Throughout history, the dynamics between conquerors and the conquered have shaped civilizations, borders, and societies. The conqueror emerges from a position of strength, driven by survival, greed, or ambition, while the conquered are thrust into a struggle to preserve their identity, autonomy, and existence. This age-old relationship is a brutal interplay of power, control, resistance, and the cyclical nature of dominance.

The Conqueror’s Perspective: Power and Profit

When conquerors descend upon fertile lands, they are rarely motivated by hatred for the indigenous people. Their primary concern is to secure resources - fields, pastures, and labor. The conquest itself is often framed as an act of mercy: the indigenous are spared from slaughter, provided they submit. This logic, however twisted, serves to justify the conqueror’s actions. By sparing lives, they claim the right to exploit them, demanding taxes, labor, and allegiance.

Control is paramount. A conquered people with strength and autonomy poses a threat. Any attempt by the conquered to organize, gain knowledge, or build strength is met with suppression. The conqueror’s goal is clear: keep the conquered weak, fractured, and dependent. Taxes are not merely an economic burden; they are a tool of subjugation. They tie the conquered to the land, forcing them to toil endlessly to pay for the very lives that were “spared.”

Yet, no amount of suppression can extinguish the human desire for freedom. The conquered rise in rebellion, fueled by the injustice of their condition and the memory of their independence. For the conqueror, this defiance becomes intolerable. Faced with constant unrest, the conqueror may conclude that extermination is easier than exploitation. The logic shifts: if the conquered cannot be subdued, they must be eliminated.

The Conquered’s Perspective: Survival and Resistance

For the conquered, survival is a continuous act of defiance. Every day they live, resist, and remember their past is a rejection of the conqueror’s claim to absolute power. Even under the harshest conditions, they adapt, find ways to endure, and keep their culture alive. Their riots, rebellions, and revolutions are not merely reactions to oppression - they are declarations of their humanity.

The formal independence of the conquered is often bittersweet. It may grant them sovereignty in name, but the conqueror rarely relinquishes control entirely. Economic dependency, cultural erasure, and historical revisionism become tools to maintain dominance without direct rule. The conqueror, fearing accountability for past atrocities, seeks to rewrite history, to deny the existence or significance of the conquered people. For the conquered, this erasure is yet another battle to fight, a battle to preserve their story and assert their right to exist.

The Lesson of Power

At its core, the relationship between the conqueror and the conquered is a lesson in power. The conqueror wields violence as their ultimate currency, asserting dominance through the threat or use of force. For the conquered, the lesson is clear: strength - physical, intellectual, and cultural - is the only language the conqueror respects. The path to freedom lies in building power, for it is only through strength that the conquered can challenge their oppressors and reclaim their dignity.

The Cycle of Conquest

History reveals that the roles of conqueror and conquered are not fixed. The powerful of today can become the oppressed of tomorrow. This cyclical nature underscores the futility of violence as a foundation for power. True strength lies not in domination but in justice, mutual respect, and coexistence.

Yet, until this lesson is learned on a global scale, the struggle continues. The conqueror will seek to suppress, and the conquered will fight to rise. For the conquered, the path forward is one of resilience and resistance. The muscles they build - whether physical, intellectual, or cultural - are their weapons against erasure and subjugation. Their survival, in itself, is a victory.