Event that most shaped the World

[MattII]

Battle of Hastings 1066

 

[Alvaro da Luna]

CivI

 

[aaminion00]

I've passed by the street that it happened many times. Perhaps the single most important shot in history, the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, 1914, triggering not only World War I, but subsequently World War II, and in effect shaping civilization for the past 100 years.

 

[Mescalhead]

The climactic changes in the 13th century, followed by subsequent famine, and then of course successive waves of the bubonic pandemic lasting about 140 years. The depopulation helped to spark higher wages, a growth of the bourgeois and possibly the Renaissance.

 

[naervod]

I would say Thermopylae. People got here before me, so it would be pointless to post the same thing over and over again. Other notables:

-Teutoburger Wald, 9 AD
-Battle of Poitiers, 732 AD
-Battle of Hastings, 1066 AD

...A few centuries later through my un-learned period...

-Battle of Yorktown, 1783 AD
-Battle of Waterloo, 1814 AD
-Loss of Lee's orders at Gettysburg and subsequent recovery by the Union, 1863 AD
-Assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, 1914 AD
-Battle of Cambrai, 1917 AD (not necessarily history changing in itself, but was first use of tanks, something that continues to shape modern warfare to this day)
-Development of the Atomic Bomb, 1940's AD
-Fall of the Soviet Union, 1991 AD
-9/11, 2001 AD

 

[alex994]

I would say the Battle of Talas, or if Mu Sangui didn't betray the Ming Dynasty.

 

[ellie]

One major batle unmentioned is trafalgar. It led to royal navy supremacy for 100 years and the spread (for good and bad) of the british empire.

 

[Gr3yL3gion]

Britain colonization

 

[bertuzzi's fist]

something nobody's mentioned before:

Spanish Armada's defeat at the hands of British naval forces, destroyed any control Spain had over Latin America, and removed Spain as a world power

 

[yaroslav]

Yep, and that was the reason that there were so few years between teh defeat of the Armada (end of XVI century) and the independence of Latin American countries (begin of the XIX centuy)

 

[AceChilla]

The renaissance of course, it shaped the upsurge of the western world and the western world shaped the whole world after that.

So the upsurge of western civilization and the fall of the Arabs.

 

[JohnRM]

1) The birth of Christ.
2) John F. Kennedy's decision to naval blockade Cuba instead of launching an airstrike.
3) The assasination of John F. Kennedy.

The first, self-explanatory.
The second, because we are talking about the end of the world or not.
The third, because that murder is the root of the kind of people Americans are and the way the United States is, today. The U.S. is the most influential nation on Earth, and perhaps in history, on the rest of the World.

 

[Steph]

Originally posted by ellie
One major batle unmentioned is trafalgar. It led to royal navy supremacy for 100 years and the spread (for good and bad) of the british empire.

I agree. Without Trafalgar, Napoleon may have indave England, and who knows what would be Europe today?

 

[privatehudson]

I doubt he would have invaded England, especially not in the wake of winning trafalgar. Napoleon's army was half way to Ulm by then and would be all but tied up on the continent for another 2 years after the engagement. Of course there's no garuntee that Russia and Prussia would continue fighting if Britain looked threatened, but if we assume they were an invasion of England looked highly unlikely.

In two years anything could have happened, and it's not like the RN didn't have any more ships I think it would have dented British naval supremacy to some degree, but not a great deal, after all, precedent had been set in previous engagements. Plus to another degree, the supremacy gained at Trafalgar caused a general lethargy in the Navy and tradition played a bigger part than talent or new technology for much of that period. Though it lasted 100 years, it was a supremacy bought highly in terms of complacency and conservatism which cost the RN dear IMO.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Originally posted by naervod
I would say Thermopylae. People got here before me, so it would be pointless to post the same thing over and over again.

IIRC the greeks were soundly defeated at Thermopylae and the Persians went on to capture Athens. In choosing a battle from that war that had significance to western history, I would choose Salamis.

 

[metalhead]

The Norman conquest of 1066, cluminating at the Battle of Hastings. The establishment of the feudal system in England afterwards has had many far-reaching consequences, including a complete revolution with regards to property rights, legal systems, and just the overall recognition of individual rights in society that shaped much of Western thought, in a wide range of subjects ranging from law to philosophy to political science, since then.

 

[Birdjaguar]

While most of the previously listed events were important and, of course, if changed, could have altered history significantly, the events were mostly regional and "short lived" in effect. The consequences were if they hadn't happened the world would be different. Rather than say if Persia had defeated Athen, there would be no Athenian democracy (maybe), I would say "because Athens developed democracy...."

For obvious reasons, as you move forward in time, the potentially greater the significance of a single event. eg. The assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC had less impact on the world than the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, even though Caesar was a person of far greater influence and imporatnce.

Religion certainly has had an emormous impact on world history, but in many ways the world of those religions shaped their impact.

I've listed six "events" that because they did happen, had the most far reaching effect over a sustained period of time.

1. Domestication of plants and animals: permitted civilization to happen.

2. Roman Republic/Empire: 200BC to 1000AD? or 1200AD or 1453AD? defined/organized/maintained western culture and permitted/encouraged the spread of Christianity to all of Europe. Created a paradigm for post 1453 Europe.

3. Chinese Empire: 200 BC to ?? Functioned similarly to Rome for Asia

4. Islamic expansion 650 AD to 1500 and beyond to 2004. The mongol invasion all over again this time with staying power and culture. It is still with us today.

5. Global exploration 1480-1700: Reorganized the world into a new political order

6. American Revolution: made revolution fashionable and changed the the world's view on what a nation could be.

 

[HalfBadger]

Originally posted by Birdjaguar

1. Domestication of plants and animals: permitted civilization to happen.

Darn this is the one I was going to choose, but I was a couple hours too slow. I remember in Social Studies class, how our Teacher emphasized this so much. Being able to stay in one spot and not be nomadic, helped create cities, which helped create 'specialists', which is what jump started science, philosophy, etc.

Another one that I was thinking about, specially with all these votes to the discovery of the 'new world', is when the Vikings in the first Millenium who landed in Canada were driven off by the Aboriginals that were already there. If the Vikings had been able to settle and colonize Canada and set up trade routes and then expand South, what ever came from Columbuses discoveries would have happend almost a thousand years earlier.

 

[Sir Og]

Most post so far have shown an extremely Eurocentric take on World history.
The event that most shaped the World till now in my opinion should be the event/events that lead to domination of the West over the East.
I am no expert on Eastern history but whatever caused the Chinese to stop their explorations and to isolate themselves wins my vote.

 

[floppa21]

Unless you are religous, sentience of the human race.