top 5 most important dates in human history?

[Megara]

5.480 bc - battle of salamis
4. 476 ad- fall of the roman empire
3. 1456 ad- printing press
2. 1776 ad- declaration of independence
1. 1969 ad- first man on the moon


those are what i think of off the top of my head...and yours?

[themnax]

dates aren't what is important at all. trends reaching critical mass is. and that generaly isn't something that happens in an instant, let alone one that can be tied to a prticular day but only to a year or a decade of a general time fraime.

the onlything that happens on a particular date is some politician taking credit for what some populist movement has already made defacto reality

i'd say the building of the knossos palace on crete, or the stockton and darlington steam trials, the publication of p josiphus agricola's in re mechanibus, the unification of nepal, the letters of the living discouvering the gate i suppose, ghandi's ashram, aknaton's sunrise, the building of the first crannoc and the first broc, the emergance of vertibrate life onto dry land, one as 'important' as another. and a zillion more.

i refuse to render positive credit to infamy's like the burning of the library at alexandria or wars and the dying of cultures and other such calamities, or even the births of what sowed the seeds of them.

though i suppose the invention of cuniform and the rise of mohenjo daro are interesting moments in retrospect

=^^=
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[Megara]

dates aren't what is important at all. trends reaching critical mass is. and that generaly isn't something that happens in an instant, let alone one that can be tied to a prticular day but only to a year or a decade of a general time fraime.

the onlything that happens on a particular date is some politician taking credit for what some populist movement has already made defacto reality
..
I disagree that it is always the case.

Man on the moon for example. The buildup is not what mattered. It was proving that man is not bound to earth. The space race + cold war makes for a nice story, but what really matters happened on july 20th 1969.

Now i'd agree for something like the assassination of archdudke franz ferdinand starting world war 1....there is so much more that needs to be said.

[themnax]

man on the moon is a fine example indeed. do you think it could even have happened without the decades of previous work that went into making it possible, or that the signifigance of the moment, however notable, outweighs the tecnological spinoffs of the effort?

=^^=
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[Megara]

man on the moon is a fine example indeed. do you think it could even have happened without the decades of previous work that went into making it possible, or that the signifigance of the moment, however notable, outweighs the tecnological spinoffs of the effort?

=^^=
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i ranked it as the most important date in human history. Yes, i think the significance of the moment outweighs everything else. Human history up until that moment was earth-based. We are no longer bound to earth. That is what the moment symbolizes.

I'd revise my list actually and include some inventions like harnessing fire and the wheel though.

[themnax]

i ranked it as the most important date in human history. Yes, i think the significance of the moment outweighs everything else. Human history up until that moment was earth-based. We are no longer bound to earth. That is what the moment symbolizes.

I'd revise my list actually and include some inventions like harnessing fire and the wheel though.

well i can see what you're gettin at and it did prove we COULD do it. but the idea that the overwhelming majority of us are any less 'earthbound' then we were before, while certainly a romantic one, remains something of a fantasy.

that is the symbol. everything that was learned in making the effort is the real substance. and yes part of what was learned was one way or several in which it could be done.

the moment will regain a more substantive signifigance, if and when, manned missions beyond earth orbit are ever resumend.

i personaly hope they are, but there are also other things more important.

like figguring out that education is more important then war and things like that.

=^^=
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[YankNBurn]

To me the dates as follows:
10/03/1969 I was born
07/04/1982 First scored (truth or dare game, glad I picked dare that day)
05/10/1987 Very dear person was born
06/20/1988 I graduated
10/19/1989 My son was born

Of coarse this is to my human history.

