Who do you believe is the most influential person in world's history?

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   Mash 99posted 11 years ago

   Who do you believe is the most influential person in world's history?
   
   Please do a little research if you are not sure about your own feelings. Like I suggest the following source.
   
   The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History is a 1978 book by Michael H. Hart, reprinted in 1992 with revisions. It is a ranking of the 100 people who, according to Hart, most influenced human history.
   
   "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100"

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2. 88

   cam8510posted 11 years ago

   I'll take a shot at this one.  Alexander the Great.  From Southeastern Europe to the north, Egypt to the south and eastward across modern day Saudi Arabia, Iran, all the way to Afghanistan and Pakistan, but stopping short of India, Alexander consolidated an enormous empire.  He did not stop at conquering militarily, but supplanted indigenous cultures and languages with those of Greece.  The world of our day would be much different had Alexander stayed home and enjoyed the fruits of his father's exploits.  If not Alexander, then whom?
   
   I was tempted to say Jesus Christ, but that seemed a bit too easy.

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      Mash 99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hi cam8510!
      Are you convinced that Alexander influenced the way of life and the way of thinking more than any other person in the world history???

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      Dave Sargeantposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Cam 8510.  On first reading the question I thought the same - but composed my piece from the fact, for believers anyway, that Jesus is eternal.

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      cam8510posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      He is as good a candidate for the position as anyone I think.  By spreading Greek culture and language to that large of an area and then for that to be followed by the Roman Empire I would say  he had an awesome influence on the history of the world.

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      Mr. Happyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      This was exactly my first thought too ... then, I thought Napoleon but ultimately, I think Alexander the Great is a good answer - after all he was not "The Great" for nothing. Cheers!

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   WhydThatHappenposted 11 years ago

   Easy, as of today it's Jesus. Love him, hate him, respect him, think he's imaginary- whatever. There is no paradigm he is not considered in by a massive amount of people. So he has influenced more than anyone- influenced in a specific direction? Maybe not so much.

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      Mash 99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hi WhydThatHappen !
      who do you believe is close to Jesus in this respect??

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      WhydThatHappenposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      The television, lol. Cynical, but the closest answer to the truth that comes to mind.

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      cam8510posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It is interesting that Alexander preceded both Jesus (as a man of history) and Mohamed.  He impacted the very societies these would inhabit with language, culture and knowledge.  Alexander is still my choice. Without him the others influence is less.

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   Beata Stasakposted 11 years ago

   I believe, we should concentrate on people who bring love and peace to the world, not war, hate and misery and every great general, ruler or leader from history just like Alexander Great, Genghis Khan or Napoleon...managed to achieve their great goals just by that...for me it would be Gandhi, Mandela, Moter Theresa or Budha...

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      cam8510posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      The OP used the words "most influential" in his original question, so there shouldn't be further qualifications added.  I didn't say Alexander was either a good or bad influence, just that he had a tremendous impact on world history.

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5. 94

   Thomas Swanposted 11 years ago

   James Clerk Maxwell - he formulated the equations of electromagnetism in the 1800's that made the 20th century what it was. Television, radio, phones, computers, they all depend on Maxwell's laws. Unlike other great discoveries, it's probable that mankind would have taken much longer to discover Maxwell's laws in his absence. He advanced the human race more than people like Newton, who was merely the first to publish his work (Lorentz wasn't far behind), or Einstein, who's overall achievements do not quite match Maxwell's.

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      Mash 99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Thomas Swan !
      Thanks for your input here.

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      Thomas Swanposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Cheers Mash, although I meant Leibnitz rather than Lorentz. Leibnitz developed calculus and was applying it to physics, so probably wouldn't have been far behind Newton.

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   pisean282311posted 11 years ago

   @mash i think there is no single person ....what 78 book rated didnt have even gandhi in its top 10...but today gandhi is far more influential than many on that list and its growing....so as we keep evolving , people in the list keep changing ...

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      Mash 99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      yes it's keep changing but we have to single out whatever knowledge we have so far.

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   Electro-Denizenposted 11 years ago

   I don't think we can really answer that, as the world's history was already well established even before our conception of 'history'.
   
   Leaving tangents aside, I was going to say Mohammed at first, due to the numbers of people influenced - but when I looked at the list, despite Mohammed being first, the absence of Pythagoras from the top 10 was strange...
   
   So I'd say Pythagoras.
   
   Because modern machines are used the world over, it stands to reason that the math of pythag used is the key to all of this technology (used in engineering, electronic, structural), and infuences the whole world, not just certain groups.

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   James-wolveposted 11 years ago

   Mohamed peace be upon him is the most influential person in world s history.In his his book hart says about the reason behind choosing the prophet as number one in the list:”My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular levels.Of humble origins, Muhammad founded and promulgated one of the world's great religions, and became an immensely effective political leader. Today, thirteen centuries after his death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive.

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   Junaid Ghaniposted 11 years ago

   As far as Historical events and success are concerned, Last Messenger of God, i.e. Prophet Hazrat Muhammad PBUH is the most influential person in history ever...!That's not just my belief, that's what history proves with facts and figures.

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      Old Empresarioposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      The entire Western Hemisphere of this planet would probably disagree with you; not to mention most of the far east and 1 Billion Chinese.

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      Junaid Ghaniposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      In matters of truth and reality, one must not care about others because most of the time, rational eye is injured while analyzing the reality.

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      Mash 99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Old Empresario! do you want to mention it on religious bases and not on historical facts?

