Which great empire of history would be considered the "greatest"?

Over the years there have been plenty of large and impressive empires, but which one could be considered the "greatest"? Greatest being a quite vague term to use, which is why it can be hard to determine which would be the greatest. What do you think?

[quote="Legionnaire"]Over the years there have been plenty of large and impressive empires, but which one could be considered the "greatest"? Greatest being a quite vague term to use, which is why it can be hard to determine which would be the greatest. What do you think? i think its the roman empire

It depends on how you define greatness, but the Mongols, British, Romans, and Achaemenid Persians (or maybe Macedonians) are probably on top in terms of their achievements and their global/cultural impact.

I'd agree with Rome, mostly because of the vital foundations in they set down in many fields like architecture and the sciences. Greatest could also mean like what yo8088 said, so it's hard to say exactly.

Personally I think the British Empire was one of the greatest (not trying to be bias lol) due to being the biggest and most interesting to me in a lot of ways.

In terms of conquered land? Britain/Mongolia. In a cultural sense? Rome/China. Sheer longevity? Yet again China. Technologically? Pre industrial revolution is China, during and post industrial revolution goes to the USA. So I would say China.

The Spanish Empire was definitely not as strong as many of the previously mentioned empires for very long but while it was on top, it had one of the most profound impacts on The Americas and the world as a whole.

Depends on how you decide to define greatness. Britain, Mongolia, China (Tang or Song), and Rome are all high contenders though.

I find the Roman, French, and Russian Empires interesting, but I don't know which is the greatest.

Greatest in size: British Empire
Greatest in quick growth: Mongols
Greatest in culture: debatable
Greatest in longevity: Rome
Greatest in most impact: Rome

Honestly, there is no single greatest empire. All empires (I am using that loosely) have different qualities that make them important so there is no single "greatest".

I would say the Han Empire. Although it only last 400 years, the model of governance lasted for thousand of years. Even when China had been taken over by foreign armies, they adapted to fit the ruling culture that originated from the Han Dynasty.

I'd say the British Empire. They become the global empire, and in my opinion (slightly biased cause I'm Welsh) was the greatest. We colonised North America. Gave the Americans the conditions to rebel against us. Colonised alot of Africa. All of India Bangle Mimyar and Paki. COlonised Oceania. Colonised some of South Asia. and some South African stuff.

We created one of, if not, the biggest empire in the world.

We were also big players in removed messed up traditions around the world and we were also a big player in abolishing slavery.

I would have to say the Roman Empire due to the simple fact that of all the empires, it has single handedly affected world history more than any other.

In my opinion the Romans were the "Greatest". They were certainly one of if not the most influential civilization of all time.

It's seldom talked about but in terms of impact on world history but I feel like it's worth mentioning the Portuguese. They were among the first Europeans to do significant trade with Asia and Africa and they along with Spain opened up the Colombian Exchange which had a profound effect on the Americas and Africa. They certainly didn't have a big empire in terms of land but without them trailblazing the African coast and inventing the caravel European colonization would have been set back significantly.

I would probably have to go with the Ming Dynasty as the explorer Zheng He could've led to the possibility of China being a superpower and possibly settling parts of the Americas.

I would love to say the Achaemenid Persians but I would have to say the British. Purely because of its Enormous impact on the modern world.

I'm going with British, amazing how a small island nation managed to conquer so many great landmasses

Königreich Preußen wrote:I'm going with British, amazing how a small island nation managed to conquer so many great landmasses

and then lose everything to a bunch of colonists and their ideals.

Legionnaire wrote:Over the years there have been plenty of large and impressive empires, but which one could be considered the "greatest"? Greatest being a quite vague term to use, which is why it can be hard to determine which would be the greatest. What do you think?

While great is very vague, I'll go with something nobody's mentioned: Charlemagne's Empire. Although it eventually disappeared, the three Francias (Francia, Middle Francia, and East Francia) left a lasting impact on Europe. Francia eventually became modern France, while the other two eventually coalesced into the multi-membered, but powerful Holy Roman Empire.

How would someone define "great" in the context of an empire?
Is that meaning size? or cultural impact?

I would say Rome.

I'll have to exclude the colonial empires of Europe. Yes, the British had the largest empire ever but almost all of that land was taken from people who could hardly put up a fight. I can't think of any time after the hundred years war that the British permanently captured a significant amount of land in continental Europe (Gibraltar is tiny). The French empire under Napoleon on the other hand managed to take huge amounts of land fighting against other Europeans which is much more impressive.

The problem with Napoleon is that he wasn't able to hold onto his conquests for very long. The same goes for the Macedonians and the Mongols. Another problem with the Mongols is that despite having a lot of land most of it was empty. Their only real conquests were against China, Russia, and Persia which while impressive are not enough to be the greatest ever.

Bronze age empires such as Egypt and the Hittites are out of the question due to their lack of size. The Carolingian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Achaemenid Empire, and the Islamic caliphates are all trumped by Rome in size, longevity, and cultural significance. This leaves only one contender: China.

Because of their isolation from each other it's difficult to directly compare Rome and China but because of the eventual domination of the world by Europeans it's fair to say that Rome had a greater impact on world history. China's isolation was also the eventual cause of their downfall. Rome had to defeat all sorts of armies from many different cultures that had vastly different styles of warfare which they were later able to incorporate into their own army through the use of auxiliaries. The Chinese on the other hand only ever conquered other Chinese people and in that sense they were hardly an empire at all.

keep in mind my knowledge of Chinese history is mediocre at best so feel free to correct me if at some point the Chinese subjugated another cultural group with a completely different military.

The greatest was probably the roman one.
It existed for quite some time, until it started to crumble in the 3rd century and eventually was dissolved. All traces of roman legacy completely vanished in 1453 with the fall of the Byzantines.
It had an excellent military, a very good economy, it was a very advanced society for it's time and was overall an effective empire (Pre-Break-Up)

The British of course, why you might ask? well look at the language I'm speaking.