Most important event in world history?

[Page]

The dictatorship of Fabius during the Second Punic War had quite an extreme influence on world history. He took up the unpopular position of denying Hannibal battle and instead waged a tedious war of attrition. Had the opinion of the majority that Romans should charge head first into battle prevailed, the Romans would have been slaughtered for a 4th time and they would not have recovered from it. Hannibal would have been able to take Rome.

This means no Roman Empire which probably means no Christianity, or at least that Christianity doesn't spread nearly as much. And without Christianity and without the Roman Empire destroying Jerusalem after the uprising and causing a Jewish diaspora, there would be little influence of Abrahamic religion in Arabia which means no Islam either.

The world would be utterly unrecognizable. Only East Asian nations might end up with the same religion, language, and culture as today but everything else would be entirely different.

[Port Myreal]

The invention of writing. It enables people to store information (e.g. religion, science, philophical concepts, historical events, law codes, political ideas) and to spread it without becoming corrupted.

[Major-Tom]

Whoever invented beer.

[Woldoina]

Whoever invented beer.

Yes

[The Archregimancy]

History is, by definition, the study of the human past since the development of writing systems.

Anything occurring before the development of writing is prehistory; and therefore, strictly speaking, not encompassed in the question in the thread title. This rules out, inter alia, the neolithic agricultural revolution, which predates the development of either cuneiform or Egyptian hieroglyphs by thousands of years.

Since the development of writing is what allows history to exist in the first place, then the development of writing is the most important event in world history.



I think the OP is trying to ask for opinions on the most important technological or sociohistorical development since the expansion of modern humans out of Africa, regardless of whether or not they predate the development of a historical record; but that's not quite as snappy as a thread title.

[Kathol Rift]

Well, I was gonna say the invention of Cookies and Cream ice cream in 1971, but it feels a little silly compared to the other answers here. So I’ll go ahead and say the rise of the Roman Empire, simply due to its incredible impact on modern society, architecture, government, military, and all that jazz.

[Sanghyeok]

History is, by definition, the study of the human past since the development of writing systems.

Anything occurring before the development of writing is prehistory; and therefore, strictly speaking, not encompassed in the question in the thread title. This rules out, inter alia, the neolithic agricultural revolution, which predates the development of either cuneiform or Egyptian hieroglyphs by thousands of years.

Since the development of writing is what allows history to exist in the first place, then the development of writing is the most important event in world history.



I think the OP is trying to ask for opinions on the most important technological or sociohistorical development since the expansion of modern humans out of Africa, regardless of whether or not they predate the development of a historical record; but that's not quite as snappy as a thread title.

You are right, and stated my question better than I did. I'm not sure what quite to call the most important events after we became human, and I guess for those in your field my use of "world history" here is not correct.

[Chan Island]

I mean inventing writing so that we could actually have history strikes me as a worthy candidate. All of that stuff about agricultural revolutions and such is all *pre-history* after all.

[Chan Island]

Whoever invented beer.

That answer is actually a much more serious contender than you'd think. While there is debate in the academic field about it, there is a school of thought that posits that we first had agriculture for the purposes of growing barley for beer. Alcohol provided a safe, easy and secure way of drinking water for early humans- and humans are one of the most alcohol tolerant creatures on the planet.

[Major-Tom]

Whoever invented beer.

That answer is actually a much more serious contender than you'd think. While there is debate in the academic field about it, there is a school of thought that posits that we first had agriculture for the purposes of growing barley for beer. Alcohol provided a safe, easy and secure way of drinking water for early humans- and humans are one of the most alcohol tolerant creatures on the planet.

I've heard a bit about that, wild if true.

[Torisakia]

Hasn't happened yet. The most important event in world history will be when the Earth heats up due to the runaway greenhouse effect and causes all life on it to be extinct, which will happen in about 4 billion years.

So, 4,000,002,020 CE. I think that's an election year too.

[Geneviev]

Which one of the two?

I would argue both, although the second is obviously more important than the first.

I think it's probably one of the most important, at least.

[Agend]

The discovery of the Americas. This started the Columbian Exchange and created the world we live in today. Not to mention the creation of the internet.

[Agend]

The dictatorship of Fabius during the Second Punic War had quite an extreme influence on world history. He took up the unpopular position of denying Hannibal battle and instead waged a tedious war of attrition. Had the opinion of the majority that Romans should charge head first into battle prevailed, the Romans would have been slaughtered for a 4th time and they would not have recovered from it. Hannibal would have been able to take Rome.

This means no Roman Empire which probably means no Christianity, or at least that Christianity doesn't spread nearly as much. And without Christianity and without the Roman Empire destroying Jerusalem after the uprising and causing a Jewish diaspora, there would be little influence of Abrahamic religion in Arabia which means no Islam either.

