...Conquest and its Merits For the millennia of civilization that has passed and for the millennia to come, man has always had a desire to live beyond his means. No home has ever been opulent enough and no borders have ever been long enough. This desire is inherent and a driving force in all. These desires are beyond the restraints of even the most humble, and many have fallen to the stigma "the grass is greener on the other side". When asked about King Pharnaces II of Pontus, Julius Caeser said "I came, I saw, I conquered". No other means can result in such colossal ends. Whether a man chooses to act upon these desires and take matters into his own hands is at his own discretion. However, if he were to take action, there is only one true way to obtain what is desired. Conquest is the unrivaled method of acquiring what is wanted. It has been the course of action for all rulers passed and will be for all rulers’ future. No diplomacy has ever been able to surpass raw force in terms of pure acquisition. Rulers try to deny it, philosophers recognize it, and everybody falls to it. In “The Prince”, Machiavelli addresses several methods of...
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...Does the Spanish Conquest constitute genocide? Do you agree or disagree? The late 1400’s brought about the period of colonial expansion, initiated under the crown of Castile and the Spanish Conquistadors. This expansion continued over the next 4 centuries, seeing the Spanish Empire expand over most of Central and South America. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and the Incas spanned over decades and was not a peaceful conquest without bloodshed. The Conquista unleashed violence, death and destruction on a scale unknown until then. Charny acknowledged that it was possible for genocide to occur during the process of colonisation, as seen in the colonising of North America and similarly in Australia. This essay will discuss the various elements of genocide as defined by the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, as well as other sources. Through this discussion, the essay will relate it to circumstances and events related to the Spanish Conquest of Latin America, discussing the possibility of a connection between the conquest and genocide. There are a number of elements that must be satisfied in order to find a case for genocide. When defining an act of genocide, the UN definition is the internationally recognised and the framework by which this essay will follow when referring to an act of genocide. As found in the UN definition of genocide; the act committed must have the intent to destroy the target, in whole or in part, a national, ethical,...
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...Romans in the Mediterranean both accomplished major conquests, expanding their empires significantly. However, each faction took a different approach toward their conquests. They both had different purposes for their conquests, and both had different outcomes from these conquests as well. For Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, he initially began his conquest with the purpose of achieving his father’s dream, which was to conquer the Persian empire (Martin, Ancient Greece, 221). In only a matter of time, Alexander accomplished his father’s goal, staying ambitious for the next conquest he had in mind. After conquering Persia, his next major conquest was Egypt, where he was claimed to be a pharaoh after conquering it (Martin, Ancient Greece, 246) The next places he thought of conquering were Arabia and North Africa, but he was not able to because of a severe illness that led to his...
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...Pre-conquest England was a relatively well-governed and somewhat prosperous kingdom; the country was cleverly run. The division of land and the hierarchy as well as the coinage, trade, towns and frequent invasions all suggest that pre-conquest England was prosperous and well-governed. However, the possible threats from the Earls to the King, the Danegeld and the King not having an heir suggest, England was less prosperous and more unstable. In the eleventh century England had developed into a sophisticated and highly organised state. The kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex and East Anglia had become earldoms. Earldoms were territorial units that covered large areas each of which was controlled by an Earl. Each earldom was further divided into shires. The shire was the administrative state and the unit of local government of England, the means of which the kings enforced taxation and law. Each shire was divided into hundreds, an area covering a dozen or so villages. The smallest unit of land was a hide and this was the measurement of productive agricultural land that was taxable. Each level of this hierarchy had its own mini leader. For example, each shire was managed by a sheriff and each sheriff was controlled by an earl. All parts of the Earldoms were controlled by the monarch. This organised system demonstrates that there was a very clear hierarchy in pre-conquest England. This would have made the country easy to run, especially for the kings of different countries...
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...They say a picture is worth a thousand words; but what if I told you what you know about the Spanish conquest based on these images are not entirely true. The artwork associated with the spanish conquest is surrounded by triumph and destruction. The image of thousands of soldiers rushing onto defenseless natives is one such aspects. The image of Conquistadors being wealthy and scholarly men is another untrue aspect. We’ll take a journey into the misconceptions associated with the Spanish Conquest. Background: The Spanish Conquest began in 1519, due to the Spanish Empire’s wanting to expand their empire. Years prior in 1492 the Spanish crown committed itself in the removal of Muslims from the Iberian peninsula, and the institutionalization...
