Posted on 08/17/2024 1:07:19 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Much of human history has been defined by the actions of around 50 to 70 empires that once ruled large swathes of people across vast chunks of the globe. Each of these empires, whether large or small, for ill or for good, has influenced world history. It’s hard to say which has had the greatest impact on society — it is, after all, somewhat subjective and hard to measure — but some have undeniably shaped the course of human history, forever and irrevocably. Here are six such empires, from the mighty Persians to the globe-spanning British.
Around 550 BCE, Cyrus II of Persia — later to be known as Cyrus the Great — conquered a number of neighboring kingdoms, including Media and Babylon, and brought them together under his control. In so doing, he founded the first Persian Empire, also known as the Achaemenid Empire. Centered in modern-day Iran, it became one of the largest empires in history, stretching from Egypt and the Balkans to parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. For more than two centuries, the empire was a global center of culture, religion, science, arts, and technology. But then came the Persian ruler Xerxes, whose failed invasion of Greece in 480 BCE brought about a period of decline.
Weakened, the Persian Empire eventually fell in 330 BCE at the hands of the invading armies of Alexander the Great of Macedonia.
Following a period of unrest and civil wars — including the assassination of Julius Caesar — the Roman Republic came to an end and Augustus Caesar was crowned the first ruler of the new Roman Empire in 27 BCE. At its height in 117 CE, Rome controlled all the land from Western Europe to the Middle East, and was the most powerful political and military entity the world had yet seen. The impact of the Roman Empire on the modern world is hard to overstate. Our art, architecture, laws, technology, and engineering — even the very words we speak — have all been heavily influenced by the ancient Romans.
But even an empire as mighty as Rome was destined to fall. A series of Gothic invasions heralded a general decline, and in 476 CE, the Western Roman Empire fell. The Eastern Roman Empire — also known as the Byzantine Empire — remained until 1453, but the glory days of the Roman Empire had reached their end.
Founded in 206 BCE and established by a commoner named Liu Bang, the Han dynasty was the second great imperial dynasty of China. It spanned more than four centuries and is considered a golden age in Chinese history. Despite much political turbulence, the dynasty helped cement Confucianism as the state religion and opened up a world-changing trade route with Europe: the Silk Road.
The Han dynasty is also known for its many innovations that shaped the world as we know it today. Developments in everything from record-keeping to agriculture and health care had a global impact, while inventions such as the rudder, the blast furnace, the wheelbarrow, suspension bridges, and paper forever changed the way we live.
At the height of its powers, the Mongol Empire covered around 9 million square miles, making it the largest contiguous land empire the world has ever seen. The empire was founded by Genghis Khan, a former tribal leader, in 1206. Genghis’ early victories gave him control of the whole of what is now Mongolia. He and his fearsome armies then engaged in a period of aggressive expansion that conquered most of Eurasia, leaving a trail of ruin in its wake. But the Mongol Empire was far more complex than its notorious hordes would suggest.
Under Genghis and his successors, the Mongols reformed his people’s laws, created a military-feudal form of government, and enhanced trade (including along the Silk Road) throughout his conquered territories. His armies, meanwhile, were quick to adopt advanced technologies of the time, such as powerful siege weapons and possibly gunpowder, while perfecting their mounted hit-and-run tactics. The Mongols were also innovators who, through their expansion, helped introduce military technology to new lands, including their famed composite bow and stirrups.
From humble beginnings as a provincial principality in Anatolia (part of modern-day Turkey), the Ottoman Empire rose to become one of the most powerful and long-lasting empires in history, spanning an incredible six centuries from the early 1300s to the aftermath of World War I. The Islamic superpower ruled large swathes of the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North Africa, and reached the height of its powers under the appropriately named Suleiman the Magnificent.
Suleiman, who ruled the empire from 1520 to 1566, brought about a golden age of geographic expansion, trade, economic growth, and huge cultural and artistic developments, while forging an empire that embraced ethnic diversity and religious tolerance.
The British Empire remains the largest empire the world has ever seen. Beginning with overseas colonies in the Americas in the 16th century, British expansion then accelerated in the 18th century, particularly in Asia. With the aid of the London-based East India Company, the empire established trading posts around the world, which in turn developed into a worldwide system of dependencies, including colonies and protectorates.
At its height in the early 20th century, the British Empire covered around 25% of the world’s land surface, including large parts of North America, Australia, Africa, and Asia. In 1913, it ruled over some 412 million inhabitants in its entirety — about 23% of the world’s population at the time.
Such a vast territory was unsustainable, however, and, as more and more nations fought for their independence, the empire began to crumble. But the influence of the British Empire upon the world was massive — and remains a hugely controversial subject. Once a source of pride in Britain, the nation’s imperial past is now more often seen as a dark and often brutal period of colonialism. Since the decline of the empire, more than 60 countries have gained their independence from the United Kingdom.
