religion.

Yes, like Ancient Greece, or China during the Warring States period.

One question to ask: Does the Arab people speak and use the same language or letter
till now? If it does, I think the Arab country will have the chance to became one country.

Officially, they all speak Arabic, but there are different dialects in each region (e.g. Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia is one region), and they can't always understand each others. Educated people use Classical Arabic to communicate from one Arabic country to another.

By the way, they already have an Arab League, with some Muslim Black African countries in it too.
 
Ancient Rome for me, as there is still a mayor interrest in it nowadays!

and i just love Asterix, and obelix!!!
8c.gif
 
I confess to having been torn between the Roman and British Empires, too.

But I gave it to Rome.

Mainly for longevity and lasting influence.

The British Empire, influential though it was, didn't actually last that long ... and was to a large degree due to the efforts of a single private enterprise if the truth be told. Had it not been for the East India/Hudson Bay Company and its trading successes - the British Empire may not have existed at all. (Somewhat like Exxon, Shell, Imperial and other oil companies influence American and other interests today ... not to mention Ford, GM, Mitsubishi, Hyundai ........ ) Essentially, the British Empire as we think of it really only lasted from .... say .... 1750 - 1950 ...?

The Romans lasted much longer than that!

... and whilst Latin didn't actually become a world "second" language (which English has ...) it did influence and give birth to a substantial number of key Southern and Western European languages, and contributed generously toward the creation of Western European culture. (All the German and Scandinavian folks are allowed to laugh at this point! :clap: )

As for the motives of the British or the Romans ... or anybody ... in creating an Empire - or their means of doing so and maintaining it - I don't want to go there ! (But I think it may have had something to do with $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$..............)

?W????
 
And now ... I would like to challenge whoever launched the poll ....!

I feel that there is an "Empire" missing from his poll!

What happened to ... the Vikings ....?

Here we have folks who, for at least a couple of hundred years, explored, settled, "conquered" and influenced ... Scandinavia, Northern Europe, Finland, Russia, The Middle East, Ireland, Scotland, England, Greenland ... and North America! They influenced language, culture and art.

They achieved a damned sight more than Fascist Italy! .... and that's in the poll...!

I agree that they never created a "unified" entity that could be called (in political terms) an "Empire" ... but could not the same be said of some of the other "candidates"?

?W????
 
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Sensuikan San said:
Essentially, the British Empire as we think of it really only lasted from .... say .... 1750 - 1950 ...?

The Romans lasted much longer than that!

Technically, the Roman Empire only lasted from 31 BC to 476 AD. It wasn't an empire before 31 BC (but a Republic, and before that Monarchy), and it only was truly Roman as long as it was based in Rome, i.e. until 476. After that was left the Eastern Roman Empire based in Constantinople, or Byzantine Empire. So the Roman Empire only lasted twice as long as the British Empire, but ruled over only a fraction of the land, and especially population of the British Empire. Yet, Latin remained the lingua franca of Europe from the beginning of the empire through the middles ages, and we could say until the early 20th century, as many people still learnt it at school, listened to the mass in Latin, and sometimes used it to communicate (maybe more in Eastern Europe).
 
Sensuikan San said:
I feel that there is an "Empire" missing from his poll!

What happened to ... the Vikings ....?
...
I agree that they never created a "unified" entity that could be called (in political terms) an "Empire" ... but could not the same be said of some of the other "candidates"?

You answered you question. Maybe for a poll about the greatest or most influential civilisation ?
 
True, Maciamo, True...!

And your suggestion on the second poll - excellent idea!

Not quite the same as an "Empire" is it ? It would be nice to compare the results....!

Go for it!

(Of course ... I do feel that "America" will win .... 'hands down' !)


?W????
 
MY CARTHAGINIAN "REPUBLIC" :evil:

carthage.jpg

(the white on the minimap in the bottom left is the carthaginian domains, red is rome :p )

I voted alexander because he's arguably the greatest historical figure, and he built a vast empire in a very short period of time with a bog stanard macedonian army, i dont remember hearing of any other hellanistic country building such an empire.
If he hadnt died so young, who knows what he would have acheived.

