"Greatest Events in History" Game

Based on the earlier “Who’s the most influential person in history” game thread from (gulp!) 5 years ago, this thread game is a similar attempt to determine the most influential event in human history by a process of elimination. Given how smart we like to think we are, I think this is a game well-suited for this board. :stuck_out_tongue:

The rules are simple:

  1. There will be 19 rounds (if I’m doing my math correctly).

  2. I have broken history into 10 separate “eras”, each era with 10 events. The eras will be numbered from 1-10. You need to reference these #'s in your voting, separating the # from the event with a period “.”

  3. Given that this is an elimination game, in each round, you vote for the least influential event of each era, for a total of 10 votes per round (1 vote per era).

For example, here are the first two eras and how the voting should look:

Your votes should look like:

(… and so on for all 10.)

  1. Remember, the proper format for a vote is “#. <event>” For any comments, place them underneath the block of votes, not within the votes themselves. Votes that look like the following will be disallowed and you will be asked to recast them in the proper format:

… or…

The votes need to look like this:

  1. YOU define what is important or influential. There are no objective criteria here, so don’t bother asking “what do you mean by ‘influential’?” If you care, here are my thoughts, but those are only my thoughts, not the criteria that you must apply.

  2. If you don’t like the events chosen, or think that this is too Western-centric, or want to argue “Some of these are not ‘events’ per se but processes!”, the thread to discuss that has been up for about a week - you should’ve made your objections then. You can still make those objections in the linked thread… but not in this one. Thanks! :slight_smile:

  3. When the events from each era have been chosen, we’ll group the 10 winners together and repeat the process, knocking off 1 event until we have a clear winner.

  4. We will have at least 24 hours to vote and all votes will count up to the time I tabulate them. I cannot guarantee that each round will last an equal amount of time - I have a wife, kid, and job and will try to be as regular as possible, but sometimes that won’t be possible. Or it may be. Hell, I won’t know until it happens, right?

Have fun! Categories to follow in next post…

  1. Pre-History, Pre 3500 BCE
    Invention of Agriculture
    Domestication of Animals
    Invention of Alphabet
    Discovery (and control) of fire
    Creation of Pottery
    Crossing of the Bering Strait
    Invention of the Wheel
    Invention of the Plow
    Invention of Language
    Invention of Metallurgy

  2. Bronze and Iron Ages, 3500 BCE-1000 BCE
    Hammurabi’s Code
    Egyptian Empires
    Founding of Ur (first city)
    Coalescing of Jewish Culture
    Sumerian Cuniform
    Emergence of Mayan Civilization
    Minoan Civilization
    Alphabetic Writing Invented
    Xia Dynasty in China
    First use of Papyrus

  3. Early Classical Antiquity, 1000 BCE - 200 BCE
    Democracy established in Athens
    Alexander the Great conquers the known world
    Buddism founded
    Rise of Persian Empire
    Unification of China under Qin Shi Huang
    Babylonian Captivity of Jewish People
    Greek Philosophy and Mathematics at peak
    Confucianism
    Battle of Marathon
    Invention of number “0” and Binary Systems

  4. Late Classical Antiquity, 200 BCE - 476 AD
    Expansion of Roman Empire (Punic Wars, expansion into Gaul, etc)
    Death of Caesar
    Augustinian Empire
    Life of Jesus
    Three Kingdoms Period in China
    Split of Roman Empire into E/W by Diocletian
    Constantine Promulgates Edict of Milan
    Christianity becomes official religion of Rome
    St. Augustine publishes “City of God”
    Collapse of Rome

  5. Early Middle Ages, 477 AD - 1250 AD
    Vision of Mohammed and the Rise of Islam
    Development of Arabic Numerals
    Battle of Tours
    Crowing of Charlemagne
    Kievan Rus’ Founded
    Battle of Hastings
    University of Bologna (first university) founded
    Crusades
    Magna Carta
    Genghis Khan conquers much of Asia

  6. Late Middle Ages, 1251 AD - 1453 AD
    Ottoman Empire Founded
    Double-Entry Accounting
    Great Schism Begins (ends 1417)
    Hundred Years War Begins
    Black Death Begins
    Chaucer Writes “Cantebury Tales”
    Zheng He naval expeditions
    Prince Henry the Navigator
    Invention of Printing Press
    Fall of Constantinople

  7. Early Modern Era, 1454 AD - 1648 AD
    Renaissance in Italy
    Columbus “Discovers” America
    Protestant Reformation
    Peak of Ottoman Empire/Siege of Vienna won by Austrians
    Copernican Revolution
    Development of Logarithms
    Establishment of Dutch-East India company (First global corporation)
    Elizabethan Age in England
    Spanish Dominance of Middle/South America
    Thirty Years War

