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World domination (also called global domination, world conquest, global conquest, or cosmocracy) is a hypothetical power structure, either achieved or aspired to, in which a single political authority holds power over all or virtually all the inhabitants of Earth. Historically, world domination has been thought of in terms of a nation expanding its power to the point that all other nations are subservient to it. This may be achieved by direct military force or by establishing a hegemony. The latter is an indirect form of rule by the hegemon (leading state) over subordinate states. The hegemon's implied power includes the threat of force, protection, or bestowal of economic benefits. Forces resisting attempted or existing hegemony strive to preserve or restore a Multipolar world balance of power.
Various rulers or regimes have tried to achieve this goal in history. Global conquest was never attained. However, the matter is more complex with indirect or Informal empire domination. Many historiansPaul Kennedy (2002). "The Greatest superpower ever," New Perspectives Quarterly, vol 19/2.Niall Ferguson (2005). Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire. (New York: Penguin Books), p 17.Maier, Charles S. (2006) Among Empires: American Ascendancy and Its Predecessors. (Massachusetts & London: Harvard University Press), p 1. The British Academy political scientistsCohen, Eliot A. (July–August 2004). "History and the hyperpower". Foreign Affairs. 83 (4): 49–63.Walter Russell Mead (March – April 2004). "America's sticky power," Foreign Policy, vol 141: p 48. and policy-makersHubert Vedrine & Dominique Moisi (2001). France in an Age of Globalization, (tr. Gordon, Philip H., Washington: Brookings Institutions Press), p 2.Putin, Vladimir (7 November 2024). “Путин выступил на заседании дискуссионного клуба "Валдай". Полный текст.” 21st annual Valdai session,
The theme of world domination has often been used in works of fiction, particularly in political fiction, as well as in conspiracy theories (which may posit that some person or group has already secretly achieved this goal), particularly those fearing the development of a "New World Order" involving a world government of a totalitarianism nature.
By the early 21st century, wars of territorial conquest were uncommon and the world's nations could attempt to resolve their differences through Multilateralism diplomacy under the auspices of global organizations like the United Nations, World Trade Organization, or, with equal perspectives, the
Domination, according to Michael W. Doyle, is possible without territorial conquest. Some international relations display all features of territorial conquest except a conqueror’s flag.Doyle, Michael (1986). Empires. (Cornell University Press), p 33. The influence of historical territorial empires is still important and the non-territorial world domination is practiced.
After the collapse of the Macedonian Empire, the Seleucid Empire appeared with claims to world rule in their imperial ideology, as Antiochus I Soter claimed the ancient Mesopotamian title King of the Universe. However, it didn't reflect realistic Seleucid imperial ambitions at this point after the peace treaty of Seleucus I Nicator with the Mauryans had set a limit to eastern expansion, and Antiochus ceding the lands west of Thrace to the Antigonids.
According to legend, King Vikramaditya's Empire spread across the Middle East and East Asia (even reaching modern Indonesia), with Vikramaditya a great Hindus world emperor (or Chakravarti). This probably inspired the imperial pretensions of Chandragupta II and Skandagupta, as the term Vikramaditya is also used as a title by several Hindu monarchs. According to P. N. Oak and Stephen Knapp, king Vikrama’s empire extended up to Europe and the whole of Jambudvip (Indian subcontinent). But, according to most historical texts, his empire was located in present-day northern India and Pakistan, implying that the historic Vikramaditya only ruled Bharata Khanda as far as the Indus River, as per Bhavishya Purana. There is no epigraphic evidence to suggest that his rule extended to Europe, Arabia, Central Asia or Southeast Asia. (Sources of contemporaneous empires, like the , Kushan Empire, Chinese empire, Roman Empire and Sasanian Empire, don't mention an empire ruling from Arabia to Indonesia.) That part of his rule is considered to be legend, as Indian religions conceptions of the Indian subcontinent as being 'the world' (with the term Jambudvīpa used broadly in the same way), and how that translates into folk memories.
