What was the greatest superpower?

[ASKDodge]

What was the greatest superpower ever in history?

[Kirk-Cocaine]

At 9/19/05 06:19 AM, ASKDodge wrote: What was the greatest superpower ever in history?

Well, the biggest 3 of all time were the Romans, Britain and recenlty USA. Out of them 3 though I'd say the Romans were the greatest.

[ASKDodge]

How so? Nazi Germany held a larger area and had control over a larger poulation.
The British Empire, at its height, held control over 1/3 of the earth's landmass

[Drah]

At 9/19/05 06:29 AM, ASKDodge wrote: How so? Nazi Germany held a larger area and had control over a larger poulation.

nazi germany would have collapsed in a snap, thereby making it non-great.

The British Empire, at its height, held control over 1/3 of the earth's landmass

duh, history lessons, we know!

[Kirk-Cocaine]

At 9/19/05 06:29 AM, ASKDodge wrote: How so? Nazi Germany held a larger area and had control over a larger poulation.
The British Empire, at its height, held control over 1/3 of the earth's landmass

Yeah but the Romans Contolled most of Europe I believe. Also they were the worlds first real superpower. Also how many months and days are named after Roman Gods? Also two months are named after actuall Romans. Also think of all the great things the Romans built around the world.

[ASKDodge]

woah, thats a lot of "also"s... Erm, well, its true the romans had a lot of influence on the world, but when Britain was a superpower all the romans had created was set in stone, so there was no point in changing it (and naming months after monarchs would just be sad..). Britain gave the world imperial measurements, parliamentary-representative democracy, human rights and made science an institution (the ministry of science)

[Drah]

At 9/19/05 06:35 AM, Kirk_Cocaine wrote:

At 9/19/05 06:29 AM, ASKDodge wrote: How so? Nazi Germany held a larger area and had control over a larger poulation.
The British Empire, at its height, held control over 1/3 of the earth's landmass

Yeah but the Romans Contolled most of Europe I believe.

yeah, i think they missed sweden and norway....

Also they were the worlds first real superpower.

they we're, unless china got there first.

Also how many months and days are named after Roman Gods?

well, i say that there are 4 days named after the norse gods, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, and friday.
now you figure wich day got most gods!
but theres alotta months tho.

Also two months are named after actuall Romans.

august and.......july?

Also think of all the great things the Romans built around the world.

you mean around EUROPE and northern africa, they didnt build alot of "great" things around asia, never got to australia or ameriaca, and that sort of things.

[Kirk-Cocaine]

At 9/19/05 06:39 AM, ASKDodge wrote: woah, thats a lot of "also"s... Erm, well, its true the romans had a lot of influence on the world, but when Britain was a superpower all the romans had created was set in stone, so there was no point in changing it (and naming months after monarchs would just be sad..). Britain gave the world imperial measurements, parliamentary-representative democracy, human rights and made science an institution (the ministry of science)

Hmmm, good counter argument. Maybe it's too hard to define one superpower as being the sole best. Perhaps it's just easier to say the Romans where the greatest superpower of the ancient world, and Britain is the greatest in recent times.

[ASKDodge]

I agree, but I'd just like to wait a while for some american to come on and start bragging about the US and how they are the"sole superpower" and that they are the defenders of the free-world, etc..
Then we can have some fun taking their arguments apart...

[Drah]

At 9/19/05 06:46 AM, ASKDodge wrote: I agree, but I'd just like to wait a while for some american to come on and start bragging about the US and how they are the"sole superpower" and that they are the defenders of the free-world, etc..
Then we can have some fun taking their arguments apart...

yay, destrpying everything people believe in and think is great.
how fun.
*cough* sadist, sarcasm *cough*

[ASKDodge]

I said their arguments, not their fundamental beliefs,
I havent got time to take their beliefs apart....

