jasoncollins, aren't you proud of american imperialists?
they preach "freedom," and "liberty," and "pursuit of happiness," yet they take both away both international and domestic.

I never claimed that empires must have emperor. just historically, people don't consider Britain, or America "empires."

Anyways. the question is too broadly phrased.

It's impossible to compare America to any "empires."
and as a result, to choose your "favorite" "empire" is...lol

it's like saying...what is your favorite weapon?
a. rock
b. sword
c. pistol
d. laser gun
e. lightsabers

-.-

*both internationally and domestically*
jez..what lack of sleep would do to you

e

i would have to go with a lightsaber, followed by a rock.
I'm a sucker for the classics:]

oh and Prussia. We should all fear them too.

It doesn't really count, but I like the Central African Empire under Bokassa. I did a presentation on it sophomore year of high school. It was on dictators and I decided to pick an obscure one.

He ate people, you know. In the 1970s.

it's like saying...what is your favorite weapon?
a. rock
b. sword
c. pistol
d. laser gun
e. lightsabers

Which one is America? :)

i choose laser gun as my favorite. that's just badass :)

jasoncollins. hahahaa. that really made me laugh.

Hmm, the best empire. I think it has to be........

THE EMPIRE! You can't beat the Death Star! (unless your Han Solo or Luke Skywalker with plenty of help.) And yes, THE EMPIRE is influential, on MOVIES! And of course they were the largest as they had an entire galaxy.

Well, if we are going there, I think the Shadows and the Vorlons rank up there.

Oh and I pick ICBM as my favorite weapon.

Shadows? Vorlons?

The Lightsabre beat the empire in the end. Darth's point only illucidate's idealist's scissor/paper/rock/lightsabre analogy :D

i also vote for THE Empire when i first saw this thread that was the first thing that popped into my mind. And the death star gets blown up twice... plus a few times in the books and also when the hutts tried building one that was only a cannon... but the Empire wins in both size and awesome points

The Empire had Lightsabers. Thus a tie.

Didn't a bunch of Ewoks kick Imperial Stormtrooper ass. That's not very great if you ask me.

They could have redeemed themselves by killing Jar Jar....

Ewoks are like ninjas. You can't compare them to anything for they are to awesome.

Ewoks are the suckiest things ever (next to Jar Jar).

If you're going to bring in fictional empires...

The Eddorians ruled their own universe and tried to take over ours. Has anyone (ok, anything) ruled more than one universe?

@Chanley "What about the long time running Incans: longest empire in history! "
I don't think that is true. According to Wikipedia the Incan Empire was founded in about 1422, which means it only lasted about 100 years before being destroyed by the Spanish.

i would have to go with the vikings. they beat people up, followed by pillaging and raping. they got what they wanted for free. end of story

please mention the author if you are going to bring in books ie Wilson's Eddorians.....

ewoks, jaja....im embarrassed for lucas really.

idealist (well chosen name) "people don't consider Britain, or America "empires." " ......
im pretty sure "people" (historians, political scientists etc) consider the British and US nation states as Empires. but if by "people" you mean imperial apologists and suckers who fall for simplistic propaganda then i guess you may be right.
idealist "Britain, when formed, was a monarchy, ruled by a king" ...and thats your argument for it NOT being an empire??

dont get stuck in such simplistic semantics, a president can run an empire, it doesnt need to be an Emperor and the client states dont need to give yearly tithes to him in the form of a thousand goats or whatever. An empire is any nation using imperialism as an government policy.
imperialism
Noun
1. the policy or practice of extending a country's influence over other territories by conquest, colonization, or economic domination

The influence of the British Empire was massive (for good or ill is for others to decide), and remember "The sun never sets on the British Empire, because God doesn't trust them in the dark"

how about the imperium of man? i understand it was quite powerful before horus betrayed the emperor...

Pretty powerful afterwards, just ruled by insanity and dogma rather than hope and enlightenment.

How long did the empire of the Inca last for? Arguably the Roman Empire lasted from 753 BC to 1453 AD by the longest estimates, when Byzantium fell to Mehmet II. That's over two millennia. Even by the short estimate to 476 AD there's 1200 years right there. The Inca last longer than that?

yes, but its slowly crumbling

Well that depends. Every day millions are lost, but there are untold billions more ;) plus I'm pretty sure one million Space Marines count against the adjective 'crumbling'.

good point. the fluff just makes it seem like humanitys final hour is drawing near. and one million space marine is nothing against the unending chaos tide, hordes of tyranids, orks, necrons etc

Well it sort of does, but that millions and billions is paraphrased from the 5th Ed rulebook. It's so massive losing lots doesn't make a huge difference. They must be something against them because it's stated repeatedly they're the only thing holding the Imperium together. This is a tad off topic though :D