Talk Elections

Who had the Greatest Empire?

I did a similar poll a long time ago here, and the Romans and British came out on top, with everyone else I included far behind. The runners-up were the Spanish, Mongols, and Arabs.


When thinking of this, I personally don't just think about the amount of territory controlled.

I think of which empires directly had a long, deep, and widespread impact on the world.
* "Long"... a lasting impact.
* "Deep"... it wasn't a shallow conquest or quasi-colonization, it truly affected the world, and still does.
* "Widespread"... their influence covers a wide area of territory and/or large number of people.
* "Directly"... their influence isn't just some indirect butterfly effect, stuff happened specifically because of them.



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Romans

Romans (Italian-American).

In terms of size (area and population) it's the British Empire.

In terms of longevity and lasting historial impact (as well as dominating the known world to them), it's easily the Roman Empire.

The Mongol Empire(normal)

That's what I was thinking.

This

The Mongols had an indirect impact, but don't seem to have much of a lasting legacy. They conquered an enormous area, but they assimilated into the people they ruled, and none of their governments lasted too long.

Ottoman Empire IMO

Their legacy opened trade routes across the Eurasian landmass. That, in turn, led to heightened interest in European imperial exploration.

But out of these two, the British. To this day, its language and culture is the world's standard. IMO the Chinese Empire (in all its reincarnations until 1911) should be ranked higher than the Roman Empire simply for being far longer lasting, influencing more people to this day, and to some extent still being in existence.

.5% of the people on Earth are descendants of Temüjin (Genghis Khan).

And?

That makes his empire the greatest?

What if Gerald Ford is the ancestor of 1% of the world's population in 800 years... does that make him the greatest President?

(Also, isn't everyone with English ancestry basically a descendent of King John?)

For longevity and breadth, I'd go along with China. Imperial government, with interregnums, lasted 2000 years in China, whereas, even including Byzantium as the legitimate legal successor of the Roman Empire (which I think is misleading after Justinian), Rome/Byzantium lasted "only" 1400 years, the last few centuries as an isolated impoverished city-state.

As far as cultural legacies go, the Roman legacy, outside of the Latin language, was literally forgotten in the west for 800 years after the fall of the western capital, and had to be sought-out and self-consciously revived by Italian lawyers and antiquarians. In China, the cultural legacy sustained in the empire had to be self-consciously forgotten to move past its collapse.

Not to mention, Rome at its height governed 50 million subjects; China and its vassals consistently governed 1/5 of all humans on the planet.

But that is all ancient history.

As far as "modern" post-Columbus colonial empires go, then, obviously, the British Empire is by far the most encompassing and audacious ... in 19th century India alone, ~60,000 British troops and 1000 civil servants effectively occupied a nation of 200 million. And the British Empire was profitable -- in 400 years, the Romans heavily exploited their imperial possessions, but never once managed to make them all profitable.

I'd give the Spanish and the Russian Empires a mention as well for ruthlessness and shamelessness.

You said they didn't have a lasting legacy, I don't know how much more "lasting" you can get.Not by itself, but combining it with the Largest Empire in History means it has to be in the running.that's just sillyno

British definitely.

They ruled over the greatest land mass of any empire in history.

There was a popular phrase at the height of the British Empire

The sun never sets on the British Empire.

They established a code of laws and a legal system, the basis of which is used in much of the world today, made the English language if not the first language, at least the second language, in much of the world, which as well became the language of business in much of the world.

Their influence is lasting and wide spread. 

This thread bears the same relationship to History as aerosol cheese does to actual cheese.

I had a hard time deciding between the Romans and Chinese, the British wasn't even on my list. The Chinese on one hand build a empire, which have continued dominated eastern Asia in several thousands yearsd, except for a some intermissions, but while some areas in their neighbourhood adopted the Chinese way of life, they have in general not been very successful in spreading their ideas. The Romans on the other hand lasted shorter, and they only had a complete dominance of their near areas for little more than a millenium. But the modern state follow a template the Romans started, Christianity was romanised and it have followed its structure since that day, for a millenium after the fall of Rome, Latin was the language of learning, science and culture, even today we use it to some extent.

It was why I ended with saying Rome, if we look at the world today, and removed the British Empire and Chinese Empire's influence (outside technology of course), the world would somewhat recognisable, we could not do the same with Rome.

I went for the Romans.
Although THE empire was pretty powerful, you know the one that struck back, but that was in a galaxy long ago and far away so I don't know if it counts or even if it ever really existed.
The Romans were pretty cool, although you couldn't get much more brutal and cruel.
They all spoke Latin, and let's face it that's way cooler than English, as cool as English is.


