Ribannah
Fighter Druid
In terms of influence and power per citizen, the Iroquois are unsurpassed. And they did it all without the Mounted Warrior too. 
What was the greatest civilization ever
- Thread starter Ballazic
- Start date
phoenix_night
Deity
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2003
- Messages
- 3,853
I'm not trying to say Rome is bad, Xen.
But the term "known world" is worthless.
Pangur Bán
Deconstructed
I voted for "Christian" civilization, precisely because it covers Russia, England, Germany, USA, etc, and the Byzantine and late Roman worlds too. I don't think there is much question about it to be honest. China, Rome, India, Islam, Mesoamerica, etc all did great things, but even if you combine all these civilizations, they pale into inignificance compared to the Christian West (including Russia)
OzzyKP
Deity
My vote is for the USA. Though Britain and Rome are tempting as well.
Its not just about how much territory a civilization controls, but how much of an affect it has on the world (known or otherwise). For example people in all corners of this planet buy American products, model their economies and governments on American systems, and English has become the common world language.
Heck look at all of us, the folks in this forum are from all over the world but we come here to an English speaking forum. (American English I might add) to talk about American computer games.
Whatever the indicator, technology, wealth, military power, music, science, sports, the US is dominant. The only strike against us is longevity, because this level of dominance has only been around for 50-100 years. Whereas Rome was around for a thousand.
I argue Britain was short lived as well. It reached and held its zenith for 100-150 years or so. So at this moment the US is more dominant than any other civilization in the history of mankind. If China and/or the EU pass the US by in the next 50 years, then my vote would deffinately go to Rome, because the US had only a short time of dominance.
Its not just about how much territory a civilization controls, but how much of an affect it has on the world (known or otherwise). For example people in all corners of this planet buy American products, model their economies and governments on American systems, and English has become the common world language.
Heck look at all of us, the folks in this forum are from all over the world but we come here to an English speaking forum. (American English I might add) to talk about American computer games.
Whatever the indicator, technology, wealth, military power, music, science, sports, the US is dominant. The only strike against us is longevity, because this level of dominance has only been around for 50-100 years. Whereas Rome was around for a thousand.
I argue Britain was short lived as well. It reached and held its zenith for 100-150 years or so. So at this moment the US is more dominant than any other civilization in the history of mankind. If China and/or the EU pass the US by in the next 50 years, then my vote would deffinately go to Rome, because the US had only a short time of dominance.
Chauliodus
Warlord
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2003
- Messages
- 292
Haha "UN civilization", riiight 
HalfBadger
The Great Whackyness
funny many of the 'American' products I have say 'made in China' though.
USA is just a modern Rome basically, currently they are powerful, but we'll see how thing are in 100 years or so.
I chose Rome as one of my top picks mainly becuase they built the first good road network, cuz 'all roads lead to Rome'. There are a couple 'Civilizations' that could be considered the greatest, but many ppl seem to be biased to their descent.
My top picks were Rome and China, but the coin landed on Tails so I voted for Rome.
HamaticBabylon
Deity
I have to say that dumping todays present situation on the past would be illogical.Todays situation is different than say a few Hundred thousand years ago. The world was ruled by one race only and if you look hard enough you might find the truth. africans
aneeshm
Deity
Rather insulting , don't you think ? I accept my country isn't on the top of the world currently , but I'd call that a bit too much . Why else would some states of the USA resort to protectionist policies when it comes to IT related jobs ? IMO , it's rather hypocritical to talk grandly of free trade , and then implement such policies when you see that free trade doesn't really get you those votes you depend on .
Sarevok
Civ3 Scenario Creator
Definetly Ancient China gets my vote.
Blue_Raven
Chieftain
Egypt, Rome or Britan.....
Blue_Raven
Chieftain
Really even when the get defeated all the time and isent a hole kingdome for a long time and there only great feat is the wall which is more truble than its worth....
Blue_Raven
Chieftain
Originally posted by Ribannah
In terms of influence and power per citizen, the Iroquois are unsurpassed. And they did it all without the Mounted Warrior too.
yes your so right all those things they have have given the world.... hey wait a minute they havent done anything...... face it dumass on the large scale of history they dont even show up
Moderator Action: warned, flaming. Lefty
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889
Blue_Raven
Chieftain
its been done alot faster by other nations and more importantly usa has only done it once......
Blue_Raven
Chieftain
yes and the fact that they lost all major conflicts.... mongols, world war one (ottomans)
aaminion00
Stoned
This poll is pretty stupid. Some of these civilizations never even existed. Like the U.N. civilization... what the hell is that? And Christian civilization? Only such thing I could think of would've been the Byzantines and Holy Roman Empire.
