From ancient empires to modern superpowers, join us as we explore the civilizations that shaped our world! We'll examine the cultural, technological, and political impacts these nations have had on human history. Which civilization do you think had the biggest influence on humanity?
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00:00The many public buildings were constant reminders of the glory of Roman civilization.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for
00:09the kingdoms, empires, nations, and cultures that in one form or another
00:13have had massive ripple effects over history.
00:16Well, let's just look back.
00:17I mean, China's transformative reform and opening up policy
00:20was launched on the 18th of December in 1978.
00:26Number 10, France.
00:28You came from where, Monte Carlo?
00:30No, from Marseille.
00:32I stayed Sunday and dimanche to Monte Carlo.
00:33I had to see a little bit.
00:35Lundi, I tried to call you from Marseille.
00:37Lundi and dimanche, I wasn't in Paris.
00:40New York Herald Tribune!
00:42I'll take it.
00:43This Western European country has, relative to its small size,
00:47carved out one of the world's most impressive resumes.
00:50Over the many centuries of its existence,
00:52France has played an integral part in global geopolitics,
00:55establishing its colonial empire in the 16th century
00:59and sowing its seeds the world over.
01:01Although its grip loosened considerably after the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte
01:05in the early 19th century,
01:07France has continued to maintain an outsized reputation
01:09through decimation of its culture.
01:11Two paintings from 1870s France.
01:15A dramatic historical scene,
01:17honored as one of the greatest works of its time.
01:20And something quite different,
01:22an everyday harbor view at sunrise by Claude Monet,
01:25that would become one of the most important works of all time.
01:29Consider its contributions to art,
01:31like 19th century impressionistic painting,
01:33or even the later French new wave films of the mid-20th century.
01:37France's introduction of Gothic architecture,
01:40among so much more,
01:41is just another example of its important historical role.
01:45Notre Dame is what's called Gothic architecture,
01:47and what that really means is that
01:49the architects made a huge departure,
01:51rather than building buildings that were made out of big, big rocks,
01:54piled one on top of each other.
01:56What they did is they went very high,
01:58but they also made the walls very thin,
02:00and that was to bring more glass into the walls,
02:03to make them more elegant.
02:05Number 9. Japan.
02:06Six times a year,
02:08these giants battle each other for top placement
02:10in Japan's most beloved traditional sport, sumo.
02:15Highly ritualized,
02:17this sport dates back more than a thousand years,
02:20originating as a rite of the Shinto religion.
02:23Matches are a true window into an earlier era.
02:26It's impossible to argue that this East Asian island nation
02:29took several major hits during World War II,
02:32subject to the only ever use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict.
02:35But before and after,
02:37Japan has long stood out as an international symbol of progress and advancement.
02:42One of the world's great powers,
02:44Japan has long been an innovator in the worlds of science and technology.
02:47Yuki takes the high-speed train to his hometown in Osaka every month.
02:51For him, late trains are unimaginable.
02:54If the train were 30 minutes late, everyone would panic.
03:02But that is unthinkable.
03:04The country pioneered digital audio recording,
03:07high-speed rail transport,
03:09and several military firsts,
03:11like the world's original aircraft carrier.
03:13Beyond that,
03:14its soft power goes nearly unmatched by any other nation,
03:17with its visual and culinary cultures,
03:19some of the most popular on the planet.
03:21I think almost all modern chefs are impressed by Japanese presentation,
03:25the importance of contrasting textures, colors, and portion size.
03:30Embodying all these traits is Japan's best-known contribution to world cuisine.
03:35Sushi.
03:35Number 8.
03:36Germany.
03:41Speaking of the Second World War,
03:44Germany's deterioration into outright fascism
03:46has been, and will continue to be, studied for generations.
03:50Even its post-war activities saw significant societal change and upheaval,
03:54with the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall
03:56emerging as one of the most important events of the 20th century.
04:00Some of the world's most important religious movements
04:02find their origins in what's now Germany,
04:04with Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation
04:07emerging as perhaps the most recognizable.
04:09Luther knew he had a far-reaching social reform movement behind him,
04:14and that enabled him to act the way he did in Worms.
04:18In the towns, he had the support of the middle class,
04:20the intellectual elite associated with the humanists,
04:24as well as, to a degree, the backing of the imperial knights,
04:28and a portion of the clergy supported him too.