The Mahabharata or Somadeva's Kathasaritsagara The Ocean of Story. has pretensions of world domination, as performing some Mysticism ritual and virtues would be a signal of becoming emperor of the whole world, just as Dharma has Universal law over all the cosmos. In this epic there was a time when Emperor Yudhishthira ruled over 'the world': as from Śuciratha will come the son named Vṛṣṭimān, and his son, Suṣeṇa, will be the emperor of the entire world. There are signs in Bāṇabhaṭṭa that an emperor named Harsha shall arise, who will rule over all the continents like Harishchandra, who will conquer the world like Mandhatri. But 'the world', in the time of Ramayana in the 12th century BCE and Mahabharata in the 5th century BCE, was only India. Some pan-Indian empires, like the Maurya Empire, were seeking domination first of the ancient world known to Indians in the Akhand Bharat, and then through conflict with the Seleucid Empire. Ashoka was a devout Buddhism and wanted to establish it as a world religion. Also, the first references to a Chakravala Chakravartin (an emperor who rules over all four of the continents) appears in monuments from the time of the early Maurya Empire, in the 4th to 3rd century BCE, in reference to Chandragupta Maurya and his grandson Ashoka.
For the emperors of the central kingdom of China, the world can be roughly divided into two broad and simple categories: civilization and non-civilization, which means the people who have accepted the emperor's supremacy, the Heavenly virtue and its principle, and the people who have not accepted it. The emperors recognized their country as the only true civilization in all respects, starting with their geography and including all the known world in a Celestial Empire. China's neighbors were obliged to pay their respects to the 'excellent' Chinese emperors within these boundaries on a regular basis. It is argued that this was the most important element of the East Asian order, which was implicit in the term 'Celestial Empire' in the past.Lee, Seokwoo; Lee, Hee Eun (2016-05-02). The Making of International Law in Korea. Brill | Nijhoff. . . In the 7th century, during the Tang dynasty, some northern tribes of Turkic peoples origin, having been made vassal (as a consequence of the Tang campaign against the Eastern Turks), referred to Emperor Taizong of Tang as the 'Khan of Heaven'. The Chinese emperor exercised power over the surrounding dynasty in the name of a Celestial Empire. Ancient Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese kings were subjects of the Chinese emperor. The idea of the absolute authority of the Chinese emperor and the extension of tianxia by the assimilation of vassal states began to fade with the Opium Wars, as China was made to refer to Great Britain as a 'sovereign nation', equal to itself, and to establish Zongli Yamen and accommodate the concept of Westphalian sovereignty in its international affairs in the period of New Imperialism.
While Mackinder's 'Heartland Theory' initially received little attention outside geography, it later exercised some influence on the foreign policy of world powers seeking to obtain the control suggested by the theory.Sloan, G.R. "Sir Halford Mackinder: The heartland theory then and now", in Gray C S and Sloan G.R., Geopolitics, Geography and Strategy. London: Frank Cass, pp. 15–38. Impressed with the swift opening of World War II, Derwent Whittlesey wrote in 1942:
Yet before the entry of the United States into this War and with Isolationism still intact, U.S. strategist Hanson W. Baldwin had projected that "tomorrow air bases may be the highroad to power and domination… Obviously it is only by air bases … that power exercised in the sovereign skies above a nation can be stretched far beyond its shores… Perhaps … future acquisitions of air bases … can carry the voice of America through the skies to the ends of the earth.Hanson W. Baldwin, United We Stand! Defense of the Western Hemisphere, (New York & London: Whittlesey House, 1941), p 189, 222.
Writing in 1948, Hans Morgenthau stressed that the mechanical development of weapons, transportation, and communication makes "the conquest of the world technically possible, and they make it technically possible to keep the world in that conquered state." He argues that a lack of such infrastructure explains why great ancient empires, though vast, failed to complete the universal conquest of their world and perpetuate the conquest. "Today no technological obstacle stands in the way of a world-wide empire as modern technology makes it possible to extend the control of mind and action to every corner of the globe regardless of geography and season.", 4th edition, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1967, pp. 358–365. Morgenthau continued on technological progress:
However, it has been said that with the full size and scope of the world known, "world domination is an impossible goal", and specifically that "no single nation however big and powerful can dominate a world" of well over a hundred interdependent nations and billions of people. The Atlantic Community Quarterly (1979), Volume 17, p. 287. At the time, the source specified that there were about 140 nations and about four billion people.
The above assumption is challenged by scholars of the Cliometrics approach to history.
In certain , some adherents may also seek the conversion (peaceful or forced) of as many people as possible to their own religion, without restrictions of national or ethnic origin. This type of spiritual domination is usually seen as distinct from the temporal dominion, although there have been instances of efforts begun as descending into the pursuit of wealth, resources, and territory. Some Christian sect teach that a false religion, led by who achieve world domination by inducing nearly universal worship of a False god, is a prerequisite to the Eschatology described in the Book of Revelation. As one author put it, "if world domination is to be obtained, the masses of little people must be brought on board with religion."Buddy Selman, Because God Made a Promise to Abraham (2011), p. 262.