"The Romans didn't build the pyramids overnight."

You could educate us, or make fun.  (or both I suppose)

Here's some of the most powerful empires in history:
Chinese (various periods)
British (circa 1900)
Spanish (16th century)
Roman (first couple centuries AD)
Mongolian (1200s)
Umayyad  and Abbasid
French (circa 1900)

The USA and USSR would definitely be on the list if they were empires.

I'd say China wins for raw economic power.

Well, I would argue that the USA is an empire in the sense that it has "colonies", i.e. territories that don't have full rights as citizens. In fact, even DC gets no votes in Congress.

If we are an empire, we are made distinct by the fact that our empire has virtually no colonies (except the few scattered islands of no importance). 

Probably the Han, especially in two of the four criteria you specify, and before you die, probably three of the four.

Given the two options you offer, and not wanting to say "other", I'll go with the Romans.  1100 years is pretty impressive.  Also, there's the language, the alphabet, the twelve tables, concrete, newspapers, welfare, bound books, the calendar, etc.  The Brits, the Spanish, the Americans, and a few others all have major achievements, but none of them really overachieve, so I'll go with the Romans here.  Of course, the Han Empire probably will outshine Rome historically.  If one asked the question every five hundred years starting 3000 years ago, "what is the richest country in the world?" then "China" would be the answer in all but two instances:  1500 (Spain) and 2000 (USA).  My guess is that by 2500 China will be yet again the answer to that question.  Next time offer three choices, and make one of them China.  It probably won't matter what the second and third choices are, because the Han Empire will outrank them all.

Like I said, I did have China in my old poll. And the Mongols. And Arabs. And Spanish. Etc.

But the Romans and British were by far the winners. This is round 2.

A Chinese history discussion board I often read had a bunch of contributors come up with this list of top powers per time period.  I agree with most of it.