Except of course the Persians, Byzantines, Spain, India, the Crusades, and other such wars. Along with the fact that the Mamelukes kicked the Mongols ass. But I guess those would be minor conflicts.
Except of course the Persians, Byzantines, Spain, India, the Crusades, and other such wars. Along with the fact that the Mamelukes kicked the Mongols ass. But I guess those would be minor conflicts.
Ribannah
Fighter Druid
They certainly forgot to teach the Blue Ravens of this world some manners, but maybe the BR's aren't ready for civilization yet.
Blue_Raven
Chieftain
Except of course the Persians, Byzantines, Spain, India, the Crusades, and other such wars. Along with the fact that the Mamelukes kicked the Mongols ass. But I guess those would be minor conflicts. [/B][/QUOTE]
Ah dude spain was a divide kingdom who when it stop waring on it self kicked them out... Byzantines was destroyed by the 4th crusade.. the crusade lost becouse of there leaders(theye was winning the war) as for the mongols well they left after a few years..... i will giv them persia but it was in no way a great land then....
Ah dude spain was a divide kingdom who when it stop waring on it self kicked them out... Byzantines was destroyed by the 4th crusade.. the crusade lost becouse of there leaders(theye was winning the war) as for the mongols well they left after a few years..... i will giv them persia but it was in no way a great land then....
aaminion00
Stoned
Yet the Byzantines held off for more than a hundred years after the 4th Crusade, not to mention that they lost most of their territory to the Arabs before the 1st Crusade even. You also forget to say anything about India, or the ruthlessly efficient Balkan campaigns of the Ottomans.
Your whole view of the matter is more than slightly hypocritical. Take Andalusia and the Crusades as an example. The first Crusade managed to shock the Turks and by some divine miracle they took the holy land from the Arabs, who were essentially under Turkish rule and bitterly divided going for centuries. Even with the Muslims divided the Crusaders managed only to lose territory. When Nuradin, Saladin, and Beybers finally united most of Islam, the Crusaders were promptly kicked out. However, in your view this occured not because of the brilliance of people like Saladin or the overall advantage the Muslims held, but simply because of bad leadership on the part of the Crusaders. This of course doesn't even take into account the many periods of time that the Crusaders had great leadership, such as Richard Cour de Leon and Baldwin the lepper.
In Spain, the Moors conquered a whole peninsula and made it a center of Islamic culture in Europe. They held on to it for 700 years (3 times longer than the Crusaders held on to the Holy Land) before a newly united Christian Spain, along with a string of weak rulers, finally pushed them out. However in your opinion, the Muslim success in Spain was merely a product of weak divided Visigoth kingdoms, and if the Visigoth kingdoms had chosen to unite at any time between 711 and 1492 they could've easily pushed the Arabs out.
If you're going to take a side, please be fair and balanced.
p.s. No, I don't think the Arab or Ottoman empires were greatest in history.
Tavenier
King
Rome, naturally, with only one real competitor: China.
1. Rome
2. China
Then there comes nothing for a long time and then maybe India, Israel, France or Greece.
France is the most important of the last millenium, I think. Arts, technologies, science, culture, Napoleon, Code Civil, main power in Europe longer then any other, including Romans, all of nobility and wealthy upper class spoke French and acted French, France ended Dutch hegemony at sea and trade, Britain's olicy was always tuned to what France did, same to a large extend for Prussia/Germany, introduced kilometres, liters and kilograms to a lot of countries and made it the standard, helped the USA to win independence, French Revolution, and so on and so forth. Britain/England would be second and Prussia/Germany third (of the last millenium). Would it be of the last 200 years then the US would be in the top 3 for sure.
1. Rome
2. China
Then there comes nothing for a long time and then maybe India, Israel, France or Greece.
France is the most important of the last millenium, I think. Arts, technologies, science, culture, Napoleon, Code Civil, main power in Europe longer then any other, including Romans, all of nobility and wealthy upper class spoke French and acted French, France ended Dutch hegemony at sea and trade, Britain's olicy was always tuned to what France did, same to a large extend for Prussia/Germany, introduced kilometres, liters and kilograms to a lot of countries and made it the standard, helped the USA to win independence, French Revolution, and so on and so forth. Britain/England would be second and Prussia/Germany third (of the last millenium). Would it be of the last 200 years then the US would be in the top 3 for sure.
Similar threads
