Most Influential Historical Leader

[Princeps]

FLavius Valerius Constantinus - I think the difference between Fermi and Gutenberg can kind of be explained by Primus Pilus' theory (above this post).

 

Others for the list-

 

Jesus

Openheimer

Einstein

Henry Ford

George Stephenson

The Guy that wrote "common sense" (can't remember his name, no time to google atm)

Marconi

[Q Valerius Scerio]

Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense, and neither Paine, nor Einstein, nor Oppenheimer, nor Ford, nor Stephenson, nor Jesus were political leaders like the OP asks for.

[Tobias]

I voted for Napoleon. As Virgil61 said, he certainly changed the face of Europe, and helped to change political systems for the future. The advent of Napoleon's rise to power and eventually, his self coronation as "Emperor", helped to unite much of Europe against him, and also caused Great Britain to rise out of it's reverie after the loss of the American colonies (although Britain rising can also be attributed to the Spanish affair). Had Napoleon succeeded in conquering Britain, the face of the world may have been very different indeed.

 

A person i was wondering about was Joan of Arc. She commanded the entire armies of France at a rather young age, in a time where for a woman to be in such a position was very unusual. She helped to inspire the French and succeeded in causing the eventual expulsion of Britain from France, as well as reigniting French Nationalism.

[Honorius]

I choose Constantine the great because he Gave christianity its break and allowed it to become one of the largest and most influential religions of the world..

[Princeps]

Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense, and neither Paine, nor Einstein, nor Oppenheimer, nor Ford, nor Stephenson, nor Jesus were political leaders like the OP asks for.

 

Sorry, I don't know what OP means, but the question asks for historical leaders, which could include industrial leaders. Besides which, Paine was definately political, as was Jesus.

[Q Valerius Scerio]

OP = opening post. He gives a list of criteria which every one of your candidates fail to reach.

[Kosmo]

Ghinghis Han as he opened West- East trade routes to an unprecedented scale and his destruction of muslims helped Europe supremacy a lot.

[Princeps]

OP = opening post. He gives a list of criteria which every one of your candidates fail to reach.

 

OK then, scratch my suggestions, but I think that they all had a big impact on our lives today, more so than many military / political leaders.

[Q Valerius Scerio]

OP = opening post. He gives a list of criteria which every one of your candidates fail to reach.

 

OK then, scratch my suggestions, but I think that they all had a big impact on our lives today, more so than many military / political leaders.

Absolutely.

[tflex]

OK then, scratch my suggestions, but I think that they all had a big impact on our lives today, more so than many military / political leaders.

 

I already opened a thread Greatest Minds a while back on the most influential 'minds', such as Scientists, Philosphers etc. that shaped our world, check the link. This time I wanted to narrow it down to the criteria in the orginal post; I wanted to stick with powerful leaders of powerful civilizations.

 

Ghinghis Han as he opened West- East trade routes to an unprecedented scale and his destruction of muslims helped Europe supremacy a lot.

 

I agree about Genghis Khan opening trade routes east to west on a large scale, was highly influential on Europe's renaissance period. The same goes for Alexander the Great almost a thousand years before, opening trade routes from west to east on an unprecedented scale, which also had enormous influence on Rome. Without these two men, we might be 200 or 500 years behind in terms of east and west relations.

 

I voted for Augustus in the poll, but I changed my mind now, I think Constantine's influence had a bigger impact in shaping our world and more long lasting. Christianity probably would never have spread the way it did if it wasn't for Constantine. If I had to do it over again, I would vote for him.

 

Hitler's influence also had a huge impact on our world today, much of Europe's politics has changed because of Hitler, and the state of Israel would not even exist if it wasn't for Hitler. Thats a lot of influence for one man.

Edited May 30, 2006 by tflex

[Kosmo]

We put to much focus on individuals. Some were great, but others, like Hitler, just went along.

[Pantagathus]

For instance, had Alexander not existed, who knows how different our world could be today. Without him, the chain of events that could be altered to this point is far more significant than more recent members of the list.

 

I've seen it convincingly argued (and I agree) that without Alexander's accomplishments, Rome would not have become or most likely would not have been able to become the ancient world power we know of.

 

If only for the fact that Hellenization of the East made it easy for Rome to administrate those territories due to the common thread of the Greek language and culture that would not have existed in those areas without Alexander.

 

Otherwise I really have no choice as it is way too subjective

[Gaius Octavius]

To my knowledge, no great nation has ever given up its power without a war. The one exception has been the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev. The world did not have the promised nuclear war. I think that he deserves much credit for what he did not do as much as he does for what he did do.

[Pertinax]

Ive kept looking at this thread and couldnt make any decision , I was going to suggest an additional criteria could be -who "broke the mould" of political mindset-(so ,as often , I am agreeable with Pantagathus as regards Alexander). Churchill and Lincoln were great men in a tight corner but not as radical as Alexander or Napoleon , nor as GO suggests M Gorbachev.I still havent voted but make this suggestion as to narrowing the criteria , namely- was the geopolitical landscape changed radically by this person?. I would also say , a short term negative effect (Bonaparte) may be outweighed by a long term "evolution" of thought and mindset.So I ask, for example, did Mao Zhedung actually move China "forwards" geopolitically or is Sun Yat Sen a greater intellectual influence?

Edited June 1, 2006 by Pertinax

[tflex]

So I ask, for example, did Mao Zhedung actually move China "forwards" geopolitically or is Sun Yat Sen a greater intellectual influence?

 

I agree with Sun Yat Sen, he fits the criteria, I should have added him to the list, especially since he had a signficant role in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and post-imperial China.

Edited June 4, 2006 by tflex