The world would be utterly unrecognizable. Only East Asian nations might end up with the same religion, language, and culture as today but everything else would be entirely different.

Not to mention the Americas. The ethics would have drastically changed in Europe casting a different view of their interactions with the different tribes.

[Western Fardelshufflestein]

Hasn't happened yet. The most important event in world history will be when the Earth heats up due to the runaway greenhouse effect and causes all life on it to be extinct, which will happen in about 4 billion years.

So, 4,000,002,020 CE. I think that's an election year too.

Sounds like something that would happen.
420 blaze it.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

the fall of socialism in Europe/The Berlin Wall

*Marxism. There are still many socialist countries in Europe, just not tankies.

[Sanghyeok]

the fall of socialism in Europe/The Berlin Wall

*Marxism. There are still many socialist countries in Europe, just not tankies.

There are no socialist countries left in Europe.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

*Marxism. There are still many socialist countries in Europe, just not tankies.

There are no socialist countries left in Europe.

Armenia, Iceland, Portugal and Serbia are all run by democratic socialist parties. Just because it isnt communism doesn't mean it isnt socialism.

[Sanghyeok]

There are no socialist countries left in Europe.

Armenia, Iceland, Portugal and Serbia are all run by democratic socialist parties. Just because it isnt communism doesn't mean it isnt socialism.

They may be run by democratic socialist parties, but I would say (at least Iceland and Portugal) are social democracy. I can't speak on Armenia and Serbia given my limited knowledge.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

Armenia, Iceland, Portugal and Serbia are all run by democratic socialist parties. Just because it isnt communism doesn't mean it isnt socialism.

They may be run by democratic socialist parties, but I would say (at least Iceland and Portugal) are social democracy. I can't speak on Armenia and Serbia given my limited knowledge.

Unpopular opinion (or fact, it kinda rides the line between) but the whole idea of social democracy is to transition to a socialist state. It's the opposite of communism which just overthrows capitalism in one fell swoop.

It's like curing heroin addiction. You can quit cold turkey and possibly die, or you can take certain meds that'll help you get off it in a slightly easier manner. Social democracy is like that. And I probably just earned myself a hanging in the town square for saying that.

[Sanghyeok]

They may be run by democratic socialist parties, but I would say (at least Iceland and Portugal) are social democracy. I can't speak on Armenia and Serbia given my limited knowledge.

Unpopular opinion (or fact, it kinda rides the line between) but the whole idea of social democracy is to transition to a socialist state. It's the opposite of communism which just overthrows capitalism in one fell swoop.

It's like curing heroin addiction. You can quit cold turkey and possibly die, or you can take certain meds that'll help you get off it in a slightly easier manner. Social democracy is like that. And I probably just earned myself a hanging in the town square for saying that.

I don't entirely disagree with you.

[La Paz de Los Ricos]

The cooling of the universe to where quarks and electrons could form. It's definitely important that atoms exist if you're planning on, y'know, being.

[Exalted Inquellian State]

Hasn't happened yet. The most important event in world history will be when the Earth heats up due to the runaway greenhouse effect and causes all life on it to be extinct, which will happen in about 4 billion years.

So, 4,000,002,020 CE. I think that's an election year too.

All life on Earth will go extinct in 2.8 to 3.5 Billion years. All multicellular is generally expected to die in between 800 Million and 1 Billion, with a high estimate of 1.3 Billion. The one that has happened so far is likely Gavrilo Princip Killing Franz Ferdinand, starting WW1 and most of the 20th and 21st century events.

[Exalted Inquellian State]

The Germans taking Moscow would've led to more problems than answers, and the USSR wouldn't just collapse with Moscow.

The Soviets would've fought hard to continue their struggle, and with the overwhelming manpower advantage, it'd only be a matter of when the Soviets would take back Moscow.

Also, I'm pretty sure Stalin had a plan to blow up Moscow to make it unusable to the Germans much like it was to Napoleon.

The collapse of Moscow would've resulted in the collapse of Leningrad, ensuring the fall of the USSR in 1942. From there, the Anglo-Americans would sign a stalemate peace and then you get a Cold War.

Germany would loose the cold war unless Goering, Heydrich, or another pragmatic ruler became leader. It was unsustainable overall, and it would be a miracle to live to 1980 for the Reich. They could have won a world war three however, and either forced America into isolation, kept it a democracy but under the Reichs watch and as an ally so it wouldn't be a thread, a fascist nation, a puppet, RK's, or a mix of the above.

[Postauthoritarian America]

I'm gonna go with biogenesis. Important and possibly unique as far as we know.