04:31The country also boasts history's greatest musical minds,
04:34from classic composers such as Bach, Beethoven, and Handel,
04:38to modern-day icons like Kraftwerk.
04:41Germany can also count among its people's achievements
04:43the invention of the cathode ray tube, bicycle,
04:46first working space rocket,
04:48and, oh yeah, the work of Albert Einstein.
04:51What is time?
04:55A deceptively simple question,
04:57yet it is the key to understanding relativity.
05:01It is also the reason my hair is going gray.
05:03Number seven, Russia.
05:05On November 3rd, 1957,
05:07the Russian dog Laika
05:08becomes the first living creature to orbit the Earth.
05:13Scientists place the animal in Sputnik 2,
05:15attach recording devices to measure heartbeat and breathing,
05:18and then launch capsule and passenger.
05:21It stands to reason that the world's largest country
05:23by geographical size
05:25would have played a major role in history.
05:27In terms of contributions to science and technology,
05:30Russia stands tall,
05:31and is largely unrivaled save for a few peers.
05:34During the 20th century,
05:35the US and the former Soviet Union
05:37were locked in a tense Cold War,
05:39one furiously racing the other for space travel supremacy.
05:43After jettisoning the nose-faring
05:45and last stage of the carrier rocket,
05:48the Sputnik started circling the Earth
05:50in a pre-calculated orbit.
05:55Science and technology had made a major breakthrough.
05:58They had laid the road into space.
06:01Meanwhile, Soviet scientists were already preparing
06:04to launch a second artificial Earth satellite.
06:06While Americans made the crucial step
06:08of placing a man on the moon,
06:10Soviets invented the re-entry capsule,
06:12spacesuit, and Soyuz rocket.
06:15Most significantly of all,
06:16human spaceflight was first achieved
06:18by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
06:21On the 12th of April,
06:22the Soviet Union orbited a spaceship,
06:24the Vostok,
06:25around the Earth with a man on board.
06:28The astronaut is a Soviet citizen,
06:30pilot Major Gagarin Yuri Alexievich.
06:34Number 6. United Kingdom.
06:36It's hard to think of a period in history
06:38where you had so much creativity
06:40in terms of technology,
06:42so much willing to experiment
06:44with the possibilities
06:45of what you can do with machines,
06:47what you can do with engineering,
06:49what you can do with architecture.
06:50Consisting of England, Wales, Scotland,
06:52and Northern Ireland,
06:53this constitutional monarch
06:55currently enjoys great influence
06:57on the global stage.
06:58Historically, though,
06:59the British Empire reigned
07:00almost totally unchallenged
07:02as the world's number one superpower
07:04for centuries.
07:05Although its commitment to colonialism
07:07has faced negative re-evaluation over time,
07:10it was once the biggest empire in history,
07:12controlling massive swaths of Asia,
07:14Africa, and the Americas.
07:16The strength of empire is conquest and credit.
07:19You can't understand the history
07:20of the British Empire
07:21without understanding
07:22Britain's central role in slavery.
07:25The British were a bunch of warmonkers.
07:27The empire's based on money
07:29and based on violence,
07:30on the ability to kind of employ
07:31large numbers of troops to fight.
07:33The empire, in a sense, is a career.
07:35It's a line of work
07:36for a large section of Britain's elite.
07:38The UK also benefited tremendously
07:41from its capacity for innovation,
07:43with 19th century inventions
07:44like the steamship and telegraph
07:46helping to maintain its dominance.
07:49Perhaps above all,
07:50the UK's greatest contribution
07:52may be the world's
07:53most commonly spoken language,
07:55English.
07:56The English that Churchill speaks
07:58is based on an old Indo-European dialect.
08:00It is a vigorous, rich, and flexible language,
08:04quick to make use of new words
08:05from other languages.
08:07The English language
08:08has borrowed thousands
08:09of its half million words
08:10from all over the world,
08:11and it is understood
08:13in almost every part of it.
08:14Number five, China.
08:16Well, the Great Wall
08:17was a linking up of walls
08:19that had existed previously.
08:22A number of states
08:22in the north of China
08:23had built walls
08:25partly to defend
08:26against one another,
08:27but more importantly
08:28to defend their northern frontier.
