Which Civ5 civilisation had the biggest impact on history?

Which of these civilisations had biggest impact on history, or were most impressive?

  • America - Power of Freedom

    Votes: 59 18.3%
  • Maya - 2012

    Votes: 5 1.6%
  • Aztec - Ancient Mexico

    Votes: 4 1.2%
  • Inca - Mountain Empire

    Votes: 8 2.5%
  • Brasil - Emerging Power

    Votes: 6 1.9%
  • Egypt - Pyramid Makers

    Votes: 38 11.8%
  • Ethiopia - Citadel of Christianity

    Votes: 8 2.5%
  • Rome - Eternal Empire

    Votes: 156 48.4%
  • Spain - Sword and Cross

    Votes: 23 7.1%
  • Portugal - Masters of Exploration

    Votes: 10 3.1%
  • France - the City of Lights

    Votes: 23 7.1%
  • England - Greatest Naval Empire Ever

    Votes: 98 30.4%
  • Germany - Steam and Glory

    Votes: 25 7.8%
  • Russia - Eurasian Bear

    Votes: 24 7.5%
  • Greece - the Cradle of Philosophy

    Votes: 100 31.1%
  • Ottomans - Between Orient and Occident

    Votes: 14 4.3%
  • Arabia - Voice of Prophet

    Votes: 41 12.7%
  • Babylon - the Cradle of Civilisation

    Votes: 27 8.4%
  • Persia - First Civilised Empire

    Votes: 19 5.9%
  • India - the Temple of Mind

    Votes: 22 6.8%
  • Mongolia - Greatest Land Empire Ever

    Votes: 40 12.4%
  • Japan - Samurai and Anime

    Votes: 10 3.1%
  • China - Great Dragon

    Votes: 78 24.2%
  • Celts - Fathers of Europe

    Votes: 9 2.8%
  • Byzantium - Roman Citadel

    Votes: 10 3.1%

  • Total voters
    322

Krajzen

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Simple thread - which of those civs you think changed the world history the most or were the most glorious civilisations? By changing the world history I mean:
- great discoveries
- home to particularly great people
- powerful cultural or religious impact
- giant conquests
- huge economic impact
- impressive culture/monuments

Contestants are: Ottoman, Egypt, Carthago, Rome, Spain, Portugal, England, Celts, France, Germany, America, Japan, China, India, Mongolia, Persia, Babylon, Arabia, Russia, Greece, Byzantium, Maya, Inca, Huns, Aztec, Ethiopia. I couldn't fit more civs and these are rather more important than second half :p

Multiple voting is possible but please concentrate on as small number of civs as possible - only THE BEST ;)

My votes - Rome, Greece, India, China, Arabia, America.

Share of GDP in the Human History: http://infogr.am/Share-of-world-GDP-throughout-history?src=web
 
America, England, Mongolia, Egypt, Spain
 
Great discoveries - China
Home to particularly great people - Greece
Powerful cultural or religious impact - Rome
Giant conquests - Mongolia
Huge economic impact - America
Impressive culture/monuments - Egypt
 
Great discoveries: China, Babylon, England
Great people: France, Greece, Germany, England
Religious impact: Rome, Arabia, India
Giant conquest: Mongol, England
Economic impact: England, China, America
Impressive culture: Egypt, China, France, Rome

Civs that changed the world
1. England
2. Mongol
3. China

Civs with greatest achievement:
1. China
2. Rome
3. England
 
I think all of these civilizations had an impact on history one way or the other. Exception: other people don't think so.
 
I think all of these civilizations had an impact on history one way or the other. Exception: other people don't think so.
Pretty much this. But for the sake of the experiment we can overlook this detail.

- great discoveries: China, Arabia, Babylon, Maya, England, America.
- home to particularly great people: Greece, Rome
- powerful cultural or religious impact: Arabia, Rome, India, France (cultural)
- giant conquests: Rome, Mongolia, England
- huge economic impact: China, Indonesia, OTTOMANS. Don't forget one of the big reasons why Europe started the Age of Exploration. After that - England, America.
- impressive culture/monuments: Egypt, China, Rome, Greece

Final votes: Greece, Rome, England. Purely because they did change the course of history by impacting in more than one aspect. As much as I am in awe with China's ancient discoveries, the problem is this civ kept everything inside and closed itself at the worst historical time possible.

In many cases it was hard to choose because some of the modern discoveries were just as important as those of the ancient times. Also I find it funny how Brazil was included into the poll while Indonesia was left out.
 
- great discoveries: America, England, China
- home to particularly great people: Greece, Rome
- powerful cultural or religious impact: Greece, China, Rome
- giant conquests: Rome, Mongolia, England
- huge economic impact: China, America, England
- impressive culture/monuments: Greece, Rome

Also, which China are we talking about? For arguments sake, China has been settled, conquered, and resettled multiple times. There hasn't been one continuous stream from stone age China to today, and I feel that this makes a major difference. China has been at the helm of invention and exploration at certain points in history, while at others they have been economically backward and insular. Plus, China didn't even have a set, unified cultural identity until the Yuan Dynasty (1271 A.D.) and beyond since before that the region had been dominated by a patchwork of different kingdoms. Just wondering.
 