[Megara]

To me the dates as follows:
10/03/1969 I was born
07/04/1982 First scored (truth or dare game, glad I picked dare that day)
05/10/1987 Very dear person was born
06/20/1988 I graduated
10/19/1989 My son was born

Of coarse this is to my human history.
haha, excellent answers ;)

[themnax]

yes, we can read what someone else's vested intrests want to tell us what was important that happened, or we can live what is important to us. that may be what it comes down to.

although i think important things have happend before i was born. they helped shape the world i was born into. and i'm not so much my own ego to immagine important things won't happen after i'm no longer living on this world.

but the dates we are taught things supposedly happened and what those things supposedly were, in school, well i just don't see that at all.

there is a history i would like to know. the kind of history every child is born wanting to know maybe a little something about. and that is the history of what happened right on the spot where i'm standing or sitting. hundreds and even thousands of years ago. before curent cultural dominance began. not generaly. or the history of THAT culture, the one that's been superimposed on it. but of THIS actual spot. and the people who, at that time, actualy lived HERE.

that is the history schools and politicians and preachers DON'T want you to know. and don't even want you to know WHY they don't want you to know.

and that IS the history i DO care about.

THIS is sacred ground. all ground is sacred ground.

=^^=
.../\...

[Megara]

yes, we can read what someone else's vested intrests want to tell us what was important that happened, or we can live what is important to us. that may be what it comes down to.

although i think important things have happend before i was born. they helped shape the world i was born into. and i'm not so much my own ego to immagine important things won't happen after i'm no longer living on this world.

but the dates we are taught things supposedly happened and what those things supposedly were, in school, well i just don't see that at all.

there is a history i would like to know. the kind of history every child is born wanting to know maybe a little something about. and that is the history of what happened right on the spot where i'm standing or sitting. hundreds and even thousands of years ago. before curent cultural dominance began. not generaly. or the history of THAT culture, the one that's been superimposed on it. but of THIS actual spot. and the people who, at that time, actualy lived HERE.

that is the history schools and politicians and preachers DON'T want you to know. and don't even want you to know WHY they don't want you to know.

and that IS the history i DO care about.

THIS is sacred ground. all ground is sacred ground.

=^^=
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you have way overanalyzed what was meant to be a simple question. I was just curious what other people thought....

[KoNe]

Men never went on the moon. SO much bullshit, that has been made up by holywood. Thre is no air, so there would be no wind. How would the flag be moving???

[Last Stand]

The day i was born and the day i die.

[zeppelin kid]

You dont have d-day on that list, ya know june 6, 1944. That would have to be one of the bigger dates in our history.

[Last Stand]

You dont have d-day on that list, ya know june 6, 1944. That would have to be one of the bigger dates in our history.why?.

[zeppelin kid]

Why you ask. Because on that day the biggest invasion ever in the history of warfare took place during world war 2. The united states, canada, and britain all came together and created an invasion force large enough to handle the so called atlantic wall which was built by the german forces and thought to be inpenetrable. That day decided the fait of world war 2 and put the advantage on the allies which now encircled the germans. The russians were closing in on the east as the americans, british and canadiens fought on the western side. They were closing in on the german war machine and the security and freedom in the world.

[zeppelin kid]

General Dwight D. Eisenhower:



You are about to embark upon the great crusade towards which we have striven these many months.



The eyes of the world are upon you, the hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you.



In company with our brave allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the german war machine, the elimination of nazy tyranny over the opressed peoples of europe and security for ourselves and a free world.



Your task will not be an easy one, your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.



I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory! Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

[Megara]

oh, its definitely up there...it is probably the most important battle fought in the Cold War. Yes, i said cold war...

[Piney]

1485: Bosworth Field & the consolidation of The Tudon Dynasty
1465: Bubonic Plauge
1492:Consolidation of Spain, discovery of New world.
1688: Glorious Revolution. onset of war of the Leauge of Ausberg.
1759: Miracle Year, Seven Years War.

[DQ Veg]

33 a.d. Death of Jesus Christ.
1456 Invention of the printing press.
1492 Discovery of the New World
1517 Beginning of the Protestant Reformation
1789 Beginning of the French Revolution.

[DQ Veg]

If I were to give 5 others it would be:
313 The conversion of Constantine and the legalization and institutionalization of Christianity.
1776 The Declaration of Independence
1917 The Russian Revolution
1945 The end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War
1989 The fall of the Soviet Union, the End of the Cold War, and the beginning of the New World Order

[fistermister]

I think these things are important. Most are 'inventions'. They all occured at one date/time or another, so I think they count as events.

