which historical event had the most impact on the world which still afects us today?

which historical event had the most impact on the world which still afects us today?

All of them have some effect, but one that has influenced our way of life and the current state of the world is World War 2.

The invention of the internal combustion engine.

The rise and development of agriculture.

Ado

The invention of written language, domestication, and the A-bomb.

Everything affects us. The way arrows flied durring a medieval battle determined who lives (and, very possibly, rules) in Europe today; same for any other region; same for any other freak accident or event. It's just too much to put on any one event.

French Revolution surely? It determined politcial developments in Europe and the rest of the world right up to today

Harnessing fire

Agriculture and electricity.

Event. Simple, the british invasion, specifically the Beatles.

The fact Maybe there has been NO invasion of Brtain of nearly 1000 years.

The Bolshevik Revolution.

well if it wasnt the bolshevik revolution or ww2.........it was ww1, afterwards ww2 adn the bolshevik revolution hapened......the rest is history

The first home sapien coming to existance.

Looking over the replies so far I see a lot of good ideas I wouldn't have thought of. And it's an intriguing question, too. Thanks Stalin006. I can think of a couple, so here they are:
1. The development of civilization (obviously)
2. The Battle of Mulvian Bridge (Constantine makes Christianity the dominant religion of the western world as a result)
3. Galileo publishes "Dialogue" (Science is established as a more reliable source of information about the world than dogma)
4. King John signs the Magna Carta (Establishes the rights of the individual, ends the age of monarchial tyranny)
5. Henry Ford invents mass production (products which were previously too expensive come into the grasp of modern man)
6. Sonic the Hedgehog released for Sega Genesis (OK, this probably isn't that important. But it was a fun game!)
If pressed, we could probably think of about ten billion other ideas as well. Wasn't the Batle of Hastings important? The defeat of the Spanish Armada? Columbus discovering America? Martin Luther? The printing press? It's a good question, but too vast to address on an internet message board.
That's just my two cents.

The question is pretty broad but World War 2 is the last big answer.

American ascendancy, the fallacy of colonialism laid bare, the splitting of the atom, the birth of the United Nations, the creation of Israel, globalization on an unprecedented scale, women entering the workforce, advances in computers, rocketry; you name it, the root was in world war 2.

Originally posted by AnarchyBoy

4. King John signs the Magna Carta (Establishes the rights of the individual, ends the age of monarchial tyranny)

Wasn't the Batle of Hastings important?

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You have two related points here - monarchical tyranny was an invention of the various principalities within the area known as France of which France itself was then just a small region around Paris (now called Ile de France).

This is all heavily simplified but there were two principal influences on north-western Europe in the early 11th century.

Firstly, the Frankish culture leading to a glorification of violence (war was so common that the Church had to negotiate rules that wars would only be fought on certain days of the week, just so the basic agricultural work could get done), strict feudalism and the concept that all authority and rights stemmed from a grant vested by the monarch (and his right flowed from God himself)

Secondly, the Scandinavian and Germanic culture whereby there was a complex inter-relationship of duties and responsibilities, rights were inherent in individuals (although people were most definitely not considered equal), whereby monarchs were chosen from amongst the qualified elite rather than by right of birth, and where they governed to some considerable degree by concensus.

Each of these cultures was supported by a faction of the church, the former espousing a form of strict catholicism backed by (and drawing insipiration from) the monastic movements, the latter a more relaxed and inclusive (and probably corrupt) church that, for example, preached in the local language and allowed married clergy.

Perversely, the arch proponents of the feudal approach, the Normans, were norsemen who settled in Normany in the 9th century.

Until around 1060 the popes were chosen by the Holy Roman Emperor, a feudal monarch perhaps but with influences from both traditions. However, around that time the first pope chosen by the cardinals was selected, and he was strongly supported by and supportive of the Frankish, feudal approach and the supremacy of the church.

Hastings was an invasion strongly supported by that newly appointed, French-leaning pope and was a test case for the 'feudal' concept, being the first time that a pope had claimed the right to decide who God intended to sit on a particular throne.

The Normans were the favoured shock troops of this 'radical' church, having already triumphed in Sicily and South Italy, and later forming the backbone of the First Crusade.

Had William lost at Hastings, the individual rights that were clearly recognised within Anglo-Saxon society would never have been 'lost' with Harald, to reappear gradually through Magna Carta, the impact of the Black Death, Peasant Revolt and succeeding liberalisations of the feudal system.

More interestingly, the prestige of the popes as God's first servant would have been diminished by the failure of William's mission, rather than enhanced by its success. The catholic church would not have been universal but faced a strong challenge by non-conformists in the north-west of Europe. It is quite possible that the concept of a Crusade would simply not have arisen in these circumstances, with all the consequences that follow.

Finally the primary cause of 500 years of war (the English claim to the French crown while the English King, as Duke of various French Duchies owed feudal duty to that French king) would have been most unlikely to have arisen, at least in the same way.

I would place the outcome of Hastings very high up the list - since there were significant political, religious and cultural implications for a whole sector of medieval Europe - at least in respect of western european civilisation, and higher than Magna Carta which simple repaired a bit of the damage done to individual rights by the result at Hastings.

Originally posted by God
The first home sapien coming to existance.

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Exactly! That and when the first of them decided to migrate and eventually leave Africa.

Originally posted by MCdread


Exactly! That and when the first of them decided to migrate and eventually leave Africa.

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Why was leaving Africa such a great idea? It led to racial diversification and an aeon of war...

Because it was the homosapiens that migrated from Africa that developed Civilization.