08:31From one of the cradles
08:33of civilization
08:33to one of the world's
08:34most formidable rising powers,
08:36China has had a long,
08:38complex,
08:38and highly influential history.
08:40Long before its ascent
08:42to becoming the world's
08:42largest manufacturer
08:44and exporter,
08:45China was instrumental
08:46in shaping the modern world
08:47through the introduction
08:48of its four great inventions.
08:50Those consisted of the compass,
08:52gunpowder,
08:53papermaking,
08:54and printing,
08:55which drastically accelerated
08:56human potential
08:57for communication,
08:58navigation,
08:59and more.
09:00There's a strong contrast
09:01between the development
09:02of gunpowder weapons
09:03in China and in Europe.
09:04They're developed in China first,
09:06and they certainly become
09:07effective weapons of war
09:08very quickly.
09:09It's all rubbish
09:10about the Chinese
09:11just using gunpowder
09:12for fireworks.
09:13China also established
09:14the vital Silk Road
09:16trading routes,
09:17which paved the way
09:17for centuries
09:18of economic
09:19and cultural development.
09:20Although it has often
09:21come under international scrutiny
09:22for its perceived lack
09:24of democracy,
09:25the 21st century
09:26seems to have big things
09:27in store for China.
09:2940 years ago,
09:30China's GDP
09:30hovered around
09:31only $150 billion annually.
09:35Nearly 20 years later,
09:36in 1997,
09:38it broke through
09:38the trillion dollar ceiling,
09:40and by last year,
09:41GDP had grown
09:42to over $12 trillion.
09:44Number four, India.
09:46One of the most important things
09:47that zero gave rise to
09:49was the ability
09:50for the common person
09:52to be able to do mathematics.
09:54Before we had an idea of zero,
09:57calculations were done
09:58on an abacus.
09:59It was hard to record
10:00what was happening,
10:01and it meant that mathematics
10:03was in the power
10:04of the authorities,
10:05those who could do maths.
10:07Another potential superpower
10:08on the horizon,
10:09the South Asian country
10:10stands as the most populous
10:12country on Earth,
10:13dethroning previous record holder
10:15China in 2023.
10:16Throughout history,
10:18India has supplied
10:18some of the world's
10:19most prominent
10:20and influential schools
10:21of religious thought,
10:22like Buddhism and Hinduism.
10:24Gautama Siddhartha
10:25was the son of Suddhodana,
10:28the ruler of Kapilavastu
10:30in present-day Uttar Pradesh
10:32in India.
10:33He was born nearby
10:35in a grove of sal trees
10:37in Lumbini,
10:38which is in present-day Nepal.
10:40India is also
10:41one of the foremost innovators
10:42in mathematics,
10:43contributing such bedrocks
10:45as algebra,
10:46negative numbers,
10:47the decimal system,
10:48and the concept
10:49of the number zero.
10:50Culturally,
10:51India's Bollywood,
10:52a port mandu
10:53of Bombay and Hollywood,
10:55has seen a massive surge
10:56in prominence
10:57in recent decades,
10:58owing to the increased presence
11:00of the Indian diaspora
11:01around the world.
11:02We will give you
11:03the most important
11:04of the Indian diaspora
11:04and the Indian diaspora
11:05and the Indian diaspora
11:06and the Indian diaspora
11:06and the Indian diaspora
11:07and the Indian diaspora.
11:07What can we say
11:22about the world's
11:23only remaining superpower
11:25that hasn't already been said?
11:26The overwhelming
11:27cultural strength
11:28of the United States
11:29of America
11:30has largely been attributed
11:31to its multiculturalism
11:33and diversity,
11:34serving as perhaps
11:35the world's largest
11:36melting pot.
11:37As tallied in 2023,
11:39136 of the world's
11:40500 largest companies
11:42are headquartered
11:43in the U.S.
11:44And the U.S. dollar
11:45is the most reliable
11:46reserve currency on Earth.
11:47So it's 100 years,
11:4880 years, 100 years
11:49of dollar strength.
11:51So much so
11:53that important commodities,
11:54gold, oil,
11:55are denominated in dollars.
11:57Dollars are part
11:58of the payment system.
