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{{short description|Act of forceful subjugation}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Peter_Paul_Rubens_-_The_Triumph_of_Victory_-_WGA20328.jpg|thumb|''The Triumph of Victory'' by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]]]
{{War}}

'''Conquest''' is the act of [[military]] [[wiktionary:subjugation|subjugation]] of an enemy by force of [[Weapon|arms]].<ref>Miquelon, Dale. 1977. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ALkJAQAAIAAJ&q=intitle:Society+intitle:and+intitle:Conquest+inauthor:Miquelon ''Society and Conquest'']. {{ISBN|0-7730-3132-4}}
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Day, David. 2008. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9jvX0NvSbr8C&q=intitle:Conquest+intitle:How+intitle:Societies+intitle:Overwhelm+intitle:Others+inauthor:Day ''Conquest: How Societies Overwhelm Others'']. {{ISBN|0-19-923934-7}}
</ref>

[[Military history]] provides many examples of conquest: the [[Roman conquest of Britain]], the [[Mauryan]] conquest of [[Afghanistan]] and of vast areas of the [[Indian subcontinent]], the [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire]] and various [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquests]], to mention just a few.

The [[Norman conquest of England]] provides an example: it built on cultural ties, led to the subjugation of the [[Kingdom of England]] to Norman control and brought [[William I of England|William the Conqueror]] to the [[State crown|English throne]] in 1066.

Conquest may link in some ways with [[colonialism]]. England, for example, experienced phases and areas of [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain | Anglo-Saxon]], [[Viking expansion | Viking]] and [[Normans | Franco-Norman]] colonisation and conquest.

==Methods of conquest==
The [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] used a method of gradual, non-military conquest in which they established [[suzerainty]] over their neighbours and then displaced their ruling [[dynasty|dynasties]]. This concept was first systematized by [[Halil İnalcık]].<ref>{{citation|author=Pál Fodor|title=In quest of the golden apple: imperial ideology, politics, and military administration in the Ottoman Empire|page=111|year=2000}}</ref> Conquests of this sort did not involve violent revolution but were a process of slow [[Cultural assimilation|assimilation]], established by bureaucratic means such as [[census|registers of population and resources]] as part of the feudal ''[[timar]]'' system.<ref>{{citation|author=Halil Inalcik|title=Ottoman Methods of Conquest|journal=Studia Islamica|issue=2|pages=103–129|year=1954|doi=10.2307/1595144 |jstor=1595144}}</ref>

==Ancient conquests==
The ancient civilized peoples conducted [[war]]s on a large scale that were, in effect, conquests.<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?as_q=&num=100&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_pt=ALLTYPES&as_vt=Cambridge+Ancient+History&as_auth=&as_pub=&as_sub=&as_isbn=&as_issn= Cambridge Ancient History]''. Vol I pg. 261, 519; Vol III, 99, 100-101 {{ISBN|0-521-85073-8}}</ref> In [[Egypt]] the effects of invasion and conquest are to be seen in different racial types represented in paintings and sculptures.<ref>Petrie, W. [https://books.google.com/books?id=llIEGwAACAAJ&q=Races+of+Early+Egypt Races of Early Egypt]. JAI XXX, 103.</ref>

Improved [[agriculture]] production was not conducive to [[peace]]; it allowed for [[Division of labour|specialization]] which included the formation of ever-larger militaries and improved [[weapon]] [[technology]]. This, combined with growth of [[population]] and [[political]] control, meant war became more widespread and destructive.<ref>Sumner, W. 1914. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Jg78GAAACAAJ&q=intitle:war+inauthor:sumner ''War''] Pg. 3.</ref> Thus, the [[Aztec]]s; [[Inca]]s; the African Kingdoms [[Dahomey]] and [[Benin Empire|Benin]]; and the ancient civilizations of [[Egypt]], [[Babylonia]], [[Assyria]] and [[Persia]] all stand out as more [[militarism|militaristic]] than the less organized societies around them. Military adventures were on a larger scale and effective conquest for the first time became feasible.

==Leading to migration==
Military conquest has been one of the most persistent causes of human migrations.<ref>Howitt, A. 1910. [https://books.google.com/books?id=jVsgQwAACAAJ&q=intitle:native+intitle:tribes+inauthor:howitt ''Native Tribes'']. pg. 185-186, 678, 682-683</ref> There is a significant influence of migration and conquest on political development and state formation. Conquest leading to migration has contributed to race mixture and cultural exchange. The latter points influence on conquest has been of far greater significance in the evolution of society. Conquest brings humans into contact, even though it is a hostile contact.

