# Most important event in history **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 15, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146 "2003-12-15T16:48:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/1 "2003-12-15T16:48:21Z")
There have been several Polls like this, which usually tend to result in chosing an ancient event because of its long reaching affect on society. So for this poll, I’ll put in some special rules… The event must have taken one day or less, so no world war II, but maybe D-Day landings. Only the effect the event had on the next 100 years of history after it, should be considered. So crusifixtion of Jesus, won’t be very important by this rule. The fact that the event was bound to happen, or the discovery was going to occur anyway, does not dimminnish the event in respect to this Poll. So publication of the discovery of Penicillin may well be a good choice for this poll. Hope that’s clear, Bippy ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/2 "2003-12-15T17:00:32Z")
Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, 28 June 1914. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/3 "2003-12-15T17:50:40Z")
I’d give my vote to the death of the son of Gengis Khan in 1241. A the time, the Golden Horde had basically rampaged thorugh Russia and Eastern Europe. The death caused the Horde to turn around and return for the funeral ceremonies. If not for that, there was a good chance that Western Europe could have been overrun, perhaps leading to the sacking of Rome and possibly the end of the papacy. It’s kinda more important for what didn’t happen than what actually did, so my alternate is: The atomic bombing of Hiroshima. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/4 "2003-12-15T18:37:22Z")
Cecil founding the Straight Dope. ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/5 "2003-12-15T19:36:28Z")
“Dr. Watson, come here. I need you.” -Thomas Edison ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/6 "2003-12-15T19:39:47Z")
:smack: Thhpppbbbbtt! That would be Alexander Graham Bell, not Edison. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/7 "2003-12-15T20:17:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ravenman \* > \*\* > The death caused the Horde to turn around and return for the funeral ceremonies. \*\* I’ve often heard about that. Why didn’t they come back next year? ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/8 "2003-12-15T22:18:33Z")
Does the invention of moveable type count? What about the invention of gunpowder? ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/9 "2003-12-15T22:40:43Z")
The Big Bang ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/10 "2003-12-15T23:28:23Z")
Those darn chads a-hangin’ and a-swingin’ down Florida way. If history goes the way I fear it might. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/11 "2003-12-15T23:33:38Z")
The first 100 years after the big bang was kind of hot, but not much to look at 😉 Did gunpowder or movable type have much effect on the world within the first 100 years of their invention? I expect gunpowder didn’t but moveable type may well have done. I wondered about this question over the weekend, and thought it could open up several ideas… The first demonstration of a steam powered locomotive (was it the Stevenson’s Rocket ? ) perhapse. Has the arrival of the plague into Europe been traced to a particular ship or consignment of goods? Maybe the fall of Constantinopal? If it had heald, would Europe have dominated the whole of the Mediteranian. **Ravenman** I had not heard of that event (I am no historian by any measure) sounds a great contender. **ColonelDax** welcome to the boards, I’m honored you chose to make your first post in my thread. I have allways been a bit shady about the ArchDuke’s assassination, was the Kaiser gearing up for war before this event? Was it a trigger for WWI, or an excuse? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/12 "2003-12-16T00:29:57Z")
The cancellation of “Bosom Buddies.” O, the humanity. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/13 "2003-12-16T00:41:26Z")
The premiere of “Full House”. It was truly the beginning of the end. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_B.Phart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Capt\_B.Phart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_B.Phart)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/14 "2003-12-16T00:53:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bippy the Beardless \* > \*\* I have allways been a bit shady about the ArchDuke’s assassination, was the Kaiser gearing up for war before this event? Was it a trigger for WWI, or an excuse? \*\* Perhaps Kaiser Bill’s difficult birth - in which his arm was damaged (IIRC), leading to him overcompensating by becoming aggressively militaristic, leading to WWI, leading to WWII etc, might be a better single event ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/15 "2003-12-16T01:01:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bippy the Beardless \* > \*\* > > Has the arrival of the plague into Europe been traced to a particular ship or consignment of goods? > > \*\* Barbara Tuchman mentions time and place, perhaps the name of the ship, in _A Distant Mirror_ but I can’t find my copy tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Gamaliel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gamaliel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gamaliel)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/16 "2003-12-16T01:10:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \* > \*\*Barbara Tuchman mentions time and place, perhaps the name of the ship, in _A Distant Mirror_ but I can’t find my copy tonight. \*\* This is my current reading material, so it’s handy. The opening of Chapter 5, page 92: “In October 1347…Genoese trading ships put into the harbor of Messina in Sicily with dead and dying men at the oars. The ships had come from the Black Sea port of Caffa (now Feodosiya) in the Crimea” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/17 "2003-12-16T01:27:59Z")
Outstanding, Gamaliel! ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/18 "2003-12-16T03:02:03Z")
The invention of either the electric light bulb, or the microprocessor, can’t decide which was more important. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Serpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Silver\_Serpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Serpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/19 "2003-12-16T03:52:34Z")
What Ford did to the Automobile. Once everything was standarized and cheaper, it made cars more affordable. This lead to mobilization of people, changed courtship, and all kinds of neat things. Just try to think of how our society would be different without that kind of transportation. Does that fit into the criteria? How about when Ford opened his first plant and started up the production line? ---
**Author:** ![Palve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a698b9/32.png) [@Palve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palve)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146/20 "2003-12-16T06:12:56Z")
The Big Bang. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-important-event-in-history/219146.md?page=2)