BC 2700-2650 year: 1 Egypt Third Dynasty, 2 Kish, Uruk 3, 4 Ur
BC 2650-2600 year: 1 Egypt Third Dynasty, 2 Ur, Kish 3, 4 Uruk
BC 2600-2550 year: 1 Egypt Forth Dynasty, 2 Elam, 3 Kish, 4 Uruk
BC 2550-2500 year: 1 Egypt Forth Dynasty, 2 Kish, 3 Lagash, 4 Hamas
BC 2500-2450 year: 1 Egypt Fifth Dynasty, 2 Lagash, 3 Umma, 4 Adab
BC 2450-2400 year: 1 Egypt Fifth Dynasty, 2 Lagash, 3 Uruk, 4 Kish
BC 2400-2350 year: 1 Egypt Firth Dynasty, 2 Akkadian Empire, 3 Umma, 4 Lagash
BC 2350-2300 Year: 1 Akkadian Empire, 2 Egypt Sixth Dynasty, 3 Ebla 3, 4 Ur
BC 2300-2250 year: 1 Akkadian Empire, 2 Egypt Sixth Dynasty, 3  Elam, 4 Mohenjo-daro
BC 2250-2200 Year: 1 Egypt Sixth Dynasty, 2 Akkadian Empire, 3 Elam, 4  Mohenjo-daro
BC 2200-2150 Year: 1 Egypt Ninth Dynasty , 2 Gutian Dynasty, 3 Lagash, 4 Uruk, 5 Mohenjo-daro
BC 2150-2100 Year: 1 Neo-Sumerian Empire, 2 Egypt Tenth Dynasty, 3 Mohenjo-daro, 4 Uruk, 5 Lagash
BC 2100-2050 year: 1 Neo-Sumerian Empire, 2 Egypt Eleventh Dynasty, 3 Egypt Tenth Dynasty, 4 Mohenjo-daro, 5 Elam
BC 2050-2000 year: 1 Egypt Eleventh Dynasty, 2 Elam, 3 Neo-Sumerian Empire, 4 Isin First Dynasty, 5 Mohenjo-daro
BC 2000-1950 year: 1 Egypt Twelfth Dynasty, 2 Isin First Dynasty, 3 Elam, 4 Larsa, 5 Anomarad Kingdom
BC 1950-1900 year: 1 Egypt Twelfth Dynasty, 2 Isin First Dynasty, 3 Larsa, 4 Elam, 5 Anomarad Kingdom
BC 1900-1850 year: 1 Egypt Twelfth Dynasty, 2 Isin First Dynasty, 3 Larsa, 4 Babylon, 5 Eshnunna
BC 1850-1800 year: 1 Egypt Twelfth Dynasty, 2 Larsa, 3 Isin First Dynasty, 4 Babylon, 5 Eshnunna
BC 1800-1750 Year: 1 Babylon, 2 Egypt Thirteenth Dynasty, 3 Assyrian Empire, 4 Elam, 5 Larsa
BC 1750-1700 Year: 1 Babylon, 2 Egypt Thirteenth Dynasty, 3 Sealand Dynasty, 4 Ekallatu, 5 Hittite Empire
BC 1700-1650 Year: 1 Babylon, 2 Egypt Fifteenth Dynasty, 3 Hittite Empire, 4 Knossos, 5 Sealand Dynasty
BC 1650-1600 Year: 1 Babylon, 2 Hittite Empire, 3 Egypt Fifteenth Dynasty, 4 Egypt Seventeenth Dynasty, 5 Knossos
BC 1600-1550 year: 1 Egypt Seventeenth Dynasty, 2 Hittite Empire, 3 Shang Dynasty, 4 Knossos, 5 Sealand Dynasty
BC 1550-1500 year: 1 Egypt Eighteenth Dynasty,  2 Babylon Third Dynasty, 3 Mitanni Kingdom, 4 Hittite Empire, 5 Knossos
BC 1500-1450 year: 1 Egypt Eighteenth Dynasty, 2 Mitanni kingdom, 3 Babylon Third Dynasty, 4 Hittite Empire, 5 Ugarit
BC 1450-1400 year: 1 Egypt Eighteenth Dynasty, 2 Hittite Empire, 3 Mitanni kingdom, 4 Babylon Third Dynasty, 5 Ugarit
BC 1400-1350 year: 1 Egypt Eighteenth Dynasty, 2 Hittite Empire, 3 Babylon Third Dynasty, 4 Assyrian kingdom, 5 Mycenae
BC 1350-1300 year: 1 Hittite Empire, 2 Egypt Eighteenth Dynasty,  3 Assyrian Empire, 4 Babylon Third Dynasty, 5 Mycenae
BC 1300-1250 year: 1 Egypt Nineteenth Dynasty, 2 Hittite Empire, 3 Shang Dynasty, 4 Mycenae, 5 Assyrian Empire
BC 1250-1200 year: 1 Egypt Nineteenth Dynasty, 2 Shang Dynasty, 3 Assyrian Empire, 4 Mycenae, 5 Elam
BC 1200-1150 year: 1 Egypt Twentieth Dynasty, 2 Elam, 3 Shang Dynasty, 4 Babylon Fourth Dynasty, 5 Assyrian Empire
BC 1150-1100 year: 1 Babylon Fourth Dynasty, 2 Egypt Twentieth Dynasty, 3 Shang Dynasty, 4 Elam, 5 Assyrian Empire
BC 1100-1050 year: 1 Assyrian Empire, 2 Shang Dynasty, 3 Egypt Twenty first Dynasty, 4 Babylon Fourth Dynasty, 5 Damascus
BC 1050-1000 year: 1 Chou Dynasty, 2 Egypt Twenty-First Dynasty, 3 Philistines, 4 Damascus, 5 Babylon Fourth Dynasty
BC 1000 - 950 year: 1 Chou Dynasty, 2 Egypt Twenty-First Dynasty, 3 Israel, 4 Tyre, 5 Sidon, 6 Babylon Eighth Dynasty
BC 950 - 900 year: 1 Chou Dynasty, 2  Egypt Twenty-Second Dynasty, 3 Neo-Assyrian Empire, 4 Israel, 5 Tyre, 6 Babylon Ninth dynasty