In some instances, speakers have accused nations or ideological groups of seeking world domination, even where those entities have denied that this was their goal. For example, J. G. Ballard quoted Aldous Huxley as having said of the United States entering the First World War, "I dread the inevitable acceleration of American world domination which will be the result of it all… Europe will no longer be Europe."J. G. Ballard, Prophet of Our Present. Review of Aldous Huxley: An English Intellectual by Nicholas Murray. The Guardian, 13 April 2002. In 2012, a politician and critic of Islam, Geert Wilders, characterized Islam as "an ideology aiming for world domination rather than a religion," and in 2008 characterized the Israel–Gaza conflict as a proxy action by Islam against the West, contending that "the end of Israel would not mean the end of our problems with Islam, but only … the start of the final battle for world domination".Geert Wilders Speech at the Four Seasons, New York (25 September 2008) .
/ref> argue that the United States attained global hegemony since 1945 or 1991, or even the British Empire in the 19th century.Go, Julian (2011). Patterns of Empire: The British and American Empires, 1688 to the Present. (New York: Cambridge University Press), p 23.Deepak Lal (2004). In Praise of Empires: Globalization and Order. (New York: Palgrave), p XX.Niall Ferguson (2003). Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power. (New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0465023282), p XII, XXVII, 370.
Barkun, Michael (2025). 9780520238053, University of California Press; 1 edition. ISBN 9780520238053
History
While various empires and hegemonies over the course of history have been able to expand and dominate large parts of the world, none have come close to conquering all the territory on Earth. However, these powers have had a global impact in cultural and economic terms that is still felt today. Some of the largest and more prominent empires include:
domination by the United States. According to proponents of the concept,Pizzo, David (2016). "Informal empire." (2016). The Encyclopedia of Empire
/ref> the history of the American Empire begins in the Latin America following the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, extends to the non-Soviet sphere of the Old World since 1945 and to the post-Soviet space in Europe since 1991. In size, the US Empire exceeds the British EmpireDarwin, John (2008). After Tamerlane: The Global History of Empire since 1405. (New York: Bloomsbury Press), p 470. and some scholars claim that the US Empire is global in scope.Manfred Berg (2016). "America, United States of: 20th century to the present." The Encyclopedia of Empire. (Ed. MacKenzie, John M. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ISBN 9781118440643), p 3.Michael Mann (2012). The Sources of Social Power: Global Empires and Revolution, 1890– 1945. (Cambridge), vol 3, p 2.Mead, Walter Russell (March – April 2004). "America's Sticky Power," Foreign Policy, vol 141, p 48.Paul Kennedy (2002). "The Greatest Superpower Ever," New Perspectives Quarterly, vol 19 (2).
/ref> when it recognized all Russian conquests in Ukraine. Except Russia, the world's superpowers and potential superpowers rarely attempt to exert global influence through the types of territorial empire-building seen in history, but the world's leading superpower permanently exerts global influence through the type of non-territorial empire-building also seen in history:
Ideologies
The aspiration to rule 'the four corners of the universe' has been the hallmark of imperial ideologies worldwide since the beginning of history.
Egypt
The Egyptian King was believed to rule 'all under the sun.' On Abydos Stelae, Thutmose I claimed: "I made the boundaries of Egypt as far as the sun encircles." Ancient Records of Egypt, (ed. James Henry Breasted, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2001), vol 2/98, p 40. The Story of Sinuke tells that the King has "subdued all that the sun encircles." Ancient Egyptian Literature: A Book of Reading, ed. Miriam Lichtheim, London: University of California Press, vol I, p 230. The Hymn of Victory of Thutmose III and the Stelae of Amenophis II proclaimed that no one makes a boundary with the King and there is "no boundary for him towards all lands united, towards all lands together." Ancient Records of Egypt, vol 2/792, p 311;Mario Liverani, Prestige and Interest: International Relations in the Near East c. 1600 – 1100 BC, Padova: Palgrave, 1990, p. 58. Thutmose III was also acknowledged: "None presents himself before thy majesty. The circuit of the Great Circle Ocean is included in thy grasp." Ancient Records of Egypt, vol 2/657–661, pp. 264–265.
