Which Civ5 civilisation had the biggest impact on history?

[Crafty Bison]

Interesting outcomes.

I think in general the forum has judged based on the civilisations in quite a broad sense, and as such, the results seem pretty sensible. The top four seem right, though why Rome is so much higher than Greece, England and China seems a little odd; in my mind they'd be pretty even. I was expecting a slightly higher turnout for Egypt, but, thinking about it, it doesn't seem so out of place. The American vote is expected due in part to the demographic of civfanatics, but also because it's recent, and because it has had a big impact on the world today, even if its future legacy is still to be decided.

I was also very surprised to see such a massive difference between the English and the French, given how so much of their histories are intimately intertwined. OK so industrial revolution and modern lingua franca (the reference very much is intentional), but the British empire would not look anything like the same without the nemesis of the French. That and the fact that there seems to be a great Frenchman to match every great Englishman; Shakespeare, Darwin, Newton, Churchill, Brunel and the Beatles, please meet Voltaire and Jean-Paul Satre, Pasteur and Lumiere, Victor Hugo and Dumas, not to mention leaders like Bonaparte and De Gaulle. Both Nations deserve a good seat at this table.

As for me, I chose to interpret the question restricting the civilisation more directly to the time of the leader, being as I'm English and I know how much it pisses off the Scottish when we casually assume that everything before 1707 was kinda just the same only with a different name. Notably this also heavily restricts the Chinese and Indians.

With that in mind I went for Mongolia first, but also gave nods to Rome and China. I think Greece would also have made the list if it had the choice of leader been different, and had trouble leaving off Spain from the thought process.

Anyway, very interesting to see the voting, and read some of the opinions!

 

[reddishrecue]

Like the mongols ,the Romans had become conquerors of all of Europe,the Mediterranean coasts of the middle east, the north of Africa and the southern part of Britain. The Romans had many great cities and towns but all of Rome had to fall since the empire, like the Mongolia empire had become over expanded. This eventually started a dark age where all of the classical way of the legion had become obsolete as new empires were born which were faraway from rome.

 

[bluefeli]

Where is the heaven civilization? God created us and gave us religion and language. Our civilization must look like God's civilization.

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[otaman1]

Where is the heaven civilization? God created us and gave us religion and language. Our civilization must look like God's civilization.

You mean the Heavenly Kingdom?

 

[reddishrecue]

[deleted]

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[vibe96]

Like the mongols ,the Romans had become conquerors of all of Europe,the Mediterranean coasts of the middle east, the north of Africa and the southern part of Britain. The Romans had many great cities and towns but all of Rome had to fall since the empire, like the Mongolia empire had become over expanded. This eventually started a dark age where all of the classical way of the legion had become obsolete as new empires were born which were faraway from rome.

The biggest difference between mongols and rome was that rome's empire lasted for centuries, millenia if we count byzantium. Mongols never really tried to build an empire that could last, they were conquerors, not bureocrats.

 

[Syailendra]

The biggest difference between mongols and rome was that rome's empire lasted for centuries, millenia if we count byzantium. Mongols never really tried to build an empire that could last, they were conquerors, not bureocrats.

that is why the impact of philosophy is need to be considered highly. The long lasting empires are the ones that developed sophisticated philosophy (greco-roman, india, and china), not the ones that develops advanced weaponry or huge army.

 

[reddishrecue]

Mongols had one of the largest empires and extended all the way to the southern pacific islands. Except for Indonesia, which didn't get conquered by Mongolia.

 

[Syailendra]

Mongols had one of the largest empires and extended all the way to the southern pacific islands. This is how Indonesia was made because the Indonesian people revolted from Mongolian rule.

yes, mongols is the largest land empire ever existed, but indonesia was never under mongols rule. So your statement about revolt is not true.
The mongols did try to subjugate indonesians through diplomacy and war, but they failed.
Although the first year of majapahit is tied to that condition, the rise of majapahit to become major SE Asian is relies heavily to spice trade, not the mongols.
Also the rise of indomalay as a unity is not happened at majapahit time, it was the srivijayan who spreads bahasa melayu as trade language across the archipelago hundreds of years before majapahit.

 

[Squirrelloid]

that is why the impact of philosophy is need to be considered highly. The long lasting empires are the ones that developed sophisticated philosophy (greco-roman, india, and china), not the ones that develops advanced weaponry or huge army.

I find this comment ironic, because the most influential philosophy today comes from countries not on your list. Let's face it, for the most part Plato and Aristotle aren't directly relevant today - philosophy has moved on.

