History's Top 5 Most Influential Empires

1. The Egyptian Empire - It was the main influence of the following European empires unto this day, and the kids still love anything Egyptian.
2. The Roman Empire - Dominates modern thought today
3. Byzantine Empire - Triggered the universal importance of writing and the alphabet to common use
4. The British Empire - Biggest empire on earth ever, that has military influence on all nations
5. Ottoman Empire - Was at the center of the world's conflicts for over 500 years, and shaped many of the states around it

I am not one for numbering history down to any given list, but I'll go with it for the purpose of this thread.

Originally Posted by ZhaoZhi

The Mongolian Empire - the First World Empire

These crazy bastards are responsible for loads of good and bad that's still around.. like Russia. :O Good one.

Originally Posted by Ozziechick1966

Here are my top five in order of my preference.Don't ask me to explain why,i'm not good at arguing my point.But i think they will speak for themselves.
1:The Roman Empire
2:The British Empire
3:The Japanese Empire
4:The Spanish Empire
5:The German Empire

I like your list, but I think many of them are too recent. The Germans especially are fairly young as a cohesive unit. Hmm.. I'd like to disagree about the Spaniards.. their incompetence has made the country, at least, a shadow of its former glory. But I suppose it spread feudalism and the language all throughout Latin America.. xD I'm on the fence about them.

Originally Posted by Longdove

1. The Egyptian Empire - It was the main influence of the following European empires unto this day, and the kids still love anything Egyptian.
2. The Roman Empire - Dominates modern thought today
3. Byzantine Empire - Triggered the universal importance of writing and the alphabet to common use
4. The British Empire - Biggest empire on earth ever, that has military influence on all nations
5. Ottoman Empire - Was at the center of the world's conflicts for over 500 years, and shaped many of the states around it

I am not one for numbering history down to any given list, but I'll go with it for the purpose of this thread.

This is a list I can get behind! :D Perhaps others could fit better, but there is nothing on the list I'd want to kick off.



I'd say my tentative list is, in no particular order:
1. Roman Empire
2. Chinese Empire
3. Byzantine Empire
4. Mongolian Empire
5. Islamic Empire
Feel free to argue, anyone. I'm not set on it. :D

1. The Chinese empire(s)
It might be weird for someone with an eurocentrist view to consider this to be the case, the the countless Chinese dynasties (mostly Qin, song and ming dynasties) have had such a lasting impact in the life on the area, that they have made us speak of over 20 nations in one word: the Chinese. Also, they controlled over such a vast expanse of land that their impact on neighbouring cultures has been insanely huge. One might say that the history of the orient was decided by the whims of a few Chinese emperors.

2. The British empire.
Absolutely so insane impact on everyone and everything in the world after the industrial revolution, that the only watering down feature is the relatively short age and recent epoch.

3. The Islamic empire
The empire of science and culture. Their vast investment on the scientific method, and the cultural impact of the translation movement easily dwarfs all cultural and scientific projects in history in impact and relative scale.

4. The Roman empire
The empire of logistics and engineering. Their organizational skills and their ingenious as statesmen brought the culture of management to many "barbarians", civilizing europe for good. (even if there was a dark age in between)

5. The Macedonian empire
Empire of unity. Mixing up all the cultures from India to Macedonia, the new "hellenic" culture not only was the defining culture of antiquity, but was the basis of both the modern western culture as well as the Islamic culture.

Originally Posted by pageofadiary

Off topic:
Excuse my silly imagination but I pictured your avatar saying this

He said ita lika Mario too!

I know everyone wants to exclude the United States based on time. But we could kick all those other empires asses.

Based on the technology we have, sure. xD If they were caught up? I dunno, standing up to some of the war driven empires if they had comparable weapons would be hard. They aren't as stable and they don't tend to last as long, but they were good at kicking ass.

Anyway, we might be a highly successful nation, but will our legacy honestly be as influential as many of the others listed? I have doubts.

The Qin: Shortest Empire with the Longest Impact

The Qin begins with the man known to history as the First Emperor. He is world-renowned for possessing over 8000 life-size terracotta soldiers to guard his tomb. Each soldier stands at least 6 ft tall ranging from the imposing general to the kneeling crossbowman ready to fire at a moment's notice. Rank upon rank of the men of Qin in battle formation reflect the martial might that enabled the First Emperor to unite an area the size of Europe. He united them in language by decreeing the use of one set of characters. In trade and science, he united them by standardizing weights and measures into one system. He united them in custom by instituting one comprehensive legal code for all the people regardless of rank. Finally, he united them in spirit by erecting a monument that would stand the test of time as a symbol of the enduring tenacity of his people - the Great Wall. All this he did in just 11 years.

P.S. The Qin dynasty crumbles 3 years after the First Emperor passes away, but its influence stretches onwards for the next 2000 years until the last dynasty of China, which follows the same basic imperial framework laid down by the Qin. Arguably, the Qin's impact is still being felt as we still refer to the Qin when talking about that empire's descendant. Qin->Ch'in->China.

Originally Posted by Ethel123

I know everyone wants to exclude the United States based on time. But we could kick all those other empires asses.

Only because you have a bigger population, and a big button to set off some bombs. I personally thought if a world war broke out, I would be scared of the Chinese military more than anything. Though keep in mind empires aren't all about military action.

I should be proud to be British *salutes*

Did Greece have an empire? :S or were they considered Roman?

I'm not sure that the American empire can be compared to shorter-lived empires. America dominates the global scene not only through force of arms, but also in more subtle ways such as manipulation of the media and control of economics. The USA is different, and I believe it will last for a long time yet to come.

P.S. I don't understand how the Egyptian empire has set the pattern for subsequent European empires. What is the relationship?

Originally Posted by firedell

Did Greece have an empire? :S or were they considered Roman?

Yes, it did, and it was separate from the Roman empire, although collectively, the period of time in which the Greek empire was translated into the Roman empire, was known as Graeco-Roman.