BC 900 - 850 Year: 1 Neo-Assyrian Empire, 2 Chou Dynasty, 3 Egypt Twenty-Second Dynasty, 4 Tyre, 5 Damascus, 6 Babylon Ninth dynasty
BC 850 - 800 Year: 1 Neo-Assyrian Empire, 2 Chou Dynasty, 3 Urartu, 4 Tyre, 5 Egypt Twenty-Second Dynasty, 6 Damascus
BC 800 - 750 Year: 1 Urartu, 2 Neo-Assyrian Empire, 3 Chou Dynasty, 4 Egypt Twenty-Second Dynasty, 5 Egypt Twenty-Second Dynasty, 6 Babylon Ninth dynasty
BC 750 - 700 Year: 1 Neo-Assyrian Empire, 2 Egypt Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, 3 Urartu, 4 Elam, 5 Duchy of Zheng, 6 Chou Dynasty
BC 700 - 650 Year: 1 Neo-Assyrian Empire, 2 Medes, 3 Duchy of Chi, 4 Egypt Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, 5 Urartu, 6 Kingdom of Chu, 7 Argos, 8 Tyre, 9 Elam, 10 Duchy of Jin, 11 Duchy of Lu, 12 Chalcis, 13 Carthage
BC 650 - 600 year: 1 Medes, 2 Neo-Babylonian Empire, 3 Neo-Assyrian Empire, 4 Egypt Twenty-Six Dynasty 5 Duchy of Jin, 6 Lydia 7 Kingdom of Chu, 8 Lydia, 9 Meroë, 10 Benares, 11 Duke of Chin, 12 Carthage, 13 Megara, 14 Duke of Sung
BC 600 - 550 year: 1 Neo-Babylonian Empire, 2 Medes, 3 Lydia, 4 Egypt Twenty-Six Dynasty, 5 Kingdom of Chu, 6 Duchy of Jin, 7 Kosala, 8 Carthage, 9  Lydia, 10 Magadha, 11 Kush, 12 Cyrene, 13 Duke of Chi, 14 Argos
BC 550 - 500 Year: 1 Persian Empire, 2 Carthage, 3 Duchy of Jin, 4 Magadha, 5 Kosala, 6 Kingdom of Wu, 7 Sparta, 8 Kingdom of Chu, 9 Corinth, 10 Egypt Twenty-Six Dynasty, 11 Athens, 12 Duke of Chi
BC 500 - 450 Year: 1 Persian Empire, 2 Athens, 3 Sparta,  4 Magadha, 5 Syracuse, 6 kingdom of Yue, 7 Carthage, 8 Kingdom of Chu, 9 Meroë, 10 Etrusca, 11 Sheba
BC 450 - 400 Year: 1 Persian Empire, 2 Sparta, 3 Athens, 4 Magadha, 5 Kingdom of Wei, 6 Syracuse, 7 Carthage, 8 Roman Republic, 9 Kingdom of Chu, 10 Thebes, 11 Meroë, 12 Cyrene
BC 400 - 350 year: 1 Persian Empire, 2 Magadha, 3 Carthage, 4 Thebes, 5 Macedonia, 6 Kingdom of Wei, 7 Kingdom of Chi, 8 Roman Republic, 9 Meroë, 10 Odrysian kingdom, 11 Kingdom Chu, 12 Egypt Thirtieth Dynasty, 13 Sparta, 14 Kingdom Chin
350 BC - 300 years: 1 Macedonia, 2 Maurya Empire, 3 Persian Empire, 4 Carthage, 5 Kingdom of Chi, 6 Kingdom of Chin, 7 Roman Republic, 8 Seleucid kingdom, 9 Ptolemaic Kingdom, 10 Aetolian League, 11 Kalinga, 12 Kingdom of Chu, 13 Bosporan Kingdom
BC 300 - 250 Year: 1 Maurya Empire, 2 Seleucid kingdom, 3 Ptolemaic Kingdom, 4 Kingdom of Chin, 5 Roman Republic, 6 Carthage, 7 Macedonia, 8 Kingdom of Chao, 9 Aetolian League, 10 Epirus, 11 Meroë, 12 Thrace, 13 Kalinga
BC 250 - 200 Year: 1 Maurya Empire, 2 Chin Dynasty, 3 Roman Republic, 4 Seleucid kingdom, 5 Ptolemaic Kingdom, 6 Parthian Empire, 7 Macedonia, 8 Carthage , 9 Xiongnu, 10 Achaean League, 11 Aetolian League, 12 Yuezhi
BC 200 -150 Year: 1 Western Han Dynasty, 2 Roman Republic, 3 Xiongnu, 4 Parthian Empire, 5 Seleucid kingdom, 6 Numidia, 7 Shunga Empire, 8 Ptolemaic Kingdom, 9 Macedonia, 10 Bactria, 11 Meroë, 12 Achaean League, 13 Nanyue
BC 150 -100 Year: 1 Western Han Dynasty, 2 Roman Republic, 3 Parthian Empire, 4 Xiongnu, 5 Numidia, 6 Ptolemaic Kingdom, 7 Seleucid kingdom,  8  Pontus, 9 Indo-Greek Kingdom, 10 Mauritania, 11 Shunga Empire, 12 Meroë
BC 100 - 50 Year: 1 Western Han Dynasty, 2 Roman Republic, 3 Parthian Empire, 4 Xiongnu, 5 Armenia, 6 Ptolemaic Kingdom, 7 Dacia, 8 Mauritania, 9 Meroë, 10 Wusun, 11 Nabataean Kingdom, 12 Kanva dynasty
BC 50 - 1 Year: 1 Western Han Dynasty 2 Roman Empire, 3 Parthian Empire, 4 Xiongnu, 5 Andhra, 6 Mauritania, 7 Meroë, 8 Kingdom of Judah, 9 Britian, 10 Ptolemaic Kingdom, 11 Armenia

