Greatest Civilization in the World - Hurt or Heal?

[Imran Siddiqui]

12 - USA
4 - Inca
12 – Germany
25 - England/Britain
16 - France
12 - Spain
24 - Rome
29 - Greece
25 - Egypt
11 – Persia
4 – Arabia
8 – Babylon
20 - China
20 - India
8 - Japan

[LordShiva]

12 - USA
4 - Inca
12 – Germany
25 - England/Britain
16 - France
12 - Spain
24 - Rome
27 - Greece --
25 - Egypt
11 – Persia
4 – Arabia
10 – Babylon ++
20 - China
20 - India
8 - Japan

[Maquiladora]

12 - USA
2 - Inca -2
12 – Germany
27 - England/Britain +2
16 - France
12 - Spain
24 - Rome
27 - Greece
25 - Egypt
11 – Persia
4 – Arabia
10 – Babylon
20 - China
20 - India
8 - Japan

[Adrian Hon]

12 - USA
0 - Inca -2
12 – Germany
27 - England/Britain
18 - France +2
12 - Spain
24 - Rome
27 - Greece
25 - Egypt
11 – Persia
4 – Arabia
10 – Babylon
20 - China
20 - India
8 - Japan

[Wernazuma III]

12 - USA
12 – Germany
27 - England/Britain
18 - France
12 - Spain
24 - Rome
27 - Greece
25 - Egypt
11 – Persia
6 – Arabia +2
8 – Babylon -2
20 - China
20 - India
8 - Japan


Too late to come to the rescue of Atahualpa.

[Will9]

12 - USA
12 – Germany
25 - England/Britain -2
18 - France
12 - Spain
26 - Rome +2
27 - Greece
25 - Egypt
11 – Persia
6 – Arabia
8 – Babylon
20 - China
20 - India
8 - Japan

[Barnabas]

2 - USA
12 – Germany
23 - England/Britain -2
20 - France +2
12 - Spain
26 - Rome
27 - Greece
25 - Egypt
11 – Persia
6 – Arabia
8 – Babylon
20 - China
20 - India
8 - Japan

[Kuciwalker]

2 - USA

Cheater!

[DaShi]

0 - USA
12 – Germany
23 - England/Britain
20 - France
12 - Spain
28 - Rome
27 - Greece
25 - Egypt
11 – Persia
6 – Arabia
8 – Babylon
20 - China
20 - India
8 - Japan

[Blake]

-1 - USA
12 – Germany
23 - England/Britain
20 - France
12 - Spain
29 - Rome
28 - Greece
25 - Egypt
11 – Persia
6 – Arabia
8 – Babylon
19 - China
20 - India
8 - Japan

[Barnabas]

hey hey hey

I made a mistake and left the USA with only 2

It should be like this

12 - USA
12 – Germany
23 - England/Britain -2
20 - France +2
12 - Spain
26 - Rome
27 - Greece
25 - Egypt
11 – Persia
6 – Arabia
8 – Babylon
20 - China
20 - India
8 - Japan


I say we let Dashi and Blake hurt/heal again, with these numbers

[DaShi]

Just combine with the corrected value.

9 - USA
12 – Germany
23 - England/Britain
20 - France
12 - Spain
29 - Rome
28 - Greece
25 - Egypt
11 – Persia
6 – Arabia
8 – Babylon
19 - China
20 - India
8 - Japan

[Imran Siddiqui]

11 - USA
12 – Germany
23 - England/Britain
20 - France
12 - Spain
29 - Rome
28 - Greece
25 - Egypt
11 – Persia
6 – Arabia
8 – Babylon
19 - China
20 - India
6 - Japan

[DAVOUT]

11 - USA
12 – Germany
23 - England/Britain
20 - France
12 - Spain
29 - Rome
28 - Greece
25 - Egypt
*9 – Persia -2
6 – Arabia
*10 – Babylon +2
19 - China
20 - India
6 - Japan

[aneeshm]

Originally posted by Arrian

So if you want to argue for the second sort of "greatness" you probably need a write-in candidate, because each of the civs/nations on this list beat the everliving crap out of others at some point, and has plenty of blood on their hands (I'm sure aneeshm would disagree with that wrt India, and I don't know enough to argue it well, but there are plenty of things one can pick on India for even if they were nice to their neighbors).

-Arrian

I wouldn't disagree.

We all have our flaws. What matters is how good we are at overcoming them, picking up the pieces, and making life go on.

Though Indian aggression against our neighbours is in a completely different league when compared with, say, Arabia (we're like the ten year old kids playing basketball, they're like the NBA), this does not change the fact that such aggression was glorified, even if not actually much practised. And both are important while judging.













A big problem I see with trying to define Indian influence is that most of it is in the paradigms of living we take for granted today, and don't even bother to think about. Buddhism had a major role to play here. The ideals of compassion which Jesus preached can be found, minus the God bits, and without any of the Jewish compromises, in the thoughts of the Buddha. Many concepts of freedom (of thought and speech) which Indian intellectuals took for granted for a long time were independently re-discovered by the West the hard way during the Dark Ages. But the foundation for this re-discovery, and its eventual triumph, was set in the millions of little influences which India exerted, directly or indirectly, through the ages.

It's rather difficult to express, but it's as if India's contributions have gone a long way to building the foundations of modern civilisation. And the foundation, though absolutely essential, is underground, and so taken so much for granted that nobody sees it or thinks of it explicitly. This is probably the reason why India took (and it taking) so readily to modernity, and survived, and now promises to thrive, in the face of a mass of predictions that it would fall apart.