Sunday, January 6, 2008

Poll Results: Worst Event for Western Civilization

The French RevolutionThe results for the poll, asking which of [the alternatives] was the worst event for Western Civilization, ending at midnight between 2007 and 2008 are as follows:

Total votes: 143.

  • The French Revolution: 42 (29 %)
  • The outbreak of World War I: 31 (21 %)
  • The Protestant Reformation: 23 (16 %)
  • American Independence: 14 (9 %)
  • American entry in World War I: 11 (7 %)
  • World War II: 11 (7 %)
  • The Enlightenment: 8 (5 %)
  • The "Glorious" Revolution: 3 (2 %)
A new poll will be up shortly.

2 comments:

John (Ad Orientem) said...

Just found your blog and am a bit late on this subject but I will add the fall of the Roman (Eastern) Empire in 1453 and the sack of Constantinople as my nomination.

gaiawriter said...

Clearly to me the worst event in Western Civilization was the burning of the library at Alexandria and the loss of the records of the cultures previous to the Egyptians.

I am tempted to say also that the second most catastrophic event was the Persian loss of the battle of Thermopylae, but one cannot predict the outcome of Persian imperialism from this distant time.