1 - 50 Year: 1 Roman Empire, 2 Eastern Han Dynasty, 3 Parthian Empire, 4 Xiongnu, 5 Kushan Empire, 6 Meroë, 7 Andhra, 8 Germanic alliance, 9 Indo-Parthian Kingdom, 10 Mauritania,  11 Nabataean Kingdom, 12 Axum, 13 Kangju
50 - 100 Year: 1 Eastern Han Dynasty, 2 Roman Empire, 3 Parthian Empire, 4 Kushan Empire, 5 Andhra, 6 Northern Xiongnu, 7 Dacia , 8 Meroë, 9 Axum, 10 Kangju
100 -150 Year: 1 Roman Empire, 2 Eastern Han Dynasty, 3 Kushan Empire, 4 Parthian Empire, 5 Andhra, 6 Northern Xiongnu, 7 Meroë, 8 Axum, 9 Kalinga, 10 Chola
150 - 200 Year: 1 Roman Empire, 2 Eastern Han Dynasty, 3 Kushan Empire, 4 Parthian Empire, 5  Hsienpi Khanate, 6 Kalinga, 7 Andhra, 8 Meroë, 9 Axum, 10 Chola
200 - 250 Year: 1 Sassanian Persia, 2 Roman Empire, 3 Wei Dynasty, 4 Kushan Empire, 5 Wu Dynasty, 6 Shu Han Dynasty, 7 Axum, 8 Funan, 9 Meroë, 10 The Western Satraps
250 - 300 Year: 1 Roman Empire, 2 Western Jin Dynasty, 3 Sassanian Persia, 4 Armenia, 5 Axum, 6 Wu Dynasty, 7 Funan, 8 Lakhmids 9 Alemanni, 10 Arabia, 11 Palmyra, 12 Shu Han Dynasty, 13 Gallic Empire
300 - 350 Year: 1 Roman Empire, 2 Sassanian Persia, 3 Gupta Empire 4 Axum, 5 Eastern Jin Dynasty, 6 Funan, 7 Later Zhao Dynasty, 8 Early Zhao Dynasty, 9 Vakataka Dynasty, 10 Greuthungi, 11 Early Yen Dynasty
350 - 400 Year: 1 Gupta Empire 2 Sassanian Persia, 3 Roman Empire, 4 Axum, 5 Early Chin Dynasty, 6 Eastern Jin Dynasty, 7 Hunnic Empire, 8 Makuria, 9 Nubia, 10 Champa, 11 Vakataka dynasty
400 - 450 Year: 1 Sassanian Persia, 2 Gupta Empire, 3 Hunnic Empire, 4 Byzantine Empire, 5 Northern Wei Dynasty, 6 Liu Song Dynasty, 7 Western Roman Empire, 8 Axum, 9 Vakataka Dynasty, 10 Avars, 11 Visigoth Kingdom, 12 Vandals Kingdom, 13 Tuyuhun, 14 Lakhmids
450 - 500 Year: 1 Northern Wei Dynasty, 2 Sassanian Persia, 3 Byzantine Empire, 4 Hephthalite Empire, 5 Gupta empire, 6 Southern Chi Dynasty, 7 Visigoth Kingdom, 8 Vandals Kingdom, 9 Koguryo Kingdom, 10 Odoacer Kingdom, 11 Axum, 12 Teotihuacan, 13 Burgundy
500 - 550 Year: 1 Byzantine Empire, 2 Sassanian Persia, 3 Ostrogothic Kingdom, 4 Southern Liang Dynasty, 5 Hephthalite Empire, 6 Avars, 7 Northern Wei Dynasty, 8 Axum, 9 Frankish kingdom, 10 Teotihuacán, 11 Koguryo, 12 Visigoth kingdom, 13 Ghassanid Kingdom
550 - 600 Year: 1 Sui Dynasty, 2 Byzantine Empire, 3 Sassanian Persia, 4 Turkic Khanate, 5 Visigoth kingdom, 6 Southern Chen Dynasty, 7 Northern Chi Dynasty, 8 Frankish kingdom, 9 Harsha Empire, 10 Lombard kingdom, 11 Axum, 12 Teotihuacan
600 - 650 Year: 1 Tang Dynasty, 2 Rashidun Caliphate, 3 Harsha Empire, 4 Byzantine Empire, 5 Sassanian Persia, 6 Western Turks Khanate, 7 Frankish kingdom, 8 Visigoths Kingdom, 9 Kingdom of Lombard, 10 Pyu city-states, 11 Eastern Turkic Khanate, 12 Koguryo, 13 Calakmul
650 - 700 Year: 1 Tang Dynasty, 2 Umayyad Caliphate, 3 Byzantine Empire, 4 Tibet, 5 Bulgaria, 6 Frankish kingdom, 7 Silla, 8 Japan, 9 Lombard Kingdom, 10 Visigothic Kingdom, 11 Chenla, 12 Calakmul
