Most powerful country - History Forum ~ All Empires

BTW you compared India, I had talked about " persia, arabia, middle east, India, china, russia, steppes, Japan, South Asia" also being parts of the world which could not be controlled by Rome.

Please compare Rome with these powers too. Specially China.

Anxiously waiting for the statistics !

PATTON NAGAR, Brains win over Brawn

Originally posted by Vivek Sharma

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Agree there was an invasion, but alexander was frustrated & sent back to his homeland. Please make another correction in Alexander just attacked a tiny city state 60 miles across ruled by a very unpopular king against whom the other Indian kings were supporting Alexander.

That's not the way history usually explain things. It is supposed Alexander's soldiers were so tired of conquering peoples they just decided it was enough and should stop.

The Greek army could not even dare to get into India heartland & had to return, in which they were again marauded by the border tribes & a great part of them had to go back by the sea in fear of more attacks from these tibes.

They actually managed to form a kingdom in North West India, from where they influenced the future development of the subcontinent. Have you heared about the Greek-Buddist style of art, for example?

This is again untrue, Look at the records, they were an even match. And further Alex attacked in the night, And Indian's as a religious tradition did not fight in the night, So he got the advantage of surprise.

Moreover he was supported by Indian kings also

Greeks always tricked their enemies.

Getting into ifs & buts doesn't serve any purpose. The Fact is that the Romans were imperialists & expansionists, they would never have left a chance to conquer somebody if they felt they could. This is common with all imperialists & expansionists. The fact that they didn't is enough evidence that they could not have done so.

Romans were stopped by the Partians, not the Indians. They were stopped by the same peoples Alexander defeated so easily.

My dear friend military capability is not just fighting with the sword & the shield, it includes logistics also. Do you expect a nation to provide the logistical capability to a distant power to invade itself ? If the didn't have the capability, it was their problem, their military weakness.

Yes, but at the times of the Romans there were not aircraft carriers!

Did I ever say that the Romans were weak. I like the romans a lot. The discussion started with your hypothesis that the Romans & the US controlled the whole world. The truth is neither of the two do.

Well, the U.S. is close to that goal. See the TV. I beat you see more MTV than Bolliwood movies.

with the most advanced tech,

Wish Good luck to that too.

Actually, that's easy to prove. Just take a book of Vitruvious or any of the engineers of Roman times and you will find out they were ahead of their times. A lot more advanced than any other people in the world.

If you pick the astronomical and mathematical works or Aryabatha or Bashkara you will find, at once, that Greek mathematics is at the background of those guys, too.

at least during the period of glory.

For me it still is glorious. Rome may not have been capable of conquering India in the past by fighting with it, but it has succeeded in ruling, controlling, conquering India today with LOVE.

If your knowledge about history is good, please guess what I am hinting at ?

Well, I believe you were a lucky people not being conquered by Romans. After all, even with all its technology and civilization, Romans has been one of the more cruel and inhuman peoples that ever existed. Just remember the Coliseum.

Pinguin

Japan is not existed in that time!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by Desimir

I am watching MTV,but not for entartaiment but to realize how ridiculous is american culture.

In fact i havent watched MTV for more than 8 years.

USA are far away from conrolling the whole world.Their power even become weaker with every year.

It is not that I love the US (actually it is the oppositive). However, as a Latin American that have suffered the U.S. invasions and intervention to these lands, I can say you, the worst mistake is to believe that country is weak.

Remember what Porfirio Diaz, the Mexican dictator, said: "Poor Mexico so far from heavens and so close to the United States".

Now, this is just a list of the once superpowers which look down on the United States and payed the prize:

British Empire 1776

Spanish Empire 1898 (lost Cuba, Puerto Rico and Phillippines)

Germany 1945 (flattered)

Japan 1945 (flattered)

U.S.S.R. 1989 (economic breakdown after a failed arms and space race)

If you believe for winning to the U.S. you just has to increase the population and the per capita income you are death wrong. The U.S. has:

(1) The top universities in the world.

