Who is the most influential person in history?

David · Feb 10, 2010

GOP said:
And now today it's an official language spoken in Spain and in Latin America. And it's part of the Latin language family, same with Italian and French. English and German are two examples of two Germanic languages.

And English is a mix of Anglo-Saxon, Gallic and Frankish. Spanish on the other hand is a Latin dialect. Someone speaking Spanish to someone speaking Italian would be able to understand each other just as well as someone speaking American English to someone speaking Jamaican English. The only difference is the Spaniards and Italians call their dialects different languages and Americans and Jamaicans don't.

GOP · Feb 10, 2010

David said:
And English is a mix of Anglo-Saxon, Gallic and Frankish. Spanish on the other hand is a Latin dialect. Someone speaking Spanish to someone speaking Italian would be able to understand each other just as well as someone speaking American English to someone speaking Jamaican English. The only difference is the Spaniards and Italians call their dialects different languages and Americans and Jamaicans don't.

This depends all on how clear people are they speak, I picture myself understanding nothing with a person speaking Jamaican English and mumbling, as on the other hand I'd understand someone speaking Jamaican English being clear on every word. Really is all up to the person you're talking to.

deanhills · Feb 10, 2010

David said:
The only difference is the Spaniards and Italians call their dialects different languages and Americans and Jamaicans don't.

Agreed. Cajun English should be Cajun, American English, American, Canadian English, Canadian, Australian English Australian ....

David · Feb 10, 2010

deanhills said:
Agreed. Cajun English should be Cajun, American English, American, Canadian English, Canadian, Australian English Australian ....

Not much difference between the 2 aside from "eh" at the end of every sentence.

GOP · Feb 10, 2010

deanhills said:
Agreed. Cajun English should be Cajun, American English, American, Canadian English, Canadian, Australian English Australian ....

But officially, it's English.

deanhills · Feb 10, 2010

GOP said:
But officially, it's English.

By the same argument why not Germanic?

GOP · Feb 10, 2010

deanhills said:
By the same argument why not Germanic?

Because that's the language family. Germanic is not one languages, but consists of several in Northern and North Western Europe.

deanhills · Feb 10, 2010

GOP said:
Because that's the language family. Germanic is not one languages, but consists of several in Northern and North Western Europe.

Right, so perhaps in the same way English is not one language, it consists of several languages?

GOP · Feb 10, 2010

deanhills said:
Right, so perhaps in the same way English is not one language, it consists of several languages?

In what way? You have different versions of English, but it's most definitely one language.

deanhills · Feb 10, 2010

GOP said:
In what way? You have different versions of English, but it's most definitely one language.

Well, then one can argue you have different versions of a Germanic language?

GOP · Feb 10, 2010

deanhills said:
Well, then one can argue you have different versions of a Germanic language?

Yes, of course you do. Most people wouldn't agree that British and American accents of English is all the same, I think they mostly are just with different some few different words and different spellings of some parts of some words, other than that it's the same language.

ferrari353 · Feb 14, 2010

I would have said Hitler until I read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100

thebossman · Feb 28, 2010

I personally feel that Hitler has had such an impact in modern history in such a short time that it is impossible to exclude the Nazi dictator from any list. What is extraordinary is that Hitler's war not only affected Europe (directly) but shaped the modern trend and foriegn policy of the United States dramatically and that has impacted us to this day.

If we go back to ancient history, then I agree with the wikipedia list above. Mohammed certainly is one of the most extraordinarily impactful people in history as the prophet of Islam.

David · Mar 1, 2010

thebossman said:
I personally feel that Hitler has had such an impact in modern history in such a short time that it is impossible to exclude the Nazi dictator from any list. What is extraordinary is that Hitler's war not only affected Europe (directly) but shaped the modern trend and foriegn policy of the United States dramatically and that has impacted us to this day.

If we go back to ancient history, then I agree with the wikipedia list above. Mohammed certainly is one of the most extraordinarily impactful people in history as the prophet of Islam.

Hitler I wouldn't list. Aside from playing a fiddle while Rome burned, how much more can most people say about Nero? Already Hitler is known only for the Holocaust by most and in a few centuries only the historically literate will know of his social programs, heavy involvement in the military or his 360 turnaround of Germany from an impoverished political backwater to the master of most of the Old World. MLK will be better known despite his doing comparatively little (though what he did is of higher vaule over all).

Now Patton will be a man of the ages along with Rommle, the most intriguing guy I've ever heard of.

deanhills · Mar 4, 2010

David said:
Hitler I wouldn't list. Aside from playing a fiddle while Rome burned, how much more can most people say about Nero? Already Hitler is known only for the Holocaust by most and in a few centuries only the historically literate will know of his social programs, heavy involvement in the military or his 360 turnaround of Germany from an impoverished political backwater to the master of most of the Old World. MLK will be better known despite his doing comparatively little (though what he did is of higher vaule over all).

Now Patton will be a man of the ages along with Rommle, the most intriguing guy I've ever heard of.

The title is referring to the most influential person in history, not the greatest person. Hitler had a lot of inluence, he was a specialist at creating and expanding influence, so he would be a candidate for me for sure.

David · Mar 4, 2010

deanhills said:
The title is referring to the most influential person in history, not the greatest person. Hitler had a lot of inluence, he was a specialist at creating and expanding influence, so he would be a candidate for me for sure.

Someone who's name isn't remembered thru the ages, influential is not. Alexander is influential, his tactics are still studied by military tacticians today and his civilization was the foundation of Greek-Roman/Western Civilization. Hitler has influenced anti-Holocaust denial laws.

Dirk · Mar 4, 2010

David said:
Hitler has influenced anti-Holocaust denial laws.

Yah, we have them in Germany. Also, you could go to prison for flying the swastika.

David · Mar 5, 2010

Dirk said:
Yah, we have them in Germany. Also, you could go to prison for flying the swastika.

And that's as far as it goes. His military achievements? Overshadowed by his failures (and even those are considered the achievements of Allied generals, not a lesson in Hitler). His social/economic programs? Overshadowed by his war crimes. Basically he's known by the layman for the holocaust and nothing else and that's now. 200 years from now? 2,000?

deanhills · Mar 5, 2010

David said:
Someone who's name isn't remembered thru the ages, influential is not. Alexander is influential, his tactics are still studied by military tacticians today and his civilization was the foundation of Greek-Roman/Western Civilization. Hitler has influenced anti-Holocaust denial laws.

Alexander was influential in a positive way. Hitler in a negative "positive" way. It reminded the world of how horrible war could be, and why it should work on peace and stay away from war. Iran is a good example of that presently. Preventive war.

David · Mar 5, 2010

deanhills said:
Alexander was influential in a positive way. Hitler in a negative "positive" way. It reminded the world of how horrible war could be, and why it should work on peace and stay away from war. Iran is a good example of that presently. Preventive war.

Except no. Genocide still happens. The Nazis are still around. Hell, people still think the holocaust was some Jewish conspiracy! He's been forgotten aside from some anti-holocaust denial laws in Germany and you'd expect them to be the last to forget him. 200 years from now he'll be about as famous as the guy that invented the cure for small pox. 2,000 years from now he'll be the 1st emperor of the Hittite empire. After that, he'll be forgotten completely.

Who is the most influential person in history?

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