700 - 750 Year: 1 Umayyad Caliphate, 2 Tang Dynasty, 3 Byzantine Empire, 4 Tibet, 5 Frankish kingdom, 6 Bulgaria, 7 Lombard kingdom, 8 Later Turkic khanate, 9 Chalukya dynasty, 10 Tikal, 11 Nanzhao, 12 Silla, 13 Kingdom of Asturias
750 - 800 Year: 1 Abbasid Caliphate, 2 Tang Dynasty,3 Charlemagne Empire, 4 Byzantine Empire, 5 Tibet, 6 Emirate of Córdoba, 7 Tikal, 8 Shailendra dynasty, 9 Rashtrakuta Dynasty, 10 Uighur Khanate, 11 Japan, 12 Pala Empire
800 - 850 Year: 1 Abbasid Caliphate, 2 Tang Dynasty, 3 Charlemagne Empire, 4 Byzantine Empire, 5 Tibet, 6 Pala Kingdom, 7 Emirate of Córdoba, 8 Aghlabids Dynasty, 9 Ghana, 10 Bohai, 11 Bulgaria, 12 Tahirid dynasty, 13 Pratiharas Empire
850 - 900 Year: 1 Byzantine Empire, 2 Abbasid Caliphate, 3 Tang Dynasty, 4 Bulgaria, 5 Pratiharas Empire, 6 Srivijaya, 7 Tulunid Egypt, 8 Aghlabids Dynasty , 9 Emirate of Córdoba, 10 Samanid Empire, 11 Nanzhao, 12 Ghana, 13 Saffarid dynasty
900 - 950 Year: 1 Caliphate of Córdoba, 2 Bulgaria, 3 Byzantine Empire, 4 Liao Dynasty, 5 Samanid Empire, 6 East Frankish kingdom, 7 Abbasid Caliphate, 8 Later Tang Dynasty 9 Kingdom of Wessex, 10 Srivijaya, 11 Fatimid Caliphate, 12 Ghana, 13 Qarmatians, 14 Rashtrakuta Dynasty
950-1000 Year: 1 Byzantine Empire, 2 Northern Sung Dynasty, 3 Holy Roman Empire, 4 Liao Dynasty, 5 Fatimid Caliphate, 6 Caliphate of Córdoba, 7 Kievan Rus, 8 Kara-Khanid Khanate, 9 Japan, 10 Ghana, 11 Bulgaria, 12 Buyid Dynasty
1000-1050 Year: 1 Northern Sung Dynasty, 2 Byzantine Empire, 3 Liao Dynasty, 4 Seljuk Empire, 5 North Sea Empire, 6 Silla, 7 Ghaznavid, 8 Fatimid Caliphate, 9 Holy Roman empire, 10 Western Hsia Dynasty, 11 Kievan Rus, 12 Ghana
1050-1100 Year: 1 Seljuk Empire, 2 Northern Sung Dynasty, 3 Byzantine Empire, 4 Liao Dynasty, 5 Holy Roman Empire, 6 Silla, 7 Almoravid dynasty, 8 Hungary, 9 England, 10 Pagan Kingdom, 11 Fatimid Caliphate, 12 Goryeo, 13 Western Hsia Dynasty
1100-1150 year: 1 Jin Dynasty, 2 Byzantine Empire, 3 Holy Roman Empire, 4 Khmer Empire, 5 Southern Sung Dynasty, 6 Western Liao Dynasty, 7 Seljuk Empire, 8 Fatimid Caliphate, 9 Kingdom of Jerusalem, 10 Chichen Itza, 11 Almohad Caliphate, 12 Hungary
1150-1200 year: 1 Ayyubid dynasty, 2 Jin Dynasty, 3 Almohad Caliphate, 4 Southern Sung, 5 Holy Roman Empire, 6 Western Liao Dynasty, 7 Ghurid dynasty, 8 Byzantine Empire, 9 England, 10 Khmer Empire, 11 France, 12 Western Hsia Dynasty
1200-1250 year: 1 Mongol Empire, 2 Southern Sung Dynasty, 3 France, 4 Holy Roman Empire, 5 Delhi Sultanate, 6 Empire of Nicaea, 7 Khwarazmian Empire, 8 Ayyubid dynasty, 9 Sultanate of Rum, 10 Kanem Empire, 11 Japan, 12 Maya, 13 Mali, 14 Tuʻi Tonga Empire
1250-1300 year: 1 Yuan Dynasty, 2 Mamluk Sultanate, 3 France, 4 Genoa, 5 Ilkhanate, 6 Golden Horde, 7 Delhi Sultanate, 8 Japan, 9 Hafsid dynasty, 10 Dai Viet, 11 England, 12 Byzantine Empire, 13 Srivijaya, 14 House of Ögedei