The british empire was cool, since it was made from a nation that originally consisted of a small set of islands barely unified, and having to resort to piracy against the spanish, but we built ourselves an empire, nobody's saying it was always fair, it was an empire of its day, and definately more progressive then the roman model, and we can all feel thankful that the break-up of the empire wasnt a overly bloody war-torn affair like so many others in history, bar india and some places, most countries got their independence with the blessing of britain.


Looks like china could possibly be the next empire of the world, and with its land area, its already arguably got the size for it.
 
i say that by far rome was the most powerful empire ever, even though Gengis Khan's empire was bigger.
 
In terms of "Greatest" achievement (what my vote was based on):

I was torn between Roman Empire and one of the Chinese ones... but I suppose too many voted for Romans I'd go with the latter. But then I was torn again... my favourite Tang and Song dynasty were not on the list >.<
And the only reason I chose Ming/Qing over Han is because two dynastys combined would probably win over Han in terms of achievements. Though I am not fully supporting my choice since I'm well aware of the dark periods towards the end of Ming and Qing times. But I must say that the achievements of the three Qing dynasty emperors from Kang Xi to Qian Long earned my final vote... you don't usually see 130 years of continuous prosperity (minus a few bad aspects) in Feudal Society usually~~

In terms of "greatest" territory:

I would've chosen Ghengis Khan probably... didn't his territory go from East Asia all the way to Europe?
 
I have no doubt.. the Ancient Romans.. maybe because they are my anchestors?c well I am a moder Roman?c

Basically the influenced all aspect of modern western world:

Language: Italian, French, Spanish, Portughese, Romanian are direct successors of Latin.
German and English are havily influenced by latin.

Roman Law: has influence in many European law system.

Christmas and Carnival : it is after all are Roman festivities

The standard christian calendar

And so on?c
 
If I would vote (I don't, for I can't really see anything great in an empire), I'd go for the Inca. Their empire was for the largest part a mountainous enterprise. That & the lack of horses or car(t)s made it quite an achievement. But, well, empire is empire. It was built on conquest & oppression, therefore no vote.

I noticed quite a big mistake in the poll, BTW. The Maya never had something that you could call an empire. There always was a number of city states, with or without a few vasal cities, but nothing like an empire, AFAIK.
 
bossel said:
If I would vote (I don't, for I can't really see anything great in an empire), I'd go for the Inca. Their empire was for the largest part a mountainous enterprise. That & the lack of horses or car(t)s made it quite an achievement. But, well, empire is empire. It was built on conquest & oppression, therefore no vote.

I noticed quite a big mistake in the poll, BTW. The Maya never had something that you could call an empire. There always was a number of city states, with or without a few vasal cities, but nothing like an empire, AFAIK.

I agree about the Maya not having an empire. But I would say the same for the Inca. For me, what differentiate kingdom from empire is that the latter has expanded to take over several kingdoms or regions inhabited by different ethnic or cultural groups, and that everything is politically controlled from the homeland or capital (Rome for the Romans, Constantinpole/Istanbul for the Byzantines then Ottoman, London for the Brits, Toledo/Madrid for the Spaniards, or Paris for Napoleon). I don't think that the Inca conquered any other state or organised societies to make their own state. In that sense it was more a kingdom.

I also think that Egypt was just a kingdom, as it didn't keep or integrate enough other land (more than its own size and population) outside its cultural borders to be called an empire.

EDIT : I have just removed a few entries from the poll that were clearly not empires (Louis XIV's, Fascist Italy, Maya...). I kept the Inca Empire, although I don't agree. I have also reorganised the listing in a slightly more coherent manner.
 
Bossel, i just thought ide help you come to terms with empire by the fact, most of the worls empires were from history, and, frankly, this conquest probably did more for the overall advancement of the human species then lone little isolated and fragile tribes ever could.

In history people had much different values then our own and, maybe instead of seeing it as a shameful past, we can see our present as a pretty spectacular advance in society, and appriciate our history in that context, as history, as another time in another world with other beliefs and knowledge and social norms.

In history you dont need a large empire for the type of behaviour you attribute to them, small kingdoms could be just as opressive, just as unfair as any large empire.


Back on the main topic i still think alexanders pwned, as short lived as it was. :cool:

I also like the carthaginian empire, even though it was actually a senatorial republic and was built more on trade and the rich merchants who ran the city and colonies rather then by a large proffessional army.
 

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