  8. Middle Modern Era, 1649 AD - 1788 AD
    Scientific Revolution
    Slave Trade
    French Dominance of Europe
    The Enlightenment
    Rapid development of mathematics
    Invention of Vaccination
    Russian Expansion at peak (Peter the Great)
    Publication of “Wealth of Nations”
    Start of Industrial Revolution
    Founding of the US

  9. 19th Century, 1789 AD - 1900 AD
    French Revolution and Napoleon
    Pasteurization
    Development of Motorized Mass Transportation (Trains, Ships)
    Implementation of Modern Sanitation
    British Empire
    End of Slavery
    Beginning of the Oil Age
    Formation of Germany
    Germ Theory of Disease developed
    Electrification Begins

  10. 20th Century and Beyond, 1901 AD - 2014 AD
    WW1
    WW2
    The Rise of Mass Culture
    Invention of the Computer/Internet
    Apollo Moon Landing
    Rise and Collapse of Communist States
    End of the European Age and Rise of Asia
    Green Revolution
    Development of Powered Flight
    Nuclear Weapons

My votes:

  1. Crossing of the Bering Strait
  2. Egyptian Empires
  3. Rise of Persian Empire
  4. Death of Caesar
  5. Kievan Rus’ Founded
  6. Hundred Years War Begins
  7. Peak of Ottoman Empire/Siege of Vienna won by Austrians
  8. French Dominance of Europe
  9. Formation of Germany
  10. Rise and Collapse of Communist States

Again, my votes were for the least influential (IMHO) event of those listed.

I forgot to mention, at the beginning of each round the lists will be reposted with the “losing” event removed.

[ol]
[li]Crossing of the Bering Strait[/li][li]Emergence of Mayan Civilization[/li][li]Buddism founded[/li][li]St. Augustine publishes “City of God”[/li][li]University of Bologna (first university) founded[/li][li]Zheng He naval expeditions[/li][li]Development of Logarithms[/li][li]Russian Expansion at peak (Peter the Great)[/li][li]Pasteurization[/li][li]Apollo Moon Landing[/li][/ol]

  1. Crossing of the Bering Strait
  2. Minoan Civilization
  3. Battle of Marathon
  4. Split of Roman Empire into E/W by Diocletian
  5. Crowning of Charlemagne
  6. Zheng He naval expeditions
  7. Thirty Years War
  8. French Dominance of Europe
  9. Formation of Germany
  10. Rise and Collapse of Communist States

ONE MORE RULE

(Sorry!)

Any ties will be decided by me.

  1. Pre-History, Pre 3500 BCE
    Crossing of the Bering Strait

  2. Bronze and Iron Ages, 3500 BCE-1000 BCE
    Coalescing of Jewish Culture

  3. Early Classical Antiquity, 1000 BCE - 200 BCE
    Buddism founded

  4. Late Classical Antiquity, 200 BCE - 476 AD
    Life of Jesus

  5. Early Middle Ages, 477 AD - 1250 AD
    Battle of Tours

  6. Late Middle Ages, 1251 AD - 1453 AD
    Prince Henry the Navigator

  7. Early Modern Era, 1454 AD - 1648 AD
    Elizabethan Age in England

  8. Middle Modern Era, 1649 AD - 1788 AD
    Russian Expansion at peak (Peter the Great)

  9. 19th Century, 1789 AD - 1900 AD
    Formation of Germany

  10. 20th Century and Beyond, 1901 AD - 2014 AD
    Rise and Collapse of Communist States

Bump for the east-coasters…

Rivkah, sent you a PM.

There was at least one typo (“Crowing” vs “Crowning” for Charlemagne) – I fixed it in my answer… hopefully it won’t throw off your spreadsheet.

Naw, a simple misspelling won’t be a thing. Changing the event entirely… “That Charlemagne thing”… might be a different issue. :wink:

Take two:

Thanks!

Bump.

Let’s get those votes in! :smiley:

This game requires a bit more time than most thread games – it might need a few days to catch on.

Yeah, that’s why I didn’t score it last night. Thanks for the bump!

  1. Crossing of the Bering Strait

  2. Coalescing of Jewish Culture

  3. Confucianism

  4. St. Augustine publishes “City of God”

  5. Magna Carta

  6. Chaucer Writes “Cantebury Tales”

  7. Development of Logarithms

  8. Russian Expansion at peak (Peter the Great)

  9. End of Slavery

  10. Green Revolution

Im going to score this later today (in about an hour ), so if there are any other votes, let’s get them in, please.