1300-1350 year: 1 Yuan Dynasty, 2 Delhi Sultanate, 3 Mamluk Sultanate, 4 Golden Horde, 5 Ottoman Empire, 6 England, 7 Mali, 8 France, 9 Majapahit, 10 Serbia, 11 Ilkhanate, 12 Holy Roman Empire, 13 Genoa, 14 Marinid dynasty
1350-1400 year: 1 Timurid dynasty, 2 Ming Dynasty, 3 Ottoman Empire, 4 Majapahit, 5 Delhi Sultanate, 6 Hungary, 7 Northern Yuan Dynasty, 8 England, 9 Mamluk Sultanate, 10 Holy Roman Empire, 11 France, 12 Venice, 13 Siam, 14 Tlacopan
1400-1450 year: 1 Ming Dynasty, 2 Ottoman Empire, 3 Venice, 4 France, 5 Poland-Lithuania, 6 Oirats, 7 England, 8 Kalmar Union, 9 Japan, 10 Korea, 11 Timurid Empire, 12 Holy Roman Empire, 13 Mamluk Sultanate, 14 Castile
1450-1500 year: 1 Ming Dynasty, 2 Ottoman Empire, 3 France, 4 Spain, 5 Songhai Empire, 6 Inca Empire, 7 Aztec Empire, 8 Ag Qoyunlu, 9 Portugal, 10 Mozambique, 11 Venice, 12 Poland-Lithuania, 13 Hungary, 14 Dai Viet
1500-1550 year: 1 Spain, 2 Ottoman Empire, 3 Ming Dynasty, 4 Portugal, 5 France, 6 England, 7 Mughal Empire, 8 Holy Roman Empire, 9 Safavid dynasty, 10 Tartar Khanate, 11 Muscovy, 12 Songhai Empire, 13 Kazakh Khanate, 14 Florence
1550-1600 year: 1 Spain, 2 Ming Dynasty, 3 Mughal Empire, 4 Ottoman Empire, 5 England,  6 Portugal, 7 Japan, 8 Safavid dynasty, 9 France, 10 Bornu Empire, 11 Holy Roman Empire, 12 Russia, 13 Poland-Lithuania, 14 Saadi Dynasty
1600-1650 year: 1 Mughal Empire, 2 France, 3 Ottoman Empire, 4 Ming Dynasty, 5 Safavid dynasty, 6 Dutch Republic, 7 Spain, 8 Later Jin Dynasty, 9 Holy Roman Empire, 10 Taungoo Dynasty, 11 England, 12 Sweden, 13 Japan, 14 Bornu Empire
1650-1700 year: 1 Ching Dynasty, 2 France, 3 Dutch Republic, 4 Mughal Empire, 5 Ottoman Empire, 6 England, 7 Sweden, 8 Spain, 9 Austria, 10 Alaouite dynasty, 11 Russia, 12 Safavid dynasty, 13 Dzungar Khanate, 14 Poland-Lithuania
1700-1750 year: 1 Ching Dynasty, 2 France, 3 UK, 4 Russia, 5 Ottoman Empire, 6 Austria, 7 Prussia, 8 Dutch Republic, 9 Spain, 10 Dzungar Khanate, 11 Afsharid dynasty, 12 Portugal, 13 Japan, 14 Oyo Empire
1750-1800 year: 1 UK, 2 Russia, 3 Ching Dynasty, 4 France, 5 Prussia, 6 Austria, 7 Ottoman Empire, 8 Spain, 9 Dutch Republic, 10 Portugal, 11 USA, 12 Denmark-Norway, 13 Japan, 14 Durrani dynasty
1800-1850 year: 1 UK, 2 Russia, 3 France, 4 Ching Dynasty, 5 Prussia, 6 Austria, 7 USA, 8 Ottoman Empire, 9 Spain, 10 Netherlands, 11 Sardina, 12 Muhammad Ali dynasty, 13 Qajar dynasty, 14 Japan
1850-1900 year: 1 UK, 2 Germany, 3 USA, 4 France, 5 Russia, 6 Japan, 7 Austro-Hungarian Empire, 8 Italy, 9 Ching Dynasty, 10 Ottoman Empire, 11 Belgium, 12 Netherlands, 13 Spain
1900-1950 year: 1 USA, 2 Germany, 3 USSR, 4 UK, 5 France, 6 Japan, 7 Italy, 8 China, 9 Poland, 10 Spain, 11 Argentina, 12 Belgium, 13 Czechoslovakia, 14 Switzerland
1950-2000 year: 1 USA, 2 USSR, 3 Japan, 4 Germany, 5 France, 6 UK, 7 PRC, 8 Italy, 9 India, 10 Brazil, 11 Canada, 12 Australia, 13 Spain, 14 ROK