12:00When countries talk
12:01to each other,
12:01they represent their GDP
12:03and various figures
12:04in dollars.
12:05I think undoing that
12:06will take a long, long time.
12:08It's a world leader
12:09in science and tech,
12:10innovating at the highest levels
12:12in several fields,
12:13including electronics,
12:14pharmaceuticals, and more.
12:16We hardly even need
12:17to address American film,
12:18music, literature,
12:20and more.
12:20It could be argued
12:21that the culture
12:22of the United States
12:23is perhaps its most
12:24powerful export.
12:25We have no secrets
12:26from our readers,
12:27Mr. Bernstein.
12:27Mr. Thatcher
12:28is one of our most
12:29devoted readers.
12:30He knows what's wrong
12:31with every copy of the
12:32Enquirer since I took over.
12:33Read the cable.
12:34Girls, delightful in Cuba,
12:36stop!
12:37Could send you prose poems
12:38about scenery,
12:39but don't feel right
12:40spending your money.
12:41Stop!
12:41There is no war in Cuba.
12:43Signed Wheeler.
12:44Any answer?
12:44Yes, dear Wheeler,
12:45you provide the prose poems,
12:47I'll provide the war.
12:49Number 2.
12:50Persian Empire.
12:50In 539, Cyrus conquered Babylon,
12:54but he did not present himself
12:55as a conqueror.
12:56He presented himself
12:56as a liberator,
12:58rescuing these people
12:59from their despotic ruler.
13:01And then he did
13:02a totally unprecedented thing.
13:05He freed the Jews.
13:07The Jews had been living
13:08in Babylon in captivity
13:09ever since Nebuchadnezzar
13:10destroyed Jerusalem
13:11and their temple.
13:12We're throwing it
13:13way back with this one.
13:15As established in Iran
13:16by Cyrus the Great
13:18in 550 BC,
13:19we have the Persian
13:20or Achaemenid Empire
13:22to thank for several
13:23of the basic tenets
13:24of everyday life.
13:26Before the Roman
13:27and British empires,
13:28Cyrus' Persian Empire
13:29became the biggest
13:30of its kind in history
13:31to that point.
13:32The empire over which
13:34Cyrus ruled
13:35was the largest
13:37the ancient world
13:38had ever seen
13:39and may be to this day
13:42the largest empire ever.
13:45Among their myriad accomplishments,
13:47the Achaemenids pioneered
13:49the idea of government
13:50as we know it,
13:51complex road systems,
13:53and an early postal system.
13:54In what was perceived
13:55as a radical idea
13:56at the time,
13:57Cyrus treated all of his subjects
13:59with religious tolerance,
14:01allowing them to freely practice
14:02their beliefs
14:03without persecution.
14:04Hey, he wasn't called
14:05the great for nothing.
14:06Cyrus was a very innovative builder
14:09and I might add
14:11that his standards
14:12were particularly high.
14:14We can also say
14:15that his building project
14:18reflected in some ways
14:20the technologies
14:21that he found
14:22in the course
14:23of his various conquests.
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14:40Number 1.
14:41Ancient Rome
14:42We can't mention
14:43the Roman Empire
14:44without giving a shout-out
14:45to classical Greek culture,
14:47which proved
14:47to be hugely important
14:49in making ancient Rome
14:50the powerhouse that it was.
14:51To put it simply,
14:52the Roman Empire
14:53is largely responsible
14:54for Western civilization
14:56and culture,
14:57even thousands of years
14:58after it fell.
14:59The late antiquity jurist
15:01Martianus Capella
15:02is credited with establishing
15:04the liberal arts,
15:05and thinkers as diverse
15:06as Seneca the Young
15:07and Marcus Aurelius
15:08are still widely read today.
15:10They even gave us
15:11the Julian calendar,
15:13which developed over time
15:14into the Western calendar.
15:15Its scientific contributions
15:17included
15:17the sophisticated Roman aqueducts
15:19as well as
15:20the first permanent bridges.
15:22We literally
15:22couldn't have done it
15:23without them.
15:24Which nation do you think
15:25has the biggest influence
15:27on history?
15:28Are there any that we missed?
15:29Be sure to let us know
15:30in the comments below.
15:31The Roman genius
15:32for engineering
15:33made possible aqueducts
15:35which carried water
15:36from great distances.