Voting is over!

First, the losers (and my comments):

1 Crossing of the Bering Strait - The only unanimous vote.
2 Coalescing of Jewish Culture
3 Buddhism founded
4 St Augustine publishes “City of God” - Glad this one is gone so early as the “.” after “St” messed up my spreadsheet. :stuck_out_tongue:
5 Crowning of Charlemagne - This was in a five way tie with 1 vote each. I used a random number generator to determine the loser.
6 Zheng He naval expeditions
7 Development of Logarithms
8 Russian Expansion at peak (Peter the Great)
9 Formation of Germany
10 Rise and Collapse of Communist States

Really, not a lot of surprises in the outcome, though I expected the “Jewish Cultures” one to last a round or three longer than it did.

I’m actually surprised that the “Green Revolution” got a vote - you’d think a revolutionary means of food production would get more respect than failed ideologies, but I guess you can’t please everybody. :stuck_out_tongue:

Round 2 lists coming up…

  1. Pre-History, Pre 3500 BCE
    Invention of Agriculture
    Domestication of Animals
    Invention of Alphabet
    Discovery (and control) of fire
    Creation of Pottery
    Invention of the Wheel
    Invention of the Plow
    Invention of Language
    Invention of Metallurgy

  2. Bronze and Iron Ages, 3500 BCE-1000 BCE
    Hammurabi’s Code
    Egyptian Empires
    Founding of Ur (first city)
    Sumerian Cuniform
    Emergence of Mayan Civilization
    Minoan Civilization
    Alphabetic Writing Invented
    Xia Dynasty in China
    First use of Papyrus

  3. Early Classical Antiquity, 1000 BCE - 200 BCE
    Democracy established in Athens
    Alexander the Great conquers the known world
    Rise of Persian Empire
    Unification of China under Qin Shi Huang
    Babylonian Captivity of Jewish People
    Greek Philosophy and Mathematics at peak
    Confucianism
    Battle of Marathon
    Invention of number “0” and Binary Systems

  4. Late Classical Antiquity, 200 BCE - 476 AD
    Expansion of Roman Empire (Punic Wars, expansion into Gaul, etc)
    Death of Caesar
    Augustinian Empire
    Life of Jesus
    Three Kingdoms Period in China
    Split of Roman Empire into E/W by Diocletian
    Constantine Promulgates Edict of Milan
    Christianity becomes official religion of Rome
    Collapse of Rome

  5. Early Middle Ages, 477 AD - 1250 AD
    Vision of Mohammed and the Rise of Islam
    Development of Arabic Numerals
    Battle of Tours
    Kievan Rus’ Founded
    Battle of Hastings
    University of Bologna (first university) founded
    Crusades
    Magna Carta
    Genghis Khan conquers much of Asia

  6. Late Middle Ages, 1251 AD - 1453 AD
    Ottoman Empire Founded
    Double-Entry Accounting
    Great Schism Begins (ends 1417)
    Hundred Years War Begins
    Black Death Begins
    Chaucer Writes “Cantebury Tales”
    Prince Henry the Navigator
    Invention of Printing Press
    Fall of Constantinople

  7. Early Modern Era, 1454 AD - 1648 AD
    Renaissance in Italy
    Columbus “Discovers” America
    Protestant Reformation
    Peak of Ottoman Empire/Siege of Vienna won by Austrians
    Copernican Revolution
    Establishment of Dutch-East India company (First global corporation)
    Elizabethan Age in England
    Spanish Dominance of Middle/South America
    Thirty Years War

  8. Middle Modern Era, 1649 AD - 1788 AD
    Scientific Revolution
    Slave Trade
    French Dominance of Europe
    The Enlightenment
    Rapid development of mathematics
    Invention of Vaccination
    Publication of “Wealth of Nations”
    Start of Industrial Revolution
    Founding of the US

  9. 19th Century, 1789 AD - 1900 AD
    French Revolution and Napoleon
    Pasteurization
    Development of Motorized Mass Transportation (Trains, Ships)
    Implementation of Modern Sanitation
    British Empire
    End of Slavery
    Beginning of the Oil Age
    Germ Theory of Disease developed
    Electrification Begins

  10. 20th Century and Beyond, 1901 AD - 2014 AD
    WW1
    WW2
    The Rise of Mass Culture
    Invention of the Computer/Internet
    Apollo Moon Landing
    End of the European Age and Rise of Asia
    Green Revolution
    Development of Powered Flight
    Nuclear Weapons