If we continue this and use national power index (NPI) we have for

2000 - 2016 year:  1 USA, 2 PRC, 3 Russia, 4 France, 5 Japan, 6 UK, 7 Germany, 8 India, 9 Canada, 10 Israel

I would argue that Achaemenid Persia is the greatest empire ever.  At its peak slightly over half the human population in the world was within the borders of Achaemenid Persia.  This is a record that has never been exceeded by any other political entity. 

Surely the Mongol Empire dwarfed all others in its day, at least when it came to sheer land-mass:

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The Mongol and Macedonian Empires.

Other: United States of America, though not called an empire.

I'd say Roman over the English due to the lack of technology that the Romans had compared to the innovations the English took advantage of, such as trains and the telegraph. Without the same technology, I think it's difficult to make a general comparison between them. With the technology the Romans had at the time, it's extremely impressive that they were able to keep control of their empire for as long as they did.  I also would say the Roman empire was more impactful because the Roman empire and its collapse gave birth to modern Europe and paved the way for later empires like the English. While I don't have much knowledge on Imperial China, I would just say that they wouldn't be the greatest empire because they weren't as directly involved in global matters like the Romans were. The Chinese technology was definitely  impactful on the globe, but because the Chinese were more isolationists than the Romans were, I'd argue that the Romans were the better empire.

Rome and nothing but Rome.

Whereas you can make an argument for Achaemenid Persia, Alexander's Macedonian Empire and particularly the Mongols in terms of extension, it is Rome that has survived them all in spirit in a way that has shaped Western Civilization to its very core, to me representing something even larger and more valuable than Christianity.

You can make a similar argument for China in the sense that it created unity, lasted for a rather long period, gave us many valuable technological and cultural advancement and shaped the Eastern world, but it's not the same to me.

As history moves ahead hundreds and thousands of years, we'll still remember Rome as a central part of the world's identity on account of its length, scope and legacy. We'll remember the British Empire or the Mongol Empire as well, but I'm not convinced we will remember them in quite the same way...

In 1000 years it will be clearly seen that the British Empire was the world's most significant.

To say that the Roman Empire was more, sorry to say, is Eurocentric. As Storebrought mentioned, Imperial China was at least as impactful as Rome and lasted even longer (albeit in different dynasties). But neither was global in scope.

The Mongol Empire was significant in its destructiveness, as it ended both the Islamic and Chinese golden ages, but that is no measure of greatness.

In 1000 years students will be taught that 1000 years ago, there used to be hundred of languages around the world, and we used to be divided into 200 different countries, and students will wonder at the stupidity of it all. The teacher will tell the students that the language they speak today derived from a small island in northwestern Europe, which spread because of an ancient mercantile empire...

The British. Uniting much of the world under a common language, invading almost every country on the planet, full of interesting leaders (though Rome has that too) and lasting the most significant years on earth. RIP British Empire!

Romans (Italian normal)

British. Culturally and centralized (until the split), the Romans but they were small compared to the max reach of the British Empire. English prevails throughout the world for a reason.

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British, Chinese (Han or Tang), American. Honorable mention to the Aksumites!

Arabs in a relatively short amount of time totally transformed the linguistic and religious nature of some of the most important areas of the world. In terms of historic impact they surely lead.

Romans were the greatest in terms of power, longevity, and influence on the world even after their decline. Almost everything in the west can be traced back to them. I would put China next, though that depends upon whether you count different dynasties as different empires. If you don't, it too has longevity and was the most populous and powerful country on Earth for centuries. British is next, then Ottoman, Persian, Byzantine, Egyptian, Spanish, Mughal, Russian, French, etc.

Ethiopia sounds most likely.

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