Mesopotamia
The prestigious title of King of the Universe appeared in Ancient Mesopotamia, being used by powerful monarchs claiming world domination, starting with the Akkadian king Sargon (2334–2284 BC). It was used in a succession of later empires claiming symbolical descent from Sargon's Akkadian Empire.Stevens, Kahtryn (2014). " The Antiochus Cylinder, Babylonian Scholarship and Seleucid Imperial Ideology" (PDF). The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 134: 66–88. . . During the early dynastic period in Mesopotamia (c. 2900–2350 BC), the rulers of the region's city-states (such as Ur, Uruk, Lagash, Umma, and Kish) would often launch invasions into regions and cities far from their own, generally with negligible consequences for themselves, in order to establish temporary and small empires to either gain or keep a superior position relative to the other city-states. Eventually this quest to be more prestigious and powerful than the other resulted in a general ambition for universal rule. Since Mesopotamia was equated to correspond to the entire world and cities had been built far and wide (cities the like of Susa, Mari and Assur were located near the perceived corners of the world) it seemed possible to reach the edges of the world (at this time thought to be the lower sea, the Persian Gulf, and the upper sea, the Mediterranean).Liverani, Mario (2013). The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. Routledge. . The title šar kiššatim was perhaps most prominently used by the kings of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, more than a thousand years after the fall of the Akkadian Empire.Levin, Yigal (2002). "Nimrod the Mighty, King of Kish, King of Sumer and Akkad". Vetus Testamentum. 52 (3): 350–366. .
Persia
After taking Babylon and defeating the Neo-Babylonian Empire, Cyrus the Great proclaimed himself "King of Babylon, King of Sumer and Akkad, King of the Four Corners of the World" in the famous Cyrus Cylinder, an inscription deposited in the foundations of the Esagila temple dedicated to the chief Babylonian god, Marduk. Cyrus the Great's dominions composed the largest empire the world had seen to that point, spanning from the Mediterranean Sea and Dardanelles in the west to the Indus River in the east.Kuhrt, Amélie (1995). "13". The Ancient Near East: c. 3000–330 BC. Routledge. p. 647. . Iranian philosophy, literature and Iranic religions played dominant roles in world events for the next millennium, with the Cyrus Cylinder considered the oldest-known declaration of human rights.Neil MacGregor, "The whole world in our hands", in Art and Cultural Heritage: Law, Policy, and Practice ed. Barbara T. Hoffman. Cambridge University Press, 2006. Before Cyrus and his army crossed the river Aras River to fight the Armenians, he installed his son, Cambyses II, as king in case he should not return from battle. However, once Cyrus had crossed the river, he had a vision in which Darius had wings atop his shoulders and stood upon the confines of Europe and Asia (the known world). When Cyrus awoke from the dream, he interpreted it as signaling a great danger to the future security of the empire, as it meant that Darius would one day rule the whole world. However, his son Cambyses was the heir to the throne, not Darius, causing Cyrus to wonder if Darius was forming treasonable and ambitious designs. This led Cyrus to order Hystaspes to go back to Persis and watch over his son strictly, until Cyrus himself returned. In many cuneiform inscriptions, like the Behistun Inscription, Darius the Great presents himself as a devout believer of Ahura Mazda, perhaps even convinced that he had a divine right to rule over the world, believing that because he lived Righteousness by Asha, Ahura Mazda supported him as a Virtue monarch and appointed him to rule the Achaemenid Empire and their global projection, while believing through his dualist beliefs that each rebellion in his empire was the work of Druj, the enemy of Asha.
Alexander the Great
In the 4th century BCE, Alexander the Great notably expressed a desire to conquer the world,Robert Plumer Ward, Illustrations of Human Life, Volume 1 (1837), p. 436: "Alexander wept because he had no more worlds to conquer. Had he been a serjeant sic of Alexander, instead of Alexander himself, he would not have wept." and a legend persists that after he completed his military conquest of the known ancient world, he "wept because he had no more worlds to conquer",Eric Donald Hirsch, William G. Rowland, Michael Stanford, The New First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (2004), p. 144. as he was unaware of China farther to the east and had no way to know about civilizations in the Americas.Geoffrey Bruun, Millicent Haines, The World Story (1963), p. 474. Derivative characters of Alexander the Great, such as Sa'b Dhu Marathid in the south Arabian tradition, were also presented as world conquerors.
