Favourite Imperialist Power.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

Poll question: Favourite Imperialist Power.

OK, it's 1708 (or thereabouts). Which of the Imperialist Nations do you choose to serve? Which is your favourite Empire?

As a Scot and a Canadian, I had to pick France.

[FlashHarry]

1. Rome or Persia N/T

[rjbcar27]

2. And as a Brit, I choose Britain!

:P

[Screaming Lord Byron]

5. Oh yeah. I had to be cheeky, didn't I!

[Screaming Lord Byron]

7. Notice there are actually no votes for France yet?

Maybe I should actually bother to register my vote.

[fizzana]

3. Rome, they kicked butt.

n/t

[terrya]

4. Let's be honest, SLB. You could have included the United States.

We've certainly had our imperialistic tendencies over the decades.

I'd personally choose Britain, though.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

6. Hey! No anachronisms here! The equiv. of the US in 1708 would be...

hmmm Britain?

Now Rjbcar27's gonna hit me for sure!:)

[felonious thunk]

8. Portugal

I have no real reason, except that they weren't included....um...hmm..
I enjoy a good port after dinner.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. Wasn't Portugal merged with Spain under Phillip II at the time? (nt)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. Almost chose Spain, but then I saw Holland and voted it...

...most enlightened nation at the time. Second choice would be Spain. Blood talks, y'know.

[Emboldened Chimp]

11. As an Irishman, I definitely DID NOT pick Britain

So I chose France.

[greatauntoftriplets]

12. I chose "Other"

because I would have been in Ireland working for independence.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

13. IIRC weren't the French always going into Ireland to attack the English?

I know the Scots Jacobites got a lot of French support through Ireland

[Johnyawl]

19. Actually, no

The Scots Jacobites always got a lot more promise of support from the French, than they got actual support.

The Jacobites never managed to coordinate their uprisings with a moment when it was in the French interest to go to war with England.

A lot of Americans are ignorant of the fact that at the time of our revolution, France was the military/economic equal of England, and they were still smarting from the defeat of the Seven Years War, and looking for a little payback.

1785 would have been an opportune moment for a Jacobite rebellion. Unfortunately for Scottish independence, the Jacobites had been mostly wiped out, converted, or transported by that time.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

20. Personally I wouldn't have supported Prince Charlie or his dad.

Swapping one foreign king in London for another is no advantage. Charles could have stopped after Prestonpans, but he had little interest in the Scottish throne, he wanted the big prize for his family.

[Johnyawl]

22. I'm with you about Charlie

It's always been amusingly ironic to me that the Scots were fighting to put a Frenchman on the throne, while the English were fighting to keep a German on it.

jebus, is there anything worse than religion mixed with politics? Do we never learn?

[SiobhanClancy]

14. I would NEVER pick Britain....

Enough of my relatives lost their lives and/or their freedom due to British policies.
I don't care much for any empires,but I picked Holland.

[JohnKleeb]

23. same clancy

[starroute]

15. Why 1708? Not a very good year for empires

It was right in the middle of the War of the Spanish Succession, when the Spanish throne had become a prize for the rest of Europe to wrangle over. So we can leave Spain out of the equation as far as empire is concerned.

The Dutch Republic was also in decline, and had been since the loss of New Amsterdam to the British in 1664. By the early 1700's, it was becoming a financial and intellectual backwater.

That leaves France, which was probably at its peak of power under Louis XIV at the time, and England, which was on its way up. So your question resolves into whether you'd rather play top dog or up-and-comer.

I think I'd have to choose France. The food was probably a lot better. Unless I had to be a peasant, of course -- then I'd choose England.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

17. One year after the Act of Union

I didn't want to have to distinguish between England and Britain, so that's why. The date doesn't really matter, I was just giving people a time frame.

[Superfly]

16. Austro-Hungarian

When they asked me the country of my Oma's birth for my security clearance, I had to say that, which prompted a inquiry from the National Security Agency.

"Sir, we are processing you security clearance paperwork...well, we all looked at a map and couldn't find the country you put on your application...."

On edit....did the Austro-H empire even exist back then?

On edit again...union formed in 1867... sorry.

[T_i_B]

18. Holy Roman Empire

It was the Holy Roman Empire until Napoleon, with the Hapsburgs in charge from the 13th century onwards. It was an empire with a heck of a lot of history behind it that has ceased to exist only in the past 100 years.

[amber dog democrat]

21. The Mongols

for out and out oppression - and military prowess.

[banana republican]

24. Babylon

The mother of whores