The most influential Empire in the history of mankind?

[reject]

PS I yodel in my clogs all the time.

[Shrike]

Originally Posted by Communicate

Have to disagree man.
I think it's a geographic thing. For anybody living in europe (incl. britain), the british empire didn't mean shit. It's only the new world, and perhaps africa now, that was absolutely fundamentally changed by colonial empires.

But in another sense, even then, roman empire was a necessary foundation for the british empire, so roman empire still trumps in my mind.

You're pretty much talking complete bollocks. The british empire created most of the wealth that built britain. Half it's cities wouldn't exist if it hadn't occured.

And I think that the Romans had a decent influence, but they did leave england in like 400 ad, and pretty much all thats left of them is ruins and pottery and a few towns they started. I think the french normans had a lot more of an impact than the romans.

[Haiti's Space Agency]

1. British
2. USA
3. Roman

[Rolf]

Originally Posted by Shrike

And I think that the Romans had a decent influence, but they did leave england in like 400 ad, and pretty much all thats left of them is ruins and pottery and a few towns they started. I think the french normans had a lot more of an impact than the romans.

While it is correct to that the Normans had far more influence on England, it would be foolish to ignore the Roman contribution to modern England, notes Rolf. Londinium (have a guess which city this is), Camulodunum (Colchester) and Eboracum (York) were all major cities in the Roman province of Britannia ("provinces" after it was split into Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior), adds Rolf. The weakness of the Romanised Britons (a.k.a Romano-British) after the Roman withdrawal made it easier for the Germanic Anglo-Saxon tribes to invade and dominate most of southern Britannia, explains Rolf.

Then there is the alphabet used in English, the Christian faith of the English, the fact that around 33% of words in the English language are derived from Latin, notes Rolf. If it weren't for the Romans, the "British" would be naught but a bunch of Welsh and Gaelic barbarians, proclaims Rolf.

[is all mememememe with me]

Originally Posted by Rolf

Then there is the alphabet used in English, the Christian faith of the English, the fact that around 33% of words in the English language are derived from Latin, notes Rolf. If it weren't for the Romans, the "British" would be naught but a bunch of Welsh and Gaelic barbarians, proclaims Rolf.

so you're awarding more points because 33% of the english language is roman origin? then award even more points for 100% of australia and canada's language being british origin. even more for 99% of american english being of english origin. add even more for unknown% of south africa and various carribean islands. oh and lets not forget new zealand.

and that's not even the end of it, everyone's wanting to learn english now a days. its the first language of the internet. the second most widely spoken language on the planet but soon heading to no1.

[The Pat-Man]

Yea the british were pretty amazing, especially considering the shithole they originated from. But shitholes make for interesting people.

[is all mememememe with me]

Originally Posted by The Pat-Man

Yea the british were pretty amazing, especially considering the shithole they originated from. But shitholes make for interesting people.

it really wasn't a shithole to start with tho. especially during the days of the empire. its just turned into a total shithole over the last 30/40 years or so. more so even in the last 10/15 especially.

[Rolf]

Originally Posted by is all mememememe with me

so you're awarding more points because 33% of the english language is roman origin? then award even more points for 100% of australia and canada's language being british origin. even more for 99% of american english being of english origin.

Hint: English, Australian, Canadian, American, they're all the same language, proclaims Rolf.

Originally Posted by is all mememememe with me

it really wasn't a shithole to start with tho.

Medieval Britain was pretty much the ass end of Europe, states Rolf. Interestingly enough it is largely it's geographic position that allowed it to become so powerful; definitely the history of Britain is "from rags to riches", proclaims Rolf.

Originally Posted by is all mememememe with me

and that's not even the end of it, everyone's wanting to learn english now a days. its the first language of the internet. the second most widely spoken language on the planet but soon heading to no1.

It's continued use as global lingua franca is due to the fact that the current world power is Anglophone and the previous world power was also, notes Rolf. Greek and Latin have had far longer histories as lingua franca, adds Rolf. Not to mention Arabic or Classical Chinese, Mandarin is becoming more important each year and will continue to do so unless China has a "lost decade" like the Japanese recently did, proclaims Rolf. None of the up and coming superpowers are Anglophone, notes Rolf.

