History

I'm writing an article on influential historical figures and wanted to get some thoughts on who you think might have shaped history the most. If you had to pick just one person, who do you believe has indelibly stamped--for better or for worse--life as we know it?

This might not help you much because we'll never know the name of the person I think is the most important in history. I tell my students that the most brilliant people who ever lived were the cave men. How did they look at a sheep and think, "If I shave the wool off that animal and pull it into long strings, I can weave it together to make a coat"? How did they figure out that if they built a fire hot enough, they could melt a rock and shape it into knives and swords? Movies that portray early people as grunting, ignorant brutes are so wrong!

Seriously, as a Christian I have to say that Jesus is the most influential person who has ever lived. Second would be Moses.

It's almost an impossible question to answer, but I think you'd just have to pick someone who represents a lot of things in one person. Alexander the Great is one whose life shows: education, war, love, conquest, empire, wealth, poverty, change, etc. Through the story of Alexander, you can start to understand some of the common threads that run throughout all history. 

While I have to agree that Jesus was the most important historical figure, because if you believe in him, he is still changing the world today, I also think a case could be made for Abraham.  After all three world religions look to him as a founder and prophet;  Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. 

Wow!  This is an interesting question.  I'd have to agree that Alexander the Great is a good answer.  In more modern history, I'd pick Elizabeth the I, who brought the arts, including literature and theater, to the forefront in Britain, which, in turn, ended up greatly influencing American arts, along with many other countries' arts.

In reply to #1: As a former teacher and amatuer history buff here's my opinion because there is no "right" answer:

Interesting and greatly debatable question. Some initial thoughts in gutenberg, Hamurabi, the farmer in India who invented the plow, but I would have to say it was Genghis Khan - his Mongol empire ruled from sea to sea and connected eastern and western cultures and capitalized on best practices from each community and region that came under his control and incorporated into the local governing body. The influence of his empire is consistently felt today.