The British Empire, closely followed by the Roman Empire.

France also had a pretty big 'empire' during the Napoleonic wars. From what I remember the Aztecs also had a large empire.

Hmmm:

British Empire
Roman Empire
Muslim Empire

The joke was on the British when their bullets ran out at Islandwanda, Natal Province, Africa. 1400 soldiers ran into 30,000 Zulu warriors armed only with shields and spears...and the british died in their little squares to almost the last man.

30,000 and only spears in the same sentence...

Lets look at the maths....

1400 vs 30,000

odds of 20 - 1....

The British did not run out of ammo at Isandalwana. The problem was overheating in the MArtini-Henry rifle that caused the cartridges to expand and jam the gun.

Had we had Enfields it would have been a different story.

And lets not forget Rorkes Drift!

120 vs 8,000

Most VCs in one action...

Yeah, throughout their greatest dominance, the British Empire always had a rival that was almost as powerful (the French, etc.) The Romans, after Carthage was wiped out, were without any real rival for hundreds of years.

In shear area conquerred, the Mongols outdo everyone. True, the Brits have it for population % controlled, but their control was somewhat passive in many instances.

British Empire
Roman Empire

Both of these had profound effects on future generations and countries and had the largest spheres of influence.

But I have to say Greece probably could've risen up to challenge had it not fallen because it had technological advantages.

But the most powerful country ever: British Empire
Most powerful country now: United States of America

Roman Empire.

They had tactics that the British Empire havn't even heard of.

And they were the ones riding the evolution-wave, they were the first ones to develope and use new weapons in combat.

:::OFF TOPIC::: (well a bit)

My Great (x4) Grandad fought at Rorkes Drift, he was 15 years old, the same age as me now! He brought back the flag and was lucky to survive.

The Zulu's also took drugs which made them fearless, full of energy, and made them look as though they were dying, the drug would kill them in the end though.

Plus, the heat must have been unbearable, when the weather is extreme like that, I doubt you'd be too interested in the battle ahead of you, i.e you would be distracted.

It was also Zulu land, their home country, and they were fighting for it, moral and atittude matters a lot at a time like that.

Islandwanda is an excellent example of why I don't consider the British Empire to be the greatest nation ever. Its one of many examples of the fact that they were not firmly in control of their empire.

The Romans wrapped their empire in roads and other improvements, dramatically changing the lives of the people they had conquerred. What they held, they held without question. To the Roman's view, doing what the British did toward world conquest would seem silly. Alexander the Great's empire faded away all the more quickly by trying to conquer EVERYTHING, so why bother with it? Take what you want and firmly establish your control over it. Leave the rest be. Doing so lasted 1000 years, and if you consider that the Byzantine Empire was just the natural continuation of the Roman, then it lasts for almost 2000 years. Running off to conquer the planet was simply not a reasonable undertaking for them at that time. They took everything that the Greeks could have used to succeed, and by improving upon it, they created their own success.

I think that the question of Rome vs Great Britain becomes a difficult question. How do we qualify "Most Powerful"?

In terms of "The Most Overwhelming Militarily", I'd have to pick the Monguls over any other. Romans would be the it for lasting comparative dominance. Britain is an interesting mix of the two.

I'd love to say it was GB, but the US is the only 'Hyper' Power we have ever seen. You have got to put GB and the US 1 and 2 or round the other way.

I'm going to go with the U.S... One word : nuke


Edit *


The most surpremacy over any one nation at a time, no other nation in the world had anything on us for four years (USSR detonatets nuke in 1949).