Greatest Empire Ever

[Jersay]

Now who do you think were the greatest empires ever in the history of the world. And I must admit that there have been some pretty good ones over time.

I say first off

1. Viking Empire; it was big, and it the Vikings were the dominant people for many hundreds of years. They were the ones that destroyed the Romans weren't they?

2. British Empire

3. Roman Empire

4. Ottoman Empire

5. American Empire

 

[Colpy]

Sorry Jersay, the Roman Empire collapsed a few hundred years before the rise of the Vikings.

Huns, Visigoths and other barbarian tribes, mostly Germanic, did away with Rome.

 

[Jersay]

The Viking people are believed to have started in Scandanavia connected to Germanic people

Could the Visigoths be the Vikings later on, because the Vikings are just a romantic name.

 

[Colpy]

The word "Viking" does not really refer to a people as such, although it has come, in common usage, to mean the Norsemen of the eighth to eleventh centuries. Actually, "viking" refered only to Norse raiders, something like "pirate" from English.

The first raids into the British Isles, which were the first steps of Norse expansion, were made in the 790s, almost 400 years after the collapse of the Roman Empire.

The Norse "vikings" did settle in Normandy in France, intermingled with the locals, and became the Normans, who conquered Britain (1066), and spread into Russia, and south to Sicily.

 

[Jersay]

Anyone else?

 

[the caracal kid]

My personal choice is the Hun Empire.

 

[I think not]

I think you should define "greatness" first. And I have no idea why you added American Empire in that mix.

 

[Daz_Hockey]

because my American friend, I know you guys will NEVER admit this, but freedom & Liberty are all well and good, and so is hating Colonialism, but here's where it falls down:

WHEN UR SITTING ON A BLOODY CONTINENT THAT YOU STOLE FROM ANOTHER RACE AND C-O-L-O-N-I-S-E-D IT!!!

Ahem, besides which, when the war of independence (or as we like to call it in england, "the second civil war", or "The continent that wanted to be like the channel islands" happened, and we left ya, you did'nt say "oh gosh, this isnt our land, those nasty colonials took, lets give it back", no you were worse than we EVER were, thats why the natives sided with us.

So indeed, You are a despotic, two-faced imperialist country, whatever way you cut it.

sorry just the facts

 

[The Gunslinger]

I'm going to go with the British Empire.

1)When the British conquered India, India had well over 150 million people, Britain had about 5-10 million. How much of the worlds population lived under British rule near the end?
2) A logistical nightmare by any stretch of imagination. Keeping all those troops supplied, etc. is a feat all its own.
3) The size of it for the time. This was all done in the age of steam or earlier. These were the days before satellites, cell phones, or even normal phones.

I'm going to give a nod to China for sheer longevity though. And a second nod to the Ottomans, just a bad location and bad luck brought them down.

 

[Jersay]

I think you should define "greatness" first. And I have no idea why you added American Empire in that mix.

Greatness;

How long it lasted, what kind of mark it left on the world, how big it was, what kind of achievements did it complete.

Stuff like that.

And I added America because of that reason, you've got those large chunks of native land that has been colonized, Canada the same but we are not an empire.

 

[I think not]

Re: RE: Greatest Empire Ever

WHEN UR SITTING ON A BLOODY CONTINENT THAT YOU STOLE FROM ANOTHER RACE AND C-O-L-O-N-I-S-E-D IT!!!

WE stole it? WE didn't steal a thing, the Dutch STOLE it, and then you STOLE it from the Dutch, and then your ancestors (WE) took the rest of it.

Ahem, besides which, when the war of independence (or as we like to call it in england, "the second civil war"

And you would be correct in saying so because the colonialists were traitors.

or "The continent that wanted to be like the channel islands" happened

Never heard of that before, British humor?

and we left ya

Correction, you got your asses kicked out of the US.

you did'nt say "oh gosh, this isnt our land, those nasty colonials took, lets give it back", no you were worse than we EVER were

Please dude, the Brits have slaugthered people all over the world by the millions, in the name of the MONARCHY! How nobel!

thats why the natives sided with us.

Poor fools, they had no idea what a backstabbing empire you were, luckily it didn't fly.