1. Spoken Language
2. Written Language
3. Soap
4. Development of alloys
5. Discovery of DNA and it's significance.

[AreYouExperienced]

5. Discovery of DNA and it's significance.
Beat me to it, I think this discovery and the continuation of researching DNA, genes, etc. will prove to be the most beneficial to humanity in the future.

[themnax]

i'd say the rise of the roman empire was a much greater tragidy then its fall.

hiroshima chainged the world. i think that's the most recent thing to do so signifigantly.

the invention of capitolism was a very mixed blessing if blessing at all, even if it did make it possible for tecnology to make up for time it had previously lost to other forms of fanatacism.

if it wasn't for (ancient) greece and rome, would they (fanatacism in any form) even have existed at all?

the invention of the village community larger then a single kinship, something that can be assigned no one date was probably almost the first.

the invention of language, that or the use of fire, may either or both have predated it.

that's my five then.
language
fire
village
city-state
heroshima

mining, metalurgy and agriculture are all in there and important too.
perhapse agriculture more then the city-state and it's armies.
the two are connected though and the latter unambiguously unfortunate.
mostly because it gave rise to the erronious notion that anyone is better off to robb others of their calmness then we would all be if no one ever did.

=^^=
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[trapjaw]

Hmm, very tough question... It's impossible to pick the 5 MOST important dates in history.. I don't think it's possible to narrow it down to just 5 choices.

But, my 2c worth, I'd say:

31BC - Roman Empire founded
33BC - Death of Jesus
+/- 1250AD - Discovery of Gunpowder
French Revolution - 1789
Industrial Revolution, starting about 1780

Damn, not enough room for discovery of penicillin..

[~MorningManiacMusic~]

9/11 and 2012

[bamboo]

1) 1000000 bce invention of fire.

2) Approx.1250 ce the invention of gun powder...chemical fire.
3) 1750 ce - 1900 ce invention of electricity...electronic fire.
4) 1945 ce the invention of nuclear fire.
5) the mid 1980's and the internet...the invention of knowledge fire.

Each one of these has lead to positive and negative counter forces in our civilization, the last might be the most dangerous or the most rewarding.

[themnax]

1) 1000000 bce invention of fire.

2) Approx.1250 ce the invention of gun powder...chemical fire.
3) 1750 ce - 1900 ce invention of electricity...electronic fire.
4) 1945 ce the invention of nuclear fire.
5) the mid 1980's and the internet...the invention of knowledge fire.

Each one of these has lead to positive and negative counter forces in our civilization, the last might be the most dangerous or the most rewarding.

i think this is about right. though there is one more, the invention of agriculture which falls somewhere between your 1 and 2. may even be a replacement for your invention of gunpowder in terms of real and generality of signifigance.

so maybe the're not all "fire" after all. although there may be some sense in which agriculture could be expressed as a form of "fire" too.

hierarchal soverignty certainly fears the internet and it is by no means certain wich will likely kill the other first. though even if today's soverignties succeed in doing so, something similar or analagous to today's internet will eventualy re-emerge and replace them entierly. i believe that to be a near certainty, even if the immediate future is not.

all the idiologies, economic theories, and beliefs, are not the mechanism, but attempts to manipulate perception and understanding of it.

=^^=
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[AT98BooBoo]

July 1-3,1863. Battle of Gettysburg. This battle marked the begining of the end of The Confederacy.

[fistermister]

1. Big Bang
2. Formation of stars and planets
3. Formation of the earth
4. I am born
5. I die (future event).

Everything that happens after I die is simply irrelevant http://www.hipforums.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif

[dawn_sky]

1. Circa 100,000-200,000 years ago -- anatomically modern humans evolved
2. Development of language (experts are unable to reliably date this)
3. Circa 8,000 years ago -- development of agriculture
4. Circa 5,000 years ago -- development of wet rice agriculture
5. I forget the date -- domestication of animals

[WoodstockChild]

1969- Woodstock Music Festival. Duh!