[CorpusInvictus]

Superpowers or Empires? Because no-one's mentioned Byzantine, The Mongols and the Persians. But then again, empires and superpowers tend to fall to less organised, barbarian forces (eg. Rome, China, Persia)

[agreenblinker]

I would have to say in order of relative power, considering the times the top five would be: USA 1940 - Present, Rome 300 B.C. to 30 A.D., Brittian 1700-1900, U.S.S.R. 1940-1980, and China 1990 - Present.

[Demosthenez]

You people are ignonant if you think Britains influence even comes close to the influence the Romans wielded over the world.

Practically all of Europes language is based on Latin.

They affected all our traditions.

We base much of our concepts of philosophy and diplomacy on them.

They made Europe into the power it is. Just imagine if Carthage won the Punic Wars and North Africa held the seat of power in the world.

Christianity is in Europe and the biggest religion in the world because of them.

They continued the math and science first started by the Greeks.

They unified the western civilized world into a single enity for centuries.

They continued the Hellenization of the world started by Alexander, unifying the world under a common language, common customs, common maraketplace.

I could continue this for at least another 10 minutes without having to try to find more examples. Fact is, Rome MADE the modern world. All the UK did was found some colonies, steal the resources from some other places, and generally not be so kind to conqueored peoples, unlike the Romans. The Romans are infinitely more important in historical terms than the British are.

[lapis]

The Greeks were the first real superpower - they were already very strong culturally and then Alexander of Macedon conquered the entire Middle East. They laid the basis for a large numbers of sciences (theoretical mathematics, political science, philosophy) and their cultural influence can still be felt. Their weakness was that they couldn't keep their nation together - after Alexander's death they slowly collapsed until they were conquered by the Romans one by one.

The Romans were bad at art or science but they were strong fighters and most importantly good governors. They build roads, temples and courthouses in the lands they conquered and had a good administrative system and strong central command. They started declining after the strong central command disappeared after Marcus Aurelius (along with lots of other reasons). The East remained but became weak.

The Mongols were the greatest military-wise. Genghis Khan started only with his small tribe, but he united his warring people and defeated all major powers in the East within a few decades. While it took Rome or Britain centuries to build their empire, the Mongols did it within one or two generations. They too faded after Ogedei split the empire between his four sons and they started warring among each other.

These are my three favourites- argue if you want.

[Jimsween]

I wanna say the Romans, because they had so much power even by todays standards. However, one can't ignore the fact that Rome could have crumbled at many points in it's history, it was by no means a stable empire. It was massively more rich and large and more advanced than any other state up until the day it was pillaged, which says alot, mostly that it was nearly impossible to be stable at that time.

Britains empire is overblown, almost all european countries had empires just as powerfull at that time, it wasn't hard to conquer natives.

The US is hardly an empire, it's a collection of states with maybe two small islands. Yeah alot of it isnt the original country, but the same can be said for Britain or France.

Persians are greeks and ect. weren't really empires, they were empires as of the knowledge they had of the world they had, but thats all.

Mongols and Ottomans and NAZIs weren't really much either, they were relatively short lived, and existed only through force and were never able to consolidate thier resources.

So yeah, I'm going to go with Rome.

[Demosthenez]

Ottoman Empire shortlived? 1300-1900 is short lived to you?

Damn, you are a tough critic.

[The-Toller]

I would like to propose the Swedish Empire as the greatest empire;P

http://en.wikipedia.../wiki/Swedish_Empire

[Jimsween]

At 9/19/05 05:11 PM, FAB0L0US wrote: Ottoman Empire shortlived? 1300-1900 is short lived to you?

Damn, you are a tough critic.

Majority of that time the 'Ottoman Empire' encompassed no more than modern day turkey. And at that, I have a hard time considering it an empire after 1700, there was little unity.

[BeFell]

It is obvious that the Greeks and the Romans had a far greater impact on the world than anyone else. The Greeks had democracy, science and philosophy and the Romans spread it. That would make those two societies as far as everlasting contributions to the world.

The most powerful though would be the United States because that is was the first society to have the power to destroy the entire world. A doubious claim to greatness to be sure...

[Demosthenez]

Democracy was very dangerous to the Greeks and probably helped Athens disolve into nothing from its height of power.

