The Greatest Empire?
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  The Greatest Empire?
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Poll
Question: Who had the Greatest Empire?
#1
The Romans
 
#2
The British
 
#3
Other (*must* specify)
 
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Partisan results

Total Voters: 91

Author Topic: The Greatest Empire?  (Read 7922 times)
jaichind
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« Reply #25 on: September 11, 2016, 08:02:35 AM »
« edited: September 16, 2016, 09:02:41 PM by jaichind »

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
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jaichind
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« Reply #26 on: September 11, 2016, 08:21:17 AM »
« Edited: September 11, 2016, 09:28:40 AM by jaichind »

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
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jaichind
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« Reply #27 on: September 11, 2016, 01:26:21 PM »

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. 
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Frodo
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« Reply #28 on: September 11, 2016, 01:41:46 PM »

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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Kingpoleon
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« Reply #29 on: September 11, 2016, 07:19:05 PM »

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.




The Mongol and Macedonian Empires.
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Sir Mohamed
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« Reply #30 on: September 13, 2016, 11:25:49 AM »

Other: United States of America, though not called an empire.
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Camel Jockey
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« Reply #31 on: October 19, 2016, 10:52:32 PM »

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.
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Lumine
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« Reply #32 on: October 20, 2016, 07:48:52 PM »

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...
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Beet
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« Reply #33 on: March 23, 2017, 11:19:22 PM »

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...
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Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook
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« Reply #34 on: April 09, 2017, 12:53:44 PM »

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!
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Antonio the Sixth
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« Reply #35 on: April 09, 2017, 08:39:44 PM »

Romans (Italian normal)
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SoLongAtlas
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« Reply #36 on: April 12, 2017, 07:43:44 PM »

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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Lechasseur
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« Reply #37 on: October 05, 2017, 05:14:18 AM »

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
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Pyro
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« Reply #38 on: November 09, 2017, 12:13:47 PM »

British, Chinese (Han or Tang), American. Honorable mention to the Aksumites!
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Karpatsky
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« Reply #39 on: November 14, 2017, 12:03:50 PM »

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.
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Pennsylvania Deplorable
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« Reply #40 on: November 25, 2017, 10:43:15 PM »

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.
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Kingpoleon
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« Reply #41 on: November 27, 2017, 02:06:14 AM »

Ethiopia sounds most likely.
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HillGoose
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« Reply #42 on: January 12, 2018, 11:08:55 PM »

Yakut Reindeer Hoarders
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Blue3
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« Reply #43 on: January 03, 2019, 08:54:47 PM »

Latest takes?
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