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They were rather brutal warlike lot but to compare them to the third reich needs justifying - can you say why?. Also saying they got what they deserved is to co

They were rather brutal warlike lot but to compare them to the third reich needs justifying - can you say why?. Also saying they got what they deserved is to condone genocide, and also to ignore what the conquistadors inflicted on them. Conquistadors were appalling people.

christkv 6y ago
The conquistadors were opportunistic adventures who by luck happened into the most hated civilization in Mexico and was smart enough to leverage that hate to overthrow that empire. Epidemics are not genocide by any measure of definition. Empires then do what empires do which is to extract value out of their new holdings. Just like the Aztecs did before them. https://www.history.com/news/aztec-human-sacrifice-religion https://www.history.com/news/aztec-human-sacrifice-religion
- throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
  You give the conquistadors too much of a pass, and you don't say why the aztecs were "most hated civilization in Mexico". > Epidemics are not genocide by any measure of definition I suppose, but conquistadors liked their slaves, they used torture freely on anyone they felt like, they compared tenochtitlan to venice IIRC - and then set about destroying it. The native mexicans were subhumans to them (because they weren't christians I think was the main reason) and they treated them with incredible brutality. You whitewash the conquistadors by calling them "opportunistic adventure[r]s".
  - christkv 6y ago
    You are applying you modern bias to history. Whitewashing is religious term and shows a clear unwillingness to accept any narrative that does not fit a narrow domestic view of reality.
    - throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
      And yours is the only unbiased view I'm sure. Whitewash: "to gloss over or cover up (something, such as a record of criminal behavior)" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whitewash https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whitewash) I'm unaware of any religious aspect to the term. > and shows a clear unwillingness to accept... ... to accept your point of view, yes, correct. Provide facts and then we can talk.
    - watwut 6y ago
      I mean, contemporary whites criticized the above too. It is not like we found out those are bad only last year or something.
    - dang 6y ago
      Please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24608351 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24608351 and please stop.
  - inglor_cz 6y ago
    Conquistadors do not need any whitewashing. Contemporary European warfare was very brutal. In my corner of Europe, the Catholic-Protestant wars eliminated something between a third and a half of the population, depending on how many armies plundered the particular region.
    - throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
      I'm unsure what you mean. Are we each using whitewashing for different things?
      - inglor_cz 6y ago
        It is possible, I am not a native speaker. I wanted to say that the conquistadors probably behaved on par with their contemporaries in the Holy Roman Empire or elsewhere.
        watwut 6y ago
        Whitewashing typically means "making sound better by removing ugly parts".
  - earlyriser 6y ago
    Most hated civilization probably for the flower wars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_war

christkv 6y ago

The conquistadors were opportunistic adventures who by luck happened into the most hated civilization in Mexico and was smart enough to leverage that hate to overthrow that empire. Epidemics are not genocide by any measure of definition. Empires then do what empires do which is to extract value out of their new holdings. Just like the Aztecs did before them. https://www.history.com/news/aztec-human-sacrifice-religion https://www.history.com/news/aztec-human-sacrifice-religion

throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
You give the conquistadors too much of a pass, and you don't say why the aztecs were "most hated civilization in Mexico". > Epidemics are not genocide by any measure of definition I suppose, but conquistadors liked their slaves, they used torture freely on anyone they felt like, they compared tenochtitlan to venice IIRC - and then set about destroying it. The native mexicans were subhumans to them (because they weren't christians I think was the main reason) and they treated them with incredible brutality. You whitewash the conquistadors by calling them "opportunistic adventure[r]s".
- christkv 6y ago
  You are applying you modern bias to history. Whitewashing is religious term and shows a clear unwillingness to accept any narrative that does not fit a narrow domestic view of reality.
  - throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
    And yours is the only unbiased view I'm sure. Whitewash: "to gloss over or cover up (something, such as a record of criminal behavior)" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whitewash https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whitewash) I'm unaware of any religious aspect to the term. > and shows a clear unwillingness to accept... ... to accept your point of view, yes, correct. Provide facts and then we can talk.
  - watwut 6y ago
    I mean, contemporary whites criticized the above too. It is not like we found out those are bad only last year or something.
  - dang 6y ago
    Please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24608351 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24608351 and please stop.
- inglor_cz 6y ago
  Conquistadors do not need any whitewashing. Contemporary European warfare was very brutal. In my corner of Europe, the Catholic-Protestant wars eliminated something between a third and a half of the population, depending on how many armies plundered the particular region.
  - throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
    I'm unsure what you mean. Are we each using whitewashing for different things?
    - inglor_cz 6y ago
      It is possible, I am not a native speaker. I wanted to say that the conquistadors probably behaved on par with their contemporaries in the Holy Roman Empire or elsewhere.
      - watwut 6y ago
        Whitewashing typically means "making sound better by removing ugly parts".
- earlyriser 6y ago
  Most hated civilization probably for the flower wars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_war