Mob rule can be very dangerous sometimes.

[BeFell]

At 9/19/05 06:10 PM, FAB0L0US wrote: Democracy was very dangerous to the Greeks and probably helped Athens disolve into nothing from its height of power.

Mob rule can be very dangerous sometimes.

Yes but they did try for a better system of government than just "hey that guy is some other guys kid, let's do what he tells us too." How many societies were brought down by stupid monarchs and power hungry dictators?

[Razz]

At 9/19/05 06:19 AM, ASKDodge wrote: What was the greatest superpower ever in history?

Superpower? Lawl, lazy beams!

[Buffalow]

I have to argue about the Roman Empire, they got so big that it collapsed under itself (Don't really get it either, but it happend). THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS ARE NOT MENT TO BE "HOMGZ USA PWNZ U LOLOL".

The USA has most control over the modern world
For about 220 years the USA has done quite a lot
We are ment to be the "Protectors of Justice"
We may not be up to par with other countries standards but we can fight our own battles.
They have never "Lost" a war, Vietnam and the war of 1812 are touchy subjects

........and btw, HOMGZ USA PWNS YOU LOLOL =P

[Empanado]

At 9/19/05 05:08 PM, Jimsween wrote: Mongols and Ottomans and NAZIs weren't really much either, they were relatively short lived, and existed only through force and were never able to consolidate thier resources.

To say that Mongols were short-lived and relied solely on their force would be an understatement. The Mongols lasted some good centuries, and while a good share of their existence they were despotic, in Khan's times they were pretty advanced in comparison to the Western World.

Now, while being attacked by a Mongol Horde wasn't particularly a good thing, the Mongol system itself was pretty well-stablished, if notoriously, well, tough. Example:

(The Yassa prescribes these rules:) to love one another, not to commit adultery, not to steal, not to give false witness, not to be a traitor, and to respect old people and beggars. Whoever violates these commands is put to death.

Anyways. My personal favorites were the incans. They didn't do much for the world, but they had a nice system going on. Too bad a civil war screwed them up.

[therealsylvos]

At 9/19/05 06:19 AM, ASKDodge wrote: What was the greatest superpower ever in history?

notice he said superpower not empire. having a big empire is what destroyed rome in the first place and of course they hads huge affects on our language and our culture. they shaped it all that means is they were around before the others and there could not be a dispute by ane person with intellectual honesy that america's not the biggest super power right now. In my persona lopinion we wont be in another 20-30 years thx to china but we will regain it a few years after that. America is not the protector's of the free world? I dont see any people from cuba jumping in bathtubs and rowing toward england i mean come on you think england is? Any country that can stand by while someone who shot a robber in his house and get sentenced for 10 year's in prison and not tear down the courthouse can not be considered a 'protecter of the free world"

[Demosthenez]

At 9/19/05 10:21 PM, therealsylvos wrote:

:America is not the protector's of the free world? I dont see any people from cuba jumping in bathtubs and rowing toward england

Maybe because of the fact the Atlantic is a little farther to get across than Cuba to Florida.

[TheBlackDahliaMurder]

in my opinion, ther is no such thing as a super power. Rome fell, Greece fell, and 9/11/01 showed us that we as Americans are not as invincible as we were raised to believe.

[therealsylvos]

At 9/19/05 10:28 PM, FAB0L0US wrote:

At 9/19/05 10:21 PM, therealsylvos wrote: America is not the protector's of the free world? I dont see any people from cuba jumping in bathtubs and rowing toward england

Maybe because of the fact the Atlantic is a little farther to get across than Cuba to Florida.

you are just playing with words if england was so much better after landing in florida theid work for a little then by boat/plane tickets to england

[Demosthenez]

At 9/19/05 10:41 PM, therealsylvos wrote: you are just playing with words if england was so much better after landing in florida theid work for a little then by boat/plane tickets to england

Yeah, that is so cheap also. I mean, its only like, what, a grand?

And I hear passports and citzenship are real easy to get also.