So indeed, You are a despotic, two-faced imperialist country, whatever way you cut it.

You're entitled to say that and have your opinion, I'm sure it makes you feel better there is someone else out there worse than the Brits.

sorry just the facts

Just your opinion.

 

[Jersay]

I'm going to go with the British Empire.

1)When the British conquered India, India had well over 150 million people, Britain had about 5-10 million. How much of the worlds population lived under British rule near the end?
2) A logistical nightmare by any stretch of imagination. Keeping all those troops supplied, etc. is a feat all its own.
3) The size of it for the time. This was all done in the age of steam or earlier. These were the days before satellites, cell phones, or even normal phones.

I'm going to give a nod to China for sheer longevity though. And a second nod to the Ottomans, just a bad location and bad luck brought them down.

I am not going to reject your British empire choice, I think it is a good choice because of the skill they used to conquer all these people, but

Britain was more than 10 million, at its smallest probably 20 or 30 million people.

And what about the Vikings.

 

[Jersay]

Oh, I added the American empire anyway, just to get under the skin of our American posters.

 

[I think not]

I think you should define "greatness" first. And I have no idea why you added American Empire in that mix.

Greatness;

How long it lasted, what kind of mark it left on the world, how big it was, what kind of achievements did it complete.

Stuff like that.

And I added America because of that reason, you've got those large chunks of native land that has been colonized, Canada the same but we are not an empire.

Ah ok then, as you wish, American Empire then, we have achieved much more than anyone else in the history of the world in the shortest amount of time. And if needs be, if we go down we can take everybody with us, like empires are supposed to do.

 

[the caracal kid]

my second choice is the Mongol Empire.

The following acomplishment of Ghengis outdoes anything the Brits did:

Genghis Khan a Prolific Lover, DNA Data Implies
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0214_030214_genghis.html

 

[The Gunslinger]

The Vikings were big, but I wouldn't call it an empire. If you said best raiders in history, I would have picked the Vikings. They found, the northern most point of Europe, they colonized Iceland (one of the few places on Earth to have been totally devoid of human life before they arrived), AND they discovered America centuries before Columbus was a gleam in his grandpa's eyes.

 

[Daz_Hockey]

1. you didnt kick our asses (what the hell is canada eh?), did you know the only time Europe has been united is when they fought, for you against us. you did none of it on ur own.

2. Washington was the traitor, begging to join us then throwing his toys out of the pram when we said no, could not tell a lie my backside.

3. You continued to colonise north american LONG after we left you, we did too, but we never claimed it as "freedom"

4. the channel islands were given to the soldiers of King William the first for taking new land .i.e. england, and because of this, they were allowed not to pay any taxes, and were answerable to only the crown, this was over 700 years before the US.

5. Oh yes, we have slaughtered countless millions, but strange, the facts about india above...if we were tht bad, they could easily kill us, and I think u'll find Canada was the first north american country to pay at least a little respect to the natives...Navanut I think.

6. Just an example but, Ghandi went and stayed in the east end of london with the poor to emphises that his people were just like a lot of ours, you had to have a certain amount of money to travel to the new world, so, compared to a lot of people in england at the time, it was indeed YOU who were the rich, so as I say, to many other countries, your little french/spanish/dutch kinda united Europe and little old USA against England + a few german mercinerys wasnt such a surprise victory after all.

These ARE facts

 

[Jersay]

The Vikings were big, but I wouldn't call it an empire. If you said best raiders in history, I would have picked the Vikings. They found, the northern most point of Europe, they colonized Iceland (one of the few places on Earth to have been totally devoid of human life before they arrived), AND they discovered America centuries before Columbus was a gleam in his grandpa's eyes.

No I think they were an empire, a loosely organized empire but an empire none the less. They raided, and took huge areas of Europe, some claim all the way to the mediterranian, took huge chunks out of Russia, founded Moscow, they colonized, Greenland and Iceland and parts of the American continent.

 

[Alfie]

While you folks are trying to decide who has the biggest, can someone please pay the rent? :roll: :lol: 8)

 

[Jersay]

Several hundred years, how much do you think we have to pay. America and Canada might go broke. :lol: