the greatest conquest

[say1988]

genghis khan- okay, he created the biggest empire in history, but most of the land he conquered was empty wilderness.

Now I am not sure if all of these are were conquerred by Genghis, but he first conquered the opposing Mongols (who had the same military capabilities as him), Persia and China (two of teh largest and most powerful Empires of the time). Much of central Asia is now a sparsely inhabited backwater, but back in the Days of the mongols, there were large and powerful nations there.

I think Alexander is the best choice, Macedonia is tiney compared to the area he conquered, he did it earlier then anyone else to, and the territory he conquered was quite advanced for its time (egypt, greece, persia), unlike cortez who basically conquered a relatively technologically inferior people

Genghis started with a nomadic tribe, I would say that is a smaller power-base than Macedon, and Philipp II had conquered parts of Greece.
The Macedonian army (built by Phillip II) was far more advanced than the Persians and other armies they faced. The Macedonians were professional soldiers, their enemies mostly peasant levies. The Macedonian Phalanx with sarrissas was far more powerful than any military formation they faced. Elephants and numbers were the only real equalizers that his enemies had.

napoleon was not a conquerer. he never fought an aggressive war. all his wars were defensive.

Yes his invading foreign countries was defensive, even when he initiates hostilities (Invasion of Russia, for example).

If you are willing to wipe clean the land of people and civilization then yes conquering is easy compared to say not killing them and learning to rule the local populations.

Which they often did. Many Mongols adopted the local customs. And they didn't just raze every city, just those that opposed them.

Also the question isn't "Who built the greatest empire, but who had the greatest conquest (thread title and poll), or which country did (OP).
The former is a toss-up between Genghis and Alexander.
Of the other poll options:
Hitler failed in his conquests. He only defeated one modern nation (France) other conquests were: Greece, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway etc.... nothing that had any possible way of defeating a well equipped modern fighting force.
Napoleon is slightly behind the other two. He defeated many nations that should have been able to stop him (he overcame greater opposition than Alexander) and I would rate him as the top tactician here. But he failed and did not make peace when neccessary.
Julius Caesar is a hard on to judge, he conquered the backwatrds people og Gual, with extensive use of local Allies. While a great achievement holds little against the greatest conquests in history. Now it is hard to judge his success in teh civil war compared to the massive expansion of the other options.

Some people that deserve to be in teh poll:
Cyrus the Great (Conquered Mesoptamia, Asia Minor, Palestine, Modern Iran, and parts of Central Asia, establish a powerful ad long lasting Empire, until Alexander comes along)
Qin Shi Huang (uniting China was no simple task)

 

[Mirc]

I would put Trajan ahead of Caesar, but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, the question is too ambiguous to answer.

Anyway, this belongs in the World History forum, doesn't have anything to do with Civ4.

 

[Living Parasite]

I would like to point out that you guys are consistently bringing up up the fact that the Mongol Empire was the largest empire in the world. But, the poll clearly asks which is the greatest conquest. I chose Alexander because this millitary genius took over a small country called Greece (+ Macedonia) at the age of 19 after his father's death. Within a few years, he had conquered the whole known world and due to his conquests he ushered the known world into a new period of history. Alexander was a strategical genius and routinely wiped Persian forces from the map that were at least twice his number in men.

 

[say1988]

Genghis, meanwhile, took a band of fighting nomads and turned it into one of the greatest military forces the world has ever seen. He rutinely defeated far larger forces.
At the same time, Alexander recieves much credit that should go to his father. The stage was set, the army recruited, trained, and equipped. Many people also look at numbers to much, sure the Macedonians were generally heavily outnumbered, but they had the best troops in the world, especially once Persia's Immortals were destroyed.

They both achieved amazing things, along similar lines (taking a small, or no, nation and turning it into a vast Empire in a rather short period of time). For overall strategy and diplomacy Genghis is by far the superior and it clearly aided him in his conquests. Alexander was his match on the tactical level, though I can not say definitively which was superior.

 

[allunderheaven]

Originally posted by markiz2001

genghis khan- okay, he created the biggest empire in history, but most of the land he conquered was empty wilderness.

China was not empty wilderness...

btw, I think Qin Shi Huang was the greatest conquerer

 

[JaDo]

It is pretty interesting how many times in history more superior (in numbers) fleet was destroyed due to weather (Greeks vs Persians, Spanish vs English, Mongols vs Japanese, and I am sure those are not only examples)

Oh goodness, can you imagine how annoying it would be if that was incorporated ingame? Your carefully prepared SOD sunk en route to target by some bad weather! The defeat of the Spanish Armada was also down to English naval superiority don't forget, not just the weather!