==Plunder==
[[File:Bayeux Tapestry scene55 William Hastings battlefield.jpg|thumb|[[William the Conqueror]] leads his troops at the [[Battle of Hastings]], 1066, [[Bayeux Tapestry]].]]
[[Plunder]] has in all times and places been a result of war, the conquerors taking whatever things of value they find. The desire for it has been one of the most common causes of war and conquest.<ref>Spencer, H. 1969. [https://books.google.com/books?id=MWZ_PgAACAAJ&q=intitle:Principles+intitle:of+intitle:Sociology+inauthor:Spencer ''Principles of Sociology I '']. pg. 631. {{ISBN|0-208-00849-7}}</ref>

==The state==
[[File:1871 Vereshchagin Apotheose des Krieges anagoria.JPG|thumb|[[Vasily Vereshchagin]], ''[[The Apotheosis of War]]'', 1871; dedicated "to all conquerors, past, present and to come", a pile of skulls in a wasteland.]]
In the formation of the modern state, the conspicuous immediate causes are the closely related facts of [[human migration|migration]] and conquest.<ref>Jenks, E. 1919. [https://books.google.com/books?id=zryaaMdLEfYC ''The State and the Nation'']. pg. 121, 133, 152</ref> The state has increased civilization and allowed increased cultural contact allowing for a cultural exchange and stimulus; frequently the conquerors have taken over the culture of their subjects.<ref>Wissler, C. 1923. [https://books.google.com/books?id=845sAAAAIAAJ&q=intitle:man+intitle:and+intitle:culture+inauthor:wissler Man and Culture]. pg 42, 179.</ref>

==Subjugation==
With subjugation, further class distinctions arise. The conquered people are enslaved; thus the widest possible social classes are produced: the [[slave|enslaved]] and the free. The slaves are put to work to support the upper classes, who regard war as their chief business. <ref>Gumplowicz, L. 1909. [https://books.google.com/books?id=OcHwQAAACAAJ&q=intitle:Der+intitle:Rassenkampf ''Der Rassenkampf''] pg. 163-175, 179-181, 219-238, 250-259</ref> The state is in origin a product of war and exists primarily as an enforced peace between conquerors and conquered.<ref>Keller, G. 1902. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fOg7QwAACAAJ&q=intitle:Homeric+intitle:Society+inauthor:Keller ''Homeric society''] pg. 248</ref> From slavery and from conquest, another result of war, sprang differentiation of classes and occupations termed the [[division of labour]].<ref>Nieboer, H. 1900. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHp9QwAACAAJ&q=intitle:slavery+inauthor:nieboer ''Slavery as an industrial system''].</ref> Through conquest, society became divided into a ruling militant class and a subject industrial class. The regulative function devolved upon the conquering soldiers and operations side to the [[serf]]s and slaves.

==Culture after conquest==
After a conquest where a minority imposes itself on a majority, it usually adopts the language and religion of the majority, through this force of numbers and because a strong government can be maintained only through the unity of these two important facts.<ref>Smyth, R. 1878. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wHBQPgAACAAJ&q=intitle:aborigines+intitle:of+intitle:victoria+inauthor:smyth ''The Aborigines of Victoria'']. Vol I. pg. 181</ref> In other cases, especially when the conquerors create or maintain strong cultural or social institutions, the conquered culture could adopt norms or ideas from the conquering culture to expedite interactions with the new ruling class. These changes were often imposed on the conquered people by force, particularly during [[Religious war|religiously motivated conquests]].

==Post-World War II==
Scholars have debated the existence of a norm against conquest since 1945.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Goertz|first1=Gary|title=The Development of Territorial Norms and the Norm against Conquest|date=2016|url=https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199301027.001.0001/acprof-9780199301027-chapter-5|work=The Puzzle of Peace|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199301027.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-930102-7|last2=Diehl|first2=Paul F.|last3=Balas|first3=Alexandru}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Altman|first=Dan|date=2020|title=The Evolution of Territorial Conquest After 1945 and the Limits of the Territorial Integrity Norm|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/evolution-of-territorial-conquest-after-1945-and-the-limits-of-the-territorial-integrity-norm/E81D1E3F2C34CB00D8501BFDB363A1AD|journal=International Organization|language=en|volume=74|issue=3|pages=490–522|doi=10.1017/S0020818320000119|s2cid=226467742 |issn=0020-8183}}</ref> Conquest of large swaths of territory has been rare, but states have since 1945 continued to pursue annexation of small swaths of territory.<ref name=":0" />

==See also==

*[[Invasion]]
*[[Right of conquest]]
*[[Victory]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Military terminology]]

Conquest - Revision history

Kuldeep Singh Deep: small fix

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article