[Sherman Logan]

The Roman invasion of Carthage was preceeded by a decade long embargo. Then they didn't kill the women and children.

Well, they killed a lot of them. Then sold the rest into slavery.

This wasn't just a Carthaginian thing. When J. Caesar started his conquest of Gaul, undertaken pretty clearly for the political and financial aggrandizement of J. Caesar, there were ~6M Gauls.

10 years later he had killed 2M and enslaved and sold 2M, leaving 2M Gauls in their homeland.

This was not untypical of the Roman approach to conquest.

The Mongols, of course, were even worse.

What I don't get about those who proclaim the desirability of such methods is why Americans would want to become Romans or Mongols. I'd rather be an American.

[Cronos]

True, Caesar and then Trajan during his Dacian wars committed genocide as did the Turco-Mongols in greater Iran (Central Asia)

What I don't get about those who proclaim the desirability of such methods is why Americans would want to become Romans or Mongols. I'd rather be an American. -- the reason is that being an American means being nice and tolerant and that is like being a civilized Irani in Samarkhand in the wake of the Mongols

The nice person doesn't stand a chance against the barbarians