Quote Originally Posted by Tabuu View Post
Best empire with a balance of finance, military, diplomacy, etc.
Hmm... balanced economy, military, and diplomacy is not the definition I expected, and it's changed my answer. I was originally going to say Rome, as I believe that empire has had the most influence on the world. However, under this definition I'm going to have to vote for the British Empire. There have been many great Empires throughout human history, but the British were adept at diplomacy in a manner that most other empires were not. Most of the empires listed above dominated by military or economy or both, not quite as much through diplomacy. The British, on the other hand, ruled through diplomacy and economy first, and through military second. While the Brits often gained territory through military power, they tended to keep it through shrewed diplomatic agreements with the peoples they conquered and always played other nations off against one another, usually with positive results. In fact, the British Empire's only real defeats were more the result of diplomatic failures than military or economic failures. We need only look to the continued existence of the Commonwealth to see the long-term success of Britain's preference for diplomacy over arms.