World domination
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.
[14] 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.
Cyrus the Great's dominions composed the largest empire the world had seen to that point, spanning from the Mediterranean Sea and Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east.
[17] Iranian philosophy, literature and religion played dominant roles in world events for the next millennium, with the Cyrus Cylinder considered the oldest-known declaration of human rights.
[18] Before Cyrus and his army crossed the river Araxes to fight the Armenians, he installed his son, Cambyses II, as king in case he should not return from battle.
[19] 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.
[27] Derivative characters of Alexander the Great, such as Sa'b Dhu Marathid in the south Arabian tradition, were also presented as world conquerors.
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.
"[34] 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).
That part of his rule is considered to be legend, owing to the fact that Indic religious 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.
[42] 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.
[45] The theory behind this derives from Confucian bureaucracy: the Chinese emperor acted as the autocrat of tianxia and held a mandate to rule over everyone else in the world, as long as he served the people well.
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.
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.
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.
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 a foreign affairs bureau and accommodate the concept of Westphalian sovereignty in its international affairs in the period of New Imperialism.
The swift march of conquest stunned or dazzled the onlookers… The grandiose concept of the world domination became possible as a practical objective only with the rise of science and its application to mechanical invention.
By these means the earth's scattered land units and territories became accessible and complementary to each other, and for the first time the world state, so long a futile medieval ideal, became a goal that might conceivably be reached.
It has also given total war that terrifying, world-embracing impetus which seems to be satisfied with nothing less than world dominion… The machine age begets its own triumphs, each forward step calling forth two or more on the road of technological progress.
[clarification needed] Cesare Marchetti and Jesse H. Ausubel argued that the size of empires corresponds to two weeks of travel from the capital to the rim using the fastest transportation system available.
By most cautious extrapolations, he concluded, modern technology allows for an empire exceeding the size or population of Earth multiple times.
This type of spiritual domination is usually seen as distinct from the temporal dominion, although there have been instances of efforts begun as holy wars descending into the pursuit of wealth, resources, and territory.
"[66] 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.
