re: Who is the most important figure in history (who is not a central figure of a religion)?

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Genghis Khan

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Probably this.

In terms of Western Civilization, John Locke is incredibly instrumental.

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Alexander was conquering regardless of being tutored by him

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I doubt it.

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Ghengis Khan

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BAMF... that dude

Charles Martel.

The Prince of France who saved Western Civilization from Islamic barbarism with his famous victory at the Battle of Tours in the year 732. If the French fail to win that victory, the map of Europe looks different and we are all praying five times a day toward Mecca.

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Genghis Khan

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Very important but in lasting legacy I don’t think he compares to others who brought about technological innovations like medicine and printing. Wiping out millions of people of course has an effect, as does forming an empire, but he’s not the first nor last person to do that. His empire grew after his death and then eventually splintered just as all those old empires did. The Mongols didn’t destroy Islam at all.

Similarly, Alexander destroyed the Persian Empire and spread Hellenism far and wide, but has that Hellenism had a lasting impact? Ok, so people in Afghanistan once wore togas...how important is that today? It didn’t last. Eventually peoples, such as the Jews, threw off the Greek yoke and then Rome came along. If Alexander never conquered anything, would the world be vastly different today? I think Rome was coming regardless and would have subjugated the Greek city-states, and Persia was not going to last forever anyway. In any case, Persia was revived in one form or another until the armies of Islam came along. So what was the lasting importance of Alexander?

It’s hard to not think WWI was the basis of so much of what we know about the world today, but some of this may be recency bias.

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Not until Henry VIII tho

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Foot print of England prior to Henry 8 wasn’t that big, this is pre-colonialism. Not that important.

Gregory Goodwin Pincus

Charles Babbage

Adolph Hitler
Genghis Khan
Alexander the Great

All for the same reasons. Some were more successful than others. Also, we've had time for two of their echoes through history to settle down. That Hitler guy is still echoing pretty loud.

Oppenheimer may also be on the list for managing all the things required for this...



This is hard to argue against. Your viewpoint might be noted on paper, but it's all just a ball of plasma if you sufficiently piss the right people off. When a war happens and nuclear weapons are the main weapons, the world will fundamentally change. Oppenheimer will be held as one of the main people responsible.