The Celts in the Po Valley had only been conquered a few years before so many of them sided with Hannibal. There were some allies in southern Italy who defected after Cannae (and Syracuse in Sicily did—Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier during the Roman recapture of the city) but it seems like the great majority of allies remained loyal, particularly the Latin allies who shared the same language with the Romans. If most of the allies had deserted Rome, the Romans might not have been able to raise enough troops. But even after Cannae they did not recall their armies from Spain and they were able to fight a war against Philip V of Macedon.
Our empire.
Post WWII, we have become an empire (even if not self-aware by the majority or rejected by some), and post 1991 this empire has even taken on as with most empires its military / expeditionary / expansionist face.
Iraq (2003): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_invasion_of_Iraq
Libya (2011): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_military_intervention_in_Libya
Syria (2014): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_United_States_intervention_in_the_Syrian_civil_war
Venezuela (2020): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gideon_(2020)
Ukraine (2022): Current
We define the West (et al) and much of the WORLD (Internet, English as the business/science language, USD for trade, Hollywood, international organizations we in reality lead) today. We are an economic, military, political and cultural focal point and Washington has become not just a capital of the US, but defining of the entire West.
If you consider the expanse of our influence and military presence, NO EMPIRE ON EARTH has ever been this large, not even the British and Mongol empires which are usually considered as the largest empires to have ever existed.
Our military presence today:
Around the world: https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/INTERACTIVE-US-military-presence-around-the-world.png?w=770&resize=770%2C770&quality=80
Latin America (zoomed in): https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/INTERACTIVE-US-military-presence-in-Latin-America.png?w=770&resize=770%2C770&quality=80
Europe (zoomed in): https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/INTERACTIVE-US-military-presence-in-Europe.png?w=770&resize=770%2C770&quality=80
Middle East (zoomed in): https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/INTERACTIVE-US-military-presence-in-the-Middle-East.png?w=770&resize=770%2C770&quality=80
Africa has become increasingly important: https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/1i0nm45rAx4MuHJTBjOZwe0RJ4c=/fit-in/1072x0/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/76/45/7645fe6c-a982-4828-bdff-7043074884b2/counterterrorismmapweb.png
Empire defined: an extensive group of states or countries under a single supreme authority, formerly especially an emperor or empress.
By this definition, we are an empire. Maybe not entirely like all of the others, but even they all had their differences between each others. Rome was a true republic in the beginning, while the Mongols were under a central figure...
Please don’t forget the Seyfo either.
I had not heard of the Seyfo before so Googled the term and found a German-language Wikipedia article to the effect that it was a genocide of Syrian Christians in WWI at the same time as the Turks’ genocide of the Armenians...but one which had remained very little known. From the map attached to the article it appears the victims were mostly in places just north of the present-day Turkish-Iraqi border and Turkish-Syrian border, but some victims were just over the border in Persia.
Yes, it was. Sorry if this article was not available in English, but you are right: it is hardly known outside the area in which it occurred. Sadly so 🙁
He flamed out too early. His empire broke up immediately after he died. He disrupted a lot of existing powers, but didn’t have much influence beyond that.
Never mind that the Ottomans went on violent, genocidal purge of Christians. They were ethnically diverse and tolerant, while the British empire were brutal colonialists who left behind a legacy of meritocracy and rule of law. If only those evil brits have just genocided throughout their empire they could be looked up to like the Ottomans. /sarc
I used to play Age of Empires. I heard it was similar to Civilization in many ways. I had to give it up. The whole work/wife/kids/house thing was interfering.
Isn't that a sickening whitewashing of history? Prof. Victor Hanson expounds on the evil of the islamic Janissary system quite often. For those who don't know, here are some excerpts from Wiki...
"Janissaries began as elite corps made up through the devşirme system of child levy enslavement, by which Christian Albanians, Bulgarians, Croats, Greeks, Romanians, Serbs and Ukrainians were taken, levied, subjected to forced circumcision and conversion to Islam, and incorporated into the Ottoman army.Prof. Hanson points out how bad it was for the Christian regions and cities to be invaded by islamic Turk armies equipped with blond, blue-eyed men who had been kidnapped as children, enslaved, and converted to islam.The formation of the Janissaries has been dated to the reign of Murad I (1362–1389), the third ruler of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans instituted a tax of one-fifth on all slaves taken in war, and from this pool of manpower the sultans first constructed the Janissary corps as a personal army loyal only to the sultan.
From the 1380s to 1648, the Janissaries were gathered through the devşirme system, which was abolished in 1648. This was the taking (enslaving) of non-Muslim boys, notably Anatolian and Balkan Christians; Jews were never subject to devşirme.
...the Turkish administrators would scour their regions (but especially the Balkans) every five years for the strongest sons of the sultan's Christian subjects. These boys (usually between the ages of 10 and 20) were then taken from their parents, circumcised, and sent to Turkish families in the provinces to be raised as Muslims and learn Turkish language and customs...Most were of non-Muslim origin because it was not permissible to enslave a Muslim.
"embraced ethnic diversity and religious tolerance" -- what absolute balderdash!
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