[Communicate]

Originally Posted by Shrike

You're pretty much talking complete bollocks. The british empire created most of the wealth that built britain. Half it's cities wouldn't exist if it hadn't occured.

And I think that the Romans had a decent influence, but they did leave england in like 400 ad, and pretty much all thats left of them is ruins and pottery and a few towns they started. I think the french normans had a lot more of an impact than the romans.

No, it didn't.

The industrial revolution built modern britain and british cities. Imperialism provided a good way of shifting all your shit from the factories, but it wasn't the main part nor perhaps strictly necessary.

And the normans weren't particularly french, other than having a base in france, they were vikings.

[Rolf]

Originally Posted by Communicate

And the normans weren't particularly french, other than having a base in france, they were vikings.

Yeah... no, states Rolf. The Normans were descendants of Viking settlers and native French, the Viking settlers having converted to Christianity and assimilated culturally and linguistically, states Rolf. The Anglo-Saxons that were dominated by the Normans were more similar to the Norse, adds Rolf.

[The Pat-Man]

Originally Posted by is all mememememe with me

it really wasn't a shithole to start with tho. especially during the days of the empire. its just turned into a total shithole over the last 30/40 years or so. more so even in the last 10/15 especially.

medieval britain stood out as being a shithole in the fucking middle ages. If that's not shitty idgaf what is.

[Village Idiot]

Poland.

[Orpheus]

The mongols may not have been influential as such. But it was a fucking massive empire which grew for just over 100 years or so. Thats pretty impressive.

[The Pat-Man]

Originally Posted by Orpheus

The mongols may not have been influential as such. But it was a fucking massive empire which grew for just over 100 years or so. Thats pretty impressive.

They changed a lot about warfare as we know it, that's pretty influential.

[Rolf]

Originally Posted by The Pat-Man

They changed a lot about warfare as we know it, that's pretty influential.

Tactically speaking, there was nothing new about Mongolian training, tactics or equipment; warfare had always been mobile on the Eurasian steppe and amongst nations that had a large number of horsemen, though the scale on which the Mongolians were able to employ these tactics was very notable, notes Rolf. The significance of Genghis Khan was his abilities which allowed him to unite a number of warring tribes, organise these tribes into organised military units loyal to him, maintain good relations with conquered people through both fear and by not interfering too heavily in their culture and, finally, his skill with psychological warfare, explains Rolf. In addition to this his meritocratic military organisation allowed the best commanders to command, as opposed to most other nations where those born into nobility were military commanders, adds Rolf.

[L33tz]

Spanish, All of Latin america speaks spanish and there is now a giant mixed population as the direct result of the Spanish.

or

The Atlantean Empire.

[Struwwelpeter]

Culture is an artificial form of "influence." It doesn't matter what religion people are or what language they speak, what really separates groups of people is their way of life. For this reason, France is the most influential culture/empire in history. It was the birthplace of the French Revolution, the ideals of which spread all around the world leading to the freeing up of the peasantry and governmental reforms that paved the way to the present time. If it had never occurred, everyone would still be more or less shoveling shit out in a pig sty somewhere.

[is all mememememe with me]

Originally Posted by Jim "fuck latinos" Carrey

Culture is an artificial form of "influence." It doesn't matter what religion people are or what language they speak, what really separates groups of people is their way of life. For this reason, France is the most influential culture/empire in history. It was the birthplace of the French Revolution, the ideals of which spread all around the world leading to the freeing up of the peasantry and governmental reforms that paved the way to the present time. If it had never occurred, everyone would still be more or less shoveling shit out in a pig sty somewhere.

FRANCE??? tut, french revolution was in 1789.

The Parliament of England had its roots in the restrictions on the power of kings written into Magna Carta, which explicitly protected certain rights of the King's subjects, whether free or fettered – and implicitly supported what became English writ of habeas corpus, safeguarding individual freedom against unlawful imprisonment with right to appeal. The first elected parliament was De Montfort's Parliament in England in 1265.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy

we were centuries ahead of those freakin frog eaters.

.