Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
One must not leave out two Great Empires. That of the Mongols which reached from Poland to the Pacific Ocean and included such places as China, Korea, Central Asia, Mongolia, Russia (Kiev and the Principalities), Persia, Iraq and Pakistan and North India.
and its successor (Muscovy) which became the Empire of All the Russias. then the USSR. It is still with us today as The Russian Federation.
Both of these empires covered more contiguous landmass than any other.
Mongols were undoubtedly one of the greatest empires as far as the size, but I am not sure their impact / legacy was as strong as Rome's. Their biggest legacy seems to be depopulation of Hungary and some parts of Central Asia. They didn't spread much in terms of culture or religion, instead adapting the culture and religion of conquered nations. They didn't spread much science or law, unlike the Romans or the British. If you survived the initial onslaught, your life didn't change in a drastic way, you just had to pay more taxes.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
11,974 posts, read 25,476,450 times
Reputation: 12187
USA, China, and Ancient Egypt are great powers that didn't continue aggressive territorial expansion for long but where the most technologically advanced and had tremendous influence globally. None are empires to a Webster's definition but they're more than just nation states.
Rome seemed to be the most aggressive at converting the world to their definition of civilization. They destroyed but also built great things far from Rome and did so for many centuries. Mongols, Huns, etc mainly destroyed and the only prosperous place was their capital.
USA, China, and Ancient Egypt are great powers that didn't continue aggressive territorial expansion for long but where the most technologically advanced and had tremendous influence globally. None are empires to a Webster's definition but they're more than just nation states.
Rome seemed to be the most aggressive at converting the world to their definition of civilization. They destroyed but also built great things far from Rome and did so for many centuries. Mongols, Huns, etc mainly destroyed and the only prosperous place was their capital.
They may've not been the most militarily powerful or socially and broke up into large chunks as the centuries drew on but the Polynesians were one of the great expansionists in history. Able to colonise most of the western and southern Pacific, they travelled from Micronesia to New Zealand on boats. I don't know much about their technology, I'm guessing it was a little bit inferior to Native Americans
The Roman Empire gets my vote. It lasted from 27 BC to 476 AD. As a Republic it existed from 509 BC to 27 BC. Arguably it lasted until 1453 as the Byzantine Empire. It had the best army in the world for centuries and left Western Civilization their legal code and impressive engineering. It's sheer size was incredible and it's control of the entire Mediterranean Sea has been unequalled.
I agree with that. The Roman Empire also had sophisticated medicine. They had what would now be called "battlefield medics" - guys who would run onto the battlefield, treat people there and take them away. They also had advanced techniques in both anaesthesia [ variants of morphine] and in amputation. In fact, the tourniquet techniques that the Roman Empire medics used were not seen again until the US Civil War.
The United States is the greatest empire the world has ever seen since it was able to piggy back off of the British empire. After World War 2, all major rivals were leveled, and the United States was able to set up a world economic order via the IMF, World Bank, United Nations, ect ect. American corporations dominate the globe, the English language is standard, military (specifically naval and airpower), financial dominance.
After the fall of Bretton Woods in 1971, the dollar became backed by oil, rather than gold. In effect, the Dollar was now gold. All major world currencies had to manage their value against IT, not gold. The Soviet Union was bankrupted trying to keep up with the spending of a country with THE dominant world reserve currency. The U.s prints dollars in exchange for the World's REAL RESOURCES AND LABOR.
"What is little understood, is how the role of US trade deficits and the Dollar System are connected. The United States has followed a deliberate policy of trade deficits and budget deficits for most of the past four decades, so-called benign neglect, in effect, to lock the rest of the world into dependence on a US money system. So long as the world accepts US dollars as money value, the US enjoys unique advantage as the sole printer of those dollars. The trick is to get the world to accept.
What has evolved is a mechanism more effective than any the British Empire had with India and its colonies under the Gold Standard. So long as the US is the sole military superpower, the world will continue to accept inflated US dollars as payment for its goods. Developing countries like Argentina or Congo or Zambia are forced to get dollars to get the IMF seal of approval. Industrial trading nations are forced to earn dollars to defend their own currencies. The total effect of US financial and political and trade policy has been to maintain the unique role of the dollar in the world economy.
As Henry Kissinger once noted, "Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world." "
The very dollar system itself was pushed to its limits with the 2008 financial crisis, and smaller wars have been being fought to maintain the system (Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Russian sanctions, Iran sanctions). The question now is, does China peacefully allow the Yuan to become PART of the dollar system where all major currencies float against it--IE the YEN (Japan after ww2), and EURO (ww2 allies). Or do they try and take down the dollar and take over global leadership themselves? The IMF is going to allow the Yuan to be part of the SDR this fall, and the AIIB threatens the dollar system as well. Do the Chinese come into the fold, or does the world get torn apart? Make no mistake, the central banks will destroy this earth before they give up the power to create deposits.
Degree of control in territory claimed-Who needs to control the actual territory, when you can siphon the resources and labor out of a country with paper dollars? The Americans learned from the mistakes of the British. However, U.s military bases dot the globe. 700+ bases spread over more than 130 foreign countries. I think it's important to also note, the power of the English language, American world wide corporations, and cultural control via mass media (never before seen in history).
Military prowess-If the U.s military was in a real conflict, so as to allow, unrestricted warfare again (Dresden...Japan...), the Navy and Air Force, could shut down world commerce. No country could stand against a U.s Military that no longer has its hands tied (IE going after crops, electricity, water supply, all shipping lanes, population centers). Total war. The U.s is a nuclear power, which allows it the ability to end all life (something no other ancient power had), and it cannot be invaded by foreign forces (no nuclear nation has had an invasion attempt of its territory). Additionally, the country is not landlocked (to allow invasions that took down powers of the past). We're protected by two oceans, which make the logistics of an invasion daunting...and nearly impossible when facing American Naval and Airpower. The aircraft carrier, which projects power, is dominated by the United States in quality and quantity (our allies have most of the rest of the world's carriers). Global military spending is basically the U.s and its allies.
Technology-Military, medicine, spaceflight, computers, flight, vehicles, communications, chemicals, satellites. The list could really go on and on. Technology has moved faster in the past 100 years, under U.s dominance than anything the world has seen.
Quality of Life for citizen residents-I think it's safe to say that the "American dream" generated the highest standard of living ever seen in the history of the world. More time spent on leisure, efficiency, food (mechanization), medical care, life spans, water supply, no threat of foreign invasion, ect.
So, far the country has really gone through a period of being a great power in a multipolar world (taking this hemisphere and becoming regionally powerful in the 1800's to pre WW2), to being in a bi-polar world (1945 to 1990), to a unipolar world (1990 to present)---and now back to a world heavily trending towards multipolar (although, I would argue, it's still unipolar). With the political, military, cultural, and economic pillars in place, it would take a shocking, unforeseen event to displace America from the ranks of being a great world power. It's a certainty that the unipolar position will continue to slide, but that doesn't mean our heavy power and dominance will be gone (as we can see with the British maintaining world power status even today).
1. America
2. British
3. Rome
Last edited by Thatsright19; 05-30-2015 at 08:25 AM..
Though I agree about the impressive, incredible history of China - China isn't an 'Empire'.
what is the definition of an empire?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
