what empire was the greatest in history?

Question

My favorite is the Spanish empire because it was so wealthy. It had the first true global empire in history and in land mass it is number two in all the global empires after British empire. The Spanish remained in power for a long time and had discovered new places, it had vast land holdings within Europe itself. The Hansburg dynasty dominated Europe. Spain also took over the great Portugese empire and all its wealth and its trading power. Spain was the wealthiest empire in History. It had taken the gold, silver, and jewelry of the American Empires, the Aztecs and the Incas. It had taken control of the Portuges spice trade. A ship load of gold had way more money worth than what the queen and her subjects in England and the king of France and his people saw in a whole year.
They had trillions of dollars of just gold!
Sadly, the large amount of wealth would put some long term economic problems, but it was good as it lasted.There armada was defeated but still they ruled the sea.

The Spanish armada was destroyed by the English but Spain does rebuilt its navy and in the end Spain does win the war against the English. Spain was able to remain the king of the Atlantic and block other European nations from colonizing much for the next one hundred years. Also, the Spanish ended the control of the Medetiranian by the Ottoman Empire when the Spanish Armada completely destroyed the Ottomans Armada.

Spanish Empire is the Greatest.

Answer 1

Ghengis Khan's empire was larger than Alexander's, the Roman Empire and Hitler's conquests COMBINED!!!

Answer 2

I agree with you, Spain was a great empire but for me it wasn't the greatest. The only reason that made Spain a wealthy empire was the gold, silver and treasures they stole from America. They never really ruled the seas because the famous English pirates Morgan and Drake assaulted the spanish "galerones" (ships filled with treasures) and gave them to the queen Elizabeth II.

I think that the greatest empire ever was the Aztec empire because it was the source of the wealth of Spain. It had a high cultural level, they made important archievements in engineering, astronomy, philosophy, and so much more... and they were the source of the richness of Spain of course. And even though they stole large amounts of resources, they didn't finished them.

The greatness of an empire is not only determined by the amount of wealth or the territory that possess, the culture it's important too because without culture they would be barbarians.

Answer 3

I think that a lot of the points you make are valid - about the wealth, expanse and achievement of the Spanish Empire at its height. The most significant thing about the Spanish Empire though, to my mind, is how quickly it faded in spite of such extraordinary advantages.

I note that some would say (and I have said in the past) that the British essentially 'stole' the Empire from the Spanish but that's not quite right - for instance that theory would have the British taking control of Central and South America, and of course they didn't (with the exception of Guyana and some Caribbean islands). So the story of how the Spanish went from World Power to minor power has at least as much to do with Spain as it does Britain. The wars in the Netherlands to my mind were a factor, but the loss of control of the Americas to my mind highlights something about the way they 'ran' their Empire that just didn't 'glue' it together as strongly as some others.

Answer 4

Well first off, the spanish never really ruled the seas, in the way you think. IN fact, they mostly ignored them, instead having to concentrate so much of their weath in a land army in order to fight their never ceasing wars. I belive that the English Empire was truly the greatest in history, because it, and the Navy that it supported, really did rule the seas and it is largely responsible for the world as we know it today, both good and ill. Also, while spain might have been the weathiest of all time, it was because of England distinct lack of wealth, especially in the begining that lead them to create the econmic innvations to create weath at home (some rather interesting tax laws) as well as commmisioning privateers to capture spanish weath, which was the begining of the long climb to Hegemony, a title that most people never grant to the Spanish Empire.

And in response to the pervious answer, the Great Wall of China, though impressive, is not one of the seven wonders of the world, at least not according to the Greeks who made the list (and never saw it). The only one of the seven wonders that is still standing are the Great Pyramids of Egypt.

Answer 5

All those old empires only knew murdering neighbors, rape their women like Ghengis Khan, and steal. Compared to the skillful seemen of Spain they were nothing.

The aborigines of South America were murdering each other when they came, they took them as allies and the wars and death toll was because of the stubornness of people like Atahualpa, Huascar was not a saint, but Atahualpa was exactly as Ghengis Khan and Moctezuma.

Central America and the largest portion of North America was theirs, if it weren't by the envy and greed of French and British, Spain could have easily held all those territories, including Australia.

Yes, the Spanish explorers saw useless that territory as with the Guyanas, but they had to select because there was not time, their stalker neighbors had fleets also and were looking for expansion too. Without their continuous robberies Spain obviously had given a second glance to Australia, the Guyanas and Canada and today would be the incontestable leader of the world. all without a coward Illuminati power behind it.

Answer 6

Spain the greatest empire? well...I don agree with you

1.Rome and China made LOT MORE contributions to the world than Spain did

2.Mongol empire was way~~~bigger

3.Britain actually ruled oceans...but Spain?

4.China in 9~11 century had 60% of total world GDP! it is more than twice of US today...and definitely richer than Spain.
(And I can mention 5 more empires richer than Spain)

AND MOST OF ALL...

Spain wasnt even the strongest empire at THEIR TIME!

Ming Dynasty
was more advanced in technology and populated...and had more than 1 million soldiers...(Spain had only 400,000 when they had to fight against whole Europe)

Mogul Dynasty in India
equals Spain Empire....at least, I mean

the Ottoman Empire
You already know about this might foe of Christian World...right?

Answer 7

there have been various super empires in historic previous, and others that we are only gaining awareness of approximately via the international. In cutting-edge historic previous, i could would desire to declare that Roman, Egyptian, and Greek empires have been the superb empires in historic previous.... and not unavoidably in that order!

Answer 8

The Ming Dynasty in China....They ruled for 400 Years. And they built the great wall of China with no machinery....One of the 7 wonders of the world....

Answer 9

I'd say the romans. They had a lot of money and conquered a lot of the land around the meditarrean sea. They are also probably the most famous empire. They killed Jesus Christ.

Answer 10

rome