Greatest empires of all time

[Sonic]

Heresson, if Soviet Union wanted Poland to be part of it, would you thought it is good?

[Heresson]

What? That we would become part of it )SU) or SU itself?
Anyway why are You asking?

[Ned]

Originally posted by Heresson
"Holy Roman Empire" wasn't in any sense a continuation of Roman Empire. "Byzantine" Empire was continuation of both western and eastern Roman tradition.
Byzantines never accepted silly western claims to the Roman
heritage. They approved imperial title of those self-and-pope-claimed emperors, but never approved their "Roman" title. The all case started because dumb Frank didn't consider Irene the emperor. In another words, claiming that HRE was Roman Empire is sexist!

I agree that the Eastern Emperors never acknowledged the new Emperors in the West as Augusti. Their mistake. Political union with the West would have done the East quite a lot of good as they faced their own barbarian problems with the Turks.

[Lord Merciless]

Edward Gibbon, the author of "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", once claimed that the Byzantine Empire 'hadn't done a single progress for the humanity". I tend to agree here as I think the Byzantine history is a history of stagnation, contraction, despotism, court intrigue, and unwarranted arrogance.

In a sense, the empire that Constantine created was unworthy of being called the "New Rome".

[Heresson]

[Heresson]

Byzantium preserved ancient knowledge for us and also had
its own busy intellectual life, which can't be said about its
western barbarious neighbours, saved by them from Muslim
danger.

If someone would call himself by your name and demanded your possesity by this fact, would You marry him?
Anyway, in fact, plans of alliance or even unification were actual sometimes, especially under Komnen dinasty.
If they failed, it was all western fault.

[Sonic]

I asked that because of your claim that Poland wanted Lithuania to be part of it after WW1.

And yes, I mean Poland to be part of SU, not vice-versa.

[Heresson]

There's some difference between Poland and SU if You haven't noticed... Anyway the proposition was bilingual or cantonised LITHUANIA.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by King of Rasslin
Georgia was once a major power. In fact, we almost defeated the Union! Because of the bravery of our soldiers, the country of Georgia changed their name to reflect upon how passionately we fought. And lost.

There was nothing tragic about the loss of the South's slavocracy.



As for the best empire of all time, that is obvious -- the Roman Empire.

Without the cultural legacy of the ancient Roman Empire, there would have been no British Empire, no United States Empire, and so on.

[Heresson]

A fall of any state or culture is tragic.
Especially it it falls to the yankees...

[Ned]

Heresson, From a purely legal point of view, Charles was appointed emperor by the temporal head of Rome, the Pope, with the advice and consent of the Roman Senate. I believe the Pope's official Roman title was Exarch. The Pope, since 445, was also Pontifex Maximus in the Roman Empire.

In a sense, Charles was appointed emperor by Roman officials, including the Senate of Rome. Whether they need the further consent from the Eastern Emperor or the Senate of New Rome is debatable.

Regardless, Charles immediately reached out to the East to seek recognition. He was rebuffed. I don't know how this is the West's fault.

[Heresson]

Pope or any of self-claimed Roman officials didn't have any legal right to make Charles emperor, and the ceremony
of crowning him was not Roman.
If West wanted their empire, they could try better than
just saying; hello, WE are Romans now.

[Heresson]

Frankish presence in Italy was violating of Roman territory anyway and papal state was rebelled Roman province.

[Ned]

Heresson, Well history is history. We cannot undo it and correct past mistakes. Had there been political union and cooperation between East and West, there probably would have been Frankish armies marching against the Arabs in Syria and the Holy Land in the 800's,. This may have been enough to halt the continued decline of both the East and the West in face continued Arabs aggression.

[Heresson]

I have nothing against decline and Arabic conquests in the
west...