How do you vote for America? It's literally created by England(which I voted for).

Hamburgers, the most American thing ever, created by Germans
Statue of Liberty, the most American thing ever, created by a Frenchman
Christianity, the most American religion ever, made by an Israeli
Texas, the most American thing ever, created by the Spanish
America, the most American thing ever, created by the British.

Sorry for that. I'm not saying that America wasn't important, but I feel like America wasn't that important for HISTORY. England created a lot of modern states(USA, Guyana, South Africa, Somalia, India), and just was very important for history. It's really complicated, because there isn't ONE most important civ. Rome, China and Greece are the ancestors, England, France and Spain are the next, followed by Germany, USA and Russia.

EDIT: Actually, now that I think of it, Babylon was perhaps the most important. It's basically before even Rome, China and Greece
 
Also, which China are we talking about? For arguments sake, China has been settled, conquered, and resettled multiple times. There hasn't been one continuous stream from stone age China to today, and I feel that this makes a major difference. China has been at the helm of invention and exploration at certain points in history, while at others they have been economically backward and insular. Plus, China didn't even have a set, unified cultural identity until the Yuan Dynasty (1271 A.D.) and beyond since before that the region had been dominated by a patchwork of different kingdoms. Just wondering.


That's an interesting point. Many Chinese ape the "5000 years of continuous history " line and essentially treat conquest of Chinese by various barbarian tribes as historical battles that the ethnic Chinese 'won' since well... there is China today as a nation state.

It's warped and weird logic, but that's what I assume a Chinese nationalist would say here if he was posting.
 
My votes:

Rome - do I need to explain? Basis for Western European civilisation which a thousand years later went on to conquer and colonise the rest of the world. Roman code of law, latin alphabet, engineering etc. still exist or were a foundation for modern equivalents.

Greece - an older cousin of Rome, which formed the basis for philosophy, more modern religion (early Christianity) and helped Rome be a bit more scientific and worldly.

Mongolia - despite being decentralised nomads for most of their existence, the short-lived empires of Genghis Khan and his successors shaped the cultural and political shape of Eastern Europe, Middle East, China and India. The Golden Horde, Crimean Khanate, the Ilkhanate, the Timurids, the Mughal Empire... need I say more? Their most important legacy is indirect - the occupation and suzerainty over Russian princes led the latter to eventually unite under one Tsar, adopt strong forms of authoritarian government, which then lead to Russia becoming a strong, militaristic and colonising country.

Spain - rapid colonisation and conquest of Americas made it easier for immigrants from all of Europe to flock into the New World. Spanish conquest shaped South America into what might be an economic and demographic powerhouse in the near future.

America - the impact of American economy, welcoming attitute to immigrants and its domestic and foreign policies - especially its involvement in the world wars and the all-out opposition to the USSR - left an unprecedented mark on human history.
 
How do you vote for America? It's literally created by England(which I voted for).

Hamburgers, the most American thing ever, created by Germans
Statue of Liberty, the most American thing ever, created by a Frenchman
Christianity, the most American religion ever, made by an Israeli
Texas, the most American thing ever, created by the Spanish
America, the most American thing ever, created by the British.

Sorry for that. I'm not saying that America wasn't important, but I feel like America wasn't that important for HISTORY. England created a lot of modern states(USA, Guyana, South Africa, Somalia, India), and just was very important for history. It's really complicated, because there isn't ONE most important civ. Rome, China and Greece are the ancestors, England, France and Spain are the next, followed by Germany, USA and Russia.

EDIT: Actually, now that I think of it, Babylon was perhaps the most important. It's basically before even Rome, China and Greece

Just because somebody created something first doesn't mean that they were the absolute best at it, and the same goes for the achievements of history's greatest countries. Gunpowder weaponry, a Chinese invention, was perfected by the various European nations. This doesn't mean that U.S.A. has stolen all of its greatest achievements. The American concept of an immigration state is unique to it alone. America has used this assimilation to create a brand new culture, thus rechristening the peoples and ideas of other civilizations into American ones, usually with improvements to the original idea. Also, America has provided plenty of original inventions. The cotton gin for example was an American invention that fed the Industrial Revolution on the American continent. Atomic weaponry was also an American invention, an undeniable footnote in human history. And lets not forget Ransom Old's and Henry Ford's inventing and perfecting of the assembly line process.

A civilization's achievements isn't only measured by whether they created this first or settled that land originally. Its achievements are measured on the impact felt by its contributions, whether it was an inventor or a perfecter.
 
Seancolorado, I literally facepalmed - I have forgotten about Indonesia! Yeah it should definitely be here instead of Brasil :I
 
For me it goes;

Rome
Greece
China
England
Spain
Mongols
Persia
Ottomans

Argue between the rest.
 
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