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...Islamic era is a fascinating study for historians who seek to understand the dynamics that gave birth to one of the biggest religion in the world; and with such a strong faith base. Islam is characterized by a unifying component that places all the Muslims across the nations in one category of identity. According to Khan (2011), it is very easy to recognize that an environment belongs to Islam than it is to identify the other religions. The early Islamic era, if it is anything to believe, was stronger than the crystallized Islam we have today. There is a concept that Islam spread rapidly because of the use of the sword in one hand and the Quran on the other hand. This is believed to have been done by the Jihadist among other substantial members of the Muslim faith. This notion forms the controversy that further catapults this study and makes it more interesting. This paper thus, focuses and explores the reasons that underpinned the rapid spread of Islam beyond Arabia. It also seeks to establish the understanding of the motive behind the early Islamic conquests. More importantly it sought to clarify whether is it the trade, spiritual connection, moral values, or warfare that underpinned the rapid spread of the Islam beyond Arabia. Trading The spread of Islam in the early era was engulfed by trade which included barter and monetary. The contacts that were made between the Muslims and the non-Muslim people spearheaded the beginning of Islam culture and religion. The Muslim...
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...kingdom that fell into Catholicism, Columbus’ voyages embarked with conquerors heading for fame, fortune and most of all to expand the Roman Catholic faith. One of these conquerors was Cortes who was under the authority of Diego Valazquez governor of Cuba, like most conquerors Cortes broke away from Valazquez and headed to conquer Mexico, which he heard is a country full of riches. Cortes’ use of leadership played a fundamental role the result of the conquest of Mexico. From the very beginning he to induced fear into the Mexicas with the usage of technology, he made them believe they were tueles by acting god like, he befriended many enemy states and most of all his military technique when they entered Tencohtitlan lead to their conquest of Mexico. Moctezuma’s leadership on the other hand lead to the conquest of Mexico, he would give gifts and praise the Spaniards not inflicting fear. He lost all power over the Mexicas once he was captured which lead to their conquest. Leadership, military and political strategies led to the conquest of Mexico. The Spaniards finally arrived at the Port of San Juan de Ulua, they were greeted by two ambassadors sent by Moctezuma. These ambassadors were accompanied with painters to take pictures back to their prince. Cortes saw this as a chance to make an impression of their technology and strength. “Cortes Ordered our gunner to load the lombards with great charge of powder so that they should make a great noise when they were fired” (Schwartz...
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...After reading about The Conquest, I definitely believe there is such thing as barbarism. The definition of barbarism most likely differs from person to person depending on one’s beliefs. Barbarism to me is defined as uncivilized and evil acts of murder without any mercy. The two readings on The Conquest, The Destruction of the Indies and The Conquest of New Spain, both describe barbaric behaviors by the way the authors speak about the actions taken by both the Spanish and the Aztecs. Each culture participated in and practiced multiple events that can be considered barbaric. The Spanish ran havoc through each new conquest as seen in de Las Casas’s, A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies, he explained how barbaric the Spanish were...
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...What was the short term significance of Granada? The conquest of Granada was the first hostile step to secure the ‘pre-eminent monarchy’ . Although the short term significance of the campaign brought many potential benefits such as economic wealth this is rather an understatement as the sources suggest that much wealth gained was given back as a means of religiously securing Granada in favor of the church. Likewise political and foreign policy can be seen to be exaggerated with unification of the people been limited for self interest seen in the source of the the Marquis de Cadiz, as well as Columbus’s wild achievements been exaggerated for his personal gain to continue his adventures across sea. Although the army seems to have dominated the battlefield this is out of touch with the back up the crown received from other Moors and the sources such as the Muslim contemporary that would want to present the Crown as ruthless barbarians in presenting their efficiency as unmatchable to gain sympathy for Muslims. Despite these short term areas allowing space for questioning in reliability and factual contradictions the religious short term significance seems rather valid given that's the sources suggest a constant religious motive particularly in Ferdinand’s speech where he denies any financial desires but rather to spread Christianity. Moreover this can be represented by the betterment of the relationship of the church and the crown. Therefore religion should be seen as the most...
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...The conquest of the Aztec empire was a world-changing phenomenon that led to Spanish colonization and what know is known as modern day Mexico. Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortez led the expedition in 1519 with his men in search for new territory to conquer. This event in history is significant because it brings history of past civilizations that went extinct after the terrorization of the Spanish conquest. To begin with, the Spanish had made several trips to Yucatan in 1517 with tales of gold and the Mayan civilization. These rumors gathered interest in the Spanish colonists, which made it all the way to Spanish governor of Cuba Diego de Velasquez. Diego de Velasquez provided Hernan Cortez with two or three ships and...