 

[bestbrian]

Alex or Gengis? I've got to go with Alex. He marched a foot army (some horsemen, but no stirrup) from Greece to India with a side trip to conquer Egypt and the Levant. Was grossly outnumbered in every battle, but still won all of them. A tactical genius whose battles are still studied in all the major war colleges to this day. And the only reason he turned back from India was because his army revolted and demanded to go home and enjoy their booty. Throw in the spread of Hellenic culture as a result of his conquests and you're talking about the one individual probably most responsible for the creation/dissemination of what would become "western culture". Best conquerer? Definitely. Probably the most important non-religious leader in all of human history? Yeah, I'd have to give him that one too.

 

[say1988]

[q]The defeat of the Spanish Armada was also down to English naval superiority don't forget, not just the weather![/q]
The English and Dutch Fleet did its part to force the Armada away from England and the Netherlands, but it was the storms that destroyed the ships.

On teh same line, weather has always been an immense factor in naval warfare, far greater than on land (especially during the age of sail), and a storm is so much more dangerous to those at sea. I believe those account for the number of historical fleets destroyed in bad weather.

 

[J-man]

Shouldn't it be Alexander of Macedonia instead of Greece?

 

[Ace of Gold]

when heconquerd greece i think his nation took the name of greece

 

[TheDS]

I read somewhere recently that something like 96% of people now living in Temujin's original conquests are decended from him. I don't see how you can beat THAT. (Maybe it wasn't quite that high, but it WAS an amazingly high percentage.)

 

[Julian Delphiki]

"An international group of geneticists studying Y-chromosome data have found that nearly 8 percent of the men living in the region of the former Mongol empire carry y-chromosomes that are nearly identical. That translates to 0.5 percent of the male population in the world, or roughly 16 million descendants living today."

 

[Sir Janus]

The poll seems a bit limited. Two remarkable conquerors are omitted:

Robert Clive - added India to the British Empire.
Francisco Pizarro - Conquered the Incas.

Also which Caesar are we voting for Julius or Augustus?
Augustus is famous for the Pax Augusta (Augustan peace) and was more concerned with sorting out the internal problems of the existing empire rather than expanding it.
Julius conquered Northern Gaul (N France, Switzerland, Belgium and SW Germany) so has some claim to be there but his two failed attempts to invade Britain count against him.

 

[lovett]

genghis khan- okay, he created the biggest empire in history, but most of the land he conquered was empty wilderness.

Now that's just silly. Genghis took most of the world that was really worth having.
Modern day china, which was perhaps the most advanced and cultured region in the world at this time.
The original unification of the steppe tribes.
Central asia, and the muslim caliphate during its golden age.
And he also made a start on Russia.

Compared to any of these places, western Europe was a bit of a backwater.
This isn't the enlightenement and European dominace we're talking about here.

I won't say the mongols because their conquests fell apart or rather disappeared underneath the powerful local cultures

This is also a bit of a misconception. Genghis forged an empire that lasted for the better part of two centuries, unlike some other popular figures Ahem *Alexander im looking at you*

And during this his military machine expanded into Europe, crushing the Rus and humiliating the forces of western Europe.

Additionally, despite initial brutality, it did forge the pax mongolia and create unprecedented levels of Asia-Europe trade.

But seriously, History forum?

 

[civdude 95]

i voted for rome because i think they conquered a huge amount of land

 

[Stuck in Pi]

Mongols, uniting the tribes, conquering the most technilogically advanced empire of the time, then wiping out Russia and Persia, then wiping out the Middle East, but the conquest stopped at Hungary because Genghis died.

Even with all that, Alexander of MACEDON still comes close.

Like everybody else, this should be in the history forum.

 

[say1988]

but the conquest stopped at Hungary because Genghis died.

Nope, Genghis died long before then the Western expansion halted at Ogedai's death.

when heconquerd greece i think his nation took the name of greece[/quote
Nah, it just sounds better if he was a Greek (for much of history since the dark ages, the Greeks have been revered, so they include him).

 

[sydhe]

Genghis conquered the northern half of China. Kublai conquered the half still ruled by the Song.

Despite that, I put Genghis first. Sort of like Philip II and Alexander combined.

 

[Elta]

The greatest conquest of all time happened on January 1st 2008 around 4 am Pacific Standard Time - Conquerer - Me- conquered - here name is Joanna

 

[cybrxkhan]

Wudi, because he conquered Vietnam and his people kept it that way for 1000 years... quiet an achievement.

but more seriously, Genghis. pathetic kid with horrible childhood turns into the most feared conqueror of his time, largest continuous land empire, millions subjugated (or dead!), extremely important to Western contact with the East, upset natural balance of power, destroyed ancient civilizations, etc...

Alexander was also pretty amazing too. imagining conquering much of the known world... under the age of thirty. thats like a university student being Dictator of the World.