Top Philosophy by current impact (mostly considering impact outside philosophy):

England - natural rights theory, modern democracy, utilitarianism. (Locke, Bentham, Mills). Also Karl Popper, Russel (philosophy of language, logic), Hobbes, etc...

Germany - Kant is enough by himself to earn this place, that's how influential he is. Also Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Carnap, Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx, Schmitt, Schopenhauer, etc...

 

[Syailendra]

I find this comment ironic, because the most influential philosophy today comes from countries not on your list. Let's face it, for the most part Plato and Aristotle aren't directly relevant today - philosophy has moved on.

Top Philosophy by current impact (mostly considering impact outside philosophy):

England - natural rights theory, modern democracy, utilitarianism. (Locke, Bentham, Mills). Also Karl Popper, Russel (philosophy of language, logic), Hobbes, etc...

Germany - Kant is enough by himself to earn this place, that's how influential he is. Also Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Carnap, Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx, Schmitt, Schopenhauer, etc...

i'm not trying to counter your comment here, but philosophy is generated everywhere and by everyone that have a consience, to judge how strong it is, we need to let time test it. I agree that Locke, Kant, and Marx have shaped our daily life, but also do roman catholic philosophy and yin yang theory, while hinduism philosophy stays heavily inside india.

 

[Squirrelloid]

i'm not trying to counter your comment here, but philosophy is generated everywhere and by everyone that have a consience, to judge how strong it is, we need to let time test it. I agree that Locke, Kant, and Marx have shaped our daily life, but also do roman catholic philosophy and yin yang theory, while hinduism philosophy stays heavily inside india.

I'm not doubting the influence of some Eastern philosophy world-wide. Sun Tzu may be the most influential from China, and there are several other strands of thought including Taoism (China), Zen Buddhism (Japan), and more which have definitely had global impact. But their impact today is not on the same scale as the three luminaries you adroitly picked out from my larger list (And I would add Bentham/Mills as a unit to that list for shaping daily life).

Modern Roman Catholic philosophy, otoh, I see as primarily derivative of Kant and as a way Kant impacts daily life. (Before Kant, one would probably identify it with Aquinas, and before him probably Augustine).

 

[seancolorado]

Mongols had one of the largest empires and extended all the way to the southern pacific islands. This is how Indonesia was made because the Indonesian people revolted from Mongolian rule.

Haha, where did you get that information from?

They thwarted the Mongols quite handily thereby ending his reign, but that's where the connections start and stop. The Mongols got over their head and tried to conquer Indonesia, but they never ruled them - quite the opposite, they got whipped so bad that Kublai Khan called it quits

 

[ArguCa]

Arabs: Mathematics, Astronomy, Medicine, Physics, Alchemy and chemistry, Cosmology, Ophthalmology, Geography and cartography, Sociology, Psychology. No need to say more.

Ottomans: Unique organization system, fantastic culture, superior tech and military and irresistible battlefield strategies.

Persia: First Empire in the world. They were highly organized people. They taught the rest of people how to build an Empire.

China: Her secret inventions are amazing.

 

[reddishrecue]

Haha, where did you get that information from?

They thwarted the Mongols quite handily thereby ending his reign, but that's where the connections start and stop. The Mongols got over their head and tried to conquer Indonesia, but they never ruled them - quite the opposite, they got whipped so bad that Kublai Khan called it quits

That information came from the help section in civilization 5 brave new world civilopedia.

 

[otaman1]

Well, Indonesia, or Majapahit was never conquered by the Mongols. Also, the Mongols failed trying to conquer Japan.

 

[adwcta]

The mongols never directly controlled Malaysia/Indonesia. They sent several expeditions, and essentially faught to a stalemate, whereupon Indonesia agreed to pay tribute to the Mongols and send ambassadors regularly to the Mongol capital with lavish gifts. In return, the Mongols withdrew. This lasted a couple hundred years before the Mongol Empire became too weak/disorganized to enforce this.

Indonesia/Malay was the Mongols' only successful sea invasion, and it was not a complete success. This is why Indonesia/Malaysia are never be in the boundaries of the Mongol empire on maps you see. Same with a number of places in East Europe (Bulgaria and Croatia) and Southeast Asia (Siam and Indo).

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[otaman1]

Don't forget India.

 

[ArguCa]

Sea invasion for a Nomadic nation is extremely hard, IMHO. They failed to conquer Japan, but, I think they could easily destroy Japan army in land battle.

 

[bhavv]

For me its England for everything.