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.... Introduction In this essay the writers are going to discuss the statement that says “infiltration model is the best model to describe settlement of Israel in Canaan”. Nonetheless contradiction between the two books, Joshua and Judges. The book of Joshua reports the complete conquest (Josh 11:16-17) listing the conquered kings and cities; Jerusalem (Jebus), Hebron, and Taanach, whereas the book of Judges does not support the book of Joshua’s claim of an “all-at-once” military conquest of Canaan listing the unconquered territory (Judg 1:9); Jerusalem (Jebus), Hebron, and Taanach examples will be given and other models will be given such as the conquest model and social revolution model. Main discussion and conclusion will be given Main discussion The Peaceful Infiltration Model Albrecht Alt and Martin Noth were responsible for the peaceful infiltration. According to Alt, the stories in Genesis about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob preserve some genuine historical memories of the nomadic people who became the Israelites. These nomads or semi-nomads had migrated into Canaan. They had previously worshiped different gods, who are reflected in the different titles used for the divine name in the stories of the patriarchs. At first they settled in the empty spaces away from the Canaanite cities, that is, in the highlands. With the decline of the Canaanite city-state system, they were able to occupy the lowlands as well. According to Noth, Israelites could not have been indigenous to...
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...The Spanish conquest, also known as “La Conquista”, was the Spanish colonization of Latin America during 1519 – 1521. The motivation behind the conquest was all for exploration, driven by god, glory, and greed. The Spaniards wanted to spread their religion, spread their nationalism, expand their power, and fulfill their desires for gold and glory. This all began when Cortez had tricked the Mexica into believing that he was Quetzalcoatl; a prophecy that stated the return of Quetzalcoatl to the Mexica people. Soon after, the Spanish invaded the Mexica on a night that is now known as “La Noche Triste”. This was the night that the Spanish took over the Mexica temple along with its people. With the conquest, the Spaniards brought along with them their culture, beliefs, and customs; this greatly affected the Indigenous people’s culture by changing their religious beliefs, language, and social class. La conquista altered Indigenous culture in the aspect of religion by converting many indigenous people to Christianity. Cortez had ordered his soldiers to destroy all of the religious symbols and writings that belonged to the indigenous people. In 1524, Franciscans were brought to Latin America in order to begin the religious conversion. These methods were sometimes forceful and executed by means of torture. These methods were called “Religion Conversion Programs” (Covarrubias & Gamboa, Lecture 10/5/15). In 1531, many Indigenous people were converting to Christianity more easily because...
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...When one thinks of the conquests where indigenous people are the losers, most assume that they were silenced by their oppressors with their culture lost in the wind. On the contrary, in Miguel Leon-Portilla’s Broken Spears, the Aztecs’ account of the events and their culture is well documented through manuscripts, codices, and written records of eyewitness accounts. The conquest is usually depicted as the Spaniards’ fight for land and resources, but Broken Spears shows that it was the Aztecs fight for the survival of their culture and way of life. Broken Spears uses written records of verbal accounts as its source on the conquest of Mexico. In the foreword, Klor de Alva addresses the quality of these sources by saying, “Eyewitness accounts of the events and sentiments...
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...David Howarth introduced 1066: The Year of The Conquest as the Norman conquest of England and in 1066 the invasion of England was led by the Duke of Normandy, William. The basis were the claims of William to the English throne where the king originally agreed to have him to be throned. The Norman conquest of England granted that in 1066 the accomplishment and recognization of the feudalism that originally only began in the period of the Anglos. Because William the conqueror wanted to be the one to thrown right into the throne, that came with huge implications for the development of England. He founded the United Kingdom himself. The management of the system that he developed really worked and it was accepted by others. William also created an army that conducted the first of landowners. The conquest of Normany in England the year of 1066 was taken ahead by the army of troops of William the...
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...significance of the leadership of Cortes for the conquest of Mexico and its immediate consequences’ Cortes is a man who historians have studied for a long time and there is a vast amount of evidence about him and the conquest that he led to Southern America. The evidence clearly indicates that Cortes was the driving force behind the conquest of Mexico. In 1519 Hernan Cortes and his men landed in Tenochtitlan in search of power and wealth. Word quickly spread to the king, Montezuma. He heard that men had arrived from a faraway land with ‘sticks that spit fire and deer as big as houses’ had landed on the coast. This panicked the Aztec people as they believed in a fatalistic religion that predicted that Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec god of war, would return in that exact year to punish them. This set up an instant tension between the two oppositions that meant Cortes would have to lead his men if they were going to conquer this land in the name of God. It’s obvious that Cortes was a very confident and cunning man, as he disobeyed the rulings of the Governor of Cuba and went unbeknownst to the current ruler of Spain, Charles V. This put a huge amount of pressure on Cortes because he either succeeded in his campaign for power or he would be sentenced to death. Leading a group of five hundred men into a strange and unknown land was never going to be a simple task but the characteristics of Cortes’ leadership were a driving force in the conquest of Mexico. This becomes evident from the examination...
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