Conquests and the Conquered

Paper Summary:

The paper considers the novel "Utopia" by Thomas More that describes conquests in a utopian society and Bartolome de Las Casas's "Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies." The paper examines the justification for conquest, treatment of the conquered, and rights of the conquered. The paper explains how these two works show different scenarios. In the Utopian society, there is reasonable justification for the conquest, the conquered people are treated well and the conquered people are given full rights. In the case of the Spaniards and the Indians, there is no valid justification for the conquest, the Indians are treated harshly, and the Indians are stripped of their rights. Despite these apparent differences, the paper shows that both works offer the same message.

Contents:
Conquering "Primitives" and the Justification for Conquest
The Treatment of the Conquered
The Rights of the Defeated
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"In Utopia there is a lot of detail given justifying the conquest of primitives. This starts with a statement that the Utopians detest war and do not enter into battle easily. The strongest statement made about the Utopian position on war is that "they count nothing so much against glory, as glory gotten in war" (More, The Second Book of Warfare). Considering that society typically considers war as being associated with glory, this statement shows that the society rejects war as much as they possibly can. The book then goes on to describe the justifications for war. These justifications include defending their own country, driving out enemies from the lands of their friends, and freeing oppressed people from tyranny and bondage. It is this third justification that is their reason for conquering the original inhabitants of Utopia. Essentially, they consider that the original inhabitants are being ruled wrongly and that their conquering of the people will free them and allow them to be ruled in the correct way. The book even states that they conquer lands where people are oppressed out of "mere pity and compassion" (More, The Second Book of Warfare)."

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