Most influential person in World History

[PrinceOfLeigh]

John Logie Baird - Inventor of the Television

(Or whichever inventor of the Television you prefer since I know there will be a post accrediting it to someone else).

 

[classical_hero]

I have created an offshoot thread that is just about scientists. Who is the Most influential Scientist in history? So this will hopefully stop the threadjacking that has been done and keep this thread focused.

I voted for the last option because I believe Jesus has had the most influence on history. Whether you believe in what he existed or not, he has great influence on human history and that is a fact.

 

[Endim_Analys]

Without Genghis Khan the Mongols would never have been united and they would never had been able to invade the rest of Eurasia. Since about a tenth of the world population were killed during the mongol wars (no source) I say the world would have been the most different if this particular person had been removed from history.
The majority of the world population today would have a different origin, and thus be different people.

 

[craig9897]

Endim
It is my opinion that the senseless destruction of innocent people does not qualify as important if other changes to the region are not made. Leaving a pile of bones does not influence future generations.


-craig

 

[PrinceOfLeigh]

Endim
It is my opinion that the senseless destruction of innocent people does not qualify as important if other changes to the region are not made. Leaving a pile of bones does not influence future generations.


-craig

Of course it does. The mere fact you are discussing it means Genhis Khan has influenced you in some way.

 

[Plotinus]

Plus, it obviously influences the future generations who failed to be born because of all those people getting killed. Influence is no less real just because we don't know what the effects are.

 

[Tavenier]

Scipio Africanus, from Rome.
If the Punic Wars were won by Carthage then the world probably would have a Phoenician culture, instead of the Greek-Roman culture most people have today. Half the world uses the Roman alphabet, most major nations of the modern world (USA, Russia, Britain, Germany, France, Turkey, Italy, and so on) have a major Roman influence, the history of Christianity and with that Islam would have been very different, if existent at all, and so on.
I think the Punic Wars was the most crucial conflict of history and the one who was for a large part responsible for the outcome was Scipio Africanus.

 

[Plotinus]

A good post, although I must point out that when you say "the world" you mean "the western world". China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and so on don't have Greek-Roman culture or a major Roman influence.

 

[Gelion]

Scipio Africanus, from Rome.
If the Punic Wars were won by Carthage then the world probably would have a Phoenician culture, instead of the Greek-Roman culture most people have today. Half the world uses the Roman alphabet, most major nations of the modern world (USA, Russia, Britain, Germany, France, Turkey, Italy, and so on) have a major Roman influence, the history of Christianity and with that Islam would have been very different, if existent at all, and so on.
I think the Punic Wars was the most crucial conflict of history and the one who was for a large part responsible for the outcome was Scipio Africanus.

He was a good general, but the guy who saved Romans in that war was Fabius Maximus. I agree on conclusion on the outcome of the war.

 

[Tavenier]

Plotinus - I knew upfront that this reaction would come soon. The countries/civs you name indeed aren't typical examples of Roman civilizations. But all of those were gigantically influenced by countries who do have a Roman culture. India was part of the British (and other European) Empire(s). Indonesia was part of the Dutch empire, and wouldn't even be Indonesia (but seperate countries) if it wasn't for the colonial history. The world economy is mostly a western economy. Not only that the western world has the largest part in it (like USA or Germany) but also the way it is organized. Even the clothing! Japanese or Chinese businessmen are dressed in western suits!
And also I think most historians agree the the Roman civ did have the largest impact/influence on the world. If China or India was the country that did all exploring and colonized the Americas then Roman influence was relatively less. It is a fact that most influental modern countries were all majorly influenced by Rome. USA even has a senate!

Gelion - Yes, you're right. But it really doesn't matter which person, but like you say the outcome of the war mattered. And any person responsible for that, be it a soldier or a politician, should rank high on most influental person in history.

 

[Finmaster]

Well if you look at who has influenced people's everyday life the most, I'd have to go with either Jesus or Mohammed.

 

[Tavenier]

Out of those 2 Jesus. Two billion people are Christian, one billion are Muslim. And Jesus is even considered a prophet in Islam, Muhammed not in Christianity.

 

[American]

Perhaps the most influential was Isaac Newton, but it took George Washington to help lead to the foundation of a society that could fully advance the implications of Newton's discoveries. Virtually everything up until the Quantum Age in the world today is a product of Newton's discoveries.

In today's world, scientific and cultural advances are made less by individuals and more by corporations of like-interested groups.

 

[sealboy6]

See. The problem with this type of thread is that no modern person or event can have any credibility. As such:

Without World War II, the world wouldn't be the same. Ah, but that only happened because of world war 1. See. That's good, but that only happened because of the industrail revolution.

Each event now has been influenced by a person before hand. So, in regards to that, no person has had the greatest effect. If I did have to say somebody, I would say Jesus, cause he really has had a great effect on the world. You can't deny that. If I wasn't counting religion, I would say Guttenberg, as his invention is probably the invention that changed the world the most.

 

[necrosmith]

Albert Einstein.

He helped build the one weapon which may one day end life on this planet.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Then Enrico Fermi would be more accurate.

 

[Sahkuhnder]

Aristotle or Darwin or someone like that. People we still discuss and argue about long after their deaths.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

First of all - of course the most influential was a religious figure but which one
Jesus Christ of course - i mean he preached for 3 years (i think) and changed the world. True Mohammed and Buddha changed the world in the same way ... but Christ did this in only 3 years Mohammed and Buddha preached from their revelations to the end of their lives ...

EDIT: but now that i think about it ... it was either Moses or Abraham - they started the whole thing after all ...

 

[Plotinus]

No-one knows how long Jesus preached for.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

No-one knows how long Jesus preached for.

Really ? - you're right ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus
Wiki says:
It is commonly thought that Jesus preached for a period of three years, but this is never mentioned explicitly in any of the four gospels, and some interpretations of the Synoptic Gospels suggest a span of only one year. The generally believed view remains three years however.

Either way he did preach less than the other 2 ppl mentioned.