Regards.

I think “conquering” would require more than just being there for a short time. Also, I don’t think the Moon was claimed by the United States.

Why not claim all of space then? Look at me, I’m claiming all the space directly above my person, therefore I’m history’s greatest conqueror… until someone with a bigger head and broader shoulders steals my idea.

Why?

Is it just because he didn’t get on horseback himself and ride through the Afghan mountains or cross the Tigris in a glorious entrance to Baghdad?

So he didn’t really get his hands dirty, but the former F-102 fighter pilot did fly a Navy S-3B Viking all, er, part of the way to the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier parked just off the coast of San Diego and his people had “Mission Accomplished” blazoned across the tower, where he declared major combat operations had ended in an inspiring speech that will go down in infamy.

In all seriousness, why should he not be counted as a conqueror of Afghanistan and Iraq, especially considering that other military leaders (which the president is) couldn’t do it AND we have not yet completely given either country back to the people in toto?

1. louisiana, i know it wasn’t really ‘conquest’. i was assuming the french didnt really control all those areas

2. what about spanish-america war? Florida+Phillipines+ some pacific islands?

sun bin, the Louisiana Purchase was 828,000 square miles, which would put Thomas Jefferson at #7, between Hitler and Napoleon.

But the question is, was that “conquering” or just buying? The French had already “conquered” the territory, at least nominally, so what Jefferson did was just take over the deed.

And the Texas annexation was not a conquering situation either, if I recall. The Treaty of Velasco made Texas an independent nation in 1836, so the Texans themselves were the ones who conquered the area (which was significantly larger than its present-day shape, since it included half of New Mexico, and sizable pieces of Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, and even Wyoming). In 1845, it was annexed by mutual decision.

The Mexican-American War that came afterward led to the US getting the 525,000-sq-mile Mexican Cession: all of California, Nevada, and Utah; almost all of Arizona, and most of the remainder of New Mexico not already part of Texas (the rest of present-day Arizona and New Mexico would be bought as part of the Gadsen Purchase); and a good deal of Colorado and Wyoming.

That was an actual case of conquering. That would put President Polk or General Zachary Taylor at #8, between Ghazni and Pizarro (General “Old Rough and Ready” Taylor, the hero of this war and others, was elected president in the following election, even though he’d never held public office and allegedly never bothered to vote).

But what about Louisiana purchase, and the Texas annexation (and california)?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunzhi_Emperor.

that is about 4M sq m.

That might explain why my Canada comment didn’t show up: Curzon had already beat me to it in the original post and the “egg-on-the-face control function” prevented by comment from going through. Now that’s a blog function I can use!