World domination
World domination (also universal rule ) is the dominion over all mankind. This unmatched state was the target of various movements. The quest for world domination in a pejorative sense, it was assumed various groups and political systems in the modern era and is still a popular topic in entertainment media.
One of world domination came closest so far the British Empire, which in 1922 had a population of 458 million people ( a quarter of the world's population at the time ) and an area of approximately 33,670,000 km ² (about a quarter of the land mass of the earth).
History
In historical research, various empires or hegemonic powers are described as " world domination ", such as the Roman Empire, the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan or the Habsburg- Spanish Empire under Charles V, in which the sun never set symbolically. In fact, these structures exercised dominion each have a small percentage of the world population or even to the respective rulers of the known world.
The idea of world domination was already present in the ancient world. In the Roman Empire to this association in late antiquity with the Christian idea of unity, which was also of importance in the Middle Ages. Understood, at least ideally (not necessarily real political) within the meaning of the idea of empire as " ruler of the world " The Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. While the universal claim to power in the early Middle Ages could not be formulated easily, he lost after the Investiture Controversy in force. In the Staufer period he was stressed again, but he was then in the late Middle Ages politically (except in the early 14th century) without major significance. World domination in the Middle Ages also claimed by the papacy ( Dictatus Papae, Bull Unam Sanctam, Pope's primacy ), but could not be enforced in the secular realm.
The sultans of the Ottoman Empire since the 15th century also brought this claim. Sultan Suleiman I, for example, justified him in negotiations leading up to its siege of Vienna in 1529 theologically:
"Because only one God and only one heaven, so it is fair that on the ground even if only a main and Ruler: The same He wants to be and lay his head not gently until they and the whole of Christendom be defeated under his control. "
Also a world revolution was predicted by Marxism, so the destruction of bourgeois rule in all countries of the world and the establishment of a global dictatorship of the proletariat. For the political scientist Hannah Arendt, striving for world domination one of the hallmarks of totalitarian systems. Whether Adolf Hitler and the Nazis aspired to world domination or world domination, is controversial in historical research.
The charge to strive for world domination was, and is a common means to discredit a group or system of thought. This was assumed, among other
- The Roman Catholic Church in the Kulturkampf,
- The Jews - with the known forgery of an alleged roadmap to world domination, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,
- Real socialism and the Soviet Union
- The United States or groups who would secretly control ( see, eg, Zionist Occupied Government) is assumed in various conspiracy theories, to strive for a new world order.
Theology
In the Christian context, Jesus Christ is called the (last ) world ruler or rulers of the world. Thus, on the one hand meant that he was already present as a Christian king the ruler everything is existing in a spiritual sense. In the eschatology it is again coming as Messiah yet to be ruler of the world and replace the earlier ruling with the aid of Satan Antichrist.
Popular culture
In entertainment media, there is quite often the figure of a super villain or mad scientist who seeks world domination, such as Dr. Mabuse, in the James Bond films in the DC universe, or - as a parody - in the cartoon series Pinky and the Brain.