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    sradieposted 11 years ago

    For me that's a no-brainer. It has to be Jesus. There is no other personality in human history who has so altered the course of human events and is still so heavily talked about, discussed and revered and loved today. Muhammad may be a close second to Jesus with one big difference. Jesus legacy is contributing good to human history and Muhammad's legacy is one of constant warfare, oppression of women, the destruction of cultural and economic motivation and the institution of evil governmental systems.

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    1. 38

       Mash 99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I have great respect for Jesus as he was the Prophet sent by God. But whose legacy fought 2Wwars. Whose legacy dropped the atom bombs on Japan. Whose legacy declared wars on Vietnam, Iraq & Afghanistan. Whose legacy favors the brutalities of Isra

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       Eva Civoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Mash, WWII came from Nazism, an anti-Christian movement. How can it be Christ's ''legacy''? Influence is another matter, but a war caused by this movement cannot by any criteria by accounted a ''legacy'' of Christ, with all its anti-church plans.

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       Mash 99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Eva Civo, I didn't want to blame The Christ legacy for what I mentioned but when sradie accused the Muhammad's(peace be upon him) legacy I just mentioned few examples that what has happened or happening now.

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    JThomp42posted 11 years ago

    Hello Mash, in my humble opinion I would have to say Jesus Christ. Even those who don't believe he died on the cross to save the world, not to condemn it, still know who he is and what he stands for for those who believe. Even Islam acknowledges the existence of Christ as a prophet. Yes, the son of Jehovah has to be the most influential person, and still is, of all time.

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       James-wolveposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Mohamed(PBUH) was supremely successful in both the religious and secular realms. He also believed that Muhammad's role in the development of Islam was far more influential than Jesus' collaboration in the development of Christianity. He attributes th

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       JThomp42posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I disagree, and so do over 2 billion Christians. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_re … opulations

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    3. 38

       Mash 99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       how can you assume that all the Christians have same thinking like you?

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       JThomp42posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Because we worship the same God and his son is our savior.

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       Mash 99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       but you can find the Christian peoples right here at Hub Pages who dis-agree to you.

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       JThomp42posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Then they need to do some soul searching.

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    K Kissposted 11 years ago

    Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) - the last messenger of Allah, without a doubt

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       Old Empresarioposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, he was certainly the Joseph Smith of his day.

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    Eva Civoposted 11 years ago

    Without a doubt, Jesus Christ. It's not even possible to imagine the alternative world History of the past two millenia should we scrape him from the record. The world would be totally unimaginable as so much of the present state of affairs is directly or indirectly to do with the movement that rose from his influence, reactions to it, the cultures that rose from it. Not even Islam as it is today can be imagined without Jesus since so much of it is (Historically speaking) influenced and shaped by all sorts of interactions it had with Christianity.
    
    Hart was downright biased in his ranking system as he himself admits to excluding the influence of St. Paul (ranked Sixth most influential person in his list) from the influence of Jesus...which means he excludes a big chunk of Christianity from the influence of Christ! Well, that's just ridiculous. There would be no St. Paul or Christianity or any influence therefrom were it not for Paul's interaction with the movement that came from Jesus and his conviction in the claims about Jesus.
    
    This is just not a valid reason to discount Jesus from all of the influence that can be traced to Paul. Without a doubt, asie from the bias, Christ is the single most influential figure of History.

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       Old Empresarioposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I would argue that few people are influenced by Jesus' teachings (who [unknowingly] got his ideas from Confucius) since so few people quote him or live according to him when compared to the influence of the Old Testament or Paul's doctrines.

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       JThomp42posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       It's called {Christ} ianity for a reason Old Empresario. It is also the largest religion in the world.

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       Eva Civoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Old Empresario, but even Hart places Jesus 3 places ahead of Paul. Plus Gospels (life & words of Christ) are more foundational than anything in all ancient churches: Catholic, Eastern & Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian, the majority in Christia

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    Old Empresarioposted 11 years ago

    Probably Paul of Tarsus; the inventor of Christianity.

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    Wesley Clarkposted 11 years ago

    I believe Jesus Christ is the most influential person in the world's history.

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    tussinposted 11 years ago

    I came to see how many people said "Jesus Christ" and it's quite a lot as I predicted. 
    
    I think the person who most influenced human history is an unknown hominid who one day struck some rocks together that made a spark.  She said "hey doods, check this out what I did to my meat. it's like totally easier to chew and tastes better." The technological advancement of eating cooked foods allowed humans to evolve into animals with bigger brains in proportion to the rest of our bodies. The rest is history.

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    lone77starposted 11 years ago

    Interesting opinions in the Wikipedia article.
    
    Here's my opinion. Yehoshua of Nazareth was the most influential. Without him, St. Paul would not have had a mission.
    
    There are more Christians in the world than believers of any other religion. And Yehoshua is a major prophet in Islam, so he has an influence upon that great religion and its followers, too. The same cannot be said of the great Mohammed (peace be upon him).
    
    But influence is not always a perfect effect. For instance, most Christians do not follow the teachings of Christ, so they are only nominally Christians. I suspect that this applies to some, if not many, Muslims, as well. I know, from first-hand experience, that it also applies to Buddhism and Buddhists.
    
    Yehoshua influenced all of the early scientists, including Newton and Galileo.
    
    But can it be "true influence," if a so-called "believer" does something which contradicts the teachings of the religion's founder? The Catholic Church, for instance, had murdered thousands in the "name of Christ," but I'm certain that Christ would've condemned such slaughter. The burning of Bruno at the stake for his science and belief in reincarnation. The murder of the Cathars for their own beliefs that differed with those of the Pope. The unholy Crusades! Christ would never have done these things, and he would not have asked his followers to do them, either.

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