(2) The most advanced research facilities.

(3) Dominates the press, and the entertainment industry worldwide.

(4) Is the most powerful military power worldwide.

(5) Is the most advanced country in the R&D cycle.

It got the will.

Don't look down the U.S. That's the mistake that Hitler made.

Pinguin

I will disagree with you pinguin.

Ok,British Empire-it wasnt so powerful at that time.They had an exausting war with France.The peak of britain was 1815-1915.

Germany in WW2.You forget Britain and USSR,especially when the soviet union destroyed 3/4 of the german army.

USSR - it collapsed not because of USA.It were the stupid communists who spend huge amounts of money for army.They were able to have a smaller army which would be again equal to that of US.

Spanish - i dont think they were a superpower in 1898.It was very poor and weak country.Even their fleet was from wooden vessels.

Japan - It was mostly naval war.Yes USA won it,but japan didnt and still dont have the pottential of a Superpower.Small country with no resources.

Originally posted by Desimir

About top univercities.You forget Cambridge and Oxford,which are british.

All these facts that you said are true for present USA.
But things are changing.May be China will be the new superpower far more greater than USA.(i dont consider that USA is even in TOP 5 of the greatest empires.)

Desimir, all of you posts are blatantly anti-US. Why do you hate the US? Why do you bash the US in all your posts? It is really starting to irritate me.

OXford and Cambridge are great, but overall the United States universities are the worlds best. Just look at the sheer number of foriegn students studying here. Why would they come if the universities weren't great?

The U.S.S.R. was not as powerful as the U.S. all of the Cold War. The Soviet army was large-yes, a force to be reckoned with-yes, but would have lost against the U.S. in a war. The U.S. had, and continues to dominate the sky. THe horde of Soviet tanks would have been taken out from the sky. Lastly, if the Soviet Union was all powerful, how come the U.S. is still around and the USSR isn't? Its because we spent them into oblivion. During the 80s Regean forced the Soviets to spend all their money on the military until they ran out and collapsed.

Today the United States is miles ahead any other military, and will likely continue to be for the forseeable future.

I dont hate americans.But sometimes i dont like their arrogance.
During the cold war USSR war really the most powerful country.Stop talking bulshi..ts.They have a bigger and stronger air defence and more aircrafts.According to study by CIA in 1979 ,in a possible war between USA and USSR,the US airfoces woulde be destroyed for 17 days.

USSR collapsed because of its economical system.We know that it didnt work properly even in 60st,in fact it never worked.It was a matter of time for USSR to collapse.

Well, that's not the way the Alexander's campaign are described in the West, anyways

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And for the topic of imperialism, I believe the Greeks simply reacted to Persian imperialism. They took revenge, but in the process they become too much enthusiastics. There was no way they could keep a hold in India because it was too far away from Greece. But even though, they managed to found some kingdoms for a while and to influence the arts and the future of India. Not a small achievement for such a small country like Greece is.

The Greeks are still the symbol of the resistence of the West for its ability to fight in numerical inferiority, and win.

Pinguin

Iron Maiden are british my friend.
Even one of the members of Metallica is not american,i mean Lars Ulrich is danish.

I believe the greatest achievements of U.S. culture so far has been:

(1) tech:

development of mass production, particularly cars

development of the computer and invention of the compiler (software)

development of nuclear energy.

space conquest, particularly the landings on the moon.

(2) science:

Almost any field of human achivements is been monopolized by them. Count the Nobel prizes by country.

(3) arts:

movies. Almost all the classics were done by Americans.

cartoons. Particularly walt disney industry.

music. Jazz, Blues, Rocks and other musical forms are the most influential worldwide.

theatre. Think in Broadway.

Literature: popular genres. Science Fiction. In serious literature we got geniou like E.A. Poe, Mark Twain and many others.

Omar