Lessons from the past. - Interesting bit of info.

[The Sniper]

I have always loved the way Blair talked about learning from the past in the build of for the war, well heres an interesting bit of info. The Roman empire justified its empire building, (i.e burning whole cities to the ground, massicaring the population and destroying all of the occupied peoples culture) by, get this, "active defense", attacking other counties and occuping them if they thought they posed a threat. Bit like today, eh?

[Harmless Games]

Now lets destroy Baghdad and salt the earth so nothing shall grow there again, but precious oil! Oil oh yes! ... i agree with you, this was the largest unprovoked invasion since invaded poland.

[RedCeltic]

Colonization or “empire building” as you said, has always been justified throughout the ancient, classical, and modern world by “national security.” Rome used this excuse in taking over Gaul. When Julius Caser started his conquest on the people of Gaul, he battled tribes that were openly, or potentially hostile to Roman presence in the region. Even earlier, in the 3rd and 2nd millennium, BCE the Hittites created their empire by taking over weaker states around them to create a “buffer zone” between them and more powerful and hostile regions.

[suffianr]

The sad thing is people like Julius Caeser are all but worshipped for their "pure military genius" a couple centuries later. But it's not all that surprising, considering that even nowadays, some folks continue to worship people like Stalin.