1967- Release of Seargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
1964- The Beatles come to America
1995- Jerry Garcia dies
1980- John Lennon dies

[mr.morrison]

when humans stood on 2 feet becuase this changed us physicall and mentally

spoken language

first civilization off the coast of some asian country recently found. artifacts date back to 10,000 years ago. many believe this was the "atlantis" of legend because it was extremely advanced for its time.

written language

agriculture

[fistermister]

first civilization off the coast of some asian country recently found. artifacts date back to 10,000 years ago. many believe this was the "atlantis" of legend because it was extremely advanced for its time.Not the oldest civilisation. Australian Aboriginals 40,000 years ago.

[mr.morrison]

o shit, i never heard of that

[fistermister]

Well, it is debatable, depending on your definition of 'civilisation'. When Australia was invaded (they call it settlement) by the British, they declared terra nullius (that the land was owned by no one) and by implication they were saying that there was no such thing as Aboriginal civilisation.

I quickly found a website on Australian rock art that might shed some more light on the topic. http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/art/rockage.php

[mr.morrison]

i diddnt mean art and human settleing. i meant a government and stuff like that not just tribes. these people buillt great stone platforms for religious occasions and carved massive faces and had laws and shit. but then a major earthquake happened and the island sank. thats where the legend of atlantis comes from

[WoodstockChild]

August 15-17 1969 was the most important date :( Duh.

[jthebear]

1. The end of whatever was before the universe began.
2. The development of agriculture.
3. The development of marijuana and sacred drugs.
4. The development of science.
5. The development of the electric guitar.

[guy]

535ad volcanic explosion in the far east (near krakatoa) that precipitated the collapse of the remnants of the roman empire.
1450 volcanic explosion that destroyed thera and wiped out the minoan civillisation
1066 invasion of britain and the end of the dark ages
circa 800bc the greeks are given and develop a written language
circa 100bc fall of the roman republic
circa 1900's the fall of the american republic
the renaissance 1300's to 15/1600 (i corrected this bit, it went on for a bit longer than i thought!!)

[MaximusXXX]

1. March 10th, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone
2. October 4th, 1957, Sputnik Is Launched
3. April 2nd, 1961, Yuri Gagarin becoems the first man in space
4. August 6th, 1945, United States uses the Atom Bomb as a Weapon
5. September 1st, 1939, Nazi Germany invades Poland igniting World War II

[guy]

1. The end of whatever was before the universe began.
2. The development of agriculture.
3. The development of marijuana and sacred drugs.
4. The development of science.
5. The development of the electric guitar.
i think i have been wrong!!!
this man has the true understanding of history and this forum!
keep up the good work!!

[woodcat]

You cant pick just five dates, there are many more 'world shaping' dates than just 5, wars, victories, deaths, births, agricultrial and industrial developments, inventions, revolutions, scientific discoveries, intelctual movment, ect ect ect.


But I can tell you that landing on the moon isnt one of them. That has'nt changed a damn thing of any real importance.

[HonorSeed]

You may not be able to pick exact dates on these happenings but I think these 5 situations were important.

1. The flood about 3000BC that was worldwide and flooded the Euphrates valley.
2. The invention of the bowl after which came a great deal of descriptive words added to many languages describing such implements.
3. The first people to grab perhaps a burning bush after a lightening fire and keep the coals alive for a fire in their prehistoric camp.
4.The confluence of the religeous notions to convey God as an explanation to the power of men in the middle east area culminated by the life of Jesus Christ.
5. A series of scientific advancements that started perhaps about 1650 and go the present. Communication being the greatest influence with linotype being the reason books became cheap enough for everybody and the recent developement of computers being a communication tool that started to be a realistic opportunity in the 1990's for the sharing of knowledge.

My opinion is that communication is a greater influence than the field of transporation.
Without advertising to sell Model Ts, there would have been no income to develop at any pace worthwhile. This is also true of about any product. that came on since the beginning of the industrial revolution begun in the 1800's.
Before the invention of cheap books and printing it was probably word of mouth at a local tavern that spread any news of a new invention.
http://www.johnnymanson.com/style_emoticons/light_skin/drinks.gif

[Tool Army2012]

to me the 5 are (not in any particular order): 1) internet 2)atomic bomb 3)airplane 4)automobile 5)beginning of humanity