"300" and critical points in Human Histor

This list is a horrible gauge of history. If I was going to make my own list of the 5 things that have changed the world, I would tentatively include these:

1. The fall of Constantinople. This siege was the catalyst of two world-transforming things. The world came to a realization that warfare had changed. With the thundering crash of the ancient walls came the end of an order that had lasted 1000 years. With the roaring Turkish cannons a revolution among the armies of the West was born. No longer could they rely on steel alone, it was now the age of gunpowder.

In addition, the gates of the East had been shut. No more could traders travel up the Sea of Azov, no more would the spices of Persia, China, and India reach European lands. Those in Europe now looked west in order to reach the East.

2. The coming of Jesus Christ unto the world. Whether or not you are a believer, you cannot deny the influence the teachings of this man and his apostles on the world. After his coming the world would forever be changed. Alliances would be forged, lands claimed, monarchs crowned, ingenuity based on, constitutions signed on, and wars fought for his name.

3. Similarly, the time Prophet Muhammad spent on earth is just as much a critical point in history. His teaching begat a world religion; one that makes many of the claims that Christianity has. It should be noted that Islam united a large ethnically diverse group that was spread across a desert into one stalwart force that swept all from the Indus to Bay of Biscay. No such large scale destruction and reconstruction in such little time can be credited to any other religious movement.

4. Shi Huangdi's capture of China ranks on this list. He was the first to create a state that resembles modern China. Before his campaigns the great expanses of today's China were just as divided as Europe is now. He brought this great mass of people together and laid out an enormous system to govern them all. While China did split into fragments later on in history, his actions echoed through history. It would always be the goal of all those who came after to reach the power and majesty of Shi Huangdi's China.

5. The foundation of the British East India Trading Company. This was the organization that conquered India, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, and Singapore for the British Empire. It launched Britain as the world's first super-power and gave the expertise needed in colonizing the rest of the world. The actions of this company can be directly tied to the formation of "The Empire where the sun never set." It is said that Rome founded Western Culture. That may be true, but it was Britain, and her pet companies, that forced that culture upon the world.