India
In Indian mythology, Bharata Chakravartin was the first chakravartin (universal emperor, ruler of rulers or possessor of chakra) of Avasarpini (the present half time cycle as per Jain cosmology).Padmanabh Jaini (2000), Collected Papers on Jaina Studies, Motilal Banarsidass, Wiley, Kristi L. (2004), Historical Dictionary of Jainism, Scarecrow Press, In a Jainism legend, Yasasvati Devi, the most senior queen of Rishabhanatha (the first Jain tirthankara), saw four auspicious dreams one night. She saw the sun and the moon, Mount Meru, the lake with swans, the Earth and the ocean. Rishabhanatha explained to her that these dreams meant that a chakravartin ruler will be born to them who will conquer the whole world.Jain, Champat Rai (1929), , Allahabad: The Indian Press Limited, This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
Then, Bharata, a Kshatriya from the Ikshvaku dynasty, was born to them on the ninth day of the dark half of the month of Chaitra. He is said to have conquered all the six parts of the world, during his digvijaya (winning six divisions of earth in all directions), and fought his brother, Bahubali, to conquer the last remaining city. The ancient name of India was named "Bhāratavarsha" or "Bhārata" or "Bharata-bhumi" after him.Jain, Champat Rai (1929), , Allahabad: The Indian Press Limited, This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .Shah, Umakant P. (1987), Jaina-rūpa-maṇḍana: Jaina iconography, Abhinav Publications, The Hindu text Skanda Purana (chapter 37) has it that "Rishabhanatha was the son of , and Rishabha had a son named Bharata, and after the name of this Bharata, this country is known as Bharata-varsha."Sangave, Vilas Adinath (2001), Facets of Jainology: Selected Research Papers on Jain Society, Religion, and Culture, Mumbai: Popular Prakashan, After completing his world-conquest, he is said to have proceeded to his capital Ayodhyapuri with a huge army and the divine chakra-ratna (a spinning, disk-like super weapon with serrated edges).Jain, Vijay K. (2013), Ācārya Nemichandra's Dravyasaṃgraha, Vikalp Printers, , This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
China
In the Sinosphere, one of the consequences of the Mandate of Heaven in Imperial China was the claim of the Emperor of China as Son of Heaven who ruled tianxia (meaning 'all under heaven', closely associated with civilization and order in classical Chinese philosophy), which in English can be translated as 'ruler of the whole world',Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (2010) 1996. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. being equivalent to the concept of a universal monarch. The title was interpreted literally only in China and Japan, whose monarchs were referred to as , Deity, or 'living gods', chosen by the gods and goddesses of heaven.Jack Dull (1990). "The Evolution of Government in China". Heritage of China: Contemporary Perspectives on Chinese Civilization. University of California Press. . The theory behind this derives from Confucianism bureaucracy: the Chinese emperor acted as the Autocracy of tianxia and held a mandate to rule over everyone else in the world, as long as he served the people well. If the quality of rule became questionable because of repeated natural disasters such as flood or famine, or for other reasons, then rebellion was justified. This important concept legitimized the dynastic cycle, or change of dynasties. The center of this world-view was not exclusionary in nature, and outer groups, such as ethnic minorities and foreigners who accepted the mandate of the Chinese Emperor (through annexation or living in tributary states), were themselves received and included into tianxia. The concept's 'inclusion of all' and implied acceptance of the world's diversity, emphasizing harmonious reciprocal dependence and rule by virtue as a means to lasting peace.Suisheng Zhao (2023). The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. pp. 120–121. . . . Although in practice there would be areas of the known world which were not under the control of the Chinese monarch ('barbarians'), in Chinese political theory the rulers of those areas derived their power from the Chinese monarch (Sinocentrism). This principle was exemplified with the goal of Qin Shi Huang to "unify all under Heaven", which was, in fact, representative of his desire to control and expand Chinese territory to act as an actual geographic entity. At this time there existed many feudal states that had shared cultural and economic interests, so the concept of a great nation centered on the Yellow River Plain (the known world) gradually expanded and the equivalence of tianxia with the Chinese nation evolved due to the feudal practice of Feoffment.Matti Puranen (17 Jul 2020). " Warring States and Harmonized Nations: Tianxia Theory as a World Political Argument" (PDF). University of Jyväskylä.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 Dec 2020.
Sasanian Empire
In the Sasanian Empire, the use of the mythological Kayanian dynasty title of kay, first used by Yazdegerd II and reaching its zenith under Peroz I, stemmed from a shift in the political perspective of the Sasanian Empire. Originally disposed towards the west against their rivals from the Byzantine Empire, this now changed to the east against the Hephthalites. The war against the Huns (Iranian Huns) may have awakened the mythical rivalry existing between the Iranian Kayanian rulers (mythical kings of the legendary dynasty) and their Turanian enemies, which is demonstrated in the Younger Avesta.Shayegan, M. Rahim (2013). " Sasanian Political Ideology". In Potts, Daniel T. (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran. Oxford University Press. . . The Sasanian Shahanshah may have believed themselves the heirs of the Fereydun and Iraj (reinforced because they were Ahura Mazda's worshippers), and so possibly considered both the Byzantine domains in the west and the eastern domains of the Hephthalites as belonging to Iran, and therefore have been symbolically asserting their rights over these lands of both hemispheres of Earth by assuming the title kay. This is based on the legend of the Iranian hero-king Fereydun (Frēdōn in Middle Persian), who divided his kingdom between his three sons: his eldest son Salm received the empire of the west, 'Rûm' (more generally meaning the Roman Empire, the Greco-Roman world, or just 'the West'); the second eldest Tur received the empire of the east, being Turan (all the lands north and east of the Amu Darya, as far as Imperial China); and the youngest, Iraj, received the heartland of the empire, Greater Iran.
Medieval Europe
Caliphate
The theme of world domination is absent in the earliest Islamic sources, Quran or the hadith. Most warlike passages in Quran appear in defensive context. The motif of world domination appears almost a century after Muhammad during the early Muslim conquests. Then Islamic thought divided the world into Dar al-Islam coterminous with the Caliphate and the rest of the world called Dar al-Harb (lit. region of war). The latter world has not yet been subjugated and its inhabitants have remained outside the Islamic frontier. Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb were considered in a state of war because the ultimate objective of the Caliphate was world conquest. Imperial and expansionist, the Caliphate strived to subjugate other peoples by the means of jihad. This became the chief preoccupation of the contemporary Islamic jurists, such as Al-Shaybani. The jurists elaborated jihad for the conquest of Dar al-Harb. Originally Quranic defensive war, jihad evolved into offensive holy war to be waged until the Caliphate attains world domination and converts all mankind into Islam.Bernard Lewis (1998). The Multiple Identities of the Middle East. (New York: Schocken Books), p 115-117, 121-122. In theory, jihad was a temporary means to attain these ends. With worldwide Dar al-Islam, jihad would lose its raison d'être and pass out of existence. But Dar al-Harb proved to be more permanent and vaster than envisaged by the jurists. The wave of Islamic expansion stopped short of world domination and the Caliphate had to accommodate itself with other nations on grounds other than jihad.Khadduri, Majid (1966). "Introduction" to Al-Shaybani. Siyar. Islamic Law of Nations. (Tr. Khadduri, Majid. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press), p 5, 17
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan believed that it was his destiny to conquer the world for his god, Tengri, in a mission to bring the rest of the world under one sword. This was based on his Shamanism Tengrism of the Great Blue Sky that spans the world, deriving his mandate for a world empire from this universal divinity. He came close to bringing the entirety of Eurasia under the Mongol Empire and the shamanic umbrella. Born Temujin, he adopted the name 'Genghis Khan', which means 'universal ruler'. This led to his sons and grandsons taking up the challenge of world conquest.Ratchnevsky, Paul (1991). . Translated by Thomas Haining. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. .
Ottomans
The Ottoman Empire had claims of world domination through the Ottoman Caliphate. Süleyman the Magnificent's Venetian Helmet was an elaborate headpiece designed to project the sultan's power in the context of Ottoman–Habsburg rivalry. The four floors of the Crown also represent Suleiman's goal of world conquest by reigning in the north, south, east and west, as well pipping the Pope's famous Papal tiara. Suleiman's rival, Charles V, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement VII, who wore the triple crown.
Modern theory
In the early 17th century, Sir Walter Raleigh proposed that world domination could be achieved through control of the oceans, writing that "whosoever commands the sea commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself."Sir Walter Raleigh, "A Discourse of the Invention of Ships, Anchors, Compass, &c.", The Works of Sir Walter Ralegh, Kt. (1829, reprinted 1965), vol. 8, p. 325. In 1919, Halford Mackinder offered another influential theory for a route to world domination, writing:
/ref> Max Ostrovsky stressed that the implication is even more drastic in the progress of communication. The speed of communication in the Inca Empire, for example, was 20 km per hour (running man). Today, information moves at the speed of light. By most cautious extrapolations, he concluded, modern technology allows for an empire exceeding the size or population of Earth multiple times. As US Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney, estimated, “if we were a true empire, we would currently preside over a much greater piece of the earth’s surface than we do.”Coates, David (2014). America in the Shadow of Empires. (Palgrave Macmillan), p 195.
See also
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