Why teach war? Why teach tactics of domination?

Many teachers I know are skeptical about examining war in their curricula.  I think this is because many of us grew up with the notion that history was about dead white men, be they Greek philosophers, conquistadors, or founding fathers.  Much of that "dead white guy" history was a glorification of war, or at least tended to emphasize ideals that were fought for and progress that was made while giving a mere nod to tragic losses of life.     

However, war offers a chance to explore critical questions and themes that can help students understand the world today, even if those themes are discussed in the context of ancient civilizations.  Why has war been an omnipresent part of human history?  Is there a direct link between the state and war?  How are armies formed and maintained - who is involved, how are they persuaded to get involved?  What resources are needed, what difficulties are faced?  How does invasion effect culture?  Once a group has been conquered, how is power maintained on the one hand – strategies of domination – and resisted on the other – strategies of resistance?  A nation that was raised asking such questions would be less likely to jump into war as readily as our country recently has, due to being able to predict the difficulties of fighting on the rugged terrain of Afghanistan, maintain the difficulties of finding and then transporting massive amounts of resources, the difficulties of recruiting and training indigenous soldiers, and the cultural resistance to domination.  Aside from being able to predict these factors, a good education would also equip citizens to question a states motive for war more deeply than we have tended to do in the US. 

I’m focused on this question today because yesterday I wrote that the Hyksos invasion might be an interesting opportunity to discuss invasion and cultural change, as well as to explore ethical questions.  Today I re-read that post and thought to myself, "the Hyksos?  Really"?  The Hyksos are important to the Egyptologist or student of the Near East.  But not so much to sixth graders – it is likely they would never hear of the Hyksos again.  When choosing what to emphasize in curricula, I often consider how often my students may encounter the subject in the world: if the answer is “never again,” that’s a sign that I may want to emphasize another subject.  Students will certainly hear about the Persians, Greeks, and Romans again… so instead of cluttering the curricula through a lesson on the Hyksos, perhaps it would be better to explore those themes through considering later Persian, Greek and/or Roman interactions with Egypt.

That said, I would love to be criticized on this.  I simultaneously feel it is very, very important that students don't get the idea that there were just a handful of peoples living around the Mediterranean, or anywhere else.  Every land is incredibly diverse, and I would want to, at the very, least, show students maps that depicted the incredible array of cultures - and by cultures I don't mean states, because the majority of people in history have lived outside of them - that existed in any one area under study.  

Persians had a reputation for ruling conquered peoples by not only allowing but supporting their traditions, including their laws.  In this tradition, Darius built monumental Egyptian temples.  However, he was the first and last to do so - after Egyptian revolts, Persians changed their tune and stopped their collaboration with existing Egyptian leadership, killed Egyptian sacred animals, and destroyed sacred art and architecture.  At this point I would want students to consider the up and downsides of such a strategy of control.  How will this help Persian control, and how will it make it harder?  What are at least two different ways that Egyptians might react to this brutal form of rule?  I would also bring in contemporary examples from around the world of purposeful destruction of art, such as the destruction of Buddhist art in Afghanistan. 

When Alexander triumphed over the Persians, he portrayed the Greeks as the saviors of Egyptian society, and the Egyptians largely agreed… for a couple generations.  The Greeks made a major effort to demonize the Persians, and to emphasize their efforts at restoring sacred art and learn Egyptian customs.  The Library of Alexandria was created partly as a means for Greeks to learn as much as they could about Egyptian society.

What do you notice happening in this image of the Library of Alexandria?  What people do we see depicted?  (I.e., do they look Greek or Egyptian?)  Based on our discussion, what do you think these Greeks might be studying?  (I.e., ways to replicate Egyptian art, build Egyptian temples, learn Egyptian language.)  What role did the library play in controlling Egypt?  Do you think this would be an effective form of control? 

Egypt is the also the only conquered land where art was not Hellenized.  Students could be shown art from Gandara, with its Hellenized Buddhist art (Greco-Buddhist art) and compare it to art sponsored by Greeks in Egypt (which I need to search for.  Send me a link if you find something on it :)  

            In this example of Greco-Buddhist art, the Buddha is clearly sculpted in a Greek style. In Egypt, however, the Greeks did not chose to Hellenize the art.  Why did the conquering Greeks choose to support traditional Egyptian art? 

One final thought: as teachers we’re basically led to believe in teaching civilization by civilization, but in this example of invasion, we’re looking less at bounded civilizations than at cross-cultural exchanges.  Civilizations only exist within relationships to surrounding groups of people, many of whom are incredibly important to world history - even if they don’t belong to a civilization.  Rather than moving chronologically, and teaching ancient Egypt, then jumping to India, then China, and back to ancient Greece, would it be beneficial to teach the Mediterranean region thoroughly, looking at the interactions between Egypt, Greece, the Levant, Persia, Anatolia, and Rome, and then do the same with Asia and South America?